Advice on exercise and calorie intake

Jules190179

I am currently 35 years old, 167lb. I eat up to 1400 calories per day and exercise by walking 5mph on my treadmill for at least 40 minutes each day, sometimes I walk for 5 minutes then run for 1 minute, alternating for up to 45 minutes. I also try and do my Davina McCall interval training for 40 minutes once or twice per week. This usually means I eat up to 1800 calories, but exercise enough to get to 1400 calories. I do eat more at the weekend, but exercise more to compensate.

The problem is, I am not seeing results, and every website I read is telling me to eat 1100 - 1200 calories (including MFP), even though I put in my stats. Some also say to exercise to burn between 400 and 800 calories per day. I have followed advice previously to eat between 1600 - 1800 calories per day as at my weight I wasn't eating enough. This didn't seem to work, and I found I was eating lots and not exercising. There is so much advice out there, I just want to know which is the best and what to try next. I lost a few lb when I started at 1400 calories per day, but seem to have come to a stop.

Should I reduce to 1200 and just keep exercising lots to get there? Is that safe at my weight? I want to get to 126lb and am 167 now.

KarenJanine

How tall are you?

Jules190179

5ft 2.

I also have a lateral thigh trainer which I use when I get chance to help with legs and bum!

SezxyStef

what is your weekly weight loss goal set at?

If it's over 1lb a week that is why it's saying 1200 calories...

To lose weight you need a reasonable calorie deficit...exercise is for health and even if you exercise you could be under estimating your intake which basically means you are not in a deficit even with the exercise.

To ensure you are in a deficit you have to log accurately which means using a food scale for solids, and measuring liquids and choosing correct entries...otherwise you are guessing and most people aren't good at that.

psuLemon

Do you have any medical conditions?


I just ran some basic calculations and you should be able to lose at 1700 calories if you follow the standard deviation. My question would be do you use a food scale and can you open your food diary. More often than not, it's inaccuracies in logging to calories "plateaus". Also, how long have you been trying to lose weight?

And lastly, i would recommend revising your workout plan to incorporate more resistance training to help with lean body mass retention. There is no need to do cardio every day. Even if you don't have weights, you can start with a body weight training program and then progress to weights or resistance bands.

KarenJanine

I ran your numbers through this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ (I entered you as moderate activity level - 3-5 hrs exercise)

BMR: 1502
TDEE: 2329
Daily calories to lose (20% deficit): 1863
Daily calories to lose (10% deficit): 2096


TDEE is your maintenance calories. Eat more than this and you'd gain weight, eat less than this and you'll lose weight (assuming exercise activity remains the same).

It's not recommended to take more than a 20% deficit from TDEE. Therefore, eating somewhere between 2096 and 1863 should give you consistent weight loss at a healthy, sustainable rate. Using this method you would NOT need to eat back exercise calories as they are already factored into the calculation.

Also remember to re-calculate after every 5lbs of weight lost and/or if your exercise frequency changes.

In terms of the exercise you do, it's calorie deficit that's the most important factor in weight loss, not exercise per se. As long as you're staying active and doing something you enjoy then stick with it.

lemurcat12

TDEE varies depending on the calculator. I find Mifflin-St Jeor, for example, tends to be a lot more accurate than Harris-Benedict for people who are overweight and don't know their body fat, just based on comparing likely body fat numbers with the calculation that uses them (and for myself). I believe it's also what MFP is based on, although it uses NEAT, of course.

According to M-SJ (although all of these are estimates and more likely overstate BMR if your body fat is somewhat high), her BMR would be around 1400, which gives an estimate for TDEE at 5 days of exercise (I'm adjusting a bit for differences in intensity) at around 2000, or about 1680 if no exercise/sedentary (similar to the NEAT MFP will give at sedentary).

So based on that, 1200 is the number you'd get at sedentary for MFP for 1 lb/week, but of course you'd eat back calories. Given that, you might want to try doing that, and continuing to eat back your exercise calories (if I'm reading it right that would mean eating around 1600/day).

If you do TDEE, you get a similar number--2000 minus 20% is 1600. 2000 might be a little low (although it might not be, depends on lots of things), 400 calories would be less than a lb/week, so again that evens out and likely gets you around a lb a week at 1600. The risk here is that you still have to keep up the exercise, of course.

Logging issues or over counting exercise calories also could be issues, but based on the numbers it seems possible you'd do better at around 1600 if you want 1 lb / week.

