How much damage am I doing?

pineygirl

I'm netting under my BMR pretty much every day. My BMR is 1209, and I net anywhere from 700-1100. I eat from 1500-2000 depending on my activity. According to my fitbit charge HR, I burn from 2200-2800 calories per day. Average is around 2400. My deficit seems huge, but I leave a 250-ish buffer for the inaccuracy of the fitbit. I don't trust that I burn what it says I do.

I weigh 123lbs and I'm 5'1. How does someone so small and old (34) burn 2400 calories per day. I'm not an athlete. I have PCOS and hypothyroidsm.

I do work on my feet as a chemist and do a lot of running around at work. At home I chase after my 15 month old DS, cook, clean and do housework. I take from 15,000 to 22,000 steps a day (average is around 18,000).

The reason I'm netting under my BMR is because I get these massive exercise calorie adjustments....like 600-900 extra calories. MFP is set to lightly active. And they increase as the day progresses, so when I get home from work I have like 1200 calories left. I'm not eating 1200 calories for dinner. So I'll have a snack, then eat dinner, and it adds up to maybe 800 calories...and I just leave the rest for my buffer.

I'm trying to lose the last 8-10lbs of left over baby and breastfeeding weight. My goal is 115lbs. And I want to get there before we TTC the next baby.

So far I'm losing about 1lb/week, maybe a little more. My deficit is usually around 750, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Am I damaging my already sluggish metablolism even more by undereating?

I'm not that hungry, or tired or feeling run down. I actually feel better than I have in months.

My diary is open...

janejellyroll

My suspicion: your Fitbit burns aren't accurate and you aren't burning as much as it says that you are. Which makes sense, because they're just based on the average person and your Fitbit doesn't know about your medical conditions.

If you're losing a pound a week, you aren't regularly hitting a deficit of 750. You should use your weight loss and what you know about your calorie intake to determine what your TDEE actually is.

steph2strong

If you are loosing 1 lb per week that seems right on track. Also if you feel so good in the process than you are definitely on track.

I personally don't trust the fitbit calorie assessments, although everyone has a different experience with them, some find they underestimate, some find they overestimate, some find they are right on track. I have always just set a daily calorie expenditure and then added exercise calories in. I am 31 years old (I considered this young! don't know why you call yourself old at 34!!) 5'6 (115 lbs... normally, i'm pregnant now, 128 lbs at 8 months) and my maintenance calories were about 1580. I walk a lot during the day, including and hour with my dog, and I don't count that as exercise. I usually would add 500-600 calories everyday for exercise, my exercise was 60-120 minutes of running, biking, rowing, kettle bells, plyometrics and weight lifting. I previously was a competitive athlete and my exercise was/is very intense so I felt the 500-600 calorie burn was accurate. Therefore I maintained my weight eating approximately 2100-2200 calories a day.

If you are eating 1500-2000 calories a day I really can't see how you are undereating at 5'1 and 123 lbs, and your metabolism will be just fine if you are eating consistently throughout the day, especially high protein foods.

earlnabby

BMR means nothing except as a starting point to calculate TDEE. It does not matter if you eat over it or under it, just eat enough to properly fuel your body while maintaining a deficit.

Sued0nim

You're losing 1lb a week on average? Over how long? 6 weeks at least?

That means your defecit is around 500 cals

I trust my fitbit implicitly as it has proved correct for me over time,but it's not an hr one I don't trust them

I would say you have an active lifestyle, at your stats that would give you a TDEE of around 2300 and you're eating around 1800

Seems fine to me in terms of actuality...not in terms of the numbers you're working with though

pineygirl

Ok...thanks everyone. Good to know netting below BMR means nothing. I'm happy with my weight loss at around 1lb per week. I just didn't want to mess up my metabolism if I was eating too little. I think I'm actually eating at more like a 500 calorie deficit if I'm losing 1lb a week. So I must actually be burning around 2000 to 2500 calories per day and my 200 to 300 calorie buffer is pretty accurate. My actual TDEE is probably around 2200.

I don't feel like I'm undereating.

brianpperkins

A quick look at your log for a few days indicates you simply input the package nutritional data ... it doesn't seem that anything is weighed. That is a start point, but it has inherent inaccuracies. That means there is a good chance you are eating more than you think you are and your fitbit might be giving you an exaggerated burn. That partially explains why you claim a deficit that doesn't quite match your rate of loss.

pineygirl

If it's something like a yogurt in a package I don't weigh it. Or where one package is a serving like a 100 caloire pack of nuts or a string cheese. Everything for my salads and other lunch items are weighed. I also don't weigh individual slices of bread or eggs. I do weigh meat and portions of food I cook. I weigh every ingredient I even weigh my whey protein and I measure the milk I use in that and in my coffee.

