Considering upping calories... advice? Hard to find accurate TDEE for heavier ppl

MicheleCinti

Hi there... Okay, I've started (and restarted) this weight loss journey so many times I can't count. It seems my pattern is to do super well the first few weeks, (sometimes even a month or two), then stall. I'm 5'5", 46 yr old... weight between 253-259 (I'm up right now from my last weigh in of 253, but I know some of it's water retention. But I've been off plan for the past week and I'm struggling with emotions and staying dedicated.

Online calculators for how much my TDEE is are not very accurate due to being so very over weight, so they aren't a lot of help. Has anyone who is larger had any success finding a general formula that works for averaging your TDEE? I've been trying to eat below 1500 calories (most days aiming for 1400).... but I'm starting to think that if I want to lose weight long term (and stop binging/quitting) then maybe I need to start higher so that 1- I am able to gradually lower the calorie amount as I lose weight and 2- that maybe I'm going "too" low to start while I'm still larger, and that my "will power" alone isn't cutting it long term- so that if I start higher I can be more successful and avoid the "feel super hungry so just binge/overeat late in the day" pattern I'm stuck in... Thoughts? Any better approach?

I just don't know. I don't want to start TOO high that I don't lose at all, but I'm thinking since my body is 255ish pounds, that if I average 1800-2000 calories (just to start) that I should still lose.... or is that way to high? Then I can either gradually lower it by 100 calories or so every 10 pounds I lose, or just shift down to the 1500 over the course of 3/4 weeks by giving up a little each week. I just don't know. I'm so used to the "only eat 1400-1500 from the very beginning" mentality that I'm not sure how this will work. I have a vacation coming up in Nov that I wanted to lose as much as possible before, but I know in the end the sticking with it long term is what is important.

livingleanlivingclean

Have you tried putting your stats in to MFP to lose 2lbs per week? How many calories do they recommend?

gg2007

I would look at your current weight loss on your current calories, when sticking to them if the weight loss is ok for you then I would stick with it. The amount of calories you would need would also depend on if you are working out, however as the above poster said, if you put your figures into MFP it will work out a target weight loss goal for you depending on how much you want to lose a week.

cmriverside

Just use the MFP calculator. You're way overthinking it!

It will be easy for you to lose weight at your size, so start at the 2 pound loss per week setting and do that. Add in your purposeful exercise and eat a couple/three hundred more on those days.

As you lose weight you may find you are genuinely needing to eat more because you are fatigued or unable to do your daily routine or some other physical issue. That happened to me at about 180 pounds, so I adjusted my loss rate to "1 pound per week" and that gave me more calories.

kpchoate

If you're only eating 1400-1500 calories per day at your size, you're probably hitting a plateau pretty hard. Same thing happened to me. I started at 313 and lost a ton of weight right off the bat by cutting calories to nothing. When I hit 260, I flat-lined and that plan would no longer work. Your body starts to hold on to the fat because it thinks it will need it later for energy because you aren't feeding it enough. (That's super over-simplified but you get the point.)

I'd take previous poster's advice and just put your stats into MFP and set it for two lbs per week weight loss. Whatever it tells you your daily calories should be is exactly what you should try to hit. Coming in lower will not help you because you will simply plateau again. As for me, I've found that if I'm eating the right foods, hitting that calorie count can actually be a bit difficult because I really don't like to eat that much but I make myself do it.

I started doing exactly what I just told you on July 4th of this year and I was at 257 lbs. Today, I'm 239. So I know it works. Good luck! ;-) Keep at it.

MicheleCinti

Yeah- I use the MFP to calculate calories, and it says 1510. Problem is, I don't really find that for me the MFP calculator is all that accurate. In the past when I've been "on plan" and sticking to 1400-1500, I would count 6 days a week and take 1 day off, and I would usually lose more than the 2 pounds per week. I know that will slow down as I lose, but I'm saying if the 1510 they recommend was accurate I'd be losing 2 pounds a week doing that 7 days a week, and I was usually losing an average of 2.5-3 doing it 6 days a week. I know that every body is slightly different so the calculations are a "ball park", it just seems like my ball park is a bit off.

Now of course I would never have complained about losing more than the 2 pounds a week... I'm just saying that I'm stuck in this "start/stop" trend that isn't working. So I didn't know if starting my calorie goal a bit higher would make it more sustainable for me. But in the end I'm afraid if I eat 1800-2000 I'll stop losing all together or lose such a small amount that it makes it hard to stay motivated.

sijomial

The other way to think about it is..... What calorie level can you sustain for months?

