should I increase calories
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natgrisenthwaite
Posts: 4 Member
Hi I was wondering if I should increase my calorie intake since my activity has increased a lot. I went from not working out to going to gym 5 times a week and doing at least 2.25 miles at 15 resistance and 2 incline. Burning at least 500 calories a day. I have lost 20lbs so far would like to lose another 60lbs. I stopped drinking pop already. I also changed diet to eating more veggies and chicken fish hardly eat red meat and if I do it's deer. I also cut back on carbs . what else can I do. I am at a 1200 calorie a day Now.which s one says is hard to reach. I don't want to shut my body down where it refuses to burn my fat. I have done research and I am getting conflicting answers. Thank you. Oh I also do light free weights 3 days a week. And I have became an more active mommy chasing my kids riding bikes etc.
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Replies
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Yes.0
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Yes. I recommend figuring out your BMR. There are different calculators online. That basically tells you the absolute lowest amount of calories you should eat (basically if you do nothing but lay in bed and breath all day long).0
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Yes, only short old women like me who manage to get sporadic exercise need to eat at 1200 calories.
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Are you only eating 1200, or 1200 plus exercise calories?0
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OP, what are your stats? And, as Timorous Beastie asked, are you eating 1200, or 1200 plus exercise?
When you're talking about your exercise burns, what are you using to get the burn numbers?
How quickly have you lost the 20 pounds?0 -
If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.0 -
If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.
I only just marginally understand this, so might have to call in someone with more knowledge than me to explain.
It depends how much fat you have. If you have a lot, you can eat an an aggressive deficit, and your body will dig into the fat stores and all will be fine.
The problem is that there's a maximum in how much fat your body will burn in a day. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose, that number will be lower. If you're creating a large deficit, the body will burn muscle instead. In spite of you eating protein or any efforts you're taking in terms of trying to retain muscle mass by lifting weights.
At least that's my basic understanding of the whole thing.
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mamapeach910 wrote: »If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.
I only just marginally understand this, so might have to call in someone with more knowledge than me to explain.
It depends how much fat you have. If you have a lot, you can eat an an aggressive deficit, and your body will dig into the fat stores and all will be fine.
The problem is that there's a maximum in how much fat your body will burn in a day. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose, that number will be lower. If you're creating a large deficit, the body will burn muscle instead. In spite of you eating protein or any efforts you're taking in terms of trying to retain muscle mass by lifting weights.
At least that's my basic understanding of the whole thing.
What is the formula for figuring out the maximum rate at which you you can burn body fat ?0 -
mamapeach910 wrote: »If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.
I only just marginally understand this, so might have to call in someone with more knowledge than me to explain.
It depends how much fat you have. If you have a lot, you can eat an an aggressive deficit, and your body will dig into the fat stores and all will be fine.
The problem is that there's a maximum in how much fat your body will burn in a day. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose, that number will be lower. If you're creating a large deficit, the body will burn muscle instead. In spite of you eating protein or any efforts you're taking in terms of trying to retain muscle mass by lifting weights.
At least that's my basic understanding of the whole thing.
What is the formula for figuring out the maximum rate at which you you can burn body fat ?
That I don't know. There's something else this is called, and I don't remember what it is.
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Yes. It sounds like you are doing really well, but the way MFP works is that you eat back some of your exercise calories, especially if you are doing such a low level of base calories.
When I started I was at 1250 (I actually lost the first 20 before logging and am pretty sure I was eating even less), but wasn't yet that active. Around the time I'd lost 20 I started getting more active, like you are, and when I figured out that I should eat back exercise calories I logged I started doing that (I ate back about 75%, lots of people do that or even half). My losses didn't slow down and I think it helped me make it sustainable for the amount of time it took to lose the weight I had to lose (I've lost 95 lbs). As I lost I got more and more active, so I actually was able to increase the amount I lost as I went on, which was a pleasant side effect.0 -
mamapeach910 wrote: »mamapeach910 wrote: »If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.
I only just marginally understand this, so might have to call in someone with more knowledge than me to explain.
It depends how much fat you have. If you have a lot, you can eat an an aggressive deficit, and your body will dig into the fat stores and all will be fine.
The problem is that there's a maximum in how much fat your body will burn in a day. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose, that number will be lower. If you're creating a large deficit, the body will burn muscle instead. In spite of you eating protein or any efforts you're taking in terms of trying to retain muscle mass by lifting weights.
At least that's my basic understanding of the whole thing.
What is the formula for figuring out the maximum rate at which you you can burn body fat ?
