Calorie Allowance!

PinkPixiexox

I'm back again with another question

Recently been advised to 'eat more' as according to my PT, I was under-eating on the Weight Watchers plan. I'll give Weight Watchers credit - I lost 25lbs following that plan, but I became miserable and incredibly hungry. I didn't reward myself *once* in the entire 3 months so at the beginning of month 4, I asked my trainer for advice. We worked out that my daily Weight Watchers 'point allowance' being 26 meant I was consuming no more than 1200 calories per day. I also work out 4 times a week (Cardio and strength training each session - approx 30-40 mins long).

Trainer recorded my current weight and height plus activity level and put me on a 1600 calorie plan (obviously good, balanced food. He did suggest a 50g carb approach but it just wasn't going to work out for me!).

So far I'm sticking to the 1600, balancing out my food and feeling a lot better. I've put the scales away for a few weeks because no doubt the jump from 1200 per day to 1600 will show a bit of a gain (booo, hopefully not too much ) but i just wanted to be doubly sure that I am not eating *TOO* much. I understand losing fat doesn't have to be about starving yourself but I kind of feel it's a little good to be true.

My stats are as follows:

Height: 5ft 2
Weight: 9 stone 6
Activity Level: Desk job with 4 strength and cardio workouts a week (30 mins to an hour per session).

According to the NHS BMI calculator, I am just about in a healthy weight range but I'd like to lose more. Ideally 0.5lbs per week (sounds more realistic than the 2lbs per week I was previously losing on Weight Watchers). Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

kshama2001

Ya, with only 14 pounds to lose your goal should be to lose 0.5 pound per week. When you plug your stats and that goal into MFP do you get 1600 calories?

juggernaut1974

Running your stats through a couple of online calculators, it would appear your estimated TDEE (ie maintenance calories) are probably somewhere around 1700 or so. So a diet of 1600 is not going to give you much of a deficit, and leaves very little margin for error.

Somewhere around 1500 would seem to be the 'sweet spot' for a 0.5 lb/per week average loss.

But like all plans - try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes. If after 4-6 weeks you're not seeing your desired results, then you and your trainer can tweak it accordingly.

PinkPixiexox

When I plug it into MFP, I get around 1200 calories - which according to my trainer was not enough

It's difficult because all of these calculators give me different results - some saying 1400, some saying 1700. My trainer said 1600. All of these conflicting views are confusing me and I just want to have a number to settle on really!

DeguelloTex

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

When I plug it into MFP, I get around 1200 calories - which according to my trainer was not enough

It's difficult because all of these calculators give me different results - some saying 1400, some saying 1700. My trainer said 1600. All of these conflicting views are confusing me and I just want to have a number to settle on really!

You get 1200 in MFP when setting your goal to .5 pound per week?

coolz19465

Professional athletes eat 5000 calories a day, because they burn 3-5k calories. Before I was married I ate like 3.5-4k calories a day, because I rocked climbed 4-6 hours 5+ days a week. Then I stopped, and now I am trying to lose 30 pounds. You need to figure out how many calories to eat a day based on your exercise, and create at least a small deficit to lose the weight. The smaller the deficit the slower the weight loss. I would follow your trainers advise and eat 1600 calories for at least a few weeks to see how your body handles it, then if you are seeing a gain, either add a little cardio like a run on your off days, or reduce your calorie intake slightly. Thats advise from an amateur!

PinkPixiexox

I think it was possibly more-like 1300 ish with 0.5

KateTii

Sounds good to me, keep going! (Sounds like your PT actually knows something about diet!)

If you are a couple of weeks (or even just one week) into the new eating plan, I think it's time to pull the scales back out. Yes you will gain a little bit initially (basically more food inside of you = more weight) but it shouldn't be some massive 5lb spike. The scales are a great way to see if what you are doing is right for you. Even if the scale has gone up a little, do not panic. As long as the trendline is going down, you're doing it right.

Your goal of 1600 calories sounds pretty good for a slow even loss. My BMR (i'm the pretty much same weight but a little taller) is roughly 1650 so your goal of 1600 (BMR + activity) sounds right.

Remember, all your body needs to lose weight is a calorie deficit. Even a small deficit will result in weightloss.

paperpudding

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

I think it was possibly more-like 1300 ish with 0.5

Yes That seems possible if you are 5 ft 2 in and sedentary - I am 5 ft 4in and lightly active and it gave me 1460 to lose 1/2 lb per week.

juggernaut1974

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

I think it was possibly more-like 1300 ish with 0.5

Remember that MFP uses the NEAT method - so that would be 1300 + calories burned from exercise. So that seems to confirm my previous recommendation of around 1500 (+/- 100) or so gross calories per day.

WBB55

The worst thing that will happen at 1600 is you won't lose. So try it for 4-6 weeks. If you don't lose an ounce, CONGRATULATIONS! You've found your maintenance TDEE! Cut that each week by 100 calories until you start losing. The difference between 1100-1200 and 1600-1700 is a theoretical pound per week. So your best place PROBABLY is somewhere in the middle. I know it's frustrating to not know. But in 4-6 weeks you might be losing, worst case you KNOW what TDEE is.

paperpudding

Also remember that is your net calories - if you excercise you are meant to eat back excercise calories.

