I'm new and confused

cldmolly

I read all the excellent posts about TDEE and not under-estimating the caloric needs while losing weight. I still feel like I need someone else to do my math for me. (Definitely not my strong suit).

I am 39 years old
I am 140.2 lbs (as of today)
I am 64 inches tall
I am doing bootcamp or Dailey Method 3x/week plus other light activity (a short jog, Wii dance with the kids, chasing the kids, walks, etc.)

I am wanting to get down to 126 lbs and would love to average between .5 - 1 lb a week of weight loss. I do realize I will have some muscle gain (thankfully!) but I do want the scale to budge too.

I appreciate the help!

ETA: I did the two calorie calculators recommended but am wondering if the calories are enough?

exrx.net: 1376 BMR, 1061 activity = 2437 (does that mean I eat 2437???)
scooby: 1375 BMR, 2132 TDEE, 1812 daily calories based on step 6 (I assume, based on this calculator, I should be eating 1812 a day??) - I used lose fat 15% calorie reduction
and of course, MFP tells me to eat 1200 plus my exercise calories (which I also believe are slightly over-stated).

Deannas69

I also get so confused with everything and will be following this to see the answers.

gypsy_spirit

Here are 3 excellent links that will help. Good luck!


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you%27re+new+here

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

HerkMeOff

^^^What she said.

Also, with so little to lose, get it out of your head that you're gonna lose .5-1lb a week. It won't happen. It's probably gonna be closer to 0-.5.

akwa03

I counsel patients for weight loss, but only occasionally see someone who is trying to lose weight who is already in the "normal" BMI range. I don't use Mifflin St Jeor in the clinics, just because it takes too long when I'm sitting there with someone, but I have a shorthand method I would use normally. If I were seeing you, I would probably estimate your calorie needs around 13-1400 based on your goal weight.
You could probably allow yourself a little extra calories on the days you exercise, but no more than 1500. Of course, if you're more muscular, it may be higher, but that's a judgement call you'll have to make. If you feel like you're constantly starving and/or have no energy, maybe you need more. 5-6 small meals/snacks per day does work and helps control hunger in many of my patients.

Just for fun, your resting metabolic rate should be around 1314 based on mifflin st jeor equation. This is assuming no activity, so if you were active, you'd want to eat back what you burn... so like i said, maybe 1500 (unless you know for sure you are burning more than that). Good to know my shorthand is accurate!! :-)

That patients I see who are working out like crazy and not losing weight aren't eating enough, but usually they're eating less than 1000 calories per day and working out 1 hr daily, so just stay away from that end of the spectrum and hopefully you'll start to see results!!
Hope this helps, Good luck!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I read all the excellent posts about TDEE and not under-estimating the caloric needs while losing weight. I still feel like I need someone else to do my math for me. (Definitely not my strong suit).

I am 39 years old
I am 140.2 lbs (as of today)
I am 64 inches tall
I am doing bootcamp or Dailey Method 3x/week plus other light activity (a short jog, Wii dance with the kids, chasing the kids, walks, etc.)

I am wanting to get down to 126 lbs and would love to average between .5 - 1 lb a week of weight loss. I do realize I will have some muscle gain (thankfully!) but I do want the scale to budge too.

I appreciate the help!

ETA: I did the two calorie calculators recommended but am wondering if the calories are enough?

exrx.net: 1376 BMR, 1061 activity = 2437 (does that mean I eat 2437???)
scooby: 1375 BMR, 2132 TDEE, 1812 daily calories based on step 6 (I assume, based on this calculator, I should be eating 1812 a day??) - I used lose fat 15% calorie reduction
and of course, MFP tells me to eat 1200 plus my exercise calories (which I also believe are slightly over-stated).

I used www.fitnessfrog.com to run your numbers and they came out the same as scooby-- 1812 to lose weight. However you would know your activity level better than I would, I'm just guessing moderate because it sounds like you're lightly active and then you exercise on top of that.

My advice is to read the links that gypsyrunner posted. Also take a look at this:

http://www.fitnessfactreview.com/the-art-science-of-calorie-counting/

Log accurately and completely with a food scale for the next 4 weeks. I would advise you to eat out as little as possible during that time (for accuracy's sake, not because there's anything "wrong" with eating out). At the end of 4 weeks, gauge your progress. If you're losing half a pound per week or so, great! If you haven't lost much, lower calories by 100.

You probably will not be gaining muscle, unless you're lifting and you're a newbie. Even then it won't be much. However the goal is to hold on to what muscle you already have instead of losing it while at a deficit. So to that end I would recommend resistance training-- either lifting or body weight. I'd also recommend macros that look roughly like this:

Protein: 112 grams (0.8 x body weight, since I don't know your body fat percentage)
Fat: at least 49 grams
Carbs: whatever's left.

cldmolly

Okay, I am a reading fiend and still need someone to give it to me straight (er):

If my BMR is 1381 - that is me basically sleeping, correct?
If I do a bootcamp, and the calorie expenditure is 500 calories, should I be eating 1881 calories on those days?
OR should I generally be eating around 1500 calories per day PLUS eating my bootcamp calories back totaling 2000 calories on the days I do bootcamp?

WHY AM I STILL SO CONFUSED?

Once I wrap my head around this part, I will then look at the macro nutrients. Clearly I need baby steps.

