Plan to break my plateau - is this accurate??

Audddua

As you get closer to your goal, your body starts playing jedi mind tricks on you to keep from losing more. You gotta play them back

:laugh: that kind of just made my day

lmd172

bump...

FitLink

I think I just need someone to tell me I've got this concept correct...

I've been stuck right around 145 for many, many months now. The measuring tape is not moving, either. So here's my thought process...

The calculators say I need about 1700 calories a day to "live." That is putting in my height and weight (5'7" and 143 pounds as of this morning, but I'll probably be 145 again tomorrow) and my daily exercise/lifestyle. I did two different calculators and they both came out the same. I've been eating 1200 calories or less a day for almost a year now. I guess I've basically "taught" my body to live on 1200 calories a day and I have slowed down my metabolism.... right?

So if I bump up my calories to 1500 (or 1700?) a day for a week or two, I can "reset" my metabolism back to normal for me.... and then go back down to 1200 and I will start to lose again. ...right?

So my questions are this:

1. Am I on the right track here? This *should work.... right?

2. how far up should I take my daily calories? 1500? the full 1700?

3. for how long should I eat these higher calories? One week? Two weeks?

4. Should I expect to GAIN weight during those one or two weeks that I up my calories?

Thanks in advance, oh wise MFP'ers!

1. Yes, with the increase to 1500+ calories. No, with the idea of returning to 1200 or less.
2. You should eat your BMR. I get that this seems counterintuitive to you. Just go with it.
3. Until you reach your goal. Then you should eat your TDEE plus any exercise calories to maintain. You should never return to 1200 or less. It will not increase your weight loss. Again, I get that this is hard for you. Just go with it.
4. You will gain a bit for several weeks, then you will begin losing again, and continue to lose.

Kylieikerd

Don't complicate it. Use the tools as given here. In a month, reevaluate.

Read this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506979-correct-calorie-deficit

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

---

If you want to lose 0.5 pounds a week: (BMR*activity level*7) - (1750) = calories for the week, then divide this by 7 for calories for the day

If you want to lose 1.0 pound a week: (BMR*activity level*7) - (3500) = calories for the week, then divide this by 7 for daily cals

For every half pound more per week, add 1750 to the second set of brackets

____________________________________________________________________________
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

The funny thing is that I just did that and it comes out to almost exactly 1200 calories a day! LOL!

psuLemon

Psulemon said:

Generally, front all the numbers I have run, those who just do JM 30DS don't burn enough calories to go into moderately active category. But if you want, post your estimated BMR (using the tool function) and I can show you a few ways to look at it. When you do P90X, you will definitely be moderately active or even very active.

Ok, that does makes some sense because, you're right, it does only burn about 220 calories each time. I just wasn't sure if I should be going by number of times exercising, intensity level, or what.

After chewing on this some yesterday, I've come to the conclusion that I screwed myself up by not eating my exercise calories back. At 5'3", 35yo, 153 lb my BMR is 1350 (or 1450 if using Harris-Benedict).

I considered what I was doing when I was losing weight consistently. When I first started losing weight, I was *not* exercising and I was eating 1500 calories a day. I lost an average of .8 lb/wk. Based on that I figure my TDEE must have been around 1900 cals/day. Even though I have a desk job, that comes to an activity multiplier of about 1.4. Once I started exercising I thought it would just increase my deficit in a good way and boost me to the 1 lb/wk mark. And it did for a month. Then it stalled.

So, based on what I knew from before, I figure with exercise my TDEE may run between 2100-2200 -- which is an activity factor of 1.55. That would jive with exercising 5-6x a week, which I do. But I'm realizing that even at just 220 calories burned with 30DS, that puts me a consistent net calories below my BMR and could explain the stall.

I could either try to eat a full 2100 calories a day, or I can keep with the 1500 daily calories but start eating my exercise calores back regularly and see if that helps. That sounds like the better thing to try before jumping up suddenly.

So lets take the middle for BMR but here is your estimated TDEE if you are sedentary. And when I say sedentary, you work a desk job and don't do too much walking at work.


TDEE = 1400 * 1.2 + 250 = 1930
Caloric Needs = 1930 * .8 = 1544.

I would actually aim for 1600 calories a day. Probably 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fats. And since I included your exercise in your TDEE, you would not eat back exercise calories.