Confused over calorie counting & weight gain

[pushingwateroophill]

I’ve lost almost 3 stone on Monjaro & came off it a month ago. At the time I used a couple of calorie counters to see how many calories I should be consuming. I would like to lose a further 8lbs but not in a specific time frame.

its been just over a week & I’ve put on almost 2lbs. It isn’t a lot I know & could be down to water retention, etc etc. But I’m more concerned I’m either under or over eating & in all honesty I feel out of my depth wondering if I’ve put the right info in to the counting app. I work an office job 4 days a week but still do around 6000 steps those days. The other 3 days it can be 8000 to 10000 on average potentially more. So I’ve put my activity level as ‘lightly active’. I’m 5 ft 4 & weigh 176lbs. The last week I’ve been consuming 1818 calories a day as per The James Smith calorie calculator. Should I have put ‘sedentary’ instead? I’ve 100% been within my calories. I’ve been eating as much protein as I can but I hate chicken & have been using protein shakes & bars for this. Drinking 2 litres low calorie squash minimum. I do like sweet treats & have a couple of things a day but these stay within the limit & I thought this was ok to do. Any help or advice appreciated. I don’t want to start putting weight on & I’d like to know what I’m doing wrong before a 2lb weight gain turns in to more.

6,000 steps a day is pretty sedentary. Do you do any other exercise, a sport or class ?

If you don't like chicken, there are dozens of other sources of protein, beans, fish, other meats, eggs, cheese.

I'd change your category to sedentary, add in an activity and get rid of the protein shakes.

Body water fluctuates constantly, so what you see on the scale might just be that and not fat gain.
This said, I would make two changes. I would ditch the protein shakes/bars and I would bin the squash. By trying to force macros in , you are forcing calories in. Don't be proteins obsessed. You are now looking at a diet for life. You don't like chicken, don't eat chicken. Like already said above, eat beans, lentils, chickpeas, tuna, salmon, cod, eggs, some but not too much meat, yoghurt, big plate of broccoli, .... And what do you mean by sweet treats?

I also think that 6000 isn't lightly active, but just "I am not bed bound and walk around" . Unless you lace up your shoes and go for an 5 miles walk every single morning, then the steps any counter measures are just a reminder you are alive. What I mean, is 10.000 steps in 1 hour walked at a fast pace that does allow you to talk but not sing is very different than 10.000 steps in 1 day.

Not sure where that number came from, but 1818 calories a day is a lot if you are trying to lose weight and are 5ft 4. Use a fitness coach for fitness, but nutritional needs are way more complicated than putting numbers on a website, especially when one is quite overweight. Your fat isn't as metabolically active as your lean mass and shouldn't count as much when calculating calorie deficit.

Ignore any activity unless you are really doing loads of sport so I would start with sedentary.

1818 will be maintenance calories. Have a look at my fitness pal. They have a calorie calculator. Aim to loose a tiny amount a week. It’s more sustainable with the food. I would put sedentary.

I use the website below to calculate and it matches MyFitnessPal and other calorie tracking apps so I figure it must be fairly standard.

I always put sedentary for the activity option as that way I have a bit of a buffer to allow for occasional days going over my target and because exercise is quite difficult to account for, 1000 steps meandering between my desk and the toilet over the day can’t possibly burn as many calories as 1000 steps as fast as I can move in a concerted effort up a hill for example but it looks the same on a step counter.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

That does seem a little high to lose weight. You don't say how old you are? I'm 45 and lightly active as per those charts, my Fitbit says I burn around 2000 calories a day on average (which is pretty accurate as I track ATM), same height as you and I weigh 155 lbs. I think 1800 may be your TDEE (the total calories burned per day) and not a deficit?

What meadowfinch wrote.

Oh and on the food stuff, I don’t hate chicken but it can get boring and it’s completely unnecessary to be confined to just one type of meat.

if you look at calories per 100g there are plenty of options with similar or even less calories, pork tenderloin for example. I’m a huge fan of slow cooker meals because I’m lazy and hate cooking but like eating. I regularly put 400g of some kind of meat - chicken breast, turkey chunks, lean beef chunks, pork tenderloin etc in with a bag of sliced mushrooms, a bag of sliced onions, a bag of sliced peppers, a load of seasoning (I buy all veg pre-prepped and usually frozen because it’s easier). You can add carrot, tomatoes, greenbeans whatever you like as long as it’s non-starchy. Let it cook for about 3 hours on high then move it to the hob to thicken up the sauce sometimes I shred the meat with a fork at this point depending on what it is. That makes 4 portions each one is around 200-250 calories and it’s filling, tasty, has fibre and protein.

Meat (Kcal per 100g)

• Chicken Breast (Skinless, Boneless): ~165 kcal
• Turkey Breast (Skinless, Boneless): ~114 kcal
• Beef Mince (Lean): ~170 kcal
• Steak (Rump): ~130 kcal
• Pork Tenderloin/Medallions: ~112 kcal

Fish (Kcal per 100g)

• Cod (Lean Fish): ~82 kcal

I'm the same height as you - I eat about that many calories and I'm losing weight, but I'm much more active.
Are you doing anything to build muscle? I would ignore your step counter and agree with the others that it seems you're sedentary.

I wouldn't complicate things by worrying about apps, trackers and numbers. Just remove a snack a day, for instance, from what you've been eating, and see what results you get after a week.

I think your calories are too high. I’m 5 foot 5, 15000 steps a day and only loose on 1500. It sounds like your calories are at maintenance rather than a deficit. I find calorie counters very variable and not always reflective of the truth. I would drop to around 1600 and monitor for a couple of weeks. If you’re not loosing then drop a further 100. Weight can fluctuate daily so you really need to see the overall trend over a week or two.

6000 or even 10,000 steps with no other actual exercise is sendentary. I walk the dog twice a day, so weights 3 times a week and a couple of 5k runs and I always time lightly active.

Your fairly sedentary, do you do any actual excercise?

Protein shakes, protein bars a couple of sweet treats a day. This will amount to quite a few calories already and that's without any actual meals. Why do you need protein shakes on 6-10k steps a day?

1800Kcal is likely to be maintenance for a 5'4 woman who's not massively active.

I thought the old adage was that weight is determined 70% by what goes in and 30% by what goes out.

I'm as sedentary as you but taller. You are eating too much. I have to stay under 1300/1400 calories to maintain and closer to 1000 to lose.

You need to cut out the sweet snacks and alcohol if there is any. Also, limit the carbs.

I think there's also a mismatch between steps and activity. So far today I've run up and down stairs half a dozen times, pegged some laundry, watered the garden and hozed down and swept around the pool. None of that is recorded and none of it is formal exercise but it's a not unusual part of my day and I tend to sit on my backside at a desk all day.

I'm 5ft 3" 43 years old and I have an office job and don't do much else other than a 82 mile commute daily and house cleaning and gardening, so I am sedentary and my maintenance cals is 1750 approx, so my deficit is 1200 but I usually eat less than that to lose.
Lightly active is if you exercise, go gym few times a week. Walking doesn't raise heart rate so i wouldnt couldnt it as exercise unless you walk miles or walk on hills etc.
Can you post a photo of the calculation as it is probably your maintenance. Also if you have lost weight it needs to be recalculated as it will be less.