That I don't know. There's something else this is called, and I don't remember what it is.
30 cals per day per lb of fat reserve, approx. So 900 cal from a 150 lb 20% fat person.
More cals in = less weight loss CICO0 -
Yes0
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I would ask myself a few questions, if I were you:
1. Am I losing more than 2 lbs per week? (Then yes, eat more, unless you are obese.)
2. Am I losing faster than expected? Slower than expected? (If faster, then yes. If slower, you're probably eating more than you think.)
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This.blankiefinder wrote: »I would ask myself a few questions, if I were you:
1. Am I losing more than 2 lbs per week? (Then yes, eat more, unless you are obese.)
2. Am I losing faster than expected? Slower than expected? (If faster, then yes. If slower, you're probably eating more than you think.)
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mamapeach910 wrote: »mamapeach910 wrote: »If a person is getting adequate protein, fat, vitamins and minerals from their diet at a specific calorie level and then increases their calorie burn through exercise why do they need to consume more calories instead of using their bodies fat stores to make up the difference ?
Notice I didn't list carbs, I understand eating carbs to resupply your spent glycogen.
I only just marginally understand this, so might have to call in someone with more knowledge than me to explain.
It depends how much fat you have. If you have a lot, you can eat an an aggressive deficit, and your body will dig into the fat stores and all will be fine.
The problem is that there's a maximum in how much fat your body will burn in a day. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose, that number will be lower. If you're creating a large deficit, the body will burn muscle instead. In spite of you eating protein or any efforts you're taking in terms of trying to retain muscle mass by lifting weights.
At least that's my basic understanding of the whole thing.
What is the formula for figuring out the maximum rate at which you you can burn body fat ?
That I don't know. There's something else this is called, and I don't remember what it is.
30 cals per day per lb of fat reserve, approx. So 900 cal from a 150 lb 20% fat person.
More cals in = less weight loss CICO
that is where I get lost, people use 30 cals as the number but i have only seen this one study that suggest it is 290 kj or kilojoules which = 69 calories.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615
is it possible people misunderstood kilojoule conversions and thought that since it was metric you simply subtracted a zero to get calories of 29 and then rounded 29 to 30 for easy reference ?
1 kjs = 0.239 Calories
290 kjs =69.31calories0 -
I lost 20 lbs in 5 weeks. I'm going by machines for estimated calorie burns. You enter all your stats and hook up a pulse detector thing. My heart rate is usually between 151 and 160. That's what I enter in my log.. I am over weight. I rarely reach 1200 calories eaten a day. After I enter my exercise it adds those calories back....which I never eat back. I normally have 200 calories left at end of day plus my calories burned leaving me some days with over 800 calories left. I have done a couple different calculators to figure what it should be and got two completely different answers one said eat only 1000 calories a day to reach my goal weight another said 1500 to reach it. I have read if you decrease calories to much your body will refuse to burn stored fat as the same with not eating enough calories. When I started all 45days ago. I put sedetery in. Which says 1200 calories. I just don't want to shot my self in the do it so to say and mess my metabolism all up.Lourdesong wrote: »
This.blankiefinder wrote: »I would ask myself a few questions, if I were you:
1. Am I losing more than 2 lbs per week? (Then yes, eat more, unless you are obese.)
2. Am I losing faster than expected? Slower than expected? (If faster, then yes. If slower, you're probably eating more than you think.)
1) yes
2)yes
But I am 60lbs over weight. I don't look it but I am. And I might be wrong but I contribute my over 2lb a week weight lose to the following.
1 actually moving off couch
2 giving up pop
3 drinking more water
4 eating tons of veggies raw, cutting back on dairy, eating mostly chicken, cutting bread carbs out.
Just by changing my cooking habits my husband has lost 10lbs.
I just new to calorie counting and it's confusing. I know theirs a list of foods that it take more calories to burn than what's in the food. I still count them because I ate them. I count down to the last gram of food. I weight and measure everything. I know as you lift weights and tone you'll gain muscle mass which weights more than fat. My goal is 60 more lbs but, really it I look and feel good with less than I will not try to lose anymore. My goal is healthy.0 -
If you are actually obese with 60 pounds to lose, you could probably do a bit higher than 2, but as you approach the 'over-weight' category reduce it to the 2 pounds maximum recommended by MFP, and as you get closer, reduce it .5 at a time until you reach maintenance at goal.
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Oh yeah, being 60 pounds overweight, you can eat a whole lot more and still lose. It's as we get smaller that our calories decrease.
Be sure to eat a portion of your exercise calories back too.0 -
Thank you! This has really helped me.0
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