Metabolic Damage? Low RMR

heybales

I can't believe the amount of great information that people have been giving me on this subject - I really can't thank you enough!! Not to keep asking questions here but I have been looking over my food diary and it looks like my "net" calories have been somewhere around 1000-1200. However this is after subtracting exercise which I have been giving myself about 500 calories for (based on heart rate calculators). No doubt I am not really burning that much due to my body's current status.

How do I calculate calories burned for exercise? If I am not burning optimally I am probably not getting the most calories out of my workouts either. And if I am doing just strength training do I get calories back for that or do I have to lift on 1100 calories a day?

You want to eat correctly for your amount of activity.
You want to take a reasonable deficit from what you burn daily to lose weight.

Do you burn extra calories doing your strength training compared to doing nothing?

Not that confusing, just think it out.

MFP has an entry for strength training. As long as you aren't waiting 5 min between lifts for equipment, or interruptions talking, that calorie count may seem low compared to equal time cardio, but that is very true. It does include the 1-3 min rests between sets, but not much else. And vigorous is heavy for you.
Log it - eat it.

You are correct, your total daily burn, TDEE, is not as high as might otherwise be indicated. The actual burn for the exercise, if weight and intensity remain the same, is the same. But your body compensates by slowing other things down, like RMR, spontaneous movement, higher level metabolic functions (grow hair, nails, skin, ect).
Normally it'll slow down the exercise too, so while it may feel like pushing yourself just as hard, the HR will be lower and the pace/intensity will be lower.

And actually, you are burning optimally, more efficient than before actually. You want to get back to inefficient metabolism.

And might reread many of the responses, if you want to heal - you eat more, much more, not your RMR.
I think you missed some major points of understanding.

cwoyto123

Slowly ramp up calories and exercise.