dont understand my BMR/ Harris Benidict and im not loosing a

cvcman

Ok my BMR is 1547.88 and I gues this is what I need to stay in bed everyday. So my Harris Benedict is 2670 so I guees this is what i need to maintain my current weight. I would like to loose about 5 more pounds. If you look at my food diary you will see im usually under that number but im not loosing anymore and I work out either biking or running everyday ??

rileysowner

Harris Benedict is only one of the formulas out there. What does MFP say you should be eating to maintain?

leslturn8

mix up your workouts and trial a different food intake? Are you eating back your workout calories?

cvcman

not really, look at my diary, some days im under by 500

cvcman

i dont get it >>>MFP keeps saying " if you eat like this you will weigh 147 pounds in 4 weeks" meanwhile I am not loosing anymore....

rileysowner

not really, look at my diary, some days im under by 500

You are eating at maintenance and using exercise to establish your deficit, thus eating your exercise calories is not really what you want, although you would do well to decide what sort of deficit you want. I would recommend no more than .5 pound per week at this point, so 250 a day or so, but not much more. I would also be sure that your activity level is correct. If you are off on that it will mess everything up. Also, one of the things I remembered was that you should measure. You may not see weight loss, but you may see changes in measurements.

cvcman

i dont follow are you saying I should keep the exersise and eat more or less ?? I would like to loose about 5 pounds more total then maintain

onmyweightohappiness

Don't make it a habit to go under your calorie goal by extremes every single day or your body goes into starvation mode and will cling on to that extra fat for survival. When I go under it's typically only by 100 calories never really more than that. That's what I've been doing and it's working for me.

rileysowner

Don't make it a habit to go under your calorie goal by extremes every single day or your body goes into starvation mode and will cling on to that extra fat for survival. When I go under it's typically only by 100 calories never really more than that. That's what I've been doing and it's working for me.

The calories the OP figured out with Harris Benedict and set as the goal for the day are for maintaining, what they call the Total Daily Energy Expenditure. If all those are eaten but exercise calories are not, the daily calorie deficit which causes weight loss is from the exercise calories burned off. My suggestion is that is should be no more that 250 a day which would give a .5 pound per week loss. It is not a matter of exercising more or less it is a matter of choosing how many calories are left at the end of the day. You want to only have about 250 left with your current calorie settings. That means some days you will eat your normal calories plus a bit more because of big exercise days, other days you would eat different amounts all based on how many calories you burned exercising. Of course all this depends on how accurate the measuring of your calories for your exercise are which is a whole other kettle of fish.

To the OP the easiest way to do this is to use the goal setter on this site and set it to .5 pounds per week.

rileysowner

I see by your diary I was mistaken. If you are eating 1900 with a TDEE of 2670 you have a deficit of 770. That would be 1.5 pounds per week give or take. If you only have 5 pounds to go, that is too big of a caloric deficit. You don't want it much bigger than 250 calories a day giving a net calories for the day of 2420. If you eat much under this weight loss will be very slow or non-existent. Here is a helpful guide http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

I am guessing if you are not eating your 1900 plus exercise calories, that is the problem and why you are not losing.

cvcman

i still dont understand ( sorry do I need to eat more or less or what ????

cvcman

when you say only have 250 left is that after figuring in exersise ?? Or do I just not put in the exersise and go by calories ? Im so confused.....

rileysowner

The 250 left is after exercise calories have been figured in. So with your calories at 2670 to maintain your weight were it is (I think that was the number) you need to eat 2420 calories a day if you don't exercise. That assumes your calculation on Harris Benedict was based on your normal activity not your normal activity and expected exercise.

As I said, the easiest way to do this is use the goals setting here on the site and don't try to do the calculations yourself. Then you simply set it at .5 pound per week and eat the calories it tells you to which will include any calories you log based on exercise.

cvcman

yea ive been doing close to that I think and have not lost anymore>>> look at my diary and tell me what im doing wrong. The 2500 Harris Benidict was assuming I am VERY active which I am and I exersise everyday....Help me

cvcman

I tried what everyone here keeps telling me "eat more" and now after 3 days of that im up 2 pounds

MoonIite

Give it two weeks, 3 days is not enough to judge whether it's working or not.

cvcman

humm well if in 3 days i added 2 pounds what will i be in 3 weeks....I still dont buy the "eat more" if people go into "starvation" mode when they dont eat why is it people on Survivor loose tons of weight not eating ?? I dont see alot of fat people who are hungry or homeless...
it just doesnt make sense

rileysowner

humm well if in 3 days i added 2 pounds what will i be in 3 weeks....I still dont buy the "eat more" if people go into "starvation" mode when they dont eat why is it people on Survivor loose tons of weight not eating ?? I dont see alot of fat people who are hungry or homeless...
it just doesnt make sense

The eat more advice is if a person is in a calorie deficit which you may not be. You assumed your activity level is very active, but it could be less active than you think. If that is the case you are overeating.