Doesn't really matter if it's a small loss as long as you progress. Better than crash dieting for a short time until you give up and regain everything you have lost.

cmriverside

MicheleCinti wrote: »

Yeah- I use the MFP to calculate calories, and it says 1510. Problem is, I don't really find that for me the MFP calculator is all that accurate. In the past when I've been "on plan" and sticking to 1400-1500, I would count 6 days a week and take 1 day off, and I would usually lose more than the 2 pounds per week. I know that will slow down as I lose, but I'm saying if the 1510 they recommend was accurate I'd be losing 2 pounds a week doing that 7 days a week, and I was usually losing an average of 2.5-3 doing it 6 days a week. I know that every body is slightly different so the calculations are a "ball park", it just seems like my ball park is a bit off.

Now of course I would never have complained about losing more than the 2 pounds a week... I'm just saying that I'm stuck in this "start/stop" trend that isn't working. So I didn't know if starting my calorie goal a bit higher would make it more sustainable for me. But in the end I'm afraid if I eat 1800-2000 I'll stop losing all together or lose such a small amount that it makes it hard to stay motivated.

Okay, well this is more information for YOU to make your decision.

Trust yourself. First, if you were having a cheat day then you weren't "really" at 1510. Also, depending on how you were calculating your calories, maybe your numbers were off (your food entries or your exercise entries.)

I lose at a number that is much higher than MFP suggests, too. My maintenance calories are a full 600 above what MFP suggests.

This is your experiment to run on your body. Trust yourself, keep good records and adjust as needed. No reason you can't go up to 1800 and see how it goes; although that's a big leap. All of this is a matter of making small adjustments and waiting patiently for the results.

As far as the "start/stop" thing, weight loss isn't linear. Some weeks you won't lose, and then the next week or so you'll suddenly lose more than expected. Stay the course.


I've been at this (logging on MFP) for ten years, and I had to do quite a bit of experimenting. MFP is just a tool that is designed with data from a broad swath of people. Not all of us move exactly as much as the next person, nor do we exercise with the same intensity, nor do any of us log our food 100% accurately. It's not possible to get exact numbers. Run the experiment, keep good records and adjust as needed. Give each change at least a month before you try something else, otherwise you don't know what is working.

kpchoate

MicheleCinti wrote: »

Yeah- I use the MFP to calculate calories, and it says 1510. Problem is, I don't really find that for me the MFP calculator is all that accurate. In the past when I've been "on plan" and sticking to 1400-1500, I would count 6 days a week and take 1 day off, and I would usually lose more than the 2 pounds per week. I know that will slow down as I lose, but I'm saying if the 1510 they recommend was accurate I'd be losing 2 pounds a week doing that 7 days a week, and I was usually losing an average of 2.5-3 doing it 6 days a week. I know that every body is slightly different so the calculations are a "ball park", it just seems like my ball park is a bit off.

Now of course I would never have complained about losing more than the 2 pounds a week... I'm just saying that I'm stuck in this "start/stop" trend that isn't working. So I didn't know if starting my calorie goal a bit higher would make it more sustainable for me. But in the end I'm afraid if I eat 1800-2000 I'll stop losing all together or lose such a small amount that it makes it hard to stay motivated.

Are you exercising also? and if so are you logging it? This will have an effect on your hunger and will increase the number of calories you should be taking in.

tinkerbellang83

MicheleCinti wrote: »

Yeah- I use the MFP to calculate calories, and it says 1510. Problem is, I don't really find that for me the MFP calculator is all that accurate.

MFP is only as accurate as the information you give it, do you have the correct activity level set? were you eating back your exercise calories when you were doing it before? If you did and you were still losing an extra 0.5-1lb per week than intended add an extra 250-500 calories per day (you can manually change your goal) and that should have you at 2lb per week.

This is how MFP calculates it, which aside from the NEAT multiplication is pretty much the same as most TDEE calculators.

Spliner1969

MicheleCinti wrote: »

Yeah- I use the MFP to calculate calories, and it says 1510. Problem is, I don't really find that for me the MFP calculator is all that accurate. In the past when I've been "on plan" and sticking to 1400-1500, I would count 6 days a week and take 1 day off, and I would usually lose more than the 2 pounds per week. I know that will slow down as I lose, but I'm saying if the 1510 they recommend was accurate I'd be losing 2 pounds a week doing that 7 days a week, and I was usually losing an average of 2.5-3 doing it 6 days a week. I know that every body is slightly different so the calculations are a "ball park", it just seems like my ball park is a bit off.

