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

scapez

Bump. Awesome info!

MeAgain2011

Bump.

kylakesgal

bump

ilikejam33

From what I have read here you have been very helpful to everyone who has asked questions and I think you are doing a great thing by offering advice to people and in a very kind way, so here is my question becasue even after reading I guess I just dont get it still.

I am currently 156lbs, 5foot 6, and 30 years old, and I have a desk job. My goal is to get back to 140-145. Like many others MFP says I should be netting 1200 cal/day.

What i have taken this to mean to is that to loose weight MFP is telling me to eat 1200/day if i do NO excercise and I will loose weight. I do however excercise a minimum of 4 days per week burning from 250-600 cal per day depending on what i am doing.

On days I excercise MFP tells me i need to eat the 1200+ what i burned becasue it really still equals 1200.

Today for example i did a spin class and burned 584 calories. So MFP tells me to eat my 1200+the 584.

Does this seem right? Should I be eating more or less?

Thank you in advance for the help.

babygurl48

bump

jessicamarie81

bump...good info!

Tissues

bump to keep in my topics. thanks for this!

oliviawink

bump!

stroutman81

From what I have read here you have been very helpful to everyone who has asked questions and I think you are doing a great thing by offering advice to people and in a very kind way, so here is my question becasue even after reading I guess I just dont get it still.

I am currently 156lbs, 5foot 6, and 30 years old, and I have a desk job. My goal is to get back to 140-145. Like many others MFP says I should be netting 1200 cal/day.

What i have taken this to mean to is that to loose weight MFP is telling me to eat 1200/day if i do NO excercise and I will loose weight. I do however excercise a minimum of 4 days per week burning from 250-600 cal per day depending on what i am doing.

On days I excercise MFP tells me i need to eat the 1200+ what i burned becasue it really still equals 1200.

Today for example i did a spin class and burned 584 calories. So MFP tells me to eat my 1200+the 584.

Does this seem right? Should I be eating more or less?

Thank you in advance for the help.

Here's how I look at things. This is how everyone I know in the industry looks at things too. MFP is this strange twilight zone where everyone is enamored with whether or not to eat exercise calories.

I estimate total energy expenditure. Total energy expenditure is comprised of the energy required to sustain life at complete rest, the energy required to fuel activity, and the energy required to breakdown and utilize the foods that you eat.

The energy expenditure at complete rest (BMR) is approximately 10 calories per pound for your average person.

The energy expended via activity (TEA) is approximately 2-6 calories per pound for your average person.

I won't factor in the energy expended breaking down the food you eat as it accounts for such a small percentage of total energy expenditure.

At 156 lbs, your BMR is likely in the neighborhood of 1550 calories.

Your activity expenditure is likely in the neighborhood of 300 calories on days that you don't exercise and 800 calories on days that you do exercise.

So your total energy expenditure is likely in the neighborhood of 1800-1900 calories on non-exercise days and 2300-2400 on days that you do exercise. Total energy expenditure also goes by the name of maintenance since, if you eat the same number of calories you're expending, in theory, your weight will remain constant.

Obviously we want to eat less calories than we're expending, thus forcing our bodies to tap into stored energy (fat). That deficit, in my experience, should be between 20-35% off of maintenance. There are outliers where I'll deviate from that range... but by and large... that's what I shoot for.

At this point you could do one of two things.

One, you could tailor your deficit according to whether it's an exercise or a non-exercise day. Which implies that on non-exercise days you'd consume 25% less than 1800-1900 and on exercise days you'd consume 25% less than 2300-2400.

I'm inclined to take a different approach. I place a huge premium on simplicity and have found that most of my clients hate altering calorie targets across the week. Therefore, I'm a fan of taking your average daily energy expenditure. Basic math here...

Suppose you exercise 4 days per week.

That means 4 days of the week your total energy expenditure is 2300. The remaining 3 days per week your total energy expenditure is coming in at 1800.

(2300 x 4) + (1800 x 3) = 9200 + 5400 = 14,600

Take that number and divide it by 7 to find your average daily energy expenditure.

14,600 / 7 = 2100ish

Once you have your average daily energy expenditure, simply subtract 25% from it to find your daily calorie target.

(2100) - (2100 x .25) = 1575

Your daily calorie target would be 1575 for fat loss.

Here's the kicker though. Yep, all of the above is very basic math. But I'm guessing some people went cross eyed. They hate numbers. And that's why I keep things very simplistic.

You just as easily could have taken my original advice in this thread and multiplied your body weight by 10. That would have given you an average daily target of 1560, which is extremely close to the long-hand target above.

The 10 calories per pound target assumes you exercise most days of the week, aren't uber obese or uber lean, and you have no health issues that would impede energy expenditure.

Did I do more harm than good? Or are things more clear now?

Tissues

you laying it out with the complete math makes total sense to me! thank you very much!

imjustlisa

bump...this has been fantastic reading. I can't wait to hear more from you. It now seems to all make sense.I think i have been making this more complicated than it is.

stroutman81

And that's just it. That's why I started this thread. People seem to be confused over a concept that should be really friggin simple: eat less calories than your body needs.

