Going above BMR is scary!

Mr_Knight

For a long time, because I had a considerable amount of weight to lose, I followed a high caloric deficit approach, coupled with relatively low carbs. I was generally about 600 calories below BMR. That worked for the first 45 pounds, but as I tried to ramp up physical activity, things just weren't working well. Low energy. Difficulty in increasing strength (my pushups were going up as I got lighter, but my strength relative to the outside world went down). Etc.

And of course the weight loss stalled for several months.

Over the past three weeks I have been, step by step, making significant changes to both food intake and exercise. For exercise, I am consistently hitting ~1000 calorie burn/day (based on MFP numbers). I am mixing strength training with free weights along with a 5km running program and a 20km cycling program. If that sounds familiar, it's because those are the distances in a Sprint length Triathlon.

For food...well, low carbs is out. I've revamped my macros to 50% carbs. And I have upped my calorie intake from 600 below BMR to ~300 calories above BMR. Basically, I'm averaging TDEE across the week, and setting my point at 80% of that.

I have to tell ya - increasing eating by ~1000 calories a day (I've been doing it slowly, 200-300 cal/week) and adding in all those complex carbs and fruits is SCARY as HELL! My head tells me you can't make the machine go without fueling it, but my heart looks at my food log now and totally freaks out!

The good news is that both endurance and strength have already made noticeable improvements. The mirror test says legs and belly are shrinking. Scale hasn't confirmed that yet, but that's cool, I get how that works. At least the number hasn't gotten bigger!

But man...this just feels like a tremendous leap of faith!

fivethreeone

The awesome thing about being human is that we can reason.

Science wins!

catfive1

I wouldn't base your calories burned on the MFP numbers. They are highly inflated.

spirit05

I constantly have to remind myself that this is what I need to do to lose weight and be healthy. Yet every few weeks I catch myself eating way below BMR and then wondering why I feel so sluggish and unmotivated.

smithed812

It's so scary at first but stick with it and your body will reward you! You may maintain for a bit until your body adjusts, but for me after about two weeks it started going down again.

Food is fuel!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

The awesome thing about being human is that we can reason.

Science wins!

This. Listen to your reason.

Mr_Knight

I wouldn't base your calories burned on the MFP numbers. They are highly inflated.

I've heard that. I know for cycling, MFP, MapMyRide and Strava give considerably different numbers. I don't actually use MFP numbers other than as a rough guide - I did my TDEE using the "Roadmap" spreadsheet.

I figure all the numbers involved in this are estimates, so I'm monitoring to see where my personal "fudge factor" ends up.

walleymama

I, too, recently increased my daily caloric intake when I learned that I shouldn't be eating below my BMR and then used one of the better calculators to determine what that was.

Yeah, it is scary. It's weird to be "allowed" to eat more food when one is trying to lose weight. I am also coming from a place of having done low-carb and being able to eat things like pasta and breads is wonderful, yet scary, because in the past eating carbs has gotten me into trouble. But then, I wasn't exercising as much as I am now either.

So far the scales are supporting what I am doing, so I'm going to just try to enjoy the indulgence. Like you, I will watch closely and adjust as needed.