Frantic about adhering to the "right" calorie intake? Read t

louloup

bump

jansus

really interesting and explains to me why everytime I have lost weight I have put it back on again.- by not adjusting what my body needs

stroutman81

I was wondering if you could offer any advice for my particular situation. The short version of the question is: what should I do differently?

I'm 5'8", borderline small/med frame, and trying to get back to what I feel is my optimal weight, in the low 130s. Over the past few years, I started grad school, got married, and turned 30, and my weight shot up to the high 150s before I noticed! I'm sure these factors all have contributed to my weight gain, and I want to reverse the trend before it's too late.

When I started MFP in November, I figured I was consuming around 2500 cal/day, much of that from sodas. So I've switched to mostly diet (not great, I know, but it's something), tried to get more water, and was aiming for about 1500 cal/day. I made my profile Lightly Active, but also counted most of my longer walks around campus, or while moving around a classroom teaching. Because of my schedule, I rarely exercise outside of these things.

This worked at first, and I dropped the first ~10 lbs., probably water weight. Then I plateaued, reevaluated my activity levels a little more realistically, and changed to Sedentary/1200 cal/day. I only log major exercise outside of my normal routine, such as extended, fast-paced walking, heavy house cleaning, etc. I've done this for a couple of weeks now with no change in weight. I'm back to hovering around 149, and constantly craving food.

What is going on? Outside of adding more exercise, which is simply not going to happen until I pass my qualifying exams in May, is there anything I can do to lose a little more weight? I know exercise is important, and it will be a larger part of my life as soon as my schedule allows, but do you have any suggestions on how to stay on track until then?

Just to make sure I have this right... you're currently at 149 lbs and consuming 1200 calories daily. Correct? If so, how long have you been doing this?

More importantly, how are you tracking your intake? Are you using a digital scale to weigh your food?

stroutman81

really interesting and explains to me why everytime I have lost weight I have put it back on again.- by not adjusting what my body needs

Common mistake that many people make. I see it quite a bit with larger folks who lose substantial amounts of weight. It's definitely not a "light switch" effect. As they slowly lose weight, their metabolic "cost" gradually goes down. And people shouldn't be adjusting each pound they lose. But they do need to realize that a pre-determined deficit will get smaller and smaller as they lose more and more weight.

This too, however, would be picked up by the "process" listed in the article.

hottottie11

Posts like this makes me question to eat back my "exercise" calories. I was relatively active before I join MFP, thus I set my activity level to moderate. So with working out 5 times a week, I have a maintanance of about 2000 to 2100 calories per day. I set my weight loss goals to 1 lb per week and eat 1500 without eating back my exercise calories...if I did, I'll be back at my maintanance again. I figured this out when I was working out as usual, kicking up the intensity and not losing more than 3 lbs per month. My maintanance is 2100 when I work out 5 times a week so it doesn't make sense for me to eat 1800 just because i'm "supposed" to eat back my exercise calories.

I truly believe "eating back calories" are for those who weren't active or set their activity level to sedentary. If I was sedentary, my maintanance would be 1660. If I added 500 calories burned that'll leave me at 1160, under the 1200 "golden rule", I must eat some of those calories back. However I'm regularly active, to lose weight I would have to reduce my calorie intake. My exercise have been accounted for in my daily calorie expenditure. The exercises I do on the regular basis should not be deducted from my daily calorie goals. But this is my logic, I feel like it explains why some may need to eat back their exercise cals and some do not.

jillerin457

Just to make sure I have this right... you're currently at 149 lbs and consuming 1200 calories daily. Correct? If so, how long have you been doing this?

More importantly, how are you tracking your intake? Are you using a digital scale to weigh your food?

Yes, I am currently 149 lbs. I mis-typed, but meant to say I am at 1300 calories/day, and have been at that about 2 1/2 weeks. However, it's been surprisingly tough, after being at 1500/day for a few months before that.

I track everything I eat in MFP, but do not have a digital scale. I use measuring cups when eating at home, but often eat on the go. When possible, I go to national chains that have posted nutritional info. I know what you say about people, even nutritionists, under-reporting, and I try to be conscious of that.

myofibril

bump...

stroutman81

Posts like this makes me question to eat back my "exercise" calories. I was relatively active before I join MFP, thus I set my activity level to moderate. So with working out 5 times a week, I have a maintanance of about 2000 to 2100 calories per day. I set my weight loss goals to 1 lb per week and eat 1500 without eating back my exercise calories...if I did, I'll be back at my maintanance again. I figured this out when I was working out as usual, kicking up the intensity and not losing more than 3 lbs per month. My maintanance is 2100 when I work out 5 times a week so it doesn't make sense for me to eat 1800 just because i'm "supposed" to eat back my exercise calories.

