why checking the numbers matters

TheWorstHorse

When I started rebuilding my diet and made exercise an everyday thing again, I weighed 225lbs. My basal metabolic rate (calculated) was about 2110 Kcal per day. Fast forward to today, about seven months later. I weigh 189lbs. My calculated BMR is now about 1880 Kcal per day. Which means I need 230 Kcal less each and every day, 1610 Kcal less each and every week.

The lighter you get, the fewer calories you need. Which means your caloric intake goals have to change as you lose weight or you will stop losing and start gaining (all other things being equal).

The same process happens with exercise and in two ways. The fitter you get, the fewer calories you burn for a given level of exertion. And the longer you do any particular form of exercise, the fewer calories you burn. If you have a heart rate monitor that accounts for your age, weight and fitness level (as mine does) you will see this change. Over the last six months, the number of calories I burn for a given level of exertion has dropped by approximately twenty percent. For me this means I burn 80 to 100 Kcal less per hour of working out. That's 600 to 1000 KCal less each and every week.

The fitter you get, the fewer calories you burn in exercise. Which means you have to work out harder or longer to maintain the same rate of calories burned per week. And if you are depending on exercise to stay in a calorie deficit, if you don't do this you will stop losing and, eventually, start gaining weight (all other things being equal).

In my case, ignoring these two factors adds up to over 2500 Kcals/week. If I didn't account for these numbers it would be pretty easy for me to get first stop losing and, eventually, to start gaining weight. I also think that understanding this, and making adjustments in my "caloric budget" and my goals for weight loss along the way, accounts for my steady, if unremarkable, weight loss over the last seven months.

The bottom line: fitness and weight management don't work on autopilot . If you expect MFP (or any other tool) to replace the need for thinking, you won't have much success with either. Tracking calories in/out daily is something almost everyone has to do. And understanding how your numbers are trending over time is the "little bit extra" that creates success over a lifetime.

SezxyStef

TheWorstHorse

I am irony-challenged and often gif-translation-unable. So, umm, do we agree or disagree here?

SezxyStef

I agree..I like science and numbers.

TheWorstHorse

Me, too. Spreadsheets are your friends for stuff like this. I don't quote much "science" around here because it doesn't seem to make much difference to most people.

I have tried working on my irony-challenged state but it appears to be genetic predisposition rather than a trainable trait.

dopeysmelly

Oh I like spreadsheets too! All those limitless possibilities for charting weight against all sorts of interesting metrics and looking for wacky trends.. Paradise.

TheWorstHorse

by the way, where did you get the cool tinfoil hat?

canadjineh

I like the cool tinfoil hat too... protects her against alien bro-science.:bigsmile:

SezxyStef

by the way, where did you get the cool tinfoil hat?

Had to wear it today...Friday the 13th and a full moon...needed the protection today...see above.