Now of course I would never have complained about losing more than the 2 pounds a week... I'm just saying that I'm stuck in this "start/stop" trend that isn't working. So I didn't know if starting my calorie goal a bit higher would make it more sustainable for me. But in the end I'm afraid if I eat 1800-2000 I'll stop losing all together or lose such a small amount that it makes it hard to stay motivated.

A 2lb/wk deficit is too much, that's why MFP is deducting 1000 calories a day from your daily count and dropping you to 1500ish. You'd be better off setting yourself for a 1lb per week loss rate, which would up your calories to around 2000/day, then add exercise and eat back a portion of the accurate calories for that exercise. Almost all exercise is over-inflated on the calorie burns so never eat 100% of those calories back, instead start with 50% of them, watch your loss rate, and adjust as necessary over a period of weeks. Make no adjustments until you've been at that calorie level for at least 2-3 weeks so you can get a true picture of whether or not your loss rate has changed. There are too many variables (water weight/waste/meal times/etc.) which can fluctuate weight. So weigh in once a week, no more often, and do it at the same time/day each week. Preferably before you've eaten anything for the day. Setting yourself at 1500/day, then adding exercise and not eating back those calories puts you even further in deficit to above a 2lb/wk rate which, in my opinion, isn't safe or healthy. Just my .02.

Once you've lost 5 lbs or more, re-calculate your calories and expect them to go down slightly. Do that every 5lbs you lose and it'll help you to avoid super lengthy stalls in weight loss.

At least that's the method that worked for me, although at first I kept my 2lb/wk loss rate and didn't eat back enough calories. I ended up injured in the first six months of my journey, twice. Once I increased my calories, learned to take rest days, weight loss was still steady and I hit my goals without further injury.

rheddmobile

The best diet is the one you will stick to. Since you have a problem not being able to stick to a lower calorie diet, start by eating normally and logging everything for a week, and see how many calories you've been consuming on average. Then reduce them by 500, either by eating less or by adding exercise or a combination of both. Keep it up for a few weeks and see what your weight looks like, then adjust again.

Logging your normal eating for a week will also help you plan changes which are more sustainable for you, by allowing you to see where you can most easily make cuts.

Aerona85

I started at 241 and MFPs calculations have been spot on for me. If they're causing you to lose more than 2 pounds per week, set it to lose less until you get to the loss rate you want...that would be what I would do. Play around with your numbers until you find what works for you.

MicheleCinti

Yeah- I knew I was eating more than 1500 a day when averaged out per week due to that 1 off day a week.... so I may find that by upping it to 1800-2000 a day (and nixing the off day) that I'm at fairly similar levels, but maybe easier to stick to. And I plan to starting adding moderate exercise by brisk walking 30 min a day. (As I lose I hope to be able to do more). I'll then gradually lower calories as I lose.

I'm also a bit shocked that I didn't do the math sooner, but by eating 1500 calories a day 6 days a week, on those days I was basically cutting 40% of the calories my body was used to (if I was maintaining my current weight around 2500 calories/sedentary... I actually think I was likely maintaining eating a bit more than this- (I think when I'm this heavy just doing routine things becomes more "exercise like" than I probably accounted for), but that just means I was cutting even MORE than 40% of my calories all in one fell swoop).... As much as I want to lose weight fast, I see how this could set myself up to fail for sure. It's hard- because I've been of the mindset that you cut as low as you possibly can, in order to lose as fast as you can- and it's hard to let that go.... but all the evidence of my personal weight loss seem to be showing me that doesn't work for me and just results in a never ending circle of "dieting".

MicheleCinti

And a big THANK YOU for the advice offered thus far- it is very appreciated! I'm trying to change my relationship with food, and get out of the habit of using it as an emotional crutch. Stress hits= heck with it just eat.... Obviously only one it hurts is myself (and my daughter since I'm always too tired to do active things!) It's very helpful hearing things that have worked for other people, and encourages me to think about what is sustainable for the long haul like some have mentioned.... I'll need to experiment with the numbers and see what happens. In my mind I hate to "waste a week or two" not losing if it ends up being to high a calorie amount, but I know I need to stop looking at it that way. I obviously have a long road ahead, and I know taking a bit of time to get the best approach is only going to end up being positive. I just have to retrain that brain!

And spliner1969- it is SO helpful hearing that someone has successfully lost weight by doing a more moderate approach to cutting calories, and that it helped you avoid long plateaus by dropping gradually as you went. I may know logically it would work that way, but it's a world of difference to hear from someone that it's working in reality for them.