What are my specific calorie needs?

CheesyPoofs

I need some professional help here... I cannot seem to find the right calorie level for myself currently, and I'm not losing weight on my current plan.

I am 38 years old, 6 ft 1 inch, and weight is 184 lbs, around 22% bodyfat.

Most BMR calculators say my sedentary rate is 1900 calories per day.

I am lifting weights 3 days per week. My volume is around 10 sets of 5-6 reps. I am walking 30 minutes per day on my non-lifting days, and sometimes heavier cardio once per week.

The rest of the day, I am sitting usually...

I cannot figure out how many calories I burn each day....There is no way to exactly measure calories burned by strength training, since a lot of the time you lift and take breaks in between sets... Also no real way to measure daily activity levels... Surely we also burn lots of calories each day just working on the computer or climbing stairs or doing laundry, or anything!!

Everyday our exact activity level is different!

There are so many variables each day, its impossible to say EXACTLY what we burned..

How many calories do you think I'm burning, and how much should I be eating to lose weight?

It all just seems like a big Guessing Game!

Uptopargolf

I need some professional help here... I cannot seem to find the right calorie level for myself currently, and I'm not losing weight on my current plan.

I am 38 years old, 6 ft 1 inch, and weight is 184 lbs, around 22% bodyfat.

Most BMR calculators say my sedentary rate is 1900 calories per day.

I am lifting weights 3 days per week. My volume is around 10 sets of 5-6 reps. I am walking 30 minutes per day on my non-lifting days, and sometimes heavier cardio once per week.

The rest of the day, I am sitting usually...

I cannot figure out how many calories I burn each day....There is no way to exactly measure calories burned by strength training, since a lot of the time you lift and take breaks in between sets... Also no real way to measure daily activity levels... Surely we also burn lots of calories each day just working on the computer or climbing stairs or doing laundry, or anything!!

Everyday our exact activity level is different!

there are so many variables each day, its impossible to say EXACTLY what we burned..

How many calories do you think I'm burning, and how much should I be eating to lose weight?

It all just seems like a big Guessing Game!

Honestly, without being there it would be tough for anyone to tell you exactly what the deal is.

However, you need to ball park things and it is pretty much trial and error. I think most people on here agree that they tried one or two things before they found what was right for them.

If you have a diet in place, and workout in place. Which it sounds like you do.. Stick to it for a month! ONE month at least. See how much progress you make. You may not drop weight on the scale. But you will probably lose some body fat! That is better of course. You want to maintain that lean muscle.

Currently, I do about the same as you. Weight train 3 days a week, cardio 3 days. I am 190, and 6 foot. probably around 20% body fay.With my scale, you never know. They can be very off.

I just started my third round of P90X and I mixed my diet up to see the results I get.. I'm going to stick with it for at least a month and see. You should do the same.

Dieting is not a science.. Unfortunately. There are to many factors that play into it.

CheesyPoofs

Can some expert give me a professional estimate on how many calories I burn per week, and how much I should eat?

A professional guess is better then nothing..

REman

I'm told a heart rate monitor is the way to accurately calculate calories burned.

kitujainen

read somewhere 38 year olds burn 2400 calories, 21 year old 2100. My metabolic rate according to mfp is 1600 so I need to eat less than that. But i also exercise around 1000 calories so it goes way up 2600.

abtropix

Get a heart rate monitor. You can wear it all day for a few days so you can know exactly how many calories you burn strength training, sitting down, working out and brushing your teeth... It's based on your sex, height, age, weight and heart beats. Nothing more accurate than that!

kitujainen

estimate on how many calories I burn per week, and how much I should eat?

I weigh as much as you and ive eaten on the last week 1000-2800 kcal per day. (Average is 2000.) Under 1200 is starvation mode.
So.. Get... pay for a professional meal plan if you want.. Its out there..

lupuslady

You need to give this a try for at least two months, I am losing wt very slowly, but it is coming off. As long as you are eating less than what MFP says to eat you will lose wt. You certainly exercise plenty. But this is a life style not a race to get everything done all at once.

Uptopargolf

Can some expert give me a professional estimate on how many calories I burn per week, and how much I should eat?

A professional guess is better then nothing..

It really is not that simple. Your guess is probably as good as a professionals.

Go on google and search for BMR caculator. Or there may even be on here on MFP. But use that number, and stick with it. Remember dieting is not exact. Everything is just a estimate.

kitujainen

You certainly exercise plenty.

I read on this forum you can only lose 1000kcal fat on a day. I still hope...

Uptopargolf

You certainly exercise plenty.

I read on this forum you can only lose 1000kcal fat on a day. I still hope...

I'm not sure that is true. It depends on the type of person. For example the higher body fat you have, the more fat you can burn a day. The less body fat you have, the more lean muscle you may end up burning.

TrainingWithTonya

Ask and ye shall receive. Here is my professional opinion. When working with my clients I use a formula based on lean body mass instead of total body weight. This takes out the 22% fat that is basically metabolically inactive. I get a BMR of 1566 calories per day. I then use the following for determining a multiplier for resting metabolic rate.