Jules190179

I know it's hard because we are all different and respond differently to different things. But already I have conflicting advice which is confusing. Some say I could lose at 1700, but most say (including website calculators etc.) eat 1200 to lose 2lb per week. Maybe I should try this for now.

In response to others, I don't have any medical problems, and I do weigh everything I eat as accurately as possible. I don't have time or money to go to the gym generally, so is there anything I could do around the house for strength training? I am on summer holidays at the moment, but as soon as I go back to work in two weeks I am up early, work all day, take my son to cricket and/or football training etc. every night of the week. If I go on my treadmill, I end up getting up at some silly hour like 5am just to fit it in! If there is something simple I can do at home in a spare 5-10 minutes here and there, please advise.

Thanks to everyone for advice. It is hard when you don't know everything about someone, you can only go on what you know. The only problem is what works for one person does not work for others. I am willing to try anything at the moment.

Thanks again
x

KarenJanine

I know it's hard because we are all different and respond differently to different things. But already I have conflicting advice which is confusing. Some say I could lose at 1700, but most say (including website calculators etc.) eat 1200 to lose 2lb per week. Maybe I should try this for now.

For most people 2 lbs per week loss is too aggressive. Unless you are very obese, 1 lb per week is a healthy, sustainable goal.

According to your profile you love food. In that case, if you could choose between eating 1700 cals to lose weight or eating 1200 cals to lose weight, would you not want to go for the highest option? I know I would - more food!

In terms of exercise, there are body-weight strength training programmes such as You Are Your Own Gym. There is a smartphone app for this. Another is Convict Conditioning (a book).

Jules190179

Thanks - sounds good. I'll have a look at that. I might start at 1700 and see how I go!

njmark72

Here's the plainest, truest, simplest fact. If you are not losing weight you are not in a calorie deficit. Are you eating out? Are you guess-timating what meals are costing your calorie-wise?

I would suggest you go hardcore with the calories, meaning, do NOT eat anything you do not know EXACTLY how many calories they are. Ie, brown bag it for lunch, cook at home for dinner and measure everything. Then you can get an idea of where you are.

Whoever is telling you to eat 1700+ calories is not trying to help you lose. I don't eat 1700 calories a day and I weight 188 lbs and do almost the EXACT same exercise you do a day and I am losing about a pound or 1.5 lbs a week.

I am very diligent with counting my calories and it has worked very well for me. If you are not losing you are simply not in a deficit.

Good luck... Keep with it... You'll get there...

Mark

Jules190179

Thanks Mark - out of interest, how many calories do you net?

shollywoodn

Jules, google body weight workouts and you will find a wealth of knowledge on how you can do strength training at home without equipment. There are some really great resources that let work way better than cardio and create the 'after burn' effect that let you burn calories up to 35 hours after you finish your workout.

A great place to start - http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

njmark72

Thanks Mark - out of interest, how many calories do you net?

It depends... In the first few months I rarely ate any of the calories I gained back through exercise. But, now that I am down and nearing my final goal weight I have been much less restrictive in splurging a little here and there. I'll add you as a friend and you can look through my diary.

Best regards,
Mark

psuLemon

Here's the plainest, truest, simplest fact. If you are not losing weight you are not in a calorie deficit. Are you eating out? Are you guess-timating what meals are costing your calorie-wise?

I would suggest you go hardcore with the calories, meaning, do NOT eat anything you do not know EXACTLY how many calories they are. Ie, brown bag it for lunch, cook at home for dinner and measure everything. Then you can get an idea of where you are.

Whoever is telling you to eat 1700+ calories is not trying to help you lose. I don't eat 1700 calories a day and I weight 188 lbs and do almost the EXACT same exercise you do a day and I am losing about a pound or 1.5 lbs a week.

I am very diligent with counting my calories and it has worked very well for me. If you are not losing you are simply not in a deficit.

Good luck... Keep with it... You'll get there...

Mark

Calorie goals are independent to the person. The average women I know is losing at 1700-2100 calories (this includes women in their 50's and as low as 18). In fact, I can show you a thread with well over 500+ women who eat that. See below:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day


I would highly doubt the OP should be eating 1200 calories or less.



Op, there are many programs you can do at home for body resistance training: you are your own gym, convict conditioning, fitnessblender.com has many free programs. If you want more structure, you can do programs like JM 30DS, Beachbody's T25 or TurboFire. Addditionally, you can pick up a few resistance bands and youtube videos or programs that incorporate them.

