Maintaining Weight

Meikyoushisui

Hi everyone.

I have been dieting for 6 months. I went from weighing 180lbs to 132lbs in 6 months (Yay!), but despite the lost and the incredible long and gruesome journey which consists of 30 minutes of jogging at 9km/h to now 11km/h (on the treadmill) 4-5 times a week and counting my calories like crazy (it's not until last week that I've discovered myfitnetnesspal), I'm now stump with a small problem: how am I suppose to maintain my ideal weight for good?

Another question I would like have an answer is which is more accurate the BMR+AMR (active metabolic rate) formula or the BMR+ Harris Benedict Equation? Personally, throughout my dieting period I've used the BMR+AMR formula to calculate the amount of calories required for the day minus 500-400 calories in order create a calorie deficient and thus to lose weight. I know myfitnesspal uses the BMR+AMR formula along with the Harris Benedict Equation, but I kind of find it a bit odd.

Finally, I've never cheated on my diet and my calorie consumption until today; I've binged and went over by around 475 calories. Should I resume my normal healthy eating habits the next day and just eat enough calories as required or should I go to a small diet by eating 200 calories less for 2-3 days?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

kdiamond

First off, congrats on the weight loss! You've obviously put some thought into your program and it shows!

That being said, the Harris-Benedict is the most inaccurate form of BMR calculators out there, just for a little history it was derived from studies of lean, young, active males in a cold lab in 1919. I am shocked we even still have it around, it is so wildly inaccurate.

The BEST way to calculate your maintenance calories is if you know your lean body mass and body fat %.

Using the Katch-McArdle formula:
This is considered the most accurate formula for those who are relatively lean and who have a good understanding of their bodyfat %.
BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM)
Where LBM = [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)]/100

(Or just use this calculator if you want to try to guesstimate your body fat %)

http://www.ajdesigner.com/phpweightloss/weight_loss_equations_men_women_
metabolic_rate_bmr_calorie_day.php

To then convert to a TOTAL expenditure requirement you multiply the result from the above equations by an Activity Factor
1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise and desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)
(note: these activity factors generally include your LIFESTYLE (work) as well as your EXERCISE (gym/ sport)

In regards to your other question, so you binged one day, big deal. We're human. Start over the next day and do NOT try to eat less...that just leads to destructive behaviors IMO. Pick yourself back up and march on! Maybe if you're stressed about it do a good heart pumping workout!

Meikyoushisui

Thanks for the reply and for the support!

This clarifies a lot of things. So to wrap things up, after accurately calculating my BMR and factoring my total expenditure, I don't really need to take into account the daily number of calories I burn after exercising, right? I simply consume the calculated amount of calories and I should be able to maintain my current weight so as long as I keep exercising daily and don't make any sudden changes which can result to an abrupt change of my metabolism.