Eating at maintenance without exercise - then exercise kcals should make you lose weight ?
hupsii
Posts: 258 Member
Hi, my question is this - I am eating at maintenace that MFP calculated for me, roughly 2000 kcals, sedentary, female 53, 5ft8 and 202 lbs. Now, I am trying to be active every day ( 3 - 4 days gym per week , walk at lunchbreaks, cycling weekends, etc.) and not eating these kcals back. I have done this now for about 1 month but my weight does not budge nor my measurements. I want to lose about 2 lbs a month - slow and steady. Should work, no ?
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Replies
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Yes, but MFP isn't 100% accurate. Try 18500
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It should in theory so long as your maintenance is your NEAT maintenance (eg what MFP spews out) and not your TDEE (eg what sites like Scooby would give you which already includes your exercise)
at 5'8 and 160lbs my NEAT is 1780 for reference based on sedentary
How are you measuring and logging your food intake?
How are you measuring your calorie burn in exercise?
get your logging right and you should acheive some success, or work out what level you can eat at0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Yes, but MFP isn't 100% accurate. Try 1850
ok - thanks - will try that0 -
Your theory is good.
The practical tripping points are: is your maintenance what you think it is?
Is your logging accurate enough (it probably isn't).
Is your exercise sufficient to push you over your MFP sedentary level (it probably is).
Is it sufficient to help you burn an extra 7000 calories plus account for the inaccuracies listed? Who knows!
If you are trying for a slow rate you certainly won't have the instant feedback that large losses. So you will have to be patient and accept that it will take time to figure out what is happening given normal weight variations.0 -
It should in theory so long as your maintenance is your NEAT maintenance (eg what MFP spews out) and not your TDEE (eg what sites like Scooby would give you which already includes your exercise)
at 5'8 and 160lbs my NEAT is 1780 for reference based on sedentary
How are you measuring and logging your food intake?
How are you measuring your calorie burn in exercise?
get your logging right and you should acheive some success, or work out what level you can eat at
Yes, it should be the NEAT, as I entered 0 exercise in MFP.
I have a food scale and also cook all the meals myself except for lunch but this is only 1 plate of food with 2 vegetables and 1 piece of meat or fish - very small portion - actually so small that I have to always add a side salad to make me full.
As to the calorie burn, I log it and then change it to 1 calorie only. Typically, it should be about 200 - 300 kcals burn.0 -
It should in theory so long as your maintenance is your NEAT maintenance (eg what MFP spews out) and not your TDEE (eg what sites like Scooby would give you which already includes your exercise)
at 5'8 and 160lbs my NEAT is 1780 for reference based on sedentary
How are you measuring and logging your food intake?
How are you measuring your calorie burn in exercise?
get your logging right and you should acheive some success, or work out what level you can eat at
Yes, it should be the NEAT, as I entered 0 exercise in MFP.
I have a food scale and also cook all the meals myself except for lunch but this is only 1 plate of food with 2 vegetables and 1 piece of meat or fish - very small portion - actually so small that I have to always add a side salad to make me full.
As to the calorie burn, I log it and then change it to 1 calorie only. Typically, it should be about 200 - 300 kcals burn.
MFP doesn't take account of the exercise you enter .. that's merely a personal goal - it always give your BMR plus your activity setting (NEAT) based on your stated goal so you should be good to go
This wouldn't be your actual maintenance though .. your maintenance is your TDEE (just to avoid future confusion)
Sounds like you should be OK - give it 6-8 weeks and judge by scale movement .. if none then cut another 200 off0 -
Your theory is good.
The practical tripping points are: is your maintenance what you think it is?
Is your logging accurate enough (it probably isn't).
Is your exercise sufficient to push you over your MFP sedentary level (it probably is).
Is it sufficient to help you burn an extra 7000 calories plus account for the inaccuracies listed? Who knows!
If you are trying for a slow rate you certainly won't have the instant feedback that large losses. So you will have to be patient and accept that it will take time to figure out what is happening given normal weight variations.
ok thanks - yes, I see what you mean. I will try to reduce to 1850 as recommended by Tavistock Toad and take it from there0 -
If you are happy to take it slow and steady then you have the opportunity to just try it and see. If you haven't lost in two weeks at 2000 calories, try 1850 as suggested. You can play around with the numbers and see what works for you. All calculators for NEAT and TDEE are just estimates as everyones calorie needs are slightly different.
