Focus on NET BMR?

athenalove46

I'm contemplating on changing the way I've been doing things. I've stalled quite a bit, and even gained a few pounds since a few weeks ago. I'm not focusing on that so much, but really, it's important that I start losing some body fat before I start focusing on gaining any more muscle. For my sanity and my budget...I can't afford to go buy bigger clothes and it's really taking me through the ringer mentally. But, I have been wondering if I would have better success if I were to change my focus from say 2200 calories every day to making sure I NET my BMR (which is roughly 1450 per just about every calculator out there). That would mean on rest days I'd eat less, workout days I'd eat more.

Is that a stupid thing to do? Or should I go in and cut calories again and just pray that this time I actually lose?

chuckles9189

I feel the same way! My lifts started stalling because I was eating at a deficit. But I'm still about 20 lbs overweight and couldn't mentally wrap my head around eating at maintenance.

I have my calories set to net just above BMR (which, for me is about 1550-- cals set at 1600). I eat back at LEAST 3/4 of my exercise calories. I am still aware and listen to my body and if I need a little extra I'll eat back all of them.

Mentally, this helps a lot.

athenalove46

Yeah, I think this will work better for me in terms of lifting. I know that if I were to cut down to 1800 or even 1900 calories daily my lifts will suffer and I don't like that. lol This way, I will still be eating fairly substantial on the days I lift, and less on the days I don't.

heybales

It's still best to go from the top down, not from the bottom up.

No assumptions from top down.

If you can see exactly what you were eating for a month of standard workouts, and that means honest logging no skipped meals, you should just get a more accurate estimate of TDEE, and take same deficit off that adjusted figure.


But starting from BMR has 3 big assumptions, you know what your BMR is, and you know what your exercise burn is, and you know that level of eating will be enough not to cause it's own stress.

athenalove46

I'm going to be starting a new program tomorrow and these workouts will be higher in intensity and overall volume. I've done very well with logging EVERYTHING down to the gram. I did take a week off from logging, but I'm ready to go back.

heybales

Then I'd suggest you eat at estimated TDEE first week doing it, so you get a feeling of what potential is.

If you start this with new lower deficit, you'll have nothing to compare to for deciding if the deficit is impacting the workout too much or an acceptable amount for your goals.

athenalove46

Heybales, do you have any ideas on how to get a more accurate burn when working out? I was wearing my HRM which is a Polar FT4, but since that uses an inflated value and doesn't allow for personalization in the VO2max area I've heard not so accurate. I have a Fitbit One, and that works well for daily activities but not so much on workouts. So, I've just been logging my calories burned into the MFP database. What are some more accurate ways to determine calorie burn?

heybales

Well, that's the kicker, there really isn't.

If lifting was a non-major component of your weekly workout (like more time spent on non-lifting exercise), and even smaller % of weekly time, the inaccuracies blend in to the noise of other inaccuracies, and likely decent balance is obtained.

Hence the reduction from observed TDEE includes all that.

But if lifting is the only and/or major exercise, then it matters more.

The MFP database is decently small estimates, fits in with the studied METS burned in the lab doing some lifts. Only some have been measured.
But it does include your RMR in there, when for eatback you are talking just what you burned on top of RMR. So that must be removed.

Because you are correct, HRM will be over-estimated, FitBit will be under-estimated if workout even seen. Heard of ones doing leg day have nothing seen on FitBit but walking around.

jaeone

I'm contemplating on changing the way I've been doing things. I've stalled quite a bit, and even gained a few pounds since a few weeks ago. I'm not focusing on that so much, but really, it's important that I start losing some body fat before I start focusing on gaining any more muscle. For my sanity and my budget...I can't afford to go buy bigger clothes and it's really taking me through the ringer mentally. But, I have been wondering if I would have better success if I were to change my focus from say 2200 calories every day to making sure I NET my BMR (which is roughly 1450 per just about every calculator out there). That would mean on rest days I'd eat less, workout days I'd eat more.

