In place of a road map!

lilsassymom

OK I just found all of this information and I went to the fat2fitradio website and completed the calculations. I used the military body fat calculations of 23.1%

Age 30
Female
Weight 119
Goal Weight 115
Height 61 inches

Harris-Benedict Formula 1318
Katch-McArdle Forumla 1271


Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1556
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1783
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2010
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2237
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2464

I just upped my calories to 1875 to see if I can start losing again. I just took a guess from that chart to get that number.... I have been stuck around 119 lbs. I am a stay-at-home Mom of 3 kids (aged 4 and under). I have been doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution which is a 30 minute workout 6 days a week (90 day program). What would I consider as my activity level and how many calories do you think I should eat to lose these last few lbs? I still want to lose another 5ish lbs and they don't want leave...

Some days I feel like I am starving----but I dont know if that's what it really is. I am constantly around food (our pantry and serving kids their food, and snacks through out the day). I think about food all the time it seems. I am just trying to figure out what I should be eating to lose these last few pounds and tone up. Any help appreciated. Thanks .

So you are at the unique position of almost sliding into maintenance mode.

You are also in the perhaps not so unique position that if your metabolism has been suppressed up till now - this could be difficult. If you cut lower, you may get a short lag time of more loss before it slows down more, but then how do you raise it back up?

Or, go back to almost maintenance mode, get the fires stoked burning fully, and then the illustration falls apart because I'm not sure what would happen next with fires stoked fully. ;-)

But the idea then is you could cut a couple hundred cal's a day and lose the last weight. Shoot, even eating at near maintenance may just show up how far below you still are.

So I'd count those 30 min DVD's as 1/2 day, so you are right between Lightly and Moderate Active.
That means 1900 calories. Nice even number.

So you've been waiting this long, give it another 2-3 weeks while bringing the calories up 200 per day for a week, and then another week, ect, until at 1900.
Then a couple weeks at that level. You will likely gain weight in there somewhere. Not fat, because you are still at deficit. But energy stores, body improvements with workouts being fed, ect.
Only weigh the morning after a rest day, so you have no fluctuations resulting from the workouts and energy stores and fluid levels, ect.
Once that has settled in, you'll already probably be losing. Don't add any new workouts thinking it's helping, you need normal routine right now to see where your body is at.

Last 5 means 1/2 lb or less per week. You may only want to weigh every 2 weeks if you don't trust scale for sub-pounds.

I just thought of a couple more questions...sorry . I am going to take a recovery week with NO exercise at the end of May and was wondering what you think I should eat for my recovery week. Would I be sedentary and EAT 1556? Or does my stay-at-home job make me lightly active? Also, would that number be my TDEE?

heybales

I just thought of a couple more questions...sorry . I am going to take a recovery week with NO exercise at the end of May and was wondering what you think I should eat for my recovery week. Would I be sedentary and EAT 1556? Or does my stay-at-home job make me lightly active? Also, would that number be my TDEE?

Sedentary would be correct, that is still future weight TDEE, so still enough to take care of running after kids, for just one week.
That's just more great daily activity that is mainly fat burning, which is where you want the deficit to come from anyway.

kiku76

I'm confused. Do I have this right?

BF%: 30.2
GW: 125

BMR: Harris-Benedict 1423
Katch-McArde 1352

Moderately active (I am doing c25k 3x week, walk at home 3x, and some strength. I workout maybe anywhere from 20-40 a day, rest one day): 2077
Lightly active, if I'd be considered more lightly active: 1843

So I'm supposed to eating 2077 calories? After logging my exercises, is that what my NET should be?
I am nursing a 1-yr-old and take that into account in my diary. I log it with my breakfast so most days breakfast is either negative calories or close to zero.

heybales

I'm confused. Do I have this right?

BF%: 30.2
GW: 125

BMR: Harris-Benedict 1423
Katch-McArde 1352

Moderately active (I am doing c25k 3x week, walk at home 3x, and some strength. I workout maybe anywhere from 20-40 a day, rest one day): 2077
Lightly active, if I'd be considered more lightly active: 1843

So I'm supposed to eating 2077 calories? After logging my exercises, is that what my NET should be?
I am nursing a 1-yr-old and take that into account in my diary. I log it with my breakfast so most days breakfast is either negative calories or close to zero.

You would be correct on Mod Active I think. And since you just included exercise in there, you don't follow MFP method which does NOT include exercise.

So that is your daily goal each and every day - 2077.
Well, if you miss a planned workout, skip a 200 cal snack that day.

Perhaps round to even 2000.

When you drop 5 lbs, redo the measurements, and check again. You hope your LBM goes up, which means you actually get to eat more even though you are dropping fat weight! What fun, huh.

kiku76

I'm confused. Do I have this right?

