A rant about calories and weight loss and all that jazz.
theoriginaljayne
Posts: 559 Member
WARNING: Lots of woe-is-me to follow. Read at your own risk.
"Eat more to lose weight!"
I know. And believe me, I wish I could. But my BMR is somewhere between 1205 and 1280 (first from Katch-McArdle, second from MFP), and my net calories for maintenance are only 1580 (according to MFP; more generous calculators have allowed me up to 1700).
And before you say that I'm young and these numbers are probably too low, due to a couple of years of anorexia nervosa in my early teens, I'm quite frankly surprised that my metabolism is as good as it is. These numbers sound just about right, based on my experiences since then (slow but undeniable weight gain unless I keep my calories at around 1500-ish or lower).
I know I should exercise more and thus bump up my TDEE, but I am a student, so I spend the majority of my time sitting on my butt and studying. Also, there have been entirely too many days when I can't get out of bed at all (thank you, clinical depression, thank you very much). Hoping the nice weather will cheer me up and get me motivated to start running again... but even so, about an hour's exercise typically only burns around 200 calories maximum, and if I push myself further than that, I burn out in less than a week.
I'm trying not to focus on the number on the scale, but I would like to lower my body fat percentage... but even that's hard, because I simply cannot create a caloric deficit significant enough for noticeable weight loss AND eat a healthy amount of calories at the same time. For example, most recently, after a month and a half of 1400 calories per day (average), I'd lost... about half a pound. No real difference in the mirror or in the way my clothes fit, either.
I'll spend all day telling anyone who will listen on MFP that eating too few calories is very dangerous, and you should always eat above your BMR but under your TDEE to lose weight, and if you're already creating a caloric deficit through food then you've got to eat back your exercise calories, and if you starve yourself to lose weight then you'll just regain it and more, and so on and so forth... and it's true... but dammit, do you see how tempting it is to slide back to 700-800 calories a day? My health may have been shot to hell, but at least I was consistently losing weight (and life hasn't magically turned to sunshine and rainbows now that I'm eating more, either).
/rant
Apologies for all the self-pity, but I thought it better to vent here then scream at some unsuspecting innocent bystander... and if anyone has a solution or a tip or two, I'm all ears.
"Eat more to lose weight!"
I know. And believe me, I wish I could. But my BMR is somewhere between 1205 and 1280 (first from Katch-McArdle, second from MFP), and my net calories for maintenance are only 1580 (according to MFP; more generous calculators have allowed me up to 1700).
And before you say that I'm young and these numbers are probably too low, due to a couple of years of anorexia nervosa in my early teens, I'm quite frankly surprised that my metabolism is as good as it is. These numbers sound just about right, based on my experiences since then (slow but undeniable weight gain unless I keep my calories at around 1500-ish or lower).
I know I should exercise more and thus bump up my TDEE, but I am a student, so I spend the majority of my time sitting on my butt and studying. Also, there have been entirely too many days when I can't get out of bed at all (thank you, clinical depression, thank you very much). Hoping the nice weather will cheer me up and get me motivated to start running again... but even so, about an hour's exercise typically only burns around 200 calories maximum, and if I push myself further than that, I burn out in less than a week.
I'm trying not to focus on the number on the scale, but I would like to lower my body fat percentage... but even that's hard, because I simply cannot create a caloric deficit significant enough for noticeable weight loss AND eat a healthy amount of calories at the same time. For example, most recently, after a month and a half of 1400 calories per day (average), I'd lost... about half a pound. No real difference in the mirror or in the way my clothes fit, either.
I'll spend all day telling anyone who will listen on MFP that eating too few calories is very dangerous, and you should always eat above your BMR but under your TDEE to lose weight, and if you're already creating a caloric deficit through food then you've got to eat back your exercise calories, and if you starve yourself to lose weight then you'll just regain it and more, and so on and so forth... and it's true... but dammit, do you see how tempting it is to slide back to 700-800 calories a day? My health may have been shot to hell, but at least I was consistently losing weight (and life hasn't magically turned to sunshine and rainbows now that I'm eating more, either).
/rant
Apologies for all the self-pity, but I thought it better to vent here then scream at some unsuspecting innocent bystander... and if anyone has a solution or a tip or two, I'm all ears.
0
Replies
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Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).0
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Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).