Is that a stupid thing to do? Or should I go in and cut calories again and just pray that this time I actually lose?

I would suggest lowering calories a bit slower, rather than jumping down to BMR on rest days. Is 2200 your TDEE? Maybe start with a cut of 10% for a 3 or 4 weeks to see if that works. Work your way down.

mommamuscles

I'm contemplating on changing the way I've been doing things. I've stalled quite a bit, and even gained a few pounds since a few weeks ago. I'm not focusing on that so much, but really, it's important that I start losing some body fat before I start focusing on gaining any more muscle. For my sanity and my budget...I can't afford to go buy bigger clothes and it's really taking me through the ringer mentally. But, I have been wondering if I would have better success if I were to change my focus from say 2200 calories every day to making sure I NET my BMR (which is roughly 1450 per just about every calculator out there). That would mean on rest days I'd eat less, workout days I'd eat more.

Is that a stupid thing to do? Or should I go in and cut calories again and just pray that this time I actually lose?

I would suggest lowering calories a bit slower, rather than jumping down to BMR on rest days. Is 2200 your TDEE? Maybe start with a cut of 10% for a 3 or 4 weeks to see if that works. Work your way down.
[/quote/]
Agreed. I wouldn't worry too much about everything being 100% exact as far as numbers go. If you approach your cut with the same level of accuracy that you have been, everything should balance out.
Also, just my two cents for whatever its worth. If you are upping the intensity of your workouts/volume, you may see enough of a change there that you do not need to adjust your calories. Perhaps keep everything the same but your workouts for now and keep a close eye on things. If you don't see any change in 3 weeks, then go down to a 10% cut. No need to change everything at once.

athenalove46

I'm contemplating on changing the way I've been doing things. I've stalled quite a bit, and even gained a few pounds since a few weeks ago. I'm not focusing on that so much, but really, it's important that I start losing some body fat before I start focusing on gaining any more muscle. For my sanity and my budget...I can't afford to go buy bigger clothes and it's really taking me through the ringer mentally. But, I have been wondering if I would have better success if I were to change my focus from say 2200 calories every day to making sure I NET my BMR (which is roughly 1450 per just about every calculator out there). That would mean on rest days I'd eat less, workout days I'd eat more.

Is that a stupid thing to do? Or should I go in and cut calories again and just pray that this time I actually lose?

I would suggest lowering calories a bit slower, rather than jumping down to BMR on rest days. Is 2200 your TDEE? Maybe start with a cut of 10% for a 3 or 4 weeks to see if that works. Work your way down.
[/quote/]
Agreed. I wouldn't worry too much about everything being 100% exact as far as numbers go. If you approach your cut with the same level of accuracy that you have been, everything should balance out.
Also, just my two cents for whatever its worth. If you are upping the intensity of your workouts/volume, you may see enough of a change there that you do not need to adjust your calories. Perhaps keep everything the same but your workouts for now and keep a close eye on things. If you don't see any change in 3 weeks, then go down to a 10% cut. No need to change everything at once.

I am not sure exactly what my TDEE is. My Fitbit burn averages 2400 for the week (might get higher with the new workouts). All the calculators online tell me roughly 2280 is my TDEE. I did my metabolism reset eating at 2180 for 11 weeks. Bumped down to 1950 and continued to gain weight so I bumped my calories back up to 2100 after 4 weeks, and after 4 weeks at that level I bumped up to 2200. I have maintained weight until about a week ago, maybe it's bloat, but I've gained 2 lbs. I've been at this level for 4 weeks as well. I think I'll maybe stick with the 2200 and with these new workouts see how things go. I did a very basic lifting program before, and this program will have a bunch more sets and moves included so here's hoping. I'm also forgoing the scale AND measurements for the next 8 weeks so I'll have to go by how I'm feeling and how my clothes are fitting.