I truly believe "eating back calories" are for those who weren't active or set their activity level to sedentary.

In truth, it has nothing to do with that. There are no universal indicators of who should and should not eat back their exercise calories. And there's nothing magic about eating them back or not. In fact, since these educational type posts have been such a hit, I'm going to make another thread today about this very topic. Stay tuned. It's simply going to be a copy and paste job from my blog as this is a topic I've discussed in the past.

stroutman81

Yes, I am currently 149 lbs. I mis-typed, but meant to say I am at 1300 calories/day, and have been at that about 2 1/2 weeks. However, it's been surprisingly tough, after being at 1500/day for a few months before that.

I track everything I eat in MFP, but do not have a digital scale. I use measuring cups when eating at home, but often eat on the go. When possible, I go to national chains that have posted nutritional info. I know what you say about people, even nutritionists, under-reporting, and I try to be conscious of that.

Watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

Kityngirl

Great info. Thanks. :happy:

Flacachica

bump

robin52077

Watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

I love that video, I passed it around facebook about a year ago. I wanted to show someone recently but couldn't find it.

jgkimo

Bump for later reading.

ebgbjo

bump to read later (unless you have additional advice on those who are hypothryorid on how to adjust calories)

Thank you

stroutman81

I typically don't get into clinical stuff. It's beyond my scope of practice. Are you medicated? If so, are you feeling sure it's the right medication? Do you have a good relationship with your doc?

For hypo folks, calories in vs. calories out still apply. It's just that they get screwed on the calorie out side of the equation and, in turn, have to be more strict on the calorie front.

writtenINthestars

Bumpitybumpbump

DianaPowerUp

I don't know why when I check my BMR here on MFP, it says that my BMR is like 1260 (roughly), but if I calculate according to these formulas, I get a BMR of 1600-2000, dep. on my activity level. I don't get it. I find it hard to believe that my BMR could be so low like MFP says. I'm 46, weigh 134 currently, am 5' 6", and workout 2 hrs/day, 5-6 days/wk (one hr strength, one cardio).

I've been trying to follow the 1200 cal. limit that MFP has put on (my goal weight is 126), but it's HARD! That's so little. On days where I burn 600 cal, that extra cal. boost helps, but it still seems low, esp. if I don't eat them all back. Should I be eating my cal back?

Thanks for all the great advice on MFP, btw. I've read tons of stuff that has been really enlightening.

Eskimopie

bump

stroutman81

I don't know why when I check my BMR here on MFP, it says that my BMR is like 1260 (roughly), but if I calculate according to these formulas, I get a BMR of 1600-2000, dep. on my activity level. I don't get it

I could be reading you incorrectly but it sounds like you're confusing BMR for total calorie needs. In reality, BMR is merely one component of total calorie needs.

Total Calorie Needs = Maintenance = BMR + TEF + SPA + TEA

In this equation, TEF is the thermic effect of feeding, SPA is spontaneous physical activity (sometimes referred to as NEAT) and TEA is the thermic effect of activity.

It sounds to me like you're plugging in your numbers in that formula in the first post and then multiplying that by an activity factor. If you go through all of that you're really calculating an estimated total calorie need. To calculate BMR, you have to stop at the equation part of it before you multiply it by an activity factor.

Does that make sense? And is this where you're messing up? If I'm wrong about where you're confused or you simply want me to crunch the numbers for you, feel free to provide me with your stats.

I find it hard to believe that my BMR could be so low like MFP says. I'm 46, weigh 134 currently, am 5' 6", and workout 2 hrs/day, 5-6 days/wk (one hr strength, one cardio).

Just remember that BMR is the energy expended maintaining basal functions - really the stuff that's happening at complete rest. So it doesn't take into account your exercise, as it seems you're including it in this above statement.

A very very rough estimate of BMR is body weight x 10.

I've been trying to follow the 1200 cal. limit that MFP has put on (my goal weight is 126), but it's HARD! That's so little. On days where I burn 600 cal, that extra cal. boost helps, but it still seems low, esp. if I don't eat them all back. Should I be eating my cal back?

Assuming you're exercising quite a bit, without knowing more, if you were my client your calorie goal would be somewhere around 1500 for starters.

meanness67

Bump for later.