eating at BMR?

rachylouise87

So for months i was under the disillusion that for me to lose weight the bigger the deficit the better. i was told CICO is the be all and end all and i was probably not losing because i was eating more. i was eating 1200 calories religiously every day even to the point of being so hungry all i could think about was food. i then on two occasions stopped losing. I was told by a friend on here that my problem was i was not eating enough which i found hard to stomach. i was so afraid of upping my cals because i had worked so hard to lose 46lbs that i could not think it could happen any other way. So i decided to up my calories to 1400 per day to see if the weight loss would kick start again and my friend told me to give it 3-4 weeks. within 7 days i had lost 2lbs. it was like a miracle. since joining this group i have learned my BMR is higher than i thought and using scooby it looks like its 1467 and my TDEE was 2235 Including my HIIT training i do 5 days a week so i would say i have a desk job but moderately active. the question i am here to ask is should i continue eating at my BMR if it is helping me lose or up the calories to the recommended amount of 1899? i have been in a state of hunger for 4 months i am afraid of putting the calorie allowance too high?

rachylouise87

sorry stats
147lbs
5ft
Following T25 so 25 minutes of HIIT 5 days a week and maybe 25-50 minutes of zumba once a week
MFP has my daily activity calories at 1660 scooby has it at 1685 with light activity and 1899 with moderate

mymodernbabylon

I want you to think about something. As you lose weight you will have to reduce your calorie deficit more and more to continue losing. When you start at 1200 or 1400 calories, you don't really have much further down to go. You also said you were in a state of constant hunger - does that sound healthy? Plus, do you think, perhaps you were losing not just fat but also muscle with such a HUGE deficit? Personally, I'd rather lose more slowly and maintain my muscle - why not eat as much as you can while losing weight versus eating as little as possible. Read the sticky posts on here, read the stories on the website (www.eatmore2weighless.com) and realise that there is a better way to do this than eating a VLC diet.

When figuring out Scooby - don't forget to also include normal daily movement - unless you are a sloth every day outside of your workouts, you should consider you are doing more...

heybales

Also, the CICO is true.

You just didn't know you could actually change the CO by reducing the CI so small.

Now, you could keep reducing the CI and eventually you will lose again, because CO can only be suppressed so much.
Exercise progress will be slow or nothing.
More prone to sickness as body as stressed already, or injury depending on exercise.
You'll lose muscle with the fat.
Adherence eating so little usually sucks, so all binges and over days end with fat gain.
Maintenance if reached sucks, because still eating so little, more prone to fat gain back with less muscle mass too.

Also, curious what the HIIT is that you are doing 5x weekly?

That is a fad name given to a bunch of stuff lately, but it entails high carb burning cardio usually, and day after day of that ain't good for retaining muscle, especially when doing low calorie.

rachylouise87

i am doing the Focus T25 beta program at the moment which is strength and cardio combined. i was eating at 1200 for a long time. i was moody tired could not get through workouts felt sick all the time. i was then told to up my cals to 1400 as i stopped losing and it didnt seem like 1200 was enough. i am pretty sedentary i have a desk job but other than that i do my workout and clean lots on my days off. i am not sure what my activity level is really? it can vary. i was pretty sure on 1200 calories i was losing muscle because i didnt look different and my measurements were not changing.
because i am so short i was always led to believe i do not need loads of calories when being sedentary most of the day? i wanted to have a normal diet and find the correct amount but have struggled for a long time. i have managed to lose 48lbs doing LCD but its clearly not working for me any more. since upping i feel better but i need to figure out how much more i can up by?
thanks for the advice!

rachylouise87

oh and my exercise intensity i would say is high. i manage to get my HR between 135 and 175 per session and burning between 2-300 calories for 25 minutes so i am not sure if i am sedentary with little exercise or moderate exercise

heybales

MFP is about the only place that looks at activity level with no exercise included.
You sound like even there you would be higher than sedentary because of the weekends giving an average kick to every day.

But the TDEE charts include exercise - so obviously you aren't sedentary on those.
- Having a desk job doesn't mean you are sedentary, it just means you are maybe sitting for the big part of 1/3 of your day. But there's another whole 1/3 available and can decently offset it.

So that is 25 x 5 = 125 + 37 avg Zumba = 142 min weekly. 2.33 hrs

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1018770-better-rough-tdee-estimate-than-5-level-chart

1.4 activity factor.

BMR 1467 x 1.4 = TDEE 2054

That's upper part of Lightly Active.

2054 x .85 = 1746, call it 1750 for memory.

But that's only after you have unstressed your body and let it speed back up.

By eating at 2000 for a good long while.

Work your way up there slowly though. 100 extra daily for a week at a time.

And yes, as a shorty you have to eat less, it's a bummer. Even when doing strength training you'll find you'll want to keep some cardio in the week merely to increase daily burn to allow eating more. Probably, several on friends list do, or try.

Oh, that workout isn't HIIT, no matter their claim.

HIIT is a high intensity interval session of something you could do NOT in that format.
Like running, biking, swimming, ect.
Then for HIIT you make part of it all out max, with recovery.
What that program is doing really couldn't be done without intense parts of it.
Those workouts have been around for ages, you do something that is intense, can only do it for so long, then you must rest, then you do it again. But it would be about impossible to steady state it, like do it lower level without intense sections, for longer time.
Still a good program, very high carb burning, and exactly the type that burns off muscle if you don't eat enough.

You should check out the eating guide they provide with the program - much more than you were doing.

rachylouise87

thanks so much