Deficit help ! I'm dumb

beachlover317

DO you think you might be taking this too far?

110 is too light for that height.

Eat your calories, eat more when you exercise.

This was my observation too. That weight does seem a little low for 5'5". Plus, you've lost a lot of weight (congrats) - as you get closer to goal your body is going to slow you down. The last pounds are the hardest.

WBB55

Hi!

Here's my guess about what's going on with that GW. You lost 92 lbs (congratulations!) and now, even though you're at a healthy weight, you still see jiggly areas and think that losing EVEN MORE weight will help with that.

Here's my suggestion. First, throw away the scale. NOW, let's look at your Body Fat%. Do you know your BF%? I ask because I think you might be at the stage of your journey where you switch to "body recomposition" and building muscle.

Think about it, look it up online. Then come back if you have more questions, ok?
(Also: you probably need to eat more.)

AyeHarper

Hey everyone ! Thanks very very much for your suggestions. I will absolutely be upping my calories and I am very thankful for the feedback I think I will adjusted my UGW. I think I was just being too harsh on myself when I originally settled on that. I don't even know what I'll look like at say, 115. So I'll play it by ear.

As for slowing down on cardio and such, I am absolutely going to. I want to get into lifting and toning a bit more, I think that ill help a bit with my outlook on goals.

I really appreciate all the advice given here. You guys are awesome, especially those that gave constructive criticism. Also thank you for the kind words ! Much appreciated.

-Ashley

AyeHarper

OH ! and as for questions on what I do, I usually OD on cardio. Run for an hour and then intense cardio on an arc trainer, free weights, circuit training, and usually another form of cardio. I know I overdo it. Like I said, I'll be slowing down. I got really addicted to the results I was getting.

I also account for the insanity that I do and Jillian work outs that I cycle through on the same days I do the gym. So that's where my HRM comes up with 1000 calories. It may not all be necessarily at the gym. It could definitely be off. Like I said, I'm not just pulling numbers out of my *kitten*, I'm going off of what the HRM tells me lol no, obviously not a pro athlete or Olympic trainer so no need to be snarky !

Thanks again, guys.

BarbieAS

I just find it interesting some people are being so rude. I've lost 92 pounds in 9 months doing whatever I've been doing. Whether it's right or wrong. I've been slowing down and I am just curious. Thanks for the actual advice to those that gave it. I will definitely take it in.

Gotcha. Congrats on the loss. I take back the first portion of my previous reply, since usually when people come on here asking questions about how to calculate a deficit they're new to this game. You're obviously not, and I made a bad assumption, and that's my fault.

I definitely stand by the second part of my statement. Depending on how active you are outside of exercise, for your weight/height you're probably burning between 1600 and 1850 calories per day BEFORE any extra exercise. If you did zero exercise and were pretty inactive, 1200 might be an ok goal for you. But, with that much exercise, you need to eat WAY more. Let's make a conservative estimate and say that, on average (if you're working out 5 days/week), you're burning about 2500 calories per day. You're going to want to eat closer to about 2000 calories per day. You can work up to it slowly if you want - add in about 200 calories per day for a week or two at a time until you get there. Or eat 100 calories more and cut back on the cardio a smidge to make up the other 100. Whatever works for you. If you reach a point where you're not losing anymore, you can assume that maybe your burns are a little inflated and cut back a bit. With that little to lose, though, you might even want to shoot for a deficit closer to 250 per day (instead of 500). And consider adding in some strength training to your routine. You might end up seeing the changes you want to see in the way your body looks without getting to such a low weight for your height.

Cranquistador

Hey everyone ! Thanks very very much for your suggestions. I will absolutely be upping my calories and I am very thankful for the feedback I think I will adjusted my UGW. I think I was just being too harsh on myself when I originally settled on that. I don't even know what I'll look like at say, 115. So I'll play it by ear.

As for slowing down on cardio and such, I am absolutely going to. I want to get into lifting and toning a bit more, I think that ill help a bit with my outlook on goals.

I really appreciate all the advice given here. You guys are awesome, especially those that gave constructive criticism. Also thank you for the kind words ! Much appreciated.

-Ashley

Ashley I think that you will be very happy getting into a lifting program. You can focus more on body composition than the number on the scale.

ashleysarvi

Hey Aye!

I hope this helps you. Recently I wore my heart rate monitor for 24 hrs. I did not workout during this time. It told me I burn roughly 1700 calories in a 24 hour period.

If I want to lose 1lb/per I would need to have a 500 calorie deficit per day. Therefore I should be eating 1200 calories on the days where I do nothing.

Tonight I knew I'd burn around 400 calories in the gym.

So I should add the 1200+400 = 1600

1600 is what I should have eaten today. These aren't exact numbers but I've been successful doing it this way.

Does this help you at all?

BT

Helped me!

trogalicious

Hey Aye!

I hope this helps you. Recently I wore my heart rate monitor for 24 hrs. I did not workout during this time. It told me I burn roughly 1700 calories in a 24 hour period.

If I want to lose 1lb/per I would need to have a 500 calorie deficit per day. Therefore I should be eating 1200 calories on the days where I do nothing.

Tonight I knew I'd burn around 400 calories in the gym.

So I should add the 1200+400 = 1600

1600 is what I should have eaten today. These aren't exact numbers but I've been successful doing it this way.

Does this help you at all?

BT

Helped me!

I hope the responses helped you understand how HRM's don't work like that.