Good luck
Just edited to add I re-read and see you have already tried it a month. If your logging is as accurate as possible then yeah try dropping a couple of hundred and see how it works out for you.0 -
Hi, my question is this - I am eating at maintenace that MFP calculated for me, roughly 2000 kcals, sedentary, female 53, 5ft8 and 202 lbs. Now, I am trying to be active every day ( 3 - 4 days gym per week , walk at lunchbreaks, cycling weekends, etc.) and not eating these kcals back. I have done this now for about 1 month but my weight does not budge nor my measurements. I want to lose about 2 lbs a month - slow and steady. Should work, no ?
The experimental data show you what to do: you have not been losing, or gaining, so you are eating at maintenance, meaning including exercise. Either MFP estimation is a bit off, or you are not exercising as much as you think you are (regardng calories burned) or you are not counting calories that accurately. An error of 200 calories more or less is very easy to happen, so leave some greater margin for error. I would lower the calories by at least 200-300 and see what happens after a couple of weeks.
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Hi, my question is this - I am eating at maintenace that MFP calculated for me, roughly 2000 kcals, sedentary, female 53, 5ft8 and 202 lbs. Now, I am trying to be active every day ( 3 - 4 days gym per week , walk at lunchbreaks, cycling weekends, etc.) and not eating these kcals back. I have done this now for about 1 month but my weight does not budge nor my measurements. I want to lose about 2 lbs a month - slow and steady. Should work, no ?
The experimental data show you what to do: you have not been losing, or gaining, so you are eating at maintenance, meaning including exercise. Either MFP estimation is a bit off, or you are not exercising as much as you think you are (regardng calories burned) or you are not counting calories that accurately. An error of 200 calories more or less is very easy to happen, so leave some greater margin for error. I would lower the calories by at least 200-300 and see what happens after a couple of weeks.
Yes, I guess that's the only way to reduce my kcals ... what a pity
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Errr, no. Absolutely not.Yes, I guess that's the only way to reduce my kcals ... what a pity
You can also be 200 calories or so more active.
You can add another walk before you go to work or after you come back home.
You can make your current walks faster. if you average 100 steps a minute try for 110!
Instead of just cycling, cycle up some big hills, or cycle for a longer time period.
You get the drift
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This is why i always suggest your deficit is through your EATING and not through exercise.
Let's be honest here, you are not burning 2-300 calories every day 7 days a week. There will undoubtedly be days you cant hit the gym.
Additionally, there is undoubtedly a margin of error in calorie counting. If it's a few hundred cals or even only 100- you're undoing most of your deficit on the days you work out. And if you are undoing it on the days you work out, what about cheat days/birthdays/those days you just happen to treat yourself a little extra?
And then, how accurate is the calorie maintenance calculation MFP is giving you?
There are just too many factors with this method that can go wrong.
My opinion would be to eat the calorie deficit, every day. This means even on days you cant go to the gym you're in a deficit. It also means that if you DO workout extra you can eat some more to account for that.
My motto: you can't outtrain a bad diet!0 -
In spite of my advice to the OP that she can also adjust 200 calories through exercise I actually agree that you can't out exercise your diet.rainbowbow wrote: »My motto: you can't outtrain a bad diet!
My suggestion was a reaction to the OP's sad face about having to adjust her food intake downward.
However, I do believe that trying to out exercise what you eat is not a good idea, not only because you end up like a gerbil spinning inside your wheel; but, also because life and injuries are much more likely to derail an exercise plan as opposed to an eating plan.0 -
In spite of my advice to the OP that she can also adjust 200 calories through exercise I actually agree that you can't out exercise your diet.rainbowbow wrote: »My motto: you can't outtrain a bad diet!
My suggestion was a reaction to the OP's sad face about having to adjust her food intake downward.
However, I do believe that trying to out exercise what you eat is not a good idea, not only because you end up like a gerbil spinning inside your wheel; but, also because life and injuries are much more likely to derail an exercise plan as opposed to an eating plan.
exactly. I've been there, done that, and it's not sustainable. One day worth of cheating could undo an entire 2 weeks worth of work. Things would always come up and i couldn't get to the gym that day, a party came up, etc. Life has a way of getting in the way, but if the issue is of calorie intake, that can be more easily controlled and accounted i think.
OP, you don't have to have a huge deficit if you want to lose low and slow. I just don't think it's a good idea to try and do it with your current method.
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rainbowbow wrote: »
In spite of my advice to the OP that she can also adjust 200 calories through exercise I actually agree that you can't out exercise your diet.rainbowbow wrote: »My motto: you can't outtrain a bad diet!
