Help with MFP Goals

mommabenefield

Hey everybody,

I've been on MFP for awhile so not a newbie, but I'm so frustrated with the calorie goals.... I've been reading about TDEE-20% and BMR etc.... I dont know what to trust MFP had me at 1390 for some reason... I went today to check it again and it bumped me to 1410 .... ??? :noway:

Suggestions?

This is what i filled in on IIFYM

Female
23
5'4"
172 (today's weight)
Harris Benedict
Sedentary
BMR=1596
TDEE=1915

My real activity is a desk job, and I try to exercise 3-5 times a week C25K added in JM RI30 between days, take stairs as often as possible, and try to take a quick walk at some point during the day.


What should i trust?

_HeartsOnFire_

TDEE...if you don't have a lot of weight left to lose you should aim for TDEE-10% or 15% at most.

ETA - You can also manually set your calorie goal to your TDEE if you want. That's what I did.

MandiK3

I have always found success with the BMR/TDEE method of -15%-20% I had much slower loss following the suggested calories by MFP

paxbfl

You're looking to lose 35 pounds right? I was confused by the last poster.

Anyway, those numbers you posted look about right. Your TDEE might be a little lower, more like 1830 without exercise factored in.

You MUST eat at least your BMR. This is the calories your body needs just to function. So eat between 1600 and 1800 calories and you'll be fine.

I recommend that you do NOT eat back your exercise calories if you want to lose weight, unless you feel tired, weak or really legitimately hungry. That way you can put all your exercise calories directly toward weight-loss.

If you have a hard time staying under 1800, try eating 6 meals of 300 calories each throughout the day... or 4 meals of 300 calories (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, evening snack) and a 600-calorie dinner. Have protein and a complex carb with each meal. Try to stay away from sugar and simple carbs like white bread, white rice and pasta because they can affect your blood sugar and leave you feeling hungrier.

Push yourself on your workouts as much as you can. Generally the higher your heart rate, the more calories you're going to burn. I recommend HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) but do whatever works for you. Running is great - gets my heart rate up more than anything else. Consider doing some lifting too to preserve muscle mass - you want to lose fat, not muscle.

Hope this helps!

_HeartsOnFire_

Yeah, with TDEE you wouldn't eat back your exercise calories. What I do since I want to track my exercise I just say I burned 1 calorie.

mommabenefield

You're looking to lose 35 pounds right? I was confused by the last poster.

Anyway, those numbers you posted look about right. Your TDEE might be a little lower, more like 1830 without exercise factored in.

You MUST eat at least your BMR. This is the calories your body needs just to function. So eat between 1600 and 1800 calories and you'll be fine.

I recommend that you do NOT eat back your exercise calories if you want to lose weight, unless you feel tired, weak or really legitimately hungry. That way you can put all your exercise calories directly toward weight-loss.

If you have a hard time staying under 1800, try eating 6 meals of 300 calories each throughout the day... or 4 meals of 300 calories (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, evening snack) and a 600-calorie dinner. Have protein and a complex carb with each meal. Try to stay away from sugar and simple carbs like white bread, white rice and pasta because they can affect your blood sugar and leave you feeling hungrier.

Push yourself on your workouts as much as you can. Generally the higher your heart rate, the more calories you're going to burn. I recommend HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) but do whatever works for you. Running is great - gets my heart rate up more than anything else. Consider doing some lifting too to preserve muscle mass - you want to lose fat, not muscle.

Hope this helps!

Thank you that does make sense, I am definitely terrified to up my calories to 1600+, but it does make sense. I am going to give it a shot for awhile and see how it goes.

paxbfl

I've seen a lot of women on MFP who run into this question. It's logical, right? Eating fewer calories = more weight loss. Except it doesn't really work that way. Often weight-loss slows down, you cut calories again and then again until eventually you feel like crap, get discouraged and just trash the whole thing.

Check out this article. A little long but definitely worth the read:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

A key point (in case you don't read the whole thing):

"Most people who eat at or below BMR will lose weight for a short time.
Their bodies are no longer getting energy from food and so their bodies turn to fat stores for energy.
Problem is after extended periods of time, their bodies will adapt to the new energy and attempt to balance things out.
This isnt starvation response, we've beaten that horse on the forums over and over, but it is a metabolic slow down. "

Eat over your BMR, work out HARD and try not to eat back those exercise calories. Give yourself a reward once in a while and don't be too hard on yourself. Recognize you're in this for the long haul. Good luck!