Less then 30 minutes per day of physical activity = Sedentary = 1.3
30 to 40 minutes per day of walking or 10-15 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Low Active = 1.5
40-45 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = active = 1.9
At least 60 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Very Active = 2.5

Multiplying your BMR by 1.3 for sedentary gives you 2036 calories per day not counting calorie burn from exercise.

Now as for adding exercise calories, is that 10 sets per exercise or ten total sets of weights for all exercises? Would you say that your weights are as heavy as you can lift for those 5-6 reps? Or are you just using moderate or light weights. For the 30 minute walks, I'm guessing you're burning no more then 200 calories on those days. Without knowing exactly what you are doing with your weights, I'm guessing about the same thing for your weight training.

So, 2036 + 200 for your training days would give you 2236 for your Total Daily Energy Expenditure on days you exercise. Now, you multiply the TDEE by 80% to get the low end of what you should eat. So, on non-exercise days that would be 2036 x 80% = 1629 calories. Exercise days would be 2236 x 80% = 1789 calories.

What that gives you is a range of 1629 to 2036 for your non-exercise days and 1789 to 2236 for your exercise days. Going too low can make your body try to hang on to body fat, so I wouldn't recommend going below those ranges. You may not lose scale weight as fast as someone who does a 1000 calorie deficit, but you will maintain muscle mass and lose body fat, meaning the clothing size will decrease even if the scale doesn't.

TrainingWithTonya

Can some expert give me a professional estimate on how many calories I burn per week, and how much I should eat?

A professional guess is better then nothing..

It really is not that simple. Your guess is probably as good as a professionals.

Go on google and search for BMR caculator. Or there may even be on here on MFP. But use that number, and stick with it. Remember dieting is not exact. Everything is just a estimate.

Yes, it is all just an estimate. The difference between a professional estimate and an online estimator is that as professionals we're taught the formulas that have been scientifically proven to be close to accurate based on human calorimetry, whereas you may not get those most accurate formulas from just any online calculator. And most online calculators don't look at lean body mass vs. fat mass. They tend to go with the simpler math for the average person wanting to "diet" or lose "scale weight" and not the more technical stuff that goes on for focusing on maintaining lean body mass and losing fat mass.

kitujainen

beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/mizzfitness
I am sure you could buy a meal plan from there^
Px90, and my vibration and contraction belts have also come with a diet plan.
You should eat all the meals in food diary and maybe an evening meal.
(And cardio doesnt burn fat unless u do over 450kcal.)

CheesyPoofs

Ask and ye shall receive. Here is my professional opinion. When working with my clients I use a formula based on lean body mass instead of total body weight. This takes out the 22% fat that is basically metabolically inactive. I get a BMR of 1566 calories per day. I then use the following for determining a multiplier for resting metabolic rate.

Less then 30 minutes per day of physical activity = Sedentary = 1.3
30 to 40 minutes per day of walking or 10-15 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Low Active = 1.5
40-45 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = active = 1.9
At least 60 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Very Active = 2.5

Multiplying your BMR by 1.3 for sedentary gives you 2036 calories per day not counting calorie burn from exercise.

Now as for adding exercise calories, is that 10 sets per exercise or ten total sets of weights for all exercises? Would you say that your weights are as heavy as you can lift for those 5-6 reps? Or are you just using moderate or light weights. For the 30 minute walks, I'm guessing you're burning no more then 200 calories on those days. Without knowing exactly what you are doing with your weights, I'm guessing about the same thing for your weight training.

So, 2036 + 200 for your training days would give you 2236 for your Total Daily Energy Expenditure on days you exercise. Now, you multiply the TDEE by 80% to get the low end of what you should eat. So, on non-exercise days that would be 2036 x 80% = 1629 calories. Exercise days would be 2236 x 80% = 1789 calories.

What that gives you is a range of 1629 to 2036 for your non-exercise days and 1789 to 2236 for your exercise days. Going too low can make your body try to hang on to body fat, so I wouldn't recommend going below those ranges. You may not lose scale weight as fast as someone who does a 1000 calorie deficit, but you will maintain muscle mass and lose body fat, meaning the clothing size will decrease even if the scale doesn't.

Thanks Tonya, this was very helpful...

Yes, I am lifting very heavy for those 5 reps... sometimes I only do 3-4 reps cause I'm working on strength...

Also, you classified me as Sedentary instead of Low Active? I walk 30 minutes per day, except for my lifting days... Eventually I'd like to walk that much even on my lifting days... wouldn't my multiplier be 1.5 instead of 1.3?

Anyhow, it sounds like I need to be eating around 1800 calories per day usually...

TrainingWithTonya

Ask and ye shall receive. Here is my professional opinion. When working with my clients I use a formula based on lean body mass instead of total body weight. This takes out the 22% fat that is basically metabolically inactive. I get a BMR of 1566 calories per day. I then use the following for determining a multiplier for resting metabolic rate.

