really stupid question but totally bamboozled.

shelleyphant

Hi all.

I need some advice on what to set my weight loss goal at. Yeah stupid I know! I do a lot of exercise and I'm not sure how to manage it. I run three times a week which burns about 450 cals on average and hit the gym three times a week which burns 700. I set my calories at 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories which left me feeling exhausted a few weeks into my program. I upped it to 2000 and didn't eat exercise calories but felt this didn't give me any scope for "cheat meals". In a fit of madness I put my calories down to 1200 and said I would eat my exercise calories, straight away it turned exercise into something I "had" to do and I enjoyed it less. I want to get my body on a stable amount of calories as I have spent years messing it up with lots of different diets! Any advice? I'm a bit disheartened. I haven't lost any weight in seven weeks of solid exercising

shelleyphant

Edit

tomatoey

try 2000 again, but this time, play jenga a bit more with your meals. if you usually have four meals, try to make two of them really tight with regard to calories and macros, to give you more to play with for the other meals.

heybales

Look at the spreadsheet on my profile page if you don't want to follow MFP's method.
Stay on Simple Setup and Progress tabs only.
Look at sample data in yellow cells - then delete all that data, and put in your own if you have it.
- Be honest with Activity calculator, sounds like you have good weekly schedule, so should be easy. But be honest if you don't have a 45 hr weekly desk job.
- Your daily calorie burn is more than just exercise calories.

The TDEG recommended is totally for the purpose of max fat loss while retaining muscle mass.
You doing strength training would help that too.

shelleyphant

heybales wrote: »

Look at the spreadsheet on my profile page if you don't want to follow MFP's method.
Stay on Simple Setup and Progress tabs only.
Look at sample data in yellow cells - then delete all that data, and put in your own if you have it.
- Be honest with Activity calculator, sounds like you have good weekly schedule, so should be easy. But be honest if you don't have a 45 hr weekly desk job.
- Your daily calorie burn is more than just exercise calories.

The TDEG recommended is totally for the purpose of max fat loss while retaining muscle mass.
You doing strength training would help that too.

Haybales - that was so helpful - thank you! I am changing Gym's next week for one that seems a little more "engaged" with it's clients I am going to ask about starting to weight train then. Many thanks for your advice!

Sued0nim

On MFP the activity setting EXCLUDES purposeful exercise

So honestly, without the running and gym, how active are you - if you have a desk job you're sedentary - most people are no more than lightly active

Then how much do you want to lose a week - be careful here, don't set it to high - if you have less than 75lb then 1-1.5lbs max, if you have less than 14lbs then 0.5lbs

This gives you your basic calorie allowance

When you exercise - eg your running / workouts - log them in the exercise calculator - BUT, MFP overestimates calorie burns so the best advice is to cut the calories (double click on the box) by half

Then you eat those too

Best advice is to judge by your body - if you're shaky and failing at your workouts, eat more, increase the amount of exercise calories you consume. If you're losing weight faster than your set goal, eat more.

The calculators are all estimator .. it's what your body does over time that counts

shelleyphant

Thanks for the advice. My garmin syncs with mfp so I'm ok on calories there.

BerryH

Set MFP to lose 1lb a week and your activity level to whatever matches your non-exercise activity (such as lightly active) and use the calories it gives you. Eat back exercise calories from your Garmin adjustment. After a couple of weeks if you're hungry/not losing weight, then adjust calories accordingly. Honestly, MFP does all the hard sums for you!

TavistockToad

shelleyphant wrote: »

Hi all.

I need some advice on what to set my weight loss goal at. Yeah stupid I know! I do a lot of exercise and I'm not sure how to manage it. I run three times a week which burns about 450 cals on average and hit the gym three times a week which burns 700. I set my calories at 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories which left me feeling exhausted a few weeks into my program. I upped it to 2000 and didn't eat exercise calories but felt this didn't give me any scope for "cheat meals". In a fit of madness I put my calories down to 1200 and said I would eat my exercise calories, straight away it turned exercise into something I "had" to do and I enjoyed it less. I want to get my body on a stable amount of calories as I have spent years messing it up with lots of different diets! Any advice? I'm a bit disheartened. I haven't lost any weight in seven weeks of solid exercising

Why do you need 'cheat meals'? Why not just use moderation that fits treats into your day?

Then you can just pick either MFP method or TDEE to get your calorie goal?

shelleyphant

TavistockToad wrote: »

shelleyphant wrote: »

Hi all.

I need some advice on what to set my weight loss goal at. Yeah stupid I know! I do a lot of exercise and I'm not sure how to manage it. I run three times a week which burns about 450 cals on average and hit the gym three times a week which burns 700. I set my calories at 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories which left me feeling exhausted a few weeks into my program. I upped it to 2000 and didn't eat exercise calories but felt this didn't give me any scope for "cheat meals". In a fit of madness I put my calories down to 1200 and said I would eat my exercise calories, straight away it turned exercise into something I "had" to do and I enjoyed it less. I want to get my body on a stable amount of calories as I have spent years messing it up with lots of different diets! Any advice? I'm a bit disheartened. I haven't lost any weight in seven weeks of solid exercising

Why do you need 'cheat meals'? Why not just use moderation that fits treats into your day?