If I use the package information it's because I've weighed out a portion size on the nutritional information....especially for things like rice, cous cous or quinoa.

Yesterday though I was bad and ate pizza and I just used a generic pizza and added the toppings (took them off and weighed them). I just left a bigger deficit yesterday because I couldn't be accurate.

Maybe I am actually overeating and not undereating.

Liftng4Lis

You're eating 1500-2k a day and losing. Way to get it!

pineygirl

I should also add that I'm still breastfeeding but I don't log it or eat extra for it. My son is 15 months old and I don't make that much milk anymore. Maybe 8oz per day.

lynn_glenmont

If you're losing about a pound a week, you don't need to panic about doing serious damage to yourself -- however, you probably are pushing the limits of the energy your 123-pound body can metabolize from its fat stores (about 30 calories per pound of body fat per day -- and as I understand it, that's a maximum, if your demands on stored energy were constant around the clock, which they're not, so personally I like to leave a good bit of leeway), so you may be losing a bit more lean body mass (e.g., muscle) than is necessary. With only 8 to 10 lbs to lose, I think many people would advise you to eat enough to slow your weight loss to about half a pound per week--so, try adding another 250 calories a day to what you're eating now.

tequila5000

pineygirl wrote: »

Yesterday though I was bad and ate pizza

Please don't say you were bad for eating pizza. Pizza is a food that can be consumed, unless you are allergic to one of its ingredients. Don't beat yourself up for eating pizza.

tomatosoup3

tequila5000 wrote: »

pineygirl wrote: »

Yesterday though I was bad and ate pizza

Please don't say you were bad for eating pizza. Pizza is a food that can be consumed, unless you are allergic to one of its ingredients. Don't beat yourself up for eating pizza.

That's not what she meant. Read it in context. She's saying she was bad for not weighing it accurately.

Whether that thinking is also unhealthy is another story...

pineygirl

Pizza for me is bad....right now anyway. I have PCOS and PCOS is linked to insulin resistance. When I used to check my blood sugar (for hypoglycemia ) pizza was the one food that kept my blood sugar slightly elevated for 2 hours after I ate it. It's the large amount of simple carbs in the dough and not enough protein to balance them.

I'm not just losing weight to look pretty. It's about my health. I'm trying to improve my egg quality after my 3rd miscarriage, and so we can TTC again early next year.

VTorres26

follow

pineygirl

Not saying I never plan to eat pizza agin. I love pizza. I can just only have in once in awhile.

dubird

What I've found that works best for me is to set both MFP and Fitbit to sedentary goals. I don't exercise every day, so when I do, that's added as extra. Another tip is to wear it on your non-dominant wrist but set it to dominant. That makes it less sensitive and it'll be a bit more accurate. No tracker will be 100%, but with the heart rate monitor, you can get close enough for horseshoes.

sinnybri

If your breastfeeding and eating below 1800 calories a day your supply will be effected. My son it two and my supply has always been good but when I cut below 1800 my supply dropped right down. It's really a minefield when your BFing but it's just about getting the balance right.

cafeaulait7

With PCOS and hypothyroid, it's likely enough that your BMR is lower than the average calculator will know. So the end result is the same, but your burns may not be over-exaggerated.

Good for you for watching your carbs! I miss eating more than one slice of pizza at once, lol. And always thin-crust now. I have glucose problems (and PCOS), too, except mine progressed You'll thank yourself for catching it as early as you can and taking it that seriously.

pineygirl

sinnybri wrote: »

If your breastfeeding and eating below 1800 calories a day your supply will be effected. My son it two and my supply has always been good but when I cut below 1800 my supply dropped right down. It's really a minefield when your BFing but it's just about getting the balance right.

My supply has been dropping for a while. Well before I started trying get to lose weight. I work long days and pump....and pumping isn't as effective at maintaining supply as breastfeeding is. My supply took a big hit when my fertility started returning...then even more when I got pregnant with the twins I lost at 7 weeks. And it never rebounded. The miscarriage was actually what made me want to lose the weight and get healthy again.

Actually this diet and exercise routine I started didn't lower it any more than it was. It's been pretty consistent with pumping about 5 Oz per day and breastfeeding a couple times a day.

My DS is on solids and drinks regular milk so it's not like I'm worried so much about my supply anymore. That's why I've waited so long to actively try to lose the weight. The nursing is more like a comfort thing for him now.

If we TTC again I'll need fertility drugs and will probably have to wean before starting them.