Am I eating enough?

DarkAngellEyes

I know this topic has just about been beaten to death, but I'm really struggling with this...

I'm 5'4 and currently fluctuating between 153-156 lbs. I am on week 3 of Stage 1 - I lift 3 times a week and I take a relatively intense boxing class on my days "off". (Prior to starting lifting I was doing regular cardio at the gym in between my boxing classes)

My goal weight is 145-140. MFP originally had me set at 1200 calories/day to lose 2 lbs a week, but I upped that to 1400 when I started NROLFW.

I've been fluctuating with the same 3 pounds for a month straight now. I have been losing inches, and I know thats what really counts - but I also want to get to a healthy weight range for my height.

Should I be eating more?

(sorry to beat a dead horse!)

carrie_eggo

Below is a link for spreadsheet (you may have seen it) that uses the NROL nutrition recommendations to figure out your calorie needs. How close to this is your 1400 calories?? Maybe 1400 is not enough with all that you do.....keep in mind, you do not eat your exercise calories back when following this.

http://maggiewang.com/2008/05/20/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-diet-calculator-and-workout-logs

login: perturbation
pwd: dominance

DarkAngellEyes

I have seen this spreadsheet - but must have completely skipped the "calculator" worksheet! haha

According to this - I should be eating 1641 on a "no workout" day (when I entered the lower end of my flutuating weight range). I had no idea if we followed the recommended ranges in the book that we shouldnt eat the exercise calories though!

Ok... so maybe I'll up my daily range to 1600 for a few weeks and just see how it goes. That was my original thought, but there are so many different opinions out there I just got more confused...

carrie_eggo

Yeah....maybe eat some of your exercise calories when you do the extra cardio on your days off of the program...if your going to do the 1600 daily. I only enter my exercise calories if I do something on my day off. Otherwise I don't eat my calories and mine are set to 1800. Hopefully after a couple of weeks you'll know if this is the right way to go or not.

DarkAngellEyes

I like to keep track of how many calories I'm burning (I use a HRM) so I'll probably continue to track them... but maybe I should eat them or some of them on my lifting days since this calculator says I should be eating 1900 on active workout days...hmmm

I think I'm going to have to experiment with this a bit....

kelseyhere

Hi DarkAngel, don't get down on yourself too much, inches is great! Most likely you've added a few pounds of muscle.

I'm in a similar boat though. I was eating 1200, and when I started the New Rules I upped to 1250, but I always eat back exercise calories. I also use a HRM to track. I'm 5' 6" and pretty much stuck at 140 (fluctuating 138-143). My goal is 135 and I'd like to lose a few inches as well. So far, I've been working out 5 days a week, following a similar schedule to you (lift M-W-F, intense cardio on T-Th), and the scale hasn't moved, nor do my clothes fit any better (I feel like it's going to be summer before my jeans start to fit grrrrrrr I'm sick of wearing the same pants all winter!).

I'm going to do the worksheet later on and then up my cals and report back after a week or so. Hopefully eating more will help because I don't think I could eat any less!

Let me know what happens for you as I'm curious. Thanks for beating the dead horse lol

DarkAngellEyes

I try to remind myself that it's the inches that really matter - but its tough when the scale doesnt move!

Yesterday was my first full day of 1600 calories... felt like a lot of food, but I was able to get it in with all healthy stuff which is good. I'm going to Florida for a long weekend tomorrow and it makes me a little nervous that I upped my calories right before this trip where I know I won't be able to lift. The hotel has a gym though, so I will at least be able to get in some cardio.

I'll be sure to keep you updated on how this works for me... I just have to keep in mind it may take a full couple of weeks before my body catches up with this adjustment...

staceyb2003

Below is a link for spreadsheet (you may have seen it) that uses the NROL nutrition recommendations to figure out your calorie needs. How close to this is your 1400 calories?? Maybe 1400 is not enough with all that you do.....keep in mind, you do not eat your exercise calories back when following this.

http://maggiewang.com/2008/05/20/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-diet-calculator-and-workout-logs

login: perturbation
pwd: dominance

Thanks for posting this, I'm a newbie, just read the book. I was a little confused about how much protein I needed. This excel sheet is great!!

I'm a runner and have a half in May so I decided I would follow the strenuous work and workout calorie goal for days I burn so much on cardio. I'm a tax preparer and a stay at home mom, so other days I would just follow they other two guidelines. I'll just see how it goes. So excited to get started!!

FaithHopeBELIEVE

Below is a link for spreadsheet (you may have seen it) that uses the NROL nutrition recommendations to figure out your calorie needs. How close to this is your 1400 calories?? Maybe 1400 is not enough with all that you do.....keep in mind, you do not eat your exercise calories back when following this.

http://maggiewang.com/2008/05/20/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-diet-calculator-and-workout-logs

login: perturbation
pwd: dominance

Yikes. According to this I'm eating to gain I guess. the only two options were maintenance and fat loss. Do i add 250-300 to gain LBM? I just got the book so havent read much yet. So while I was waiting for it in the mail I knew it would tell me to eat more. So I googled TDEE and BMR calculators, etc...and they all gave me 1800-2100 so i picked 1800 to put on MFP. Wondering if that's too high? I am 5'2" 114 (but set the goal at 110) and I entered moderately active (3-5 days excercise but not the intense one). I do do intense though.

