Howdy, podnuhs in weight loss - question about BMR

vernont

I'm a 49 year old male in pretty darn good shape. 6'0" - 190 lbs. I excersice regularly - even able to do short "Sprint Triathalons". But I just CAN'T seem to get this last 10 -15 lbs off of me. My sweet, lovely wife told me about this site, so I'l try it. Here is my dilema:

In an effort to loose these last stubborn lbs, I have disciplined myself with some low caloric intake (like down to 1,000 - 1,500 per day). Much to my chagrin, I've recently been told that I probably went too low. My Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is about 1800 calories/day for my age & weight. Reportedly, the low caloric intake that I went on slowed my BMR down to the point that my body would no longer burn the excess fat. This low caloric intake essentially "convinced" my body that it was "starving to death". Therefore, as a defensive move to preserve itself, my body lowered the rate at which it burns calories. I know Jesus loves me, but man, this almost seems like God is being mean! Just kidding! But really, I torture myself by eating a lot less, and my body slows down? UHGGG!!

Being new on this site, I just entered my food diary. It says that in order to loose 2 lbs a week, I need to reduce caloric intake from a normal level of about 1800 calories, down to about 1250. But when I add in my exercise, it brings me back up to about 1800 calories.

So my question is this; How am I supposed to reduce Calories to burn excess fat, yet still keep my caloric intake up to the minimum level as prescribed? Do I understand things correctly? Any thoughts from some of you pros out there?

vernont

I'm a 49 year old male in pretty darn good shape. 6'0" - 190 lbs. I excersice regularly - even able to do short "Sprint Triathalons". But I just CAN'T seem to get this last 10 -15 lbs off of me. My sweet, lovely wife told me about this site, so I'l try it. Here is my dilema:

In an effort to loose these last stubborn lbs, I have disciplined myself with some low caloric intake (like down to 1,000 - 1,500 per day). Much to my chagrin, I've recently been told that I probably went too low. My Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is about 1800 calories/day for my age & weight. Reportedly, the low caloric intake that I went on slowed my BMR down to the point that my body would no longer burn the excess fat. This low caloric intake essentially "convinced" my body that it was "starving to death". Therefore, as a defensive move to preserve itself, my body lowered the rate at which it burns calories. I know Jesus loves me, but man, this almost seems like God is being mean! Just kidding! But really, I torture myself by eating a lot less, and my body slows down? UHGGG!!

Being new on this site, I just entered my food diary. It says that in order to loose 2 lbs a week, I need to reduce caloric intake from a normal level of about 1800 calories, down to about 1250. But when I add in my exercise, it brings me back up to about 1800 calories.

So my question is this; How am I supposed to reduce Calories to burn excess fat, yet still keep my caloric intake up to the minimum level as prescribed? Do I understand things correctly? Any thoughts from some of you pros out there?

hjcopeland

Your BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you were "at rest" all day. But nobody stays in bed all day! We do things like walking, housework, driving, etc., all of which burn calories.

If your BMR is 1800, then 2400-2600 is probably a reasonable estimate for what you would actually burn in a normal day (not including exercise).

When you set up your goals, the site asks you about your lifestyle, i.e. how sedentary or active you are during a normal day, and it calculates your actual daily caloric need.

Then it gives you a daily calorie "goal" based on your weight loss goal. For example, if you told the site you wanted to lose 1 pound per week (recommended), it would calculate a daily "deficit" of 500 calories per day. This number is what shows up as your dauly goal in your food diary.

So if your BMR is 1800, and you burn 600 more doing your normal daily activities, that = 2,400 calories per day that you could eat and maintain your current weight. To lose a pound per week, you would need to eat 1900 calories (2400 minus 500).

Note: the site "adds" any calories that you burn during exercise (and enter in the cardio section under the exercise tab) back in to your daily caloric goal in order to maintain that 500 calorie deficit. So if you enter 200 calories of cardio, then your daily goal would be raised to 2100 in order to maintain your daily deficit at 500 and your weekly weight loss at one pound.

Hope that helps!

pamelawh

hi,

i have been taking professional advice from jillian michael trainer for biggest loser program on tv. she says don't reduce calories but increase exercise. she also highly recommends and lives by having strength training circuits-5 in your daily program for five days and resting for two. i have also added cardio in mine and i went on line to research muscle confusion. the treadmill programs for all levels recommends that you change your programs once every 4 weeks. you body gets accustomed to exercise and then you plateau. yes you reduced your calories but what menu are you following. you may want to give crosscrunch.com a try. there are meal plans and shopping menus for 5 different weeks. there is a separate menu plan for guys. check it out. first 90 days on that menu i dropped from size 15 that was getting too small to a loose 13. then review every 4 weeks what you are doing.