FAT MATH

lillieme

Fat Math!

3500 Kcal = 1 lbs of fat
350 Kcal = 1/10 of fat

My BMR is 1836.
I eat ~1200 Cals a day
That’s a difference of 636 negative Cals per day.

That is about 2/10 of a pound lost per day. Per week that (5 days) equals 1 lbs or so lost.

With healthy eating (whole grains and such) the estimate is a 15% boost to the average metabolism. So that would boost the loss to 1.2 lbs per week.

With a low fat/carb eating the estimated boost is about 10 percent. So 1.3 lbs lost per week.

Given a good work out (Circuit Course, Cardio, Strength training, Etc) the boost is equivilant to the KCals burned plus 10% for metabolism increases. I average about 650-700 KCals per workout which is about an additional 0.2 lbs per day. With the 10% increase from metabolic targeting, that equals 1.4 per week plus 0.2 per day or 2.4 pounds per week.

Sounds ridiculous, but after 8 weeks ( ish ) and 17-25 lbs lost (depending on scale and beginning of workout/diet), my average daily weight loss has been 2.48 lbs per week which jives with the math more or less.

So, I guess the math formula for weight loss would be

((BMR-Di)/3500)*Dop=WL
WL+(WL*0.35)+(WO/3500)Dwo=Lbs Lost per week

((1836-1200)/3500)5=(636/3500)5=0.91~
0.91+(0.91*0.35)+(700/3500)5=0.91+0.3185+(0.2)5=0.91+0.3185+1=2.2285~2.25 lbs lost per week which is just about my average loss per week.

You have to like math for it to make sense. Give or take, this is the math that works for me.


WL=Weekly Loss
WO= Workout KCals burned,
DI=Daily Intake
Dop=Days on program
Dwo=Days working out

leslieallyne

This is Awesome! Big thumbs up.
And congrats on that loss.

hroush

yay for math!

erickirb

Fat Math!

3500 Kcal = 1 lbs of fat
350 Kcal = 1/10 of fat

My BMR is 1836.
I eat ~1200 Cals a day
That’s a difference of 636 negative Cals per day.

Sorry but your Math is WRONG. You are not using the calculations correctly. If your BMR is 1836 your maintenance calories would be around 2200, if you are set to sedentary, which is a deficit of 1000/day (2200-1200) without taking into accounting anything else mentioned in your post. So you are only losing an extra 0.5 lbs not the 1.5 you think you are above your daily calorie allowance deficit.

FYI: the minimum calories that a man should eat is 1500, try changing your goal to 1.5lbs/week instead of 2 this will give you the extra 300 calories you need. Not eating enough can cause you body to burn muscle, instead of fat, as fuel. And with as little as you have to lose losing as fast as you have been I an 90% sure you lost muscle. The closer you get to your goal the smaller your caloric deficit should be. I said above a 1.5 lb/week goal, I take that back I would suggest 1lb/week at most and in a few weeks switch to 0.5 and eat your exercise calories to ensure your deficit is not too large.

lillieme

Like I said, I just made up the math based on my 8 weeks of success. I do circuit courses and strength training and have lost the weight and gained in strength. My goal of 1200 cals has worked for me and when I get to 171 (goal weight) I plan to slowly transition to a higher cal plan in order to maintain and promote muscle growth.

So I guess the caviat is that the math works for me and everyone is different...

Yes to success, No to failure!

erickirb

Like I said, I just made up the math based on my 8 weeks of success. I do circuit courses and strength training and have lost the weight and gained in strength. My goal of 1200 cals has worked for me and when I get to 171 (goal weight) I plan to slowly transition to a higher cal plan in order to maintain and promote muscle growth.

So I guess the caviat is that the math works for me and everyone is different...

Yes to success, No to failure!

I just mean you did the math wrong, your daily deficit ignoring exercise is at least 1000 and you have it as 636 or so, which means you should be losing even more than you suggested in your OP. You don't use BMR to factor your caloric deficit you use Maintenance caloires, which means your math just works out by chance, because you made up an equation to fit it. That calculation makes no sense as you are using the wrong numbers to get your deficit, try it using maintenance as you should be using and I bet it will not workout.

((Maintenance-Di)/3500)*Dop=WL
WL+(WL*0.35)+(WO/3500)Dwo=Lbs Lost per week

((2203-1200)/3500)5=(1003/3500)5=1.433~
1.433+(1.433*0.35)+(700/3500)5=1.433+0.5015+(0.2)5=1.433+0.5015+1=2.934~2.93 lbs lost per week which is much more than you did lose, either due to not eating enough, or your bodies inability to lose weight that fast as you don't have enough to lose.

Be careful 1200 is not enough and you can or already may have caused more harm than good to your body, what you are doing is called starving your self.