BTW, how long have you been plateaued? Also, can you open your diary so we can make suggestions?

lemurcat12

I don't think the advice you are getting is so different as 1200 vs. 1700 or really THAT different at all.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, you are currently eating net 1400 (but gross 1800+). One set of TDEE calculations says you will lose maybe a lb or less at 1700 (which includes exercise, so would be more like net 1300-1400). The ones I ran, based on a different TDEE calculation (that is more accurate for me) say probably around 1 lb per week at 1600 (again, without adding more for exercise, so really net 1200-1300). I pointed out that this is consistent with what you are getting from MFP, which at your height and weight, if you say you are sedentary, is likely to give you 1200 even for 1 lb a week.

So as I'm reading it, the differences are more like 100 calories or so, not 500 calories. You have to be careful to be clear when the number is net and when it's not. Anything based on TDEE is NOT net.

njmark72

Here's the plainest, truest, simplest fact. If you are not losing weight you are not in a calorie deficit. Are you eating out? Are you guess-timating what meals are costing your calorie-wise?

I would suggest you go hardcore with the calories, meaning, do NOT eat anything you do not know EXACTLY how many calories they are. Ie, brown bag it for lunch, cook at home for dinner and measure everything. Then you can get an idea of where you are.

Whoever is telling you to eat 1700+ calories is not trying to help you lose. I don't eat 1700 calories a day and I weight 188 lbs and do almost the EXACT same exercise you do a day and I am losing about a pound or 1.5 lbs a week.

I am very diligent with counting my calories and it has worked very well for me. If you are not losing you are simply not in a deficit.

Good luck... Keep with it... You'll get there...

Mark

Calorie goals are independent to the person. The average women I know is losing at 1700-2100 calories (this includes women in their 50's and as low as 18). In fact, I can show you a thread with well over 500+ women who eat that. See below:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day


I would highly doubt the OP should be eating 1200 calories or less.



Op, there are many programs you can do at home for body resistance training: you are your own gym, convict conditioning, fitnessblender.com has many free programs. If you want more structure, you can do programs like JM 30DS, Beachbody's T25 or TurboFire. Addditionally, you can pick up a few resistance bands and youtube videos or programs that incorporate them.

BTW, how long have you been plateaued? Also, can you open your diary so we can make suggestions?

That's all great, except.... She's 35, exercises every day and isn't losing. So obviously she needs to eat less. I'm sure there are hundreds of threads that say this and that but the only thing that matters for her is exactly what is going on with her weight loss. And if she isn't losing its because she isn't in a deficit. Plain and simple.

Best regards,
Mark

psuLemon

Here's the plainest, truest, simplest fact. If you are not losing weight you are not in a calorie deficit. Are you eating out? Are you guess-timating what meals are costing your calorie-wise?

I would suggest you go hardcore with the calories, meaning, do NOT eat anything you do not know EXACTLY how many calories they are. Ie, brown bag it for lunch, cook at home for dinner and measure everything. Then you can get an idea of where you are.

Whoever is telling you to eat 1700+ calories is not trying to help you lose. I don't eat 1700 calories a day and I weight 188 lbs and do almost the EXACT same exercise you do a day and I am losing about a pound or 1.5 lbs a week.

I am very diligent with counting my calories and it has worked very well for me. If you are not losing you are simply not in a deficit.

Good luck... Keep with it... You'll get there...

Mark

Calorie goals are independent to the person. The average women I know is losing at 1700-2100 calories (this includes women in their 50's and as low as 18). In fact, I can show you a thread with well over 500+ women who eat that. See below:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day


I would highly doubt the OP should be eating 1200 calories or less.



Op, there are many programs you can do at home for body resistance training: you are your own gym, convict conditioning, fitnessblender.com has many free programs. If you want more structure, you can do programs like JM 30DS, Beachbody's T25 or TurboFire. Addditionally, you can pick up a few resistance bands and youtube videos or programs that incorporate them.

BTW, how long have you been plateaued? Also, can you open your diary so we can make suggestions?

That's all great, except.... She's 35, exercises every day and isn't losing. So obviously she needs to eat less. I'm sure there are hundreds of threads that say this and that but the only thing that matters for her is exactly what is going on with her weight loss. And if she isn't losing its because she isn't in a deficit. Plain and simple.