In order to eat less than we need, we need to know how many we need in the first place.

Hence the estimated total daily energy expenditure from my previous post. Put differently, I estimate all of the outflows, and then I can make a target inflow that comes in lower than the outflows to generate an energy gap/shortage/deficit or whatever you want to call it.

Based on the above, I don't get why it's so confusing.

There are many ways of going about calculating total energy expenditure.

My way is simple... just take your current weight and multiply it by 15. If you're very overweight, sedentary, or feel you've some metabolic issues, maybe drop that multiplier down to 12-13 or so. If you're very lean, very active, or feel that you have a fast metabolism... bump that multiplier up to 17-18.

These multipliers take into account all forms of energy expenditure: bmr, tea, and tef

BMR = basal metablic rate

TEA = thermic effect of activity

TEF = thermic effect of feeding

The guesswork in it all is precisely why I tell people to focus on the process AFTER picking a calorie intake rather than the calorie intake itself. The process mentioned in the very first post in this thread will smooth out any miscalculations and deviations.

If you don't trust my numbers... than simply refer to one of the many equations that are floating around on the net such as the Harris-Benedict, Katch-McArdle, and Mifflin-St. Jeor equations. These equations predict BMR. Once you have your BMR calculated, you multiply it by an activity factor. The more active you are, the higher that factor will be. The combination of the BMR estimation from the formula and the activity factor will give you an estimated total energy expenditure.

This total energy expenditure shouldn't be far off from taking your weight and multiplying it by 14-16, assuming you're active.

Or simply use one of the many calorie calculators on the net (these typically rely on one of the above formulas anyhow). Maybe MFP has one handy... I'm not sure. I only ever come to the forums. Here's a simple one:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598

Here's the biggest kicker that I think everyone needs to read 50 millions times...

If you go about things bass ackwards by calculating your BMR and then setting that as your daily calorie target, you're then forced to add to it (or using MFP vernacular - "eat back") activity calories after the fact. Which is what you see a lot of MFPers doing around here.

And that's fine... but you don't need to obsess over eating them back vs. not eating them back. There's no clear cut right and wrong. I think a lot of this anxiety and stress comes from not focusing on total energy expenditure from the get go. If they calculated total energy expenditure from the get go, they'd know whether or not eating exercise calories back would put them in that sweet spot of a 20-35% deficit off of total expenditure.

I harped on this in another thread which you can find here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories

If you're going to base your target off of BMR though and add activity calorie back into the picture after the fact... I don't get why you're only adding in exercise calories. What about all the energy expended cleaning, walking, going up stairs, etc, etc, etc.?

Anyhow, I'm not meaning to reply directly to you, Lisa... I'm simply using your post as a stage to rant a bit more.

chrisdavey

very informative as always

jingoace

bump

mosprott

bump

shelbygeorge29

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know just enough to be slightly dangerous, but not really quite enough to always be as effective. I've got 90+ lbs to lose, and I have been eating between 1250-1500 cals per day. Weighing, measuring and logging every last item that goes into my mouth, down to a tsp of ketchup and the quarter of a large shrimp I ate off someone's plate the other day. I know from past experience that BLT's can really mess wth a diet. (Bites, Licks & Tastes) I'm having no problem with my current level of food, I'm very mindful to keep things clean, so between the lean protein and tons of veggies I'm eating, I'm never hungry.

I've been readng like crazy about starvation mode and all the research seems to point to it not being as much of an issue if you are quite obese. I also have been moderate with my exercise for the time being, knowing as I get closer to goal I want to have that in my toolbox to help amp up my fat loss.

Correct me if I'm making the wrong assumptions, but your extremely helpful post seemed to back up my extrapolations.

Oh, and thanks!!!!

apowell13

bump

pitapocket

bump

♥xenawarriorprincess♥

bump

stroutman81

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know just enough to be slightly dangerous, but not really quite enough to always be as effective. I've got 90+ lbs to lose, and I have been eating between 1250-1500 cals per day. Weighing, measuring and logging every last item that goes into my mouth, down to a tsp of ketchup and the quarter of a large shrimp I ate off someone's plate the other day. I know from past experience that BLT's can really mess wth a diet. (Bites, Licks & Tastes) I'm having no problem with my current level of food, I'm very mindful to keep things clean, so between the lean protein and tons of veggies I'm eating, I'm never hungry.

I've been readng like crazy about starvation mode and all the research seems to point to it not being as much of an issue if you are quite obese. I also have been moderate with my exercise for the time being, knowing as I get closer to goal I want to have that in my toolbox to help amp up my fat loss.

Correct me if I'm making the wrong assumptions, but your extremely helpful post seemed to back up my extrapolations.

Oh, and thanks!!!!

Obese folks can definitely get away with steeper deficits. Granted, in my experience the results from steeper deficits tend not to "stick" as much. But that's more a psychological issue than a physiological issue... as if those two can be separated.

With my obese clients, I'll set an average weekly target loss of 1% of body weight each week. I'll adjust my calorie intake up or down based on how close to that mark I am.