Intro and Question About Various Calculators
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SweatpantsRebellion
Posts: 754 Member
Hello all!
Since I'm new I'll start by introducing myself. I'll give you a short version of my history. I'm a mommy of two wonderful little boys. I'm married to my hubby who is a mid-life career changer. He's a full-time student right now. I run a licensed home daycare. So life is busy busy busy for me, but I've been working hard to make sure that somewhere in all of our daily craziness I get time to work at being healthy.
I've been overweight ever since I can remember. I've lost weight successfully in the past, but have never been able to successfully keep it off. After two pregnancies and the busy life of a mom the pounds gradually got higher despite periods of weight loss efforts. I also have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism which of course contributes to the weight problem. I had my rock bottom in February of this year. I hadn't stepped on a scale in months, but I knew it was going to be bad. I was stuck wearing only sweatpants because nothing would fit. I stepped on the scale and about died of shock. Six months after having my baby I weighed what I did when I was 9 months pregnant. I had gained 40 pounds in roughly 3 months! I was terrified. It was my highest weight ever. Much of it was belly fat which is very scary in terms of health and longevity. I joined MFP that day, ordered my running shoes, started walking, and went back to Zumba. This is it for me. I'm done being overweight...just done. I'm ready to get this off. And I don't care if it takes two times or three times as long as other people. I just want it to stay off this time.
I started off with MFP's calculations and then came across a thread by an MFP community member about eating more calories. It linked to the fat2fit website. I've never read the book, but the stuff on the website seems sound. So I've upped my calories from the 1800ish that I was eating (I usually ate back exercise calories) to 2300 (the number that I was given after using calculators on the fat2fit website). I admit to being a bit confused as to why I get such vastly different numbers when I plug in my information to various calculators. I had my BMR at 1352 according to the Fat 2 Fit website. But the fitness frog and the manual calculations have it in the 1700 range. Additionally, using the higher number would mean that I should eat even more than 2300, that I should be eating closer to 2500 calories (2516 would be my cut calories to be exact). I'm also nursing an older infant, so once I add the additional 300 calories I'd be eating 2816 calories a day!!! I am doing a lot of working out and I don't want to sell myself short in terms of energy that comes from eating enough, but that sounds so high. And how do I know which calculators to follow?
As far as exercise, I'm currently completing a Novice 5K Training Program. I'll be running my 5k on June 3rd. Then I will train for my half marathon in September of this year. I've been doing Pilates since my abs are shot from childbirth. I want to get my core a bit stronger before lifting so that I don't injure myself. I will likely add in my lifting within the next month or two.
So what do you guys think? How do you know which calculators to go by as far as accuracy is concerned?
And thank you for all of the information. I'm working on reading through all of the literature that's posted. But it's going to take me a bit, so if my questions have already been answered there I apologize. I look forward to getting to know everyone as we work on this journey together.
Since I'm new I'll start by introducing myself. I'll give you a short version of my history. I'm a mommy of two wonderful little boys. I'm married to my hubby who is a mid-life career changer. He's a full-time student right now. I run a licensed home daycare. So life is busy busy busy for me, but I've been working hard to make sure that somewhere in all of our daily craziness I get time to work at being healthy.
I've been overweight ever since I can remember. I've lost weight successfully in the past, but have never been able to successfully keep it off. After two pregnancies and the busy life of a mom the pounds gradually got higher despite periods of weight loss efforts. I also have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism which of course contributes to the weight problem. I had my rock bottom in February of this year. I hadn't stepped on a scale in months, but I knew it was going to be bad. I was stuck wearing only sweatpants because nothing would fit. I stepped on the scale and about died of shock. Six months after having my baby I weighed what I did when I was 9 months pregnant. I had gained 40 pounds in roughly 3 months! I was terrified. It was my highest weight ever. Much of it was belly fat which is very scary in terms of health and longevity. I joined MFP that day, ordered my running shoes, started walking, and went back to Zumba. This is it for me. I'm done being overweight...just done. I'm ready to get this off. And I don't care if it takes two times or three times as long as other people. I just want it to stay off this time.
I started off with MFP's calculations and then came across a thread by an MFP community member about eating more calories. It linked to the fat2fit website. I've never read the book, but the stuff on the website seems sound. So I've upped my calories from the 1800ish that I was eating (I usually ate back exercise calories) to 2300 (the number that I was given after using calculators on the fat2fit website). I admit to being a bit confused as to why I get such vastly different numbers when I plug in my information to various calculators. I had my BMR at 1352 according to the Fat 2 Fit website. But the fitness frog and the manual calculations have it in the 1700 range. Additionally, using the higher number would mean that I should eat even more than 2300, that I should be eating closer to 2500 calories (2516 would be my cut calories to be exact). I'm also nursing an older infant, so once I add the additional 300 calories I'd be eating 2816 calories a day!!! I am doing a lot of working out and I don't want to sell myself short in terms of energy that comes from eating enough, but that sounds so high. And how do I know which calculators to follow?
As far as exercise, I'm currently completing a Novice 5K Training Program. I'll be running my 5k on June 3rd. Then I will train for my half marathon in September of this year. I've been doing Pilates since my abs are shot from childbirth. I want to get my core a bit stronger before lifting so that I don't injure myself. I will likely add in my lifting within the next month or two.
So what do you guys think? How do you know which calculators to go by as far as accuracy is concerned?
And thank you for all of the information. I'm working on reading through all of the literature that's posted. But it's going to take me a bit, so if my questions have already been answered there I apologize. I look forward to getting to know everyone as we work on this journey together.
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Replies
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bumpety bump...anyone?0
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I have noticed a wide difference as well. I finally came to the conclusion that the ones that use your body fat in the BMR calculation are probably the very most accurate. The fat to fit radio site gives me in the 1390's range but if I use the one there that includes my body fat % I get in the range of 1500.
(Btw: the military body fat calculations (that they use in fat to fit) was WAY off for me it gave me over 43% and my trainer measured last week with calipers and I was at 33.05%. He said that the military calculation tends to be more accurate for men.)
I think the best thing to do is chose one and stick with it. And then you can go up or down depending on your progress.0 -
Thanks for the info. I redid my calculations by using the other calculator for body fat % and ended up with a much lower body fat % than what the military calculator gave me. So the BMR I got was much more consistent with the other ones. It came out to 1627 and the other ones are in the 1700ish range. So I think I'll try to be at least 1800 net every day to be safe!0