I think we need to start from the basics. What does your typical day of activity look like? How tall are you? How much do you weigh currently? At least that way I can check your numbers. No matter what, you don't want a huge calorie deficit if you are so close to a healthy weight which your ticker seems to indicate.

cvcman

Ok im 5'8" tall, 52 yr old man, I weigh about 156-158 depending on the day. I either run 4 miles a day or bike hard at around 16mph for at least an hour a day sometimes 2 -3 hours.
Again I do exersise everyday.......Yesterday I did interval running for about 40 minutes, the day before I biked an hour at 16mph avg speed and I do hills, day before that ran 4 miles....It should show up if you look at my diary under exersise as i always put it in. In addition I mow lawns,shovel snow, work on machines etc and walk alot so I assume im pretty active in the grand scheme of things...I dont tend to drink a lot of water, I usually drink 2 bottles while biking and several other glasses during the day. I do sweat alot in this heat when biking/running
Again when I bike or run im not just taking a joy ride im MOVING !!!
The week I was on vacation I exersised everyday and ate ice cream everyday and came home 3 pounds lighter than when I left....I would like to get to about 150 even though everyone seems to think I look to thin now...I dont agree I have a paunch on my belly that doesnt leave. I am in 32 waist pants which before I was in 36......It seems like I hit a wall
Again look at my diary, i try to eat decent foods with pretzles being my snack food and my red wine at night my vise

cvcman

So.....

rileysowner

I was not online much yesterday, so I just got back to this today.

I ran your numbers here http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and this it what I got:

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.

Activity Level/ Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job)/ 1813
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)/ 2078
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)/ 2342
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)) 2606
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)/ 2871

These various categories are what would maintain your weight where it is based on the specific activity level.

Based on what described as your normal day, I would say you are definitely at the very least Moderately Active, and likely are as you said Very Active. It is possible that you might be Extremely Active, but I think you are likely in the Moderate to Very Active area. So calories to maintain your weight at 150 pounds would be 2342-2606. I would suggest keeping your activity the same and trying for a few weeks eating at 2343 and see what happens. You may want to lose quickly, but since you are not over weight slower is better. See if after 2-3 weeks that starts your weight going down. If it does keep it up. Notice I took the Moderate Activity as your daily calories. I figure that will certainly give you the small calorie deficit you want at this point to get rid of that last fat. I am getting close to being where you are right now myself as I am officially at a healthy weight, people keep saying I have lost too much, but I want the remaining belly fat and the like to go away so I can actually see the muscle I work so had to maintain and build. However, I have taken the summer off from seeking to lose weight and just have been eating to maintain. I will try this final sculpting starting the middle of this month. I hope this helps.

Ifly4free

I'm right there with you. 3 weeks and no loss. I just finished with TOM and I am hoping I will see a loss when I weigh in on Friday. I can't stand when I complete my food diary and it says I will weigh 124 in 4 weeks. Drives me crazy!! Not at the rate I am going! Ready to Freak Out! Oh well, just keep chugging along. There has to be a change sometime.

cvcman

ya im not convinced that id I eat MORE I will loose..

rileysowner

The thing is your currently not losing so what would it hurt. Since it is maintenance, eat that and only that, not your exercise calories, and see what happens. The reality is a body that is at a healthy weight loses very slowly. In fact at this point the scale is not the best of tools for measuring success. Think of it, would you be unhappy if you stayed at your present weight, but the fat went away leaving you with defined muscle? If that is the case perhaps what you need to do is ditch the scale as a measure of progress and instead use the measuring tape and maybe go out an purchase some inexpensive calipers meant for measuring body fat percentage (available at a lot of stores) and use those instead.

cvcman

so you think I should eat 1800 calories no matter how much i workout ?? So maybe dont even put in the excersise

rileysowner

No eat 2343 no matter how much you are exercising.

cvcman

UGGG !! I cant eat that much , lol And if I eat that I will weigh 200 pounds in a month,lol

rileysowner

If you say so.

cvcman

well I guees I shall see, I will try increasing my calories

rileysowner

You are going to have to eventually even if you take off the weight you want. My suggestion is to eat those calories you would theoretically need to maintain your body weight a the goal you set (that will create a small deficit in itself since you weight more than that right now) and add to that deficit by exercising and not eating back those exercise calories. Since you only have 5 pounds to lose, that is the far superior way to lose the weight. It is slow at probably .5 pounds or so a week, but it does work and it will be easier to maintain that lose in the long run. It is not like you have to jump right up to those calories. Add a 100 or so every 3-4 days.