My suggestion was a reaction to the OP's sad face about having to adjust her food intake downward.
However, I do believe that trying to out exercise what you eat is not a good idea, not only because you end up like a gerbil spinning inside your wheel; but, also because life and injuries are much more likely to derail an exercise plan as opposed to an eating plan.
exactly. I've been there, done that, and it's not sustainable. One day worth of cheating could undo an entire 2 weeks worth of work. Things would always come up and i couldn't get to the gym that day, a party came up, etc. Life has a way of getting in the way, but if the issue is of calorie intake, that can be more easily controlled and accounted i think.
OP, you don't have to have a huge deficit if you want to lose low and slow. I just don't think it's a good idea to try and do it with your current method.
yes, it is just so hard for me to already not eat over maintenance and my aim is to be as high as possible but I reduce my kcals to 1800 that should be managable - I will try this for a month and see what happens.
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Errr, no. Absolutely not.Yes, I guess that's the only way to reduce my kcals ... what a pity
You can also be 200 calories or so more active.
You can add another walk before you go to work or after you come back home.
You can make your current walks faster. if you average 100 steps a minute try for 110!
Instead of just cycling, cycle up some big hills, or cycle for a longer time period.
You get the drift
I could at the same time increase the intensity of my workouts - yes good idea.
In general MFP gives me about 500 kcals but I guess only half of this is realistic 0 -
When I add exercise or change up my exercise, I often plateau for a few weeks due to water weight, then have a sudden drop. It is a common thing to have happen. Don't forget to factor that in.
Also, a person losing a couple pounds a week will usually see a loss weekly, but at a half pound the normal weight fluctuations due to TOM, exercise related water weight, hydration levels, food volume, etc will obscure things. You have to follow the long term trends over a month or two to see a clear loss.
As for people saying you can't out exercise a bad diet...I don't see that as what you are doing. I have lost most of my weight the way you are. I eat at or above my sedentary maintenance level and create deficits through being very active. "Out exercising a bad diet" is when you are eating in an unrestrained manner, then running a treadmill for hours to create calorie burns to fix the damage. Or just exercising and thinking you can eat all you want, oblivious to the math. That is different than eating a healthy diet with a sensibly chosen calorie target that involves a 250 cal deficit that is created mostly through being an active person (in my case I walk 2 miles to/from work each day, weight train a little, and am a runner....I just completed a 10k cross country race this past weekend). My life and fitness goals allow me to lose slowly while eating an amount that would make me gain or maintain if I were sitting on the couch all day. And when I do take a rest day and am inactive I just watch my eating more, keep it at maintenance or slightly below for the lower activity of that day. That piece is important, since there are going to be days you take an exercise break or get busy and don't make it to the gym. So adjust the food intake downward to account for that on those days. Fitbit is helpful to me in terms of getting a good estimate of my calories burned.0 -
Docbanana2002 wrote: »When I add exercise or change up my exercise, I often plateau for a few weeks due to water weight, then have a sudden drop. It is a common thing to have happen. Don't forget to factor that in.
Also, a person losing a couple pounds a week will usually see a loss weekly, but at a half pound the normal weight fluctuations due to TOM, exercise related water weight, hydration levels, food volume, etc will obscure things. You have to follow the long term trends over a month or two to see a clear loss.
As for people saying you can't out exercise a bad diet...I don't see that as what you are doing. I have lost most of my weight the way you are. I eat at or above my sedentary maintenance level and create deficits through being very active. "Out exercising a bad diet" is when you are eating in an unrestrained manner, then running a treadmill for hours to create calorie burns to fix the damage. Or just exercising and thinking you can eat all you want, oblivious to the math. That is different than eating a healthy diet with a sensibly chosen calorie target that involves a 250 cal deficit that is created mostly through being an active person (in my case I walk 2 miles to/from work each day, weight train a little, and am a runner....I just completed a 10k cross country race this past weekend). My life and fitness goals allow me to lose slowly while eating an amount that would make me gain or maintain if I were sitting on the couch all day. And when I do take a rest day and am inactive I just watch my eating more, keep it at maintenance or slightly below for the lower activity of that day. That piece is important, since there are going to be days you take an exercise break or get busy and don't make it to the gym. So adjust the food intake downward to account for that on those days. Fitbit is helpful to me in terms of getting a good estimate of my calories burned.
great advice ! Thank you so much - As I am probably much less active than you, I will try to do create my deficit combining the two... still going down a little bit with the kcals - but you are correct in saying that 1 month is probably not long enough to see the trend.0
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