So 1600 total after eating back exercise calories could be about right

VintageFeline

The figure given by MFP excludes exercise calories (assuming you have it set to sedentary) so you would eat more when you exercise.

Coeverturf used a TDEE calculator which includes your exercise in the total.

So they both probably work out to about 1500 calories per day.

PinkPixiexox

So how does this sound:

Drop it down to 1500, give it a couple of weeks and then weigh.

I am aiming to focus primarily on inch loss as opposed to weight loss but I'd like to know I'm not *gaining* at least (saying that, I am strength training so if I gain, it could be down to that too...?). I suppose there are so many conflicting views!

VintageFeline

Give it 4-6 weeks, you won't really be able to get an overall view until then.

You won't be gaining muscle in a deficit but there can be just natural fluctuations which is why you need longer than two weeks to make an informed decision.

PinkPixiexox

Thanks for your help..

I am questioning the reliability of these online calculators - so far, after entering the same details and activity levels into each calculator, I have come up with the following results of what I should be consuming to lose weight (all from different sites!)

1775
1550
1500
1642
1627
1598
1845 (!)
1549
1679

It's no wonder i'm confused! Ha..

DeguelloTex

Just pick one, use it, and adjust your approach based on your results. They're all just estimates, anyway.

kshama2001

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

So how does this sound:

Drop it down to 1500, give it a couple of weeks and then weigh.

I am aiming to focus primarily on inch loss as opposed to weight loss but I'd like to know I'm not *gaining* at least (saying that, I am strength training so if I gain, it could be down to that too...?). I suppose there are so many conflicting views!

Pick one method and stick with it. MFP has been very accurate and easy for me.

I weigh every day so I can track trends over time. When I see a new low for a few days, I log it into MFP as my official weight.

I set my goals to lose one pound per week and eat the calories MFP gives me plus some, but not all, of the calories I earn from the exercise I log, and since April I have indeed averaged losing a pound per week.

nordlead2005

If you log accurately you don't need an online calculator. Calculators are good for starting off, but once you get under way, just use the information you've collected.

Take your average daily intake over some time frame (6-8 weeks) and take the weight loss over that period.

(Weight Loss * 3500/# of days) + Daily Intake = Average TDEE.

TDEE - 250 = 0.5lb/week weight loss.

Recalculate periodically so you don't hit a plateau.

kimny72

OP, all calculators are estimating. Your trainer is estimating. There is no 100% reliable and exact way to know exactly how many calories you can eat. The only way to figure it out is trial and error. So you can go with MFP, and eat 1300 plus your exercise calories, or you can go with your trainer and manually set it to 1600. Or you can pick some random number in between . Then stick to it for 4 weeks and see what happens.

If you lose less than 2 lbs in the 4 weeks, cut 100 calories and try again.
If you lose more than 2 lbs in the 4 weeks, give yourself another 100 cals to eat every day, yay!
And if you lose 2 lbs in those 4 weeks, you have found your number.

It would be great if we could have some machine scan our eyeball, or prick our finger, or something and tell us exactly what to do, but no such luck. You are on the right track at least, good luck!

cwolfman13

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

Thanks for your help..

I am questioning the reliability of these online calculators - so far, after entering the same details and activity levels into each calculator, I have come up with the following results of what I should be consuming to lose weight (all from different sites!)

1775
1550
1500
1642
1627
1598
1845 (!)
1549
1679

It's no wonder i'm confused! Ha..

for one thing, those numbers aren't hugely different...you're just not used to looking at them so they are hugely different in your mind.

secondly, any and all of these calculators are simply meant to provide you with a reasonable starting point...nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories...they're just estimates...it's still up to you to do the math and make adjustments as per your real world results.

pick on and stick with it...track the trend over the course of 4 weeks or so...adjust as necessary.

PinkPixiexox

Kimmy72 - Thank you SO much. This has really simplified it for me. I have made a note in my diary for in 4 weeks time of exactly those points and how I can adjust depending on the result of the scales!

PinkPixiexox

cwolfman13, spot on. Thanks so much.

WBB55

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

Thanks for your help..

I am questioning the reliability of these online calculators - so far, after entering the same details and activity levels into each calculator, I have come up with the following results of what I should be consuming to lose weight (all from different sites!)

1775
1550
1500
1642
1627
1598
1845 (!)
1549
1679

It's no wonder i'm confused! Ha..

The difference in theoretical weight loss between these numbers is the difference between losing 0.5 lbs per week and losing 1.19 lbs per week. It really isn't that big of a spread. Just pick one. Stick with it for 6 weeks, see how much you lose. If you stay the same... like I said... CONGRATULATIONS! You've found maintenance for your current regimen. Cut 100 cals per week until you start losing. Then stay there until you reach your goal (or stall for a couple months).