BF%: 30.2
GW: 125

BMR: Harris-Benedict 1423
Katch-McArde 1352

Moderately active (I am doing c25k 3x week, walk at home 3x, and some strength. I workout maybe anywhere from 20-40 a day, rest one day): 2077
Lightly active, if I'd be considered more lightly active: 1843

So I'm supposed to eating 2077 calories? After logging my exercises, is that what my NET should be?
I am nursing a 1-yr-old and take that into account in my diary. I log it with my breakfast so most days breakfast is either negative calories or close to zero.

You would be correct on Mod Active I think. And since you just included exercise in there, you don't follow MFP method which does NOT include exercise.

So that is your daily goal each and every day - 2077.
Well, if you miss a planned workout, skip a 200 cal snack that day.

Perhaps round to even 2000.

When you drop 5 lbs, redo the measurements, and check again. You hope your LBM goes up, which means you actually get to eat more even though you are dropping fat weight! What fun, huh.

thanks. I thought I had it but just wanted to make sure.
2000 is an unbelievable amount of calories. I'm guessing the goal is to add calories but do it through healthy foods and good fats. Not catching that extra 500 cals from a Big Mac right?

So my minimum net should be 1352? is that right?

heybales

thanks. I thought I had it but just wanted to make sure.
2000 is an unbelievable amount of calories. I'm guessing the goal is to add calories but do it through healthy foods and good fats. Not catching that extra 500 cals from a Big Mac right?

So my minimum net should be 1352? is that right?

Correct, good cals, but usually good nutrition can be reached on much lower cal's, good eating level indeed needs some fat usually.
And what's nice, with same amount everyday, you can plan that glass of wine, that serving of M&M's, whatever it is, every single night if desired. Why splurge if you know you get it the next night too?

And avg minimum net would be your current weight BMR. I say avg, you may have big workout day go below, followed by rest day that balances it out plus some.

Tigermad

Thanks to Dan and this method I have lost 2.5 pounds this week and nearly 1% body fat :-) eating between 1650 and 1700 cals. Only 13 pounds to target and about 4% body fat to shift.

whitelilly1

bump

lilsassymom

OK I just found all of this information and I went to the fat2fitradio website and completed the calculations. I used the military body fat calculations of 23.1%

Age 30
Female
Weight 119
Goal Weight 115
Height 61 inches

Harris-Benedict Formula 1318
Katch-McArdle Forumla 1271


Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1556
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1783
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2010
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2237
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2464

I just upped my calories to 1875 to see if I can start losing again. I just took a guess from that chart to get that number.... I have been stuck around 119 lbs. I am a stay-at-home Mom of 3 kids (aged 4 and under). I have been doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution which is a 30 minute workout 6 days a week (90 day program). What would I consider as my activity level and how many calories do you think I should eat to lose these last few lbs? I still want to lose another 5ish lbs and they don't want leave...

Some days I feel like I am starving----but I dont know if that's what it really is. I am constantly around food (our pantry and serving kids their food, and snacks through out the day). I think about food all the time it seems. I am just trying to figure out what I should be eating to lose these last few pounds and tone up. Any help appreciated. Thanks .

So you are at the unique position of almost sliding into maintenance mode.

You are also in the perhaps not so unique position that if your metabolism has been suppressed up till now - this could be difficult. If you cut lower, you may get a short lag time of more loss before it slows down more, but then how do you raise it back up?

Or, go back to almost maintenance mode, get the fires stoked burning fully, and then the illustration falls apart because I'm not sure what would happen next with fires stoked fully. ;-)

But the idea then is you could cut a couple hundred cal's a day and lose the last weight. Shoot, even eating at near maintenance may just show up how far below you still are.

So I'd count those 30 min DVD's as 1/2 day, so you are right between Lightly and Moderate Active.
That means 1900 calories. Nice even number.

So you've been waiting this long, give it another 2-3 weeks while bringing the calories up 200 per day for a week, and then another week, ect, until at 1900.
Then a couple weeks at that level. You will likely gain weight in there somewhere. Not fat, because you are still at deficit. But energy stores, body improvements with workouts being fed, ect.
Only weigh the morning after a rest day, so you have no fluctuations resulting from the workouts and energy stores and fluid levels, ect.
Once that has settled in, you'll already probably be losing. Don't add any new workouts thinking it's helping, you need normal routine right now to see where your body is at.

Last 5 means 1/2 lb or less per week. You may only want to weigh every 2 weeks if you don't trust scale for sub-pounds.

Thank you so much heybales:flowerforyou: . What about if I decide to switch to lifting heavy? I am debating on doing ChaLean Extreme which is a 90 day program. It is done 5 days a week and the workouts are about 35-40 minutes. I want to lose some more body fat and tone up. Would you still consider that moderately active for 1900 calories or do I need to eat more when I lift heavy?

heybales

Thank you so much heybales:flowerforyou: . What about if I decide to switch to lifting heavy? I am debating on doing ChaLean Extreme which is a 90 day program. It is done 5 days a week and the workouts are about 35-40 minutes. I want to lose some more body fat and tone up. Would you still consider that moderately active for 1900 calories or do I need to eat more when I lift heavy?