Best regards,
Mark

Honestly, we need more details and be able to see her food diary before you can make that assumption.



edit: I did notice the OP is actually eating 1800 calories (1400 was net calories supposedly) and eats more on the weekend. So I would actually be interested in seeing what total average gross calories she is actually eating. I am leaning more towards she is eating too much now. And this is why I am fan of the TDEE method. It's much easier to track and evaluate. Net assumes too many factors that can cause errors, such as, how do you measure calories burned.

parkscs

Running calculators is only useful to ascertain a starting point for your calorie target. After that, you should forget the calculators and adjust your caloric intake based on your progress (this is easier to do with TDEE, but you can do it by manually logging your exercise calories on MFP as well). If you aren't losing at your current caloric intake over a reasonable period of time, drop calories by 10% and then wait a few more weeks to see if things change. If you're losing too fast and/or exercise performance is noticeably suffering, up your calories by 10%. Don't change it weekly but give each change ample time to work to account for normal body weight fluctuations. I'd also resist making drastic changes - 10% at a time should be plenty. And as others have said, make sure you're using a food scale/logging everything. Variance caused by inaccurate logging makes adjusting your routine more difficult.

Jules190179

Diary open - very up and down recently. Lots of eating out but logging as best I can, and exercising to compensate.

Jules190179

I need to make a start back on track now doing things the right way.

jfcarlson713

Are you wearing a Heart Rate Monitor? You may be grossly overestimating the # of calories burned when exercising. Don't count on the numbers on the machines. They are usually high. If I forget my HRM when I work out I use only 2/3 of the calories on the machines. Just a thought.

Unknown

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psuLemon

So over the past 16 days, you average 1850 calories, but that included a few quick adds (i think two days had those) and some stuff that might be mismeasured. I also noticed that you are very very heavy on carbs most days. In fact, you compete with me and I eat 800 more calories (so probably storing additional glycogen/water).

With that said, your maintenance is around 1850 calories, so I would recommend you eat 1400 total calories, with macros around 35% carbs, 35% protein and 30% fats. Also, don't even worry about tracking sat fats and sugar, it's much better to track protein and fiber. Generally you should aim for 30-50g of fiber to help GI health. With this recommendation, I would NOT eat back exercise calories and be very meticulous with your tracking.

Just make sure you use a food scale, log daily, and do not use quick adds.

Jules190179

I use the calorie count on MFP as the treadmill doesn't know my weight etc. For my weight, I can walk 5mph for 40 mins and I (apparently) burn 398 cals.

psuLemon

I use the calorie count on MFP as the treadmill doesn't know my weight etc. For my weight, I can walk 5mph for 40 mins and I (apparently) burn 398 cals.

MFP tends to over estimate calories for many. This is why the TDEE method can help makes things easier. It takes into consideration exercise and lifestyle. I can assure you though, for 40 minutes of walking you are not burning 400 calories.

tashigolean33

I highly doubt you burn 398 calories walking for 40 minutes. I bike in intervals for an hour a day and I weigh 40 lbs more than you and I am only 5ft and at an average of 14 miles per hour according to my HRM I only burn about 350-380. I suggest figuring out your BMR and TDEE, cutting by 20% and not eating your exercise calories back as they are already taken into consideration with your TDEE. Also, weigh and measure everything you can. There are so many hidden calories in foods when you eat out.

BigLifter10

Also think about what heart rate you are exercising at. From my own experience, I needed to get my heart rate higher to get in my sweet spot for calorie burn. Sure, you still burn when you are not in your target heart rate, but it is optimized if you hit that zone. Of course if you still are eating beyond your BMR, then you won't reap the benefits of that with regard to loss of body fat, you will have an improved cardiovascular conditioning though.

Choobey

I am sure there is a ton of stuff you can do at home. Jump rope, sit ups, push ups, squats, lunges. Try googling excercises to do at home or without gym equipment.

Many treadmills show incorrect calories burned so you may think you are burning more than you really are. How long have you been trying to lose weight? Sometimes no matter how good you are it takes a few weeks before you start noticing results. I know that has happened to me before.

Jules190179

If MFP calorie burning is wrong, why is it on here? I have been relying on it for a whole year now. I tried to download this mymapwalk, but I have a windows phone and can't get it. I have looked at similar things but you need a heart rate monitor and they cost a fortune! How am I supposed to track what I am doing?

Jules190179

Every single website I have been on has told me that I am burning between 404 and 415 calories walking at 5mph (some state this is jogging) for 40 minutes.