Trying to Get My Numbers Straight

NinjaMom2013

Hi,

I'm new to this group, but not to MFP. That said, I am trying to get a handle on how many calories I should be eating to lose weight. I've been told that I'm not eating enough and based on how hungry I am lately, I think friends may be on to something.

I workout a lot. I do taekwondo 2-4 times per week. I am also currently doing the Insanity program. I'm in the second month/third week. So, it's maximum at this point. I am also the busy mom of two young boys. I wear a FitBit Flex and I seem to burn a lot of calories. I'd figured out my BMR and my calorie needs. I then deducted a 1000 calorie deficit because I want to lose. Some people have advised that 1,000 calories is too aggressive. My caloric intake was 1399 and I was not replacing calories burned with exercise.

I am going to reduce the deficit by 500, instead of 1000. That said, I don't understant the NET number in the MFP breakdown. I've read all that I can find and still don't get it. Is the NET supposed to be equal to my calorie goal? Should I replace the calories burned? I'm so confused at this point. I do think I need to eat more during the day. I'm tired and hungry. I obviously need more fuel. On Friday, I did Insanity, took a taekwondo class, and test for my jr. black belt. On 1399 calories, I nearly starved. I actually felt queasy.

I would sincerely appreciate any advise or suggestions from those who have figured this out.

Thanks in advance.

AnitraSoto

Wow, it does sound like you are extremely active and not eating nearly enough to support that activity.

What have you figured your TDEE to be? EM2WL recommends no more than a 15% cut from that number. Working out that hard and then taking such a steep cut, you will still be way under-eating and stressing your body too much.

Let us know some of your stats, and then we can try to help you figure out your goals..

BMR
TDEE
Exercise Schedule (including hours per week)
Weight loss goals

heybales

Why are you doing all the exercise?

Weight loss or body improvements?

Exercise rarely has weight loss as side effect, body improvements has weight gain.

Diet is for weight loss, done right just fat loss, done wrong muscle loss too.
Exercise is for heart health and body improvement, and if done right can assist only fat loss, if done wrong muscle loss too.

So the MFP method you are talking about ALREADY has a deficit in your daily eating goal from a normal non-exercise day estimate.
So MFP takes your Mifflin BMR x non-exercise Activity factor (you are Lightly Active with kids, higher probably) = daily maintenance without exercise.

Say 2000.
You select 1 lb loss because you have less than 40 lbs to go, so 500 cal deficit daily.
Eating goal is 1500. On non-exercise days.

Well, if you exercise, your maintenance on that day just went up by whatever extra you burned, so say 500 cal workout.
2500 maintenance literally for that day now.
Same 500 cal deficit.
Eating goal is now 2000 calories.
You in essence ate back your exercise calories because that increased your maintenance for that day, but kept the reasonable deficit.

If you want minimum to no improvements from exercise, then don't eat them back.

But if that's the case, don't waste your time and do it in the first place.

So follow the program and benefit from the exercise actually, hence My Fitness Pal, despite the fact the food database is a whole lot better than the exercise database.

Or follow this groups program, which probably will have you ending up about the same on average, just eating the same number daily for better planning, rather than different amounts daily.

NinjaMom2013

Hi,

Thank you!

My numbers are as follows: BMR is 1552.45, my TDEE is 2627, I do Insanity, which is 6 days per week. I also do taekwondo. I usually go 2-3 evenings per week. The classes are 60 minutes, but some of that is stretching and curriculum. I would say about 30 minutes of it are drills that would probably count as moderate to intense cardio. I want to lose 30 lbs. With the tkd, I actually put on weight. There is no way I was coming close to eating 2,627. I have two little boys and seem to find it hard to eat the 1,399-1,800 calories I have been experimenting with over the past few weeks.

I cannot figure out why I am not dropping the weight I want to lose. I wasn't dropping it with the taekwondo and calorie counting alone. I am not really dropping it with the taekwondo, calorie counting, and Insanity workout either. I look fitter. I've lost inches. I have a few pounds.

Thanks again.

NinjaMom2013

Hi,

Well, I'm committed to taekwondo. I'm a jr. black belt working toward my black belt. I'm older, 46, and my stamina is not what it used to be. The classes exhaust me and the black test is tough. I was tired of being the weakest one in class. In just under two months, I've improved my stamina quite a bit and that has improved my confidence. The Insanity workout is a 6 day/week program and my husband and I do to it together. It's actually a lot of fun and we're really enjoying the challenge and the time we're spending together doing it.

heybales

Anything that is a stress to your body will fight again fat and weight loss.

Food allergies or sensitivities.
Too big of a deficit for your current state.
Frequent intense exercise.
Daily life.

Your body determines how much stress it's going to take before adapting and messing up hormones and losing your deficit.

You can change what you can or want to, and adjust the others to compensate.

I'd suggest that if that workout is going to be there, you'll need less deficit to compensate.

Try this to get a better idea on your real TDEE. May be high, may be low.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker

If you are losing inches, then body is still making improvements while burning fat, so either eating at maintenance or slight deficit.

And if eating at actual TDEE right now, when potential is so much higher, you've already caused your body to adapt by slowing down metabolism.

AnitraSoto

If your TDEE is around 2600, then your (15%) cut should be around 2200. That is probably why you have no energy for workouts --- no fuel... Eating 1300 - 1400 calories a day with all that exercise will probably only result in slowing down the metabolism in the long run. The body will just adapt and slow down.

If you are committed to all that exercise, I would suggest slowly upping your calories closer to 2200. You will find you have lots more energy to fuel those workouts. Once you get your metabolism revved up, chances are, you will start dropping weight again. Right now, your only other options are eating less and working out harder - not a very maintainable lifestyle...

Remember, it is not a quick process. You have to be willing to commit to trusting the process and giving it the time it needs.

NinjaMom2013

Thank you for your input. I'm going to up my caloric intake slowly. Something has to give and I think it's just this simple. I'm eating healthily, but undereating.

Thanks again.