Am I eating enough?
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DarkAngellEyes
Posts: 335 Member
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!)
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!)
1
Replies
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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: dominance0 -
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...0 -
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.0
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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....0 -
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 lol0 -
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...0 -
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!!0 -
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.html0 -
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.0
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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?0 -
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.0 -
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?0 -
thank you : )
and yeah it said the page didn't exsit for me either0 -
I needed that. Dang it.0
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Me too - boo!0
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Would anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:0
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Would anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:
Ditto!0 -
I third thisWould anyone who has it already be able to share the spreadsheet with the rest of us somehow? pretty please? :flowerforyou:
Ditto!0 -
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.0 -
Do you a Gmail account? If so I will figure out how to post it as a Google file for us to share.0