HerkMeOff

I use scooby's calculations..

So you eat 1800 or so, and DON'T eat back your exercise calories..

cldmolly

I use scooby's calculations..

So you eat 1800 or so, and DON'T eat back your exercise calories..

And that will help me achieve approximately 1 lb a week weight loss?

HerkMeOff

I use scooby's calculations..

So you eat 1800 or so, and DON'T eat back your exercise calories..

And that will help me achieve approximately 1 lb a week weight loss?

That's the idea, yes.

It's not guaranteed, and especially since you have such a little amount to lose, it's gonna go slower.

Aaron_K123

Okay, I am a reading fiend and still need someone to give it to me straight (er):

If my BMR is 1381 - that is me basically sleeping, correct?
If I do a bootcamp, and the calorie expenditure is 500 calories, should I be eating 1881 calories on those days?
OR should I generally be eating around 1500 calories per day PLUS eating my bootcamp calories back totaling 2000 calories on the days I do bootcamp?

WHY AM I STILL SO CONFUSED?

Once I wrap my head around this part, I will then look at the macro nutrients. Clearly I need baby steps.

So there are three numbers. BMR, NEAT and TDEE.

BMR as you said is your calorie burn from just being alive (if you slept all day), so you said thats 1381.

Your NEAT (no-exercise activity thermogensis) is your caloric burn from your BMR + your daily activity (getting out of bed, walking around, going to the store, sitting at your desk etc). This can vary a lot based on your activity level but even if you have a desk job and a pretty sedentary lifestyle it is still going to add a couple hundred calories to your BMR so that would bring you up to something like 1700.

TDEE is total daily energy expenditure, its the total amount of calories you burn in a day including exercise. If you were to eat this number of calories you would maintain your weight. To obtain your TDEE you take your NEAT and add to it whatever you estimate you burned from exercise...so like 500 calories in your example

That would make your TDEE 1382 + 300 (for sedentary) + 500 for exercise = 2182. That means if you ate 2182 calories every day you would maintain your weight. That assumes you do boot camp every day. If instead you do boot camp say 3 days a week and thats your only exercise then do this calculation (BMR) 1382 + (activity) 300 + (exercise) (500 * 3/7) = ~1900 per day. There I took your exercise burn of 500 calories and multiplied by the number of days you did it to get your burn per week then divided by 7 to get your burn per day.

This would mean your maintenance was 1900 calories per day. To lose 1 pound a week you would have to eat 500 calories under maintenance every day. That would be 1400 calories. This is about as low as you would ever want to go is it is all the way to your BMR level. I would say this is a pretty aggressive weight loss rate for you. If you exercised more you could have this deficit in a safer manner. I was assuming you did boot camp 3 days a week, if you exercise more than that then your TDEE would be higher and eating 500 calorie deficit would be a higher number.

cldmolly

Okay, I am a reading fiend and still need someone to give it to me straight (er):

If my BMR is 1381 - that is me basically sleeping, correct?
If I do a bootcamp, and the calorie expenditure is 500 calories, should I be eating 1881 calories on those days?
OR should I generally be eating around 1500 calories per day PLUS eating my bootcamp calories back totaling 2000 calories on the days I do bootcamp?

WHY AM I STILL SO CONFUSED?

Once I wrap my head around this part, I will then look at the macro nutrients. Clearly I need baby steps.

So there are three numbers. BMR, NEAT and TDEE.

BMR as you said is your calorie burn from just being alive (if you slept all day), so you said thats 1381.

Your NEAT (no-exercise activity thermogensis) is your caloric burn from your BMR + your daily activity (getting out of bed, walking around, going to the store, sitting at your desk etc). This can vary a lot based on your activity level but even if you have a desk job and a pretty sedentary lifestyle it is still going to add a couple hundred calories to your BMR so that would bring you up to something like 1700.

TDEE is total daily energy expenditure, its the total amount of calories you burn in a day including exercise. If you were to eat this number of calories you would maintain your weight. To obtain your TDEE you take your NEAT and add to it whatever you estimate you burned from exercise...so like 500 calories in your example

That would make your TDEE 1382 + 300 (for sedentary) + 500 for exercise = 2182. That means if you ate 2182 calories every day you would maintain your weight. That assumes you do boot camp every day. If instead you do boot camp say 3 days a week and thats your only exercise then do this calculation (BMR) 1382 + (activity) 300 + (exercise) (500 * 3/7) = ~1900 per day. There I took your exercise burn of 500 calories and multiplied by the number of days you did it to get your burn per week then divided by 7 to get your burn per day.

This would mean your maintenance was 1900 calories per day. To lose 1 pound a week you would have to eat 500 calories under maintenance every day. That would be 1400 calories. This is about as low as you would ever want to go is it is all the way to your BMR level. I would say this is a pretty aggressive weight loss rate for you. If you exercised more you could have this deficit in a safer manner. I was assuming you did boot camp 3 days a week, if you exercise more than that then your TDEE would be higher and eating 500 calorie deficit would be a higher number.

Thank you! I think I will try for around 1500 calories a day and see how that is after a couple of weeks and then adjust from there. I have been, this past week, sticking to around 12-1300 and I KNOW (by reading here) that is not going to work at all. I just didn't want to adjust until I had a better process ready to go.