Caloric intake vs exercise.

lizziegs

I am so lost when it comes to caloric intake. I go back and forth with what I should be doing and maybe someone on here can help me.

I am 34 years old, 5'3 and weigh 146. I workout 4-5 times a week, usually doing lifting with an occasional hiit workout or run mixed in on off days. I don't know if I consider it heavy lifting (I can usually average 10-12 reps with what I'm doing)

I use the mfp suggestion at losing 1 lb per week with an active lifestyle because although my job does not require a lot of moving (more driving than anything) I feel like when I am home, I am on my feet all the time and I do around 30-45 minute workout on most days. That puts me at 1670 for the day. I tried that last week and didn't eat back my calories from working out.

I have also used Scooby workshop and enter 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise with 20% caloric reduction. That puts me at 1755 a day which is still kind of close to mfp.

I did really well this week and only lost .2 pounds and am wondering why. I have done the eat more to weigh less in the past but I also feel like when I eat more than that, I just end up eating crap and that's how I got where I am in the first place. I also don't think I am doing enough heavy lifting to justify eating 2000+ calories a day.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I think I just need to pick one goal and stick with it.

Thanks in advance!

lemurcat12

lizziegs wrote: »

I think I just need to pick one goal and stick with it.

This. Patience, although I know it's hard.

The 1670 seems like a reasonable goal -- I'd say try that for a few weeks and see how it goes. You should lose, for sure (I am assuming you aren't eating exercise back and are logging well). You can't tell what the rate of loss will be or if you need to adjust it until you do it for longer than a week.

TavistockToad

I agree with pick one and stick to it.

I personally prefer MFP method over TDEE, as I like the flexibility that exercise calories gives me.

I don't think you sound 'active' though, if you work full time? I would pick 1lb per week deficit, light active and log you exercise, see how you do after 4-6 weeks and then amend your calories as necessary.

coreyreichle

Don't sweat a single week. You're looking at trends, not points-in-time.

Change your activity level to sedentary. Mostly driving isn't considered "Active". And, if you're telling MFP that you're doing 1 hour of exercise per day, don't eat the calories back, MFP already figure that into your daily goal.

Regardless, this is one week. Don't start troubleshooting until you have 3 weeks consecutive of unexpected results.

sijomial

coreyreichle wrote: »

Don't sweat a single week. You're looking at trends, not points-in-time.

Change your activity level to sedentary. Mostly driving isn't considered "Active". And, if you're telling MFP that you're doing 1 hour of exercise per day, don't eat the calories back, MFP already figure that into your daily goal.
Regardless, this is one week. Don't start troubleshooting until you have 3 weeks consecutive of unexpected results.

Bolded part is wrong.
MFP calorie goal does not include exercise.

lizziegs

Ok so I switched it to lightly active and that puts me at 1360. Should I eat back calories in that case? That is a big difference.

Thanks everyone!

TavistockToad

lizziegs wrote: »

Ok so I switched it to lightly active and that puts me at 1360. Should I eat back calories in that case? That is a big difference.

Thanks everyone!

yep

999tigger

If its MFP then eat back 50% of calories it gives you and adjust as needed. The reason being for some people the burns are overgenerous as well as people overestimate their own effort.