If the amount of time is the same as the other DVD programs, then that would still apply (the activity levels are based on 1hr workouts on the days). If it's a tad more, then add a tad more, if this is the only thing done.
So 40 min * 5 = 3.3 hrs weekly, or still at bottom of Mod Active - so 1900 sounds good.

If that is truly a weight lifting type program, you should appear to burn less during the program, but you'll burn more fat for the next 4-20 hrs as body repairs. So that takes care of the needing more nutrition for lifting heavy, but you don't need to refeed the fat burn-off of course.

Just suggest getting a higher protein snack in right after the workout.

Tigermad

Thank you so much heybales:flowerforyou: . What about if I decide to switch to lifting heavy? I am debating on doing ChaLean Extreme which is a 90 day program. It is done 5 days a week and the workouts are about 35-40 minutes. I want to lose some more body fat and tone up. Would you still consider that moderately active for 1900 calories or do I need to eat more when I lift heavy?

If the amount of time is the same as the other DVD programs, then that would still apply (the activity levels are based on 1hr workouts on the days). If it's a tad more, then add a tad more, if this is the only thing done.
So 40 min * 5 = 3.3 hrs weekly, or still at bottom of Mod Active - so 1900 sounds good.

If that is truly a weight lifting type program, you should appear to burn less during the program, but you'll burn more fat for the next 4-20 hrs as body repairs. So that takes care of the needing more nutrition for lifting heavy, but you don't need to refeed the fat burn-off of course.

Just suggest getting a higher protein snack in right after the workout.

I started chalean extreme just over a week ago. I also go to the gym 3 times a week for an hour a time burning between 400 and 500 cals per gym session. I have my activity set at moderate. I estimate i burn between 2350 and 2650 cals per week just on exercise Should I go higher?

heybales

I started chalean extreme just over a week ago. I also go to the gym 3 times a week for an hour a time burning between 400 and 500 cals per gym session. I have my activity set at moderate. I estimate i burn between 2350 and 2650 cals per week just on exercise Should I go higher?

If you are doing that as a 5 day routine, and adding in 3 other good strong days at gym, that sounds like good 6 hrs a week, which would put you in the Very Active level, perhaps rounding down to nearest 100, since just barely in that level.

Make sure with that intense routine you are eating enough carbs, which should be handled by just your good realistic eating level.

More important probably, if you are intending to get the most from the lifting workout, don't make cardio kill the same muscle, especially the next day.

You are overloading the muscle with the intent of it healing and repairing stronger. If you don't allow that, you aren't getting the most from either workout.

Tigermad

I started chalean extreme just over a week ago. I also go to the gym 3 times a week for an hour a time burning between 400 and 500 cals per gym session. I have my activity set at moderate. I estimate i burn between 2350 and 2650 cals per week just on exercise Should I go higher?

If you are doing that as a 5 day routine, and adding in 3 other good strong days at gym, that sounds like good 6 hrs a week, which would put you in the Very Active level, perhaps rounding down to nearest 100, since just barely in that level.

Make sure with that intense routine you are eating enough carbs, which should be handled by just your good realistic eating level.

More important probably, if you are intending to get the most from the lifting workout, don't make cardio kill the same muscle, especially the next day.

You are overloading the muscle with the intent of it healing and repairing stronger. If you don't allow that, you aren't getting the most from either workout.

Thanks for the reply. I think I am going to struggle with the traIning. I do the chalean stuff at home early in the morning. I go to the gym and do cardio after work in the evening. I have to do the gym stuff because I pick hubby up from work and we go together. There is no way he could get home if I didn't go and it would waste loads of fuel if I picked him up after he has finished since we don't live local to the gym.
I do the cardio the same day as the 3 circuits. Circuit in the morning. Cardio evening. Is it really that bad?

heybales

Thanks for the reply. I think I am going to struggle with the traIning. I do the chalean stuff at home early in the morning. I go to the gym and do cardio after work in the evening. I have to do the gym stuff because I pick hubby up from work and we go together. There is no way he could get home if I didn't go and it would waste loads of fuel if I picked him up after he has finished since we don't live local to the gym.
I do the cardio the same day as the 3 circuits. Circuit in the morning. Cardio evening. Is it really that bad?

Space of time makes it much much better. That's recovery time.