I'd like to start lifting, but I can't afford a gym membership... someone needs to write a book on how to lift using common household materials. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!0 -
I don't know your measurements, and I can only go by the numbers (which were most likely calculated using only your height and weight). But it sounds like you don't have much weight to lose in the first place. For that reason, your weight loss should absolutely be going slowly.
However, you mentioned that your goal is fat loss, not necessarily weight loss. You seem to want to accomplish this by eating very little and you have no time to work out.
As you probably already know, you're going to lose weight by undereating. You probably also know that a significant portion of that weight is going to be muscle. I don't have the inclination to crunch your particular numbers right now, but a chart I'm looking at right now shows that losing 20 pounds in 2 months for a 170 pound person will come out to approximately 6 pounds of fat being lost and 14 pounds of muscle. I know this is a much more extreme scenario compared to yours, but feel free to scale it out. Either way, eating significantly below your BMR is going to result in about 30% fat loss and 70% muscle loss.
If you're above approximately 30% body fat right now, you will indeed lower your fat percentage. Otherwise you will raise it. This goes counter to your stated goal above. The good news is that you will be skinny fat in no time.0 -
That's why I prefer to range my calories from under 1200 to 1800 now.i change it up everyday and try not to get stagnate.0
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Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).
I'd like to start lifting, but I can't afford a gym membership... someone needs to write a book on how to lift using common household materials. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!
There are lots of books on Amazon about strength training using your own body weight. That could be a start! One is You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises by Mark Lauren, but there are several others. Good luck to you!0 -
I don't know your measurements, and I can only go by the numbers (which were most likely calculated using only your height and weight). But it sounds like you don't have much weight to lose in the first place. For that reason, your weight loss should absolutely be going slowly.
However, you mentioned that your goal is fat loss, not necessarily weight loss. You seem to want to accomplish this by eating very little and you have no time to work out.
As you probably already know, you're going to lose weight by undereating. You probably also know that a significant portion of that weight is going to be muscle. I don't have the inclination to crunch your particular numbers right now, but a chart I'm looking at right now shows that losing 20 pounds in 2 months for a 170 pound person will come out to approximately 6 pounds of fat being lost and 14 pounds of muscle. I know this is a much more extreme scenario compared to yours, but feel free to scale it out. Either way, eating significantly below your BMR is going to result in about 30% fat loss and 70% muscle loss.
If you're above approximately 30% body fat right now, you will indeed lower your fat percentage. Otherwise you will raise it. This goes counter to your stated goal above. The good news is that you will be skinny fat in no time.
I'm 18 years old, five foot three inches tall, around 108-ish pounds. I really don't know what my body fat percentage is; probably around 20% (I've gotten estimates ranging from 16% to 24% from various calculators, and 20% sounds about right).
I've been averaging about 1400 calories a day over the past month or two; I typically do not go under 1000 (there have been a couple of exceptions, but I really try to avoid eating so little). My diary's friends only, but I might go ahead and make it public.0 -
Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).
I'd like to start lifting, but I can't afford a gym membership... someone needs to write a book on how to lift using common household materials. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!
There are lots of books on Amazon about strength training using your own body weight. That could be a start! One is You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises by Mark Lauren, but there are several others. Good luck to you!
Thank you – I'll look this up!0 -
I'm 18 years old, five foot three inches tall, around 108-ish pounds. I really don't know what my body fat percentage is; probably around 20% (I've gotten estimates ranging from 16% to 24% from various calculators, and 20% sounds about right).
I've been averaging about 1400 calories a day over the past month or two; I typically do not go under 1000 (there have been a couple of exceptions, but I really try to avoid eating so little). My diary's friends only, but I might go ahead and make it public.
5'3", 108 gives a BMI of 19.1. For reference, underweight is less than 18.5. Normal weight is between 18.5 and 25. That means you're already pretty close to underweight.
I don't mean to steer you away from any goal you may have, but at this stage I would think your goal would be to start converting fat to muscle through strength/resistance training. That's going to involve upping your calories. An important note here is that I'm not saying to up calories to lose weight, but rather to maintain it and support muscle gain. More muscle per volume at a same weight naturally means less fat per volume, and you don't have much more fat to lose without falling into the underweight category.0 -
Also BodyRockTV has great body weight routines that usually only take around 20 minutes. You could start there.Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).
I'd like to start lifting, but I can't afford a gym membership... someone needs to write a book on how to lift using common household materials. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!
