Narrow Margin Between TDEE and BMR

Raddichio

I checked at Fit 2 Fat and determined that my TDEE is 1610 and BMR is 1349---a measly difference of 261! It was suggested at Fit2Fat that, for a sedentary level, I should consume 1494 calories. At that rate, I would lose only a pound a month. Right now I'm eating just at the BMR level---up from 1200 calories previously. Up to this point, I've lost 2 pounds a week, with an occasional 1 pound loss (over the past 6 weeks).

I am 60 years old and have a very busy, but sedentary, lifestyle. I work at home (on a computer) so that I can be with my developmentally delayed, multiply handicapped child who needs care/supervision 24/7. I also help out my elderly parents as needed. I sit for work, sit when driving parents and/or child to the doctor's office, sit at the doctor's, and sit by the bed at the hospital when one of them is in the hospital (more frequently than I like).

Ideally, I should have an exercise regimen to increase the deficit available to me. I have had lifelong severe asthma and have never had a regular exercise routine. Lately, I've been learning some very basic and easy weight training geared toward older women (Strong Women Stay Young) two days a week, as well as started doing one-mile walks (Leslie Sansone) three days a week. Last week I didn't do any exercise, due to a medical crisis invovlng my child. I intend to resume on Monday. However, I don't think any of the exercise I'm doing at this point would result in many calories burned. I do want to increase what I'm doing, but feel time is limited.

My goal is to lose 14 more pounds, but I really hoped it wouldn't take a year to do so. What (gradual) changes would you make to try to improve my number?. Also, do you think I should invest in an HRM to see how hard I'm working with the exercise and gauge how I might improve, as well as know how many calories (if any) I'm burning? I would like to increase the intensity somewhat, but I have to make sure that I do so carefully and neither injure myself nor overextend with my breathing. My doctor has okayed light exercise for now, but I'm pending another lung funtion analysis next month before amping it up much more.

Any suggestions/comments? Thanks.

ANewLucia

I checked at Fit 2 Fat and determined that my TDEE is 1610 and BMR is 1349---a measly difference of 261! It was suggested at Fit2Fat that, for a sedentary level, I should consume 1494 calories. At that rate, I would lose only a pound a month. Right now I'm eating just at the BMR level---up from 1200 calories previously. Up to this point, I've lost 2 pounds a week, with an occasional 1 pound loss (over the past 6 weeks).

I am 60 years old and have a very busy, but sedentary, lifestyle. I work at home (on a computer) so that I can be with my developmentally delayed, multiply handicapped child who needs care/supervision 24/7. I also help out my elderly parents as needed. I sit for work, sit when driving parents and/or child to the doctor's office, sit at the doctor's, and sit by the bed at the hospital when one of them is in the hospital (more frequently than I like).

Ideally, I should have an exercise regimen to increase the deficit available to me. I have had lifelong severe asthma and have never had a regular exercise routine. Lately, I've been learning some very basic and easy weight training geared toward older women (Strong Women Stay Young) two days a week, as well as started doing one-mile walks (Leslie Sansone) three days a week. Last week I didn't do any exercise, due to a medical crisis invovlng my child. I intend to resume on Monday. However, I don't think any of the exercise I'm doing at this point would result in many calories burned. I do want to increase what I'm doing, but feel time is limited.

My goal is to lose 14 more pounds, but I really hoped it wouldn't take a year to do so. What (gradual) changes would you make to try to improve my number?. Also, do you think I should invest in an HRM to see how hard I'm working with the exercise and gauge how I might improve, as well as know how many calories (if any) I'm burning? I would like to increase the intensity somewhat, but I have to make sure that I do so carefully and neither injure myself nor overextend with my breathing. My doctor has okayed light exercise for now, but I'm pending another lung funtion analysis next month before amping it up much more.

Any suggestions/comments? Thanks.

You sound as though you are up and about during the day doing just daily activities around the home and caring for your child. You should discuss with your doctor the possibilty of some light strength training and maybe walking or swimming which shouldn't be too taxing. But again discuss both with your doctor to make sure it is ok.

Also, I would suggest try eating the full amount for the 4-6 weeks to see how you trend. Since you are not truly sure of activity level since you don't have a firm workout routine, and I kind of think you are probably somewhat active keeping up with all that you mentioned...if it were me, I would eat the tdee amount calculated daily and see what happens. I believe you will trend down, but give it the 4wks and if you bounce up and down the same couple pounds, then maybe you will need to go up. Keep us posted to reevaluate after the 4 wks.