I would still keep the cardio in the aerobic zone though, mainly for blood flow and aid recovery. Perhaps on evening cardio that will be followed by 2 rest days, you could kick it up a notch just to see where you are at if you really enjoying pushing that hard.
Use your own maxHR here, or if you've ever seen a HR higher than suggested, use that figure + 5 as MHR.
http://www.calculatenow.biz/sport/heart.php

specialtreat

Hi there,I was classed as borderline anorexia in my teens, so starving to lose weight was the only way I knew how to lose weight :frown: I was 5'4 and weighed 101lbs [46kgs] on a good day. I do not want to do that again!!

It wasn't until I had my fist child that I realised just how nice it was to Eat!! and eat I did. But I always dropped the weight after, quiet easily.....Fast forward to baby # 4 and #5 and now 38yrs old I have excess weight I would really like to shed without starving myself. I really want to do it the healthy way and be a good example for my teenage daughter.

Would you mind working out what I should be consuming daily? I have only been here a few weeks and I am having trouble with the "eat more to lose more" rule, but looking around at all the success pics and stories is proof that it does work! This is all new territory for me and I'll admit a bit daunting.. I have read a few pages of the last thread, sorry I have not read through all of them. It was all starting to do my head in. I need simple guidance, please.

MFP has me set at 1200 a day...Most days I struggle to get to this by eating healthy.

My stats are
38yrs
height-64'
neck-13"
waist-36"
Hips-37.5"
This gave me a BF% of 36% ...Ouch!

I weigh 152lbs and would love to get down to 127lbs
I walk at speed of 5.5 to 6 on the treadmill at least 30 mins 6 days and I am doing the 30min shred 6days. When I am finished with the shed I will go back to 2 30min walks on the treadmill. No weight training at this stage.
I sit and sew most days, so a very inactive work day.

I am very confused by all this and would appreciate all the help you can offer :flowerforyou: .

heybales

Hi there,I was classed as borderline anorexia in my teens, so starving to lose weight was the only way I knew how to lose weight :frown: I was 5'4 and weighed 101lbs [46kgs] on a good day. I do not want to do that again!!

It wasn't until I had my fist child that I realised just how nice it was to Eat!! and eat I did. But I always dropped the weight after, quiet easily.....Fast forward to baby # 4 and #5 and now 38yrs old I have excess weight I would really like to shed without starving myself. I really want to do it the healthy way and be a good example for my teenage daughter.

Would you mind working out what I should be consuming daily? I have only been here a few weeks and I am having trouble with the "eat more to lose more" rule, but looking around at all the success pics and stories is proof that it does work! This is all new territory for me and I'll admit a bit daunting.. I have read a few pages of the last thread, sorry I have not read through all of them. It was all starting to do my head in. I need simple guidance, please.

MFP has me set at 1200 a day...Most days I struggle to get to this by eating healthy.

My stats are
38yrs
height-64'
neck-13"
waist-36"
Hips-37.5"
This gave me a BF% of 36% ...Ouch!

I weigh 152lbs and would love to get down to 127lbs
I walk at speed of 5.5 to 6 on the treadmill at least 30 mins 6 days and I am doing the 30min shred 6days. When I am finished with the shed I will go back to 2 30min walks on the treadmill. No weight training at this stage.
I sit and sew most days, so a very inactive work day.

I am very confused by all this and would appreciate all the help you can offer :flowerforyou: .

So that activity is six 1 hr days, that is Very Active level.

Using that fat2fit site, you got your BF% already, use the BMR calc, which also gives you a daily goal based on your goal weight.

So use the Very Active level, round down to nearest 100, and that's what you eat every day with that workout routine.

Since exercise is included in that estimate, you do not follow MFP method and eat it back.

Allivall

Bump

adietron

bump.

adietron

I just came across this, and at least to me, this makes a lot more sense, and is more in line with the number of calories that MFP tells me to eat, and how much I've been eating, and consistently losing weight. (and also in line with the calculates that Weight Watchers provides witht heir points system)

...

So if I need 2019 calories/day to maintain - MINUS- 500 cal/day (1 pd per week) = 1519 cal/day to lose weight.
MFP allows me 1500 cals per day, so this is right in line with that. - I've been following this guideline and consistenly losing an average of 1 to 2 pounds per week.

And yes, this number is below my BMR, but seems to be the only number I can use to lose weight at a sedentary level.
Not only that, but the Weight Watchers system is based off of calories and other factors, which determines this is how many calories I should be eating as well. So are you then suggesting that Weight Watchers is incorrectly telling all of their members to eat below their BMR??

HA!! Sorry, just had to comment on this... of COURSE weight watchers wants you to eat below your BMR... they are a FOR-PROFIT organization... Science forbid their clients actually achieve their goal weight and stop paying their dues and food fees!!!!

marshallexi

This method of calorie calculation has actually changed my life. I now eat 1800 calories per day (2000 on lift days) and over the last 6 weeks I've dropped 1.6% body fat. My weight has only reduced slightly (by just under 2lbs) but my clothes now fit totally differently.

And I'm never hungry/binging/riddled with calorie guilt.