There are lots of books on Amazon about strength training using your own body weight. That could be a start! One is You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises by Mark Lauren, but there are several others. Good luck to you!0 -
I'm 18 years old, five foot three inches tall, around 108-ish pounds. I really don't know what my body fat percentage is; probably around 20% (I've gotten estimates ranging from 16% to 24% from various calculators, and 20% sounds about right).
I've been averaging about 1400 calories a day over the past month or two; I typically do not go under 1000 (there have been a couple of exceptions, but I really try to avoid eating so little). My diary's friends only, but I might go ahead and make it public.
5'3", 108 gives a BMI of 19.1. For reference, underweight is less than 18.5. Normal weight is between 18.5 and 25. That means you're already pretty close to underweight.
I don't mean to steer you away from any goal you may have, but at this stage I would think your goal would be to start converting fat to muscle through strength/resistance training. That's going to involve upping your calories. An important note here is that I'm not saying to up calories to lose weight, but rather to maintain it and support muscle gain. More muscle per volume at a same weight naturally means less fat per volume, and you don't have much more fat to lose without falling into the underweight category.
I'm willing to increase my calories if I have a solid exercise plan that I can follow -- that's been the problem; with no access to real weights or a gym, I haven't been exercising consistently. That's really the problem; I need to figure out how I can get into the habit of exercising daily (or at least most days) without completely burning out. I would be okay with weighing more if I looked and felt better, and I do need to exercise to do that.0 -
I don't mean to steer you away from any goal you may have, but at this stage I would think your goal would be to start converting fat to muscle through strength/resistance training. That's going to involve upping your calories. An important note here is that I'm not saying to up calories to lose weight, but rather to maintain it and support muscle gain. More muscle per volume at a same weight naturally means less fat per volume, and you don't have much more fat to lose without falling into the underweight category.
This is good advise right here.0 -
Also BodyRockTV has great body weight routines that usually only take around 20 minutes. You could start there.
I'll look this up as well -- thank you for the suggestion.0 -
I'd like to help you since for 10 plateau filled years without a single pound of change I have gone almost the same path as you, just the male version of it.
I was having another usual plateau (note that even though i had no results at all, i keept pushing myself) when I started for the first time doing a deep research about the right nutrition and exercise. I always though I knew a lot, but after I let my ego and start again from the basics, the truth hit me hard. Staying healthy and doing the right exercise routine wasn't as complicated as I thought. Actually I made it complicated enough to not have results at all. I started by the basics. I told you very briefly my experience. The only thing I would suggest you right now is to not take it too hard on yourself. Obviously you're doing good choices. Take some time to do research for everything that bothers you. If you never talked with an experienced trainer or nutritionist I'd recommend you do. There was a trainer in the beginning of this year who made the biggest impact in my progress.0 -
You would need to eat to at least maintain or at a bit of a surplus to build muscle. Lisa's body on BodyRock is insane. You could totally get ripped and lower your body fat % doing those workouts.Also BodyRockTV has great body weight routines that usually only take around 20 minutes. You could start there.
I'll look this up as well -- thank you for the suggestion.0 -
You would need to eat to at least maintain or at a bit of a surplus to build muscle. Lisa's body on BodyRock is insane. You could totally get ripped and lower your body fat % doing those workouts.
I am willing to eat at maintenance if I'm exercising regularly. It's not so much weight-gain that bothers me as size-gain -- if I weighed a lot but looked amazing, I think I'd be fine with it. I might try the BodyRock workouts for a week or so, and if I can work it into my schedule and start to make it a habit, I'll switch my calories to maintenance. (My activity level is set to sedentary, so I do log all workouts and eat my exercise calories back).0 -
Maybe you don't need to lose any weight.0
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It sounds like for your circumstances you are eating more. You're not eating the least amount of calories.
From what you've posted you're doing a great job so congrats. Good luck with the body weight exercises.0 -
Have you considered adding weight lifting as part of your routine? I think putting on muscle increases your BMR...and since your goal is to decrease your BF% maybe that's something you should consider instead of focusing so much on weight? You'd have to be comfortable with eating loads more in order to put on muscle, though (as well as a little bit of fat....which then you can decrease during a cutting phase).
I'd like to start lifting, but I can't afford a gym membership... someone needs to write a book on how to lift using common household materials. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!
These could help - http://jasonferruggia.com/top-20-bodyweight-exercises-for-building-muscle-strength/0
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