Less then 30 minutes per day of physical activity = Sedentary = 1.3
30 to 40 minutes per day of walking or 10-15 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Low Active = 1.5
40-45 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = active = 1.9
At least 60 minutes per day of jogging (or other vigorous physical activity) = Very Active = 2.5

Multiplying your BMR by 1.3 for sedentary gives you 2036 calories per day not counting calorie burn from exercise.

Now as for adding exercise calories, is that 10 sets per exercise or ten total sets of weights for all exercises? Would you say that your weights are as heavy as you can lift for those 5-6 reps? Or are you just using moderate or light weights. For the 30 minute walks, I'm guessing you're burning no more then 200 calories on those days. Without knowing exactly what you are doing with your weights, I'm guessing about the same thing for your weight training.

So, 2036 + 200 for your training days would give you 2236 for your Total Daily Energy Expenditure on days you exercise. Now, you multiply the TDEE by 80% to get the low end of what you should eat. So, on non-exercise days that would be 2036 x 80% = 1629 calories. Exercise days would be 2236 x 80% = 1789 calories.

What that gives you is a range of 1629 to 2036 for your non-exercise days and 1789 to 2236 for your exercise days. Going too low can make your body try to hang on to body fat, so I wouldn't recommend going below those ranges. You may not lose scale weight as fast as someone who does a 1000 calorie deficit, but you will maintain muscle mass and lose body fat, meaning the clothing size will decrease even if the scale doesn't.

Thanks Tonya, this was very helpful...

Yes, I am lifting very heavy for those 5 reps... sometimes I only do 3-4 reps cause I'm working on strength...

Also, you classified me as Sedentary instead of Low Active? I walk 30 minutes per day, except for my lifting days... Eventually I'd like to walk that much even on my lifting days... wouldn't my multiplier be 1.5 instead of 1.3?

Anyhow, it sounds like I need to be eating around 1800 calories per day usually...

Yes, I classified you as sedentary because thats activity not counting planned exercise. Say someone who has a desk job but has to walk to the mailroom 3-4 times a day, they would be low active. You said you are mostly sitting not counting exercise, hence the sedentary. Sorry, I should have made that more clear.

CheesyPoofs

Yes, I guess I am sedentary then...

I'm even sitting down as I type this...



Thanks again! And thanks to others who gave advice..

CheesyPoofs

Oh, and to give you an example of my weightlifting routine:

Bench Press: 3 sets x 5
Bicep Curls: 1 set x 5
Rows: 3 sets x 5
Squat: 3 sets x 5

All done with heavy weights!!!

BEEFCAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHBoss1673

I'm your height (an inch taller), your weight (a pound or so heavier), and your age (a year younger). And I have a desk job. The only real difference is I work out an hour a day minimum, and I am at between 9.5 and 10% body fat, other than that, my lifestyle is lightly active. I had an indirect calorimetry test done about 9 months ago which came back with 2750 (therebouts) as my TDEE (which is your daily maintenance calories, not including exercise calories). I would highly doubt yours is much more than 200 or 250 lower than mine considering the similarities in our size, weight, height, age, and activity level.

Davis713

wow tonya can you help me with my calorie needs too?

TrainingWithTonya

wow tonya can you help me with my calorie needs too?

Sure, just PM me your info.

TrainingWithTonya

I'm your height (an inch taller), your weight (a pound or so heavier), and your age (a year younger). And I have a desk job. The only real difference is I work out an hour a day minimum, and I am at between 9.5 and 10% body fat, other than that, my lifestyle is lightly active. I had an indirect calorimetry test done about 9 months ago which came back with 2750 (therebouts) as my TDEE (which is your daily maintenance calories, not including exercise calories). I would highly doubt yours is much more than 200 or 250 lower than mine considering the similarities in our size, weight, height, age, and activity level.

With your body fat % and similar weight, though, you're like 20-25 pounds more lean mass, though. Depending on who you believe for the added metabolic rate of muscle, that can be 700 to 1000 extra calories just to maintain that muscle each day. Thats why we use a formula that goes by lean body mass instead of total body mass in our exercise physiology program because weight in the form of fat isn't nearly as metabolically active as weight in the form of muscle.

SHBoss1673

I'm your height (an inch taller), your weight (a pound or so heavier), and your age (a year younger). And I have a desk job. The only real difference is I work out an hour a day minimum, and I am at between 9.5 and 10% body fat, other than that, my lifestyle is lightly active. I had an indirect calorimetry test done about 9 months ago which came back with 2750 (therebouts) as my TDEE (which is your daily maintenance calories, not including exercise calories). I would highly doubt yours is much more than 200 or 250 lower than mine considering the similarities in our size, weight, height, age, and activity level.

With your body fat % and similar weight, though, you're like 20-25 pounds more lean mass, though. Depending on who you believe for the added metabolic rate of muscle, that can be 700 to 1000 extra calories just to maintain that muscle each day. Thats why we use a formula that goes by lean body mass instead of total body mass in our exercise physiology program because weight in the form of fat isn't nearly as metabolically active as weight in the form of muscle.

Well, ok I'll go along with this. Still pretty hard for me to wrap my head around that few calories though, that seems super low for him to me.