My Plateau Nutrition Story, Learn from my mistakes.

Eva_H

bump

MaynardLD50

I've read all million and a half pages in this thread, and I'm still confused.

If you do the long-hand math or the calculator at FreeDieting.com, is the recommended daily calorie intake you end up with your NET or your GROSS caloric intake?

Do I eat back my exercise calories or do I eat only my calculated amount?

Bear with me.
I used the website, I hate math :P.

My maintenance amount is 2458. Fat loss is 1966. Extreme fat loss is 1475. Let's say I go with Maintenance - 30%. This gives me 1720 cals.

I'm currently on week 5 of TurboFire, and I love it. According to MFP 30 minutes burns 408 cals.

So on days I do my workouts, do I eat 1720 cals or do I eat 2128+?

Please help! My boyfriend and I are both trying to exercise and eat better. We both work in construction and that means long hours and erratic mealtimes. After 2 months of next to zero scale movement, we're both getting frustrated. Coming across this thread was a godsend. On days I didn't exercise, my 1200 calorie goal was terrible, I always felt deprived and hungry or I would over eat and then feel guilty. Even on days I did exercise for those extra calories, I didn't feel great. I've been tired all the time and always on the edge of feeling a cold coming on and this might explain why.

And again in case all my rambling obscured the core question, is the number we get after the calculation NET or GROSS calories?

You're daily calories should be 10,000. Kidding. Take that website for the easy no math to it approach. If the website says that fat loss should be 1966 stick with 1950. Don't over think it. 1950 is your goal and DO NOT EAT YOUR EXERCISE calories back! You figured out your calories on that website because you put in how often you work out, therefore it has factored in your nutritional needs based on your workouts.

Make sense?

I cannot stress how much I recommend getting a Heart Rate Monitor guys and gals. I should probably be collecting royalties from how many people I refer to the Polar FT7. Works fantastic and has been proven to be almost 98% accurate. MyFitnessPal once told me that I burned 820 calories doing a cardio movement and my Heart Rate Monitor said I burned 621, 75% swing there.

Another thing you will notice as you get healthier is that you will have to push harder to get the results. One of my favorite memories was when I first started going to the gym last August. I got on a treadmill, I had bought the HRM, and I started jogging with the C25K app on the iPhone. I did that plus some small weight training and I finished at 1 Hour and 2 Minutes. I looked at my calories burned and it was 1257. I thought "well every workout should be that right?" I can jog for 10 minutes without breaking a sweat at 6.0 speed now. When I warmup before lifting I'll jog at 5.8 at a 4 - 5 incline to get my heart to 150. Fat me would have been dying. It just gets harder the more fit you get, but the results get better and better

samntha14

I did that plus some small weight training and I finished at 1 Hour and 2 Minutes. I looked at my calories burned and it was 1257. I thought "well every workout should be that right?" I can jog for 10 minutes without breaking a sweat at 6.0 speed now. When I warmup before lifting I'll jog at 5.8 at a 4 - 5 incline to get my heart to 150. Fat me would have been dying. It just gets harder the more fit you get, but the results get better and better

You are so right. It hasn't even been a full month for me yet and it's already getting harder to get my heart rate up to the fat burn zone, haven't tried to push up to cardio level yet because I don't think my asthma can take it yet.

samntha14

I have to learn how to quote properly LOL

Starlage

Ok folks another week's checkin for me.

I've been taking in daily about 1800-1900 cals after exercise and on non exercise days around 1500. I've lost another 1.3 pounds this week and another 1.25 inches overall so that means in the last month of increased calories and exercising only about 3-4 times a week an hour at a time (my kick-boxing/aerobicsy dvds) I've lost about 5 pounds and 3 inches over all. YAAY!!! I should mention; the first two weeks of eating more calories I didn't really notice any changes; acutally gained a pound or so and most of my inches loss has been over the last 2 weeks... so be patient! Your body'll catch onto the new game soon enough.

funkycamper

Starlage, I really appreciate your regular updates. Keep 'em coming. They're inspiring as I work to up my own calories.

Brynne_Kathryn

Thank you so much! I'll keep updating!

tmfpartyof4

This should be the introduction from MFP for new starters and starvers.

i totally agree!!!

i am very new and I have a question.

MFP gave me a BMR of 1950.
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

that^^ link gave me a BMR of 1966, a maintenance calorie of 2327 and a fat loss calculation of 2064.

i have either eaten my BMR or stayed under it. Isnt that a bad thing? how much should I eat?i have 3 #s here.

oh and a 7 day zig zag calorie cycle.

bekisimpkins

Bump - tomorrow is time to re-adjust my calorie goal! Barely any movement on the scale and suffering headaches at times means I'm almost definitely not eating enough! Thanks for the easy explanation, apart from the maths ;-)

Terasome

Ok so let me get this straight.

I weigh 82 kg, on the free diet site it says

if I am exercising 5 days a week burning 500 calories on average

my maintenance is 2417
fat loss 1718
extreme loss is 1443

so I should eat close to 1718 and not eat those exercise calories back? leaving me at around 1200 net?

is that right.

Terasome

bump any info is welcome?

soonerthanlater

bump any info is welcome?

Here's the thing.. we're all different. No website calculator can factor in your genetics (which influence how and where you store fat and how you'll lose it), hormone levels (especially thyroid, estrogen/testosterone, leptin/ghrelin and cortisol systems), neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine in particular), body mechanics and joint/muscle capability. As a result, all of the calculators, formulae and weight loss approaches will work variably for different people. This is why it's so difficult to give advice that works for everyone.

