Over 50 and confused about daily calorie intake

cmh7770

Hi, I have been working to lose weight for over a year now and seem to be losing and gaining the same 7 lbs. I am a bit confused at what calorie intake I should be eating for safe and effective weight loss. I am 55, 5 foot 5 (female) and sorry to say 184lbs at this time. MFP says I should be eating 1200 calories, but when I go to scooby calculator, my BMR is 1514. I exercise daily and usually burn an average of 350 calories (based on MFP). Can someone help me understand do I eat those 350 calories back to make 1200? And is 1200 too low to keep my body burning? My exercise usually consists of strength training and cardio (Jillian Michaels body Revolution) and I walk 40 mins to 1 hr daily. I have tried weight watchers and found it too lenient. Please help..im frustrated.

tibby531

I would try the scooby number, and eat back your exercise cals. make sure you're getting enough protein for all that hard work you're doing.

you may see the scale go up at first, but give your body time to adjust before giving up.

best of luck!!

dj59lane

I'm in the same age group as you. What is yor protien intake, Sugar intake, Fiber? all these need to be evaulated. You can't go by what MFP says go to the Dr and get a plan for him that is formulated for you.
Other factors-- Menopause? Stress?

BTW I work out 4 times a week, spinning, body pump, walk at least 5000 steps per day, eat no red meat.

My bottom line is youhave to dvelop a plan that works for you and gets the results you want.

4legsRbetterthan2

This is a summary/comparison of the 2 calculators I just wrote in another post so I am copy/pasting here because I am lazy

MFP calculates your calories based off of your daily activity and subtracts calories from that to create a deficit based on you weight loss rate you selected in your profile (ie 1lb/week, 2lb/week, whatever your selected there). You then add your exercise in on the day your perform it and MFP gives you more calories.

Scooby takes your TDEE, the amount your burn daily plus whatever exercise you put in weekly, and averages that across the whole week. In the Scooby method you eat the same amount evey day reguardless of exercise. Scooby also creates your deficit as a % of your TDEE, to calculate out what this is per week take your TDEE - suggested intake X 7 = calorie deficit for the week. Divide that by 3500 to get the lbs you will lose in a week. Since the overall deficit is not necessarily the same (% of TDEE vs lbs/ week selected in MFP method) that will account for some of the variation.

Hopefully that made sense, if anything is not clear please let me know.

Now for your questions:

1200cals/week is MFPs default lowest suggestion. Most people who get this suggestion have too aggresive of a rate selected for their goal. Not sure what your goal weight is, maybe 30-40 lbs away? You should be trying to lose 1lb/week, so if you selected 2 then I would suggest backing that off. Slow and steady wins the race and keeps you from being hangry!

Following MFP methods you do eat back exercise calories. I will expand upon that by saying make sure you are estimating them well (MFP tends to wayyy over estimate burns). HRMs are most accurate for cardio.
As stated above using the scooby method you to not eat back exercise calories, they are already calculated into your goal.

It is generally not advised to eat significantly below your BRM for extended periods of time. With that being said, if you feel ok I would not be too concerned. Fatigue, irritability, lightheadedness, and constant hunger are signs your body is not getting enough.

For new members I usually suggest reading these posts:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

they are informative and might head off questions/mistakes you didn't even know you had yet

hope that helped

laney4818

I'm over 50 and had trouble losing also. I kept losing and gaining the same 20 pounds!

So, I bought a FIBIT to try and get a better handle on what my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is and how much I should really be eating. Basically, your BMR + your activity = TDEE. It's been great. I log my food in MFP and the it syncs with my FITBIT.

I now know, depending on my exercise each day, I burn between about 1800 to 2500 calories a day. Some days I get in a lot of exercise to get up to that 2500 calorie burn. FITBIT estimates throughout the day what you'll likely burn for that day and at midnight it logs a final number, then clears for the next day. Throughout the day you can see if you're on target and how many calories you have left. The more you move the more calories you get!

So, I try to eat about 500 calories less than I burn each day. Some days I'll eat less and have a bigger deficit and some days I'll eat more and have a smaller deficit. Some days I splurge and eat all the way up to what I think I'll burn. I usually eat between 1200 and 2000 calories a day.

For example, so far this week my deficits each day are: -500, -300, -1000, -700, -500, -600.

It's finally working for me. It's a lifestyle change and I know, more closely, what I'm doing as far as Calories In vs. Calories Out.

I think sometimes I sound like a salesperson for FITBIT, but it really has made a total difference in my success.

TeaBea

I recommend the sexy pants & logging foods threads above.

I'm over 50.....used to do 1200 calorie diets without a second thought. No more.

When I lost weight with a large calorie deficit & zero exercise...I lost lean muscle + fat. When I regained that weight....I gained fat. As people age they lose lean muscle....unless they work to hang onto it. A higher body fat % is not healthy.

Now I diet with a moderate deficit & strength train. Hoping to keep muscle (this time). So, my point is try very hard to find what is right for you. 1200 is MFP's lowest minimum default. That number includes zero exercise. Scooby's number (TDEE) includes exercise, so you take a number (or percentage) from that and log no exercise.

Because my deficit is small, logging is very important and weight loss is slow. Another poster recommended a FitBit. These are great for figuring out your activity level. Moving more (exercise or not) burns more calories. FitBits are not foolproof, but much better than MFP generalizations.

WalkingAlong

You should be able to lose at 1200 or 1500 or possibly even higher, you just have to choose which you prefer-- more speed or more food/comfort. Neither level is dangerously low.

Losing and regaining is usually due to inconsistency or flopping plans, not due to a specific calorie level.

Good luck!