Still confused...

Akjenn89

Alright, so here's the deal. When I first signed up, it set my calorie net to 1200 in order to lose weight. However, it calculated my BMR to be at 1,588. So I changed my calorie net goal to atleast 1600. Is that wrong? Or should I be bumping it even higher? I've only been a part of this community for a month, so I know a part of weight loss is patience and I might just be impatient at the moment. But I also want to know that I'm on the right track.

I'll admit, my food choices aren't always healthy, but they are a GREAT deal better than they were before. I used to eat only processed foods (lots of fast food), and mostly carbs (maybe even 90% carbs). Barely any protein, and pretty much never ate fruits or vegetables. So I'm actively trying to incorporate those aspects into my diet. (Yet, when I first started tracking I still wasn't hitting above 1,200 calories despite the junk because I used to only eat one meal a day pretty much. So I have had to learn that not only was my food junk, but I need to eat more as well). So is my body still adjusting?

I also pretty much never exercised before. I've now done a solid month of p90x, which is 6 days a week of 60 min exercises.

To top it off, I went to this website to try to figure out where I should be:
http://nutrition.about.com/library/bl_nutrition_guide.htm

And my results said:

You need 1989.1 calories per day to maintain your current weight without exercise.

You need 1857.2 calories per day to reach your goal weight slowly and maintain that weight without exercise.

If you reduce your current caloric intake to 1489.1 calories per day you will lose one pound per week without exercise.

If you increase your current caloric intake to 2489.1 calories per day, you will gain one pound per week.

If you exercise for 60 minutes each day, you may increase your caloric intake to 2471.6 calories per day to maintain your current weight.



So should my net really be at about 1500, even though the calculated BMR on this site states about 1600 for me should be the very minimum? (Also, I do eat back my exercise calories in case if that's a question). Or should it be as high as 1800 where it says "to get to your goal slowly and maintain"? Or maybe a net of 1900 since a 500 calorie deficit of 2471 would be around there? Or do I just stick with what I'm doing and be patient? Please help.

CoraGregoryCPA

5 lbs in a month is GREAT!!! Since you went from no exercise, to exercising on a regular basis, your body is probably building some muscle and adjusting to being active. Plus, you are getting healthier daily by making better food choices. Keep doing what you are doing. If you plateau then adjust.

Akjenn89

5 lbs in a month is GREAT!!! Since you went from no exercise, to exercising on a regular basis, your body is probably building some muscle and adjusting to being active. Plus, you are getting healthier daily by making better food choices. Keep doing what you are doing. If you plateau then adjust.

I agree. I was just worried because I lost it all my very first week and I've been stuck at the same weight for the last three weeks. =\

withchaco

The calorie guide link does not let you specify your activity level. It would give the same number for a person with a desk job and a person with a hard labor job, as long as their age, height, sex and weight are the same.

I'd try MFP's recommendation, and make adjustments as needed.

CoraGregoryCPA

Also, if you want to speed the weight loss up a little bit, then don't eat your exercise calories back.
I was eating 1200 calories a day, worked out twice a day and and ate my exercise calories-which is a lot when you are exercising twice a day! I wasn't losing any weight but I could feel my body getting healthier.

I increased my calories to 1500, and kept working out twice a day, and NOT eating my exercise calories back. I started losing weight immediately.

Now, you could look at this as I am eating half of my exercise calories back. I like seeing the deficit in my diary of 600+ calories. Therefore I say I'm not eating my exercise calories back

Don't look at my diary today or yesterday.. I've been baking bad foods! lol.
Side Note: I never realized Raisin brain had soo many calories! Watch calories and sugar in cereals, they can sneak in there and you won't even know it!

Akjenn89

Side Note: I never realized Raisin brain had soo many calories! Watch calories and sugar in cereals, they can sneak in there and you won't even know it!

Oh, I know. Haha. I've been eating oatmeal pretty consistently, then I ran out. So today I was like, what the heck and ate the family's raisin bran. Then I went to track it and saw that that alone reached me at my sugar limit. I'll admit, my sugar limit is terrible and I'm struggling at bringing that down as well.

Edit: And for that matter, dinner is also like the worst part of my day for me. I think for the most part, generally I do best in the mornings (except for today), and then I hit dinner and I'm kind of at a loss. Especially since in our family we pretty much would alternate days (Ie: Pizza day, chinese food, pizza, corn dogs.) Which wouldn't be so bad, but I actualy have no idea how to really cook! Haha. I keep trying to get my mom to teach me how to do chicken and stuff for the past 3 days and we ended up ordering pizza yesterday instead. >.<

Akjenn89

The calorie guide link does not let you specify your activity level. It would give the same number for a person with a desk job and a person with a hard labor job, as long as their age, height, sex and weight are the same.

I'd try MFP's recommendation, and make adjustments as needed.

Well, that's what i'm kinda confused about too. First they set me at 1,200 calories net. But after looking at my settings for my BMR, it says 1,588. So that didn't seem right. So now I'm trying to manually figure out which is best.

And for the most part, I'd say I'm pretty sedentary. I'm at school until 5:30 at night. And outside of my work outs, I don't really go outside all that much. I hate alaska fall/winter season. =p