That said, the more you read, the more you'll start to see trends, things that seem to work for many people. Use these as a starting point and experiment. It took me several months to find a combination of things that worked for me consistently (whole foods, plenty of water and strength training 3x/wk with cardio 2-3x/wk).

To answer your question, I'd say the best place to start is with an honest assessment of what you're really eating - MFP is a great tool, but you have to be strictly honest in measuring your portion sizes by weight every time rather than guessing. After an assessment period, maybe two weeks to get some solid averages, you'll have a starting point. Whatever you find out you're eating can then be reduced by 10% for a few weeks. If you're eating whole foods and exercising regularly you'll start to feel better and can then reassess. If you find you're bonking during your workouts, add 200-300 calories and hour or two before them. If you're feeling good during your workouts and between them but your clothes aren't fitting differently and you aren't losing inches, you can drop your calorie goal by another 10%. Following this process, you'll eventually figure out what works for you. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it's a hassle. And no, there is no magic bullet. But it will be worth it. I've lost 80# of fat, ran my first 10K last year, can lift more weight than I did in high school and at 39 I'm healthier than I've ever been. Keep at it and you WILL succeed.

Jambe

Yet to hit this mythical starvation mode. Been trying, really, I have. 7 months starting with 3500 calorie deficits. 143 lbs lost later and 1000-2000 cal deficits still aren't enough I suppose.

I'll let you know when/if I do.

It's entirely possible to get all your nutrients and still have a deficit, also. Protein helps ( I lift a lot more weight and have more muscle/tone now too than I did when I was 341)

/shrug

funkycamper

bump any info is welcome?

Here's the thing.. we're all different. No website calculator can factor in your genetics (which influence how and where you store fat and how you'll lose it), hormone levels (especially thyroid, estrogen/testosterone, leptin/ghrelin and cortisol systems), neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine in particular), body mechanics and joint/muscle capability. As a result, all of the calculators, formulae and weight loss approaches will work variably for different people. This is why it's so difficult to give advice that works for everyone.

That said, the more you read, the more you'll start to see trends, things that seem to work for many people. Use these as a starting point and experiment. It took me several months to find a combination of things that worked for me consistently (whole foods, plenty of water and strength training 3x/wk with cardio 2-3x/wk).

To answer your question, I'd say the best place to start is with an honest assessment of what you're really eating - MFP is a great tool, but you have to be strictly honest in measuring your portion sizes by weight every time rather than guessing. After an assessment period, maybe two weeks to get some solid averages, you'll have a starting point. Whatever you find out you're eating can then be reduced by 10% for a few weeks. If you're eating whole foods and exercising regularly you'll start to feel better and can then reassess. If you find you're bonking during your workouts, add 200-300 calories and hour or two before them. If you're feeling good during your workouts and between them but your clothes aren't fitting differently and you aren't losing inches, you can drop your calorie goal by another 10%. Following this process, you'll eventually figure out what works for you. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it's a hassle. And no, there is no magic bullet. But it will be worth it. I've lost 80# of fat, ran my first 10K last year, can lift more weight than I did in high school and at 39 I'm healthier than I've ever been. Keep at it and you WILL succeed.

Excellent post.

PoochPottery

I am struggling with this right now. Fighting to lose the last 5 pounds. This month I am bumping up my calories. Thanks for this post.

Starlage

Ok so let me get this straight.

I weigh 82 kg, on the free diet site it says

if I am exercising 5 days a week burning 500 calories on average

my maintenance is 2417
fat loss 1718
extreme loss is 1443

so I should eat close to 1718 and not eat those exercise calories back? leaving me at around 1200 net?

is that right.

So you can do it two different ways. The 1718 is calculating in the 500 burned from exercise so either eat the 1718 daily regardless of whether you exercise more or less in a day and DONT eat the exercise calories back OR- what I'm doing is I calculated my calorie intake without exercise. So I typed in all of my daily activities except for my exercise so that I still use MFP to eat my calories back since I don't exercise everyday- only 3-4 times a week so eating calories as if I was exercising daily wouldn't work for me. SO I used the calorie calculator to ge my TDEE and am eating that every day and on days I exercise eating the calories back so that I stay at that TDEE calorie level. Do what works for you! You have to give it a month though whichever way you go to know whether it's working or not. Like the other person responded to you everyone's different! Eating my exercise calories works for me beacuse I'm not a daily excerciser. For you, if you're actually exercising 5 days a week and burning about the same amount of calories each day go ahead and just eat the 1718 daily to simplify things for yourself and when you enter your exercise to the diary don't put any calories burned. good luck!

jsokolow3

Bump

Rusjo

Filling out http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm, it says for me to eat 2218 calories/day for "extreme fat loss". That seems like a lot for me. According to MFP I should eat 1550/day, but most of the time I eat less than that. I'm really not eating that much less during meals than I did before, but I had a big problem with snacking, which probably added a lot of calories. Does that mean I should eat a lot more calories pronto if I want to lose weight while also building muscles? Help, I'm so confused!

Starlage

well, the calculator is accounting for the calories burned from exercise so it's telling you to eat the 2218 after exercise. So, either use the calculator to get your calorie intake after exercise (the 2218) and don't eat exercise cals back- meaning log your exercise but count it as 0 burned so that you're staying at your recommeneded calories after exercise OR use the calculator to get your TDEE- your daily calorie needs before exercise but including your normal daily activities and change your MFP goal to that, then use MFP as usual entering your exercise calories and eating ALL of them back. The latter works best for me because I don't exercise daily- only a few times a week so it makes more sense for me to be eating the calories back only when I actually exercise. Make sense? Be super honest with the calculator though- it'll likely tell you to eat more calories than MFP does before exercise (probably like 1700). Make sense?

lewandt

Bumping for later......i'm on overload!