ETA: I just added it into this site and my cals for maitenace came to 1837 cals. I'm assuming this is with not eating back excercise cals then?
http://www.shapefit.com/dailycalorie-calc.html

kelseyhere

Yes, you are correct. The book gives guidelines based on the assumption that you don't eat back exercise cals. It's easier for most people to calculate this way.

igoharder92

Rather than making a new link i'll just post on this one hopfully people will see it,
I'm 5'5 weighing around 160. I joined MPF to lose weight and i was eating 1500 cals a day (1 pd. per week). I just finished my book and i understand that I need to be eating roughly 1900 cals on off days and 2200 on lifting days if i want to maintain..so to lose weight i should cut it to like 1600-1700 and on lifting days about 2000?

One more question about tracking our food, so its 40/30/30? (carb, protien, fat) if so i don't know how to track that in my calories!
can someone please help me?

Nelski

Rather than making a new link i'll just post on this one hopfully people will see it,
I'm 5'5 weighing around 160. I joined MPF to lose weight and i was eating 1500 cals a day (1 pd. per week). I just finished my book and i understand that I need to be eating roughly 1900 cals on off days and 2200 on lifting days if i want to maintain..so to lose weight i should cut it to like 1600-1700 and on lifting days about 2000?

One more question about tracking our food, so its 40/30/30? (carb, protien, fat) if so i don't know how to track that in my calories!
can someone please help me?

Yes, I would try that for your calorie goal for a few weeks and see how it goes. If you do cardio on your non lifting days you could probably eat more.
You can change your macro goals in the same place you change calorie, enter the % and it will show you how many that is for your calorie goal.

Natihilator

Below is a link for spreadsheet (you may have seen it) that uses the NROL nutrition recommendations to figure out your calorie needs. How close to this is your 1400 calories?? Maybe 1400 is not enough with all that you do.....keep in mind, you do not eat your exercise calories back when following this.

http://maggiewang.com/2008/05/20/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-diet-calculator-and-workout-logs

login: perturbation
pwd: dominance

When I click the download link, it says the page no longer exists?

igoharder92

thank you : )

and yeah it said the page didn't exsit for me either

TheReese1206

I needed that. Dang it.

amsparky

Me too - boo!

Natihilator

Would anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:

beckkotsch

Would anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:

Ditto!

TheReese1206

I third this

Would anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:

Ditto!

DarkAngellEyes

I would love to share this spreadsheet - Unfortunately I am a bit technologically-challenged and have no idea how to put it into html or web format to post a link....

I could email it though if anyone wants to send me their email address through a PM.

MMarvelous

Do you a Gmail account? If so I will figure out how to post it as a Google file for us to share.

airplanes00

Hello,

I also would love to get access to this excel sheet. Does anyone have on they could share?

Thanks -

emgawne

Hello,

I also would love to get access to this excel sheet. Does anyone have on they could share?

Thanks -

i would love access to the spreadsheet too!!

crystal8208

Me too!!

HeidiHoMom

Hi there, I am new here. My book should be here by friday and I would also like to access the spread sheet.

Jenlwb

Send me an emaill address by private message and i'll send you my (clean) copy. It's soooo useful!

fittiephd

You don't need the spreadsheet to do the calculations, they give you the exact equations in the book. It's not hard. I've also posted the calculations here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538943-how-to-calculate-calorie-goals-according-to-nrolfw

Tina180130

BUMP

kel7298

Try these:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8OgAuIMlsG-bUNJVGJJaXhvVFE
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8OgAuIMlsG-TDRKd192c1A1Mkk

Val_from_OH

So weird.... I have lost weight successfully in the past, but I am older now, and my body seems to enjoy all this extra fluff. Before starting NROL4W, MFP set my goal at 1460 (supposedly a 500 calorie deficit). I lost a few lbs, but REALLY slowly.

I switched to NR about 3 weeks ago. According to the calcuations in the book, if I need to shed pounds, I should eat 1402 on non-exercise days (which they claim is only 300 calorie deficit?) and 1692 on workout days. This is what I am doing, and now I'm losing nothing.

According to scooby, I should be at 2055 to maintain, and 1644 is a 20% deficit. Fat2Fit gives similar #'s. This is a BIG difference.

My scale isn't very reliable these days, as I tend to retain quite a bit of water after lifting. What would you do if you were in my shoes? I have a lot of weight to lose just to get out of the obese range, and every week that I am stuck is another unhealthy week for my body...

lilsassymom

BUMP