Sedentary...please could someone take a peek at my Cals!

aliciaeve79

Hi everyone,

Long story, short.....I have just had achilles reconstructive surgery an now face 8 weeks in a leg cast followed by a whole summer of being very careful with my exercise choices!

MFP sets me at 1200...the standard! But even though I am very sedentary at the moment, it just feels so low for healing etc. I had a huge headache this morning, despite drinking lots of water!

So, Trying to tweak my calories. So, I worked out my BMR (1410) and TDEE (1819) on sedentary and I'm going to up my calories to 1365 (TDEE - 25%) and eat back 50% of my exercise calories. I would really welcome any advice on this from seasoned MFP'ers!!!

How does that sound? Ive got about 36 lbs to lose.

Thanks. : )

elliej

Your BMR is the calories it takes to run your body if you were in a coma, there's basically no way your TDEE is lower than it. Have you set MFP to 2lb a week? Change down to one, I assume it'll give you about 1500 cals which sounds good for steady, sustainable loss

aliciaeve79

Hi, thanks....Sorry, the TDEE I posted earlier is my TDEE of 1819 - 25%! Should have mentioned that!

I have edited my OP. x

tryett

Open your diary.

aliciaeve79

Diary open! : )

rodduz

Why have you taken 25% from your TDEE? To lose weight? Do you need to? Why not eat as close to your TDEE as possible to maintain your weight and heal up nicely.

Also, taken a quick look at your diary and I would up protein intake and decrease carb intake. Protein is what repairs you at the end of the day. No need for all those carbs if you're not doing much.

auddii

Why have you taken 25% from your TDEE? To lose weight? Do you need to? Why not eat as close to your TDEE as possible to maintain your weight and heal up nicely.

Also, taken a quick look at your diary and I would up protein intake and decrease carb intake. Protein is what repairs you at the end of the day. No need for all those carbs if you're not doing much.

Agreed. While healing, I'd eat closer to maintenance.

aliciaeve79

Hi Rodduz,
Yes I NEED to lose weight. I started losing weight last summer when I originally ruptured my achilles. Docs tried to fix it without surgery, which didn't work. So I have basically had the best part of a year unable to exercise. Hence I have put on far too much weight. I am only 5ft 2'' and weigh 169lbs. I have to lose at least 36lb, possible more to be a healthy weight.
Losing weight will only help my healing achilles when I am out of my cast by putting less strain on it!
: )

rodduz

Okay, well what I would do then is work out your TDEE using sedentary setting as you have done and eat 10-20% less. Macros need to be adjusted though, more protein, less carbs. Can work out these number for you if you wish or point you to a useful website?

Exercise when you can and eat nothing back. Don't exercise so much that you feel like crap.

What exercises can you do anyway with a cast on?!

aliciaeve79

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it!
I have been doing some reading about 'tendon healing food' and was going to up the protein, but not sure what to? Think I need to add protein powder to smoothies?
Exercise: I did some P90X Kenpo last night, but had to do it sitting, so only managed about 20 minutes. It is so frustrating being so immobile. So really the only exercise I can do safely is upper body strength, and ab work.
: )

cwoyto123

No idea how people only eat 1200 calories a day, blows my mind.

Every meal I eat is much more than that.

rodduz

This is an excellent website for calculating your macros:

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

I've put your details in and you should be aiming for the following:

Approx 1470 (TDEE-20%, which is fairly aggressive) calories per day
Macros:
Protein - 118g
Fats - 53g
Carbs - 129g

Make sure you get the minimums for protein & fat. Hitting those minimums will take you up to 949 calories so then you have 500+ to play with. Make that up of what you want, can be carbs, fat or protein. Obviously cars on exercise days makes sense.

Training wise, I'd focus on strength training. heavy weight less reps. High volume is a killer when in a deficit and just results in muscles being eaten away and we don't want that now do we!

williams969

No idea how people only eat 1200 calories a day, blows my mind.

Every meal I eat is much more than that.

Yes, you're a BEAST . But when someone goes from active to basically confined to a sofa (ugh, foot/leg injuries suck hard), finding the appetite to eat properly for healing can be tough.

But OP, you're getting good advice. Definitely up the protein significantly during the healing (1g per lb of body weight--or close to it) is what my physician (check with yours, of course) prescribed when I broke my ankle and tore my achilles years ago. You're on the right track--focus on your upper body and core right now, then you can get back to training legs soon. But don't let yourself prolong your healing by being too aggressive with calorie deficit. Good luck and godspeed the healing

lisaabenjamin

No idea how people only eat 1200 calories a day, blows my mind.

Every meal I eat is much more than that.

Agree that 1200 is generally pretty low for most people, but if you're small and female (which I infer from your profile you are neither) 1200 can be a perfectly do-able number of calories to aim for, especially if you exercise and eat back those earned calories, and choose nutritionally balanced foods. I have upped my calories now that I am closer to goal, but managed perfectly well on 1200 for several months.

Mischievous_Rascal

Okay, well what I would do then is work out your TDEE using sedentary setting as you have done and eat 10-20% less. Macros need to be adjusted though, more protein, less carbs. Can work out these number for you if you wish or point you to a useful website?

Exercise when you can and eat nothing back. Don't exercise so much that you feel like crap.

What exercises can you do anyway with a cast on?!

Agreed, you'll need to eat in order to properly heal. A 5-10% deficit would still have you losing weight while you recover. If you are looking to increase your protein, a basic place to start is by changing your macros to 40% carbs and 30% for protein and fats. Best of luck!!

rodduz

Jeez, your diary is impressive! 5000 cals per day! Are you putting on weight? How much training do you do?

Sorry, hijacked the thread!

tryett

Definately increase the protein and lower the carbs. You not only need it for healing but to maintain muscle mass while losing weight. You could add protein powder if you have difficulty getting enough from food. Look for something with whey isolate as the main form of protein.

aliciaeve79

Fantastic advice everyone! Thanks so much! I will go and change my macros now and up the protein/lower the carbs.
: ) x

rodduz

No worries, best of luck. Just remember, weigh once per week and under the same conditions (naked, morning etc). But don't get too hung up on the numbers it throws out. If for two consecutive weeks you don't lose then throw up a message on here. Weight loss is not linear.

Good luck!

DebbieLyn63

Jeez, your diary is impressive! 5000 cals per day! Are you putting on weight? How much training do you do?

Sorry, hijacked the thread!

But there is very little real food in that 5000 calories. Sheez. If I had that many calories to work with, I'd be eating steak and cheeseburgers!
I couldn't stand to eat 5000 cals a day of protein powders, marshmallows, and sugar cereals. That's gotta get old quick.

Fortunately, we all get to choose what and how much we eat, according to our own needs and desires.