Again talk to your dr about light strength training and if walking/swimming are possibilities...

sonyachan

I would say you are at least lightly active, not sedentary. Good luck!

Raddichio

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the suggested experiment would be helpful. While I am looking at this for the long term results, not short term gains, I do have one thing on my mind. My insurance company just informed me that they are instituting some biometric testing in September and, if the numbers are good, it will result in an added discount on our insurance premiums. I've been working on my cholesterol and blood pressure over the past 18 months and seem to have a handle on those, but my weight is still considered overweight. It would be nice to get to goal, within the healthy weight range, by the time the biometric testing is done, as that will be one of the numbers they look at. With insurance costs going up every year and benefits decreasing, qualifying for an additional discount would be helpful. Nevertheless, I'm probably going to have to get this figured out at some point if I want to get to my goal weight, make sure I'm losing in a healthy way, and maintain after the losing phase is finished.

I am already doing a few strength training exercises, but they don't seem like much. If I can maintain the twice-a-week schedule for most weeks, I think I will be able to move up in weight somewhat. Right now I'm trying to make sure I learn the movements and maintain the proper form, as I've never done any weight lifting before and know very little about it. It just seems so puny compared to some of the workouts that I read about others doing. (Of course, most of those are being done by people half my age!) I need to be with my daughter 24/7, so swimming would not be an option, but anything I can do in the house would be a possibility. I also think I'm about ready to walk 2 miles using the Leslie Sansone video, so that should give me a bit more of a workout.

From what I've read about making sure to eat the proper amount of calories, I know I need to get a better handle on what the proper amount is. I've been worrying about eating too many or not having a big enoug deficit; but I am coming to understand that I should also worry about eating too few/having too high a deficit. I really want to have a weight loss I can maintain and to improve my physical endurance/balance/strength, as my child is going to need my help for, hopefully, many more years---plus I want to be able to enjoy life myself. By the way, that reminds me that I should clarify that, altlhough my child has multiple handicapping conditions, I don't have to lift or carry my child, so not that many physical demands in providing care, other than when my child is sick or has an exacerbation of some pre-existing conditions.

ANewLucia

There are some topics on the group board regarding at home workouts that may give you some ideas.

Also google "silent killers hydrogenated oils" I cut out all HO's and dropped my cholesterol numbes significantly.

Raddichio

Thanks, Lucia. I wrote a response last night but then the site went down for maintenance and my response wasn't recorded. I will definitely look for more exercise threads here. I get discouraged, though, because it seems like most of the posts are from people who are doing heavy lifting and really strenuous workouts. I'd love to get to the point that I can do more strenuous workouts, but it will never be the type of regimen that the super fit do. (Of course, most of them are half my age!) I saw where someone posted that the first part of Jillian's 30-Minute Shred is on Youtube, so I think I will watch that and see if there's any way I could do that, with modifications. I reallly want to step up exercise, but I'm also afraid. My oximeter, which measures oxygen saturation as well as pulse, just broke, so I should probably get another one before trying anything too challenging to make sure I don't get in trouble with my asthma---it's gotten signfinatly worse in the last couple years and it's always been pretty bad.

I also appreciate your information about fats---I try to avoid/limit those, as well.

Here's another question for you---when increasing calories I will continue to monitor my intake very carefully. However, sometimes I don't know the exact value of the food I've eaten so I try to estimate high. I go out to eat with extended family/friends once a week, and we take turns choosing the place, so 90 per cent of the time I have no idea where I'm going to be eating. Today it was Italian, and I had angel hair pasta with pesto and one skewer of grilled shrimp. I ate half and brought the other half home. My biggest downfall is the foccacia with seasoned olive oil to dunk it in. Since I'm going to try increasing calories, I enjoyed a couple pieces. I'm pretty sure I overestimated the calories, just to be on the "safe side," but I'm worried about overestimating by too much and messing up the experiment with eating more. OTOH, I guess I shouldn't worry too much, since it's only one meal and the rest of the week should be fairly simple to figure NI for what I eat and, therefore, accurate.

ANewLucia

I used to overestimate badly myself and it did adversly affect the process, so usually now my eating out times I just make that day my cheat day...still count but don't overestimate so much.

Listen you do what you are physically able to do. Talk with your dr and maybe take an inhalation treatment 30 min prior to working out.

Do some research as well on MSM it is a natural anti-inflammatory... I am big into holistic remedies. Also himalayan salt is another possible remedy to look into to help with your asthma.

Also msm helps greatly with allegies to... I'm a living witness!

Raddichio

I'll have to look into the MSM---I've never heard of it.