Then you can just pick either MFP method or TDEE to get your calorie goal?

During the week I work long hours and am very busy, food is eaten between places and generally if I can't hold it in one hand I don't eat it. No this isn't ideal but at the moment its a fact of life. On a Saturday evening I like to sit at home with hubs and have a sit down meal with a couple of drinks - this is my "cheat meal" I have whatever I want because it's a chance to sit down and enjoy food as well as spend some quality time with hubby.

blktngldhrt

Use the myfitnesspal calories and eat back around half of your exercise calories. If you want a cheat meal, you still have the other half to eat or leave alone.

ftrobbie

shelleyphant wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

shelleyphant wrote: »

Hi all.

I need some advice on what to set my weight loss goal at. Yeah stupid I know! I do a lot of exercise and I'm not sure how to manage it. I run three times a week which burns about 450 cals on average and hit the gym three times a week which burns 700. I set my calories at 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories which left me feeling exhausted a few weeks into my program. I upped it to 2000 and didn't eat exercise calories but felt this didn't give me any scope for "cheat meals". In a fit of madness I put my calories down to 1200 and said I would eat my exercise calories, straight away it turned exercise into something I "had" to do and I enjoyed it less. I want to get my body on a stable amount of calories as I have spent years messing it up with lots of different diets! Any advice? I'm a bit disheartened. I haven't lost any weight in seven weeks of solid exercising

Why do you need 'cheat meals'? Why not just use moderation that fits treats into your day?

Then you can just pick either MFP method or TDEE to get your calorie goal?

During the week I work long hours and am very busy, food is eaten between places and generally if I can't hold it in one hand I don't eat it. No this isn't ideal but at the moment its a fact of life. On a Saturday evening I like to sit at home with hubs and have a sit down meal with a couple of drinks - this is my "cheat meal" I have whatever I want because it's a chance to sit down and enjoy food as well as spend some quality time with hubby.

Sued0nim

shelleyphant wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

shelleyphant wrote: »

Hi all.

I need some advice on what to set my weight loss goal at. Yeah stupid I know! I do a lot of exercise and I'm not sure how to manage it. I run three times a week which burns about 450 cals on average and hit the gym three times a week which burns 700. I set my calories at 1400 and didn't eat my exercise calories which left me feeling exhausted a few weeks into my program. I upped it to 2000 and didn't eat exercise calories but felt this didn't give me any scope for "cheat meals". In a fit of madness I put my calories down to 1200 and said I would eat my exercise calories, straight away it turned exercise into something I "had" to do and I enjoyed it less. I want to get my body on a stable amount of calories as I have spent years messing it up with lots of different diets! Any advice? I'm a bit disheartened. I haven't lost any weight in seven weeks of solid exercising

Why do you need 'cheat meals'? Why not just use moderation that fits treats into your day?

Then you can just pick either MFP method or TDEE to get your calorie goal?

During the week I work long hours and am very busy, food is eaten between places and generally if I can't hold it in one hand I don't eat it. No this isn't ideal but at the moment its a fact of life. On a Saturday evening I like to sit at home with hubs and have a sit down meal with a couple of drinks - this is my "cheat meal" I have whatever I want because it's a chance to sit down and enjoy food as well as spend some quality time with hubby.

So you're eating less during the week to allow for this -you still need to log it - just follow the weekly charts instead of the daily ones

ftrobbie

Realistically you need to plan your cheat meals in, but in calling them cheat meals I don't think your mindset is in the right place. Look at the bigger picture, if there are some things you want to eat you need to put them in your diary and work the rest around it. Look at weekly numbers if it helps, your body is good at regulating itself, laying down energy stores, using up energy stores. If it didn't 5/2 diets would not work. How many calories do you need for a week, plan in your "cheat days" then average out the rest.

Personally I'd set your limit at 1700 a day, but looking at your diary there are no entries for the weekend so I am not sure whether you actually know how many calories you are consuming in 30% of the week (the weekends). Weightloss through diet and exercise is a numbers game. Without the facts and data it is really hard to assess what is going on, you are guessing. Not probably what you wanted to read.

I have been logging food for around a year, I don't take food/ body scales on holiday with me but the rest of the time it all gets weighed. I am now at target but I still weigh all solids, I still measure all liquids. I log all exercise post the first 5000 steps recorded on a pedometer. Work colleagues think I am obsessive, but I have lost 42 kgs over that time by paying attention to the small stuff. I eat chocolate bars, drink alcohol and make informed choices, there are no cheat foods for me, there are better choices and worse choices. I am accountable for the difference between the two.

It is your journey, the tools are there to help you, if you use them wisely. Good luck with your journey, it is hard, we never said it would be easy, we said it would be worth it.