BMI irritates me

SHBoss1673

lol it has me at 3150 RMR calories, that's more then I figured out on my own. Ouch, that's just crazy. And it says I'm healthy in every way, lol, I think I'm about 5 lbs under. it has me at 23.5 BMI too, which I can see.

MacMadame

Oh man! So 4.5 is a big deal!!!! To be honest, I don't "feel" all that "overweight", but heck, I could be 4.5 % MORE!!!!

You could be 4.5 less too.

My Tanita scale consistently over measures my body fat % based on every other measure and it doesn't even give me a "starting point" because it's often clearly wrong. For example, during two months when visible fat -- breasts and tummy -- were shrinking, it claimed my body fat percentage hadn't changed a bit!

At the gym they said I was 17.8% body fat and one of those online calculators that uses body measurements said I was 20%. At the time, the Tanita was saying I was over 25%!

I used to have a link to one of the online calculators that uses body measurements but I can't find it now. Anyone have one?

ETA that WedMD site claims my RMR is 1860 calories! That's crazy. But it also says I should eat 1860 to maintain my weight. So clearly, it's using RMR incorrectly. It also claims that anything over 135 heart rate is anaerobic! (My max HR is around 186 according to the last test I did so, no, 135 is not anaerobic for me.)

135gratitude

At the gym they said I was 17.8% body fat and one of those online calculators that uses body measurements said I was 20%. At the time, the Tanita was saying I was over 25%!

Thank you for sharing that! I really didn't feel that my body fat was THAT high! But I could be deluded, and it is indeed that high! Either way, I am working on reducing it!

Congrats to you btw - you are looking very slim!!!
:flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

ETA that WedMD site claims my RMR is 1860 calories! That's crazy. But it also says I should eat 1860 to maintain my weight. So clearly, it's using RMR incorrectly. It also claims that anything over 135 heart rate is anaerobic! (My max HR is around 186 according to the last test I did so, no, 135 is not anaerobic for me.)

well, that RMR isn't THAT crazy, remember, RMR is going to be higher than BMR. RMR is your maintenance calories if you were basically bed ridden. Where as BMR doesn't take into account any activity or thermogenetic reactions, RMR does account for sedentary muscle activity . So it's going to be a lot closer to your daily maintenance calories than BMR is.

So if you choose sedentary as your lifestyle activity, RMR is going to be very close to maintenance calories.

135gratitude

SHBoss

Could you kindly answer a couple of questions:
(you seem to know SO much about all this!)...
:flowerforyou:

(1) Eat ALL exercise cals? E.g. yesterday, I did two workouts (with HRM - strength & cardio), so I was "supposed" to eat 1800 calories. I ate 1600, and my stomach was growling by bedtime. I just went to sleep. Should I have eaten those 200?

(2) Workouts - is 60 or 70% of max HR really better than 80 or 85% When I go for a run, my HR is at around 80% the entire time, but I can talk and feel totally fine. Is it really better to go at a slower pace? 60% feel likes I'm not even moving. (I'm 32 yrs old and my morning resting rate is 60).

(3) I startedat 165 lbs, have a goal of 148 lbs (I'm 5'8", BMI 25.2) - can I lose 2lbs a week? That is what I am set at now.

Any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!

SHBoss1673

SHBoss

Could you kindly answer a couple of questions:
(you seem to know SO much about all this!)...
:flowerforyou:

(1) Eat ALL exercise cals? E.g. yesterday, I did two workouts (with HRM - strength & cardio), so I was "supposed" to eat 1800 calories. I ate 1600, and my stomach was growling by bedtime. I just went to sleep. Should I have eaten those 200?

(2) Workouts - is 60 or 70% of max HR really better than 80 or 85% When I go for a run, my HR is at around 80% the entire time, but I can talk and feel totally fine. Is it really better to go at a slower pace? 60% feel likes I'm not even moving. (I'm 32 yrs old and my morning resting rate is 60).

(3) I startedat 165 lbs, have a goal of 148 lbs (I'm 5'8", BMI 25.2) - can I lose 2lbs a week? That is what I am set at now.

Any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!

I'll do my best.

1) at your fitness and body level, you have a small margin for error, and while tweaking will be needed because everyone is different and you have to figure out what's right for you, the best starting point is where MFP puts you, if it puts you at 1800 cals with exercise, then eat 1800 cals with exercise, then if that's not working for a month or so, and you KNOW everything else you are doing is right, then you tweak by 50 cals here, 50 cals there.
BUT, as an article about this very thing stated in this months issue of OnFitness magazine, it could be HOW you eat as opposed to how much. I.E. make sure you're breaking up your food into small (say 200 to 300 calorie) meals that you eat frequently through the day, and make sure that post workout, you get some protein and carbs in your body.

2) 60 to 70% is lightly viggorous workouts, good for those who want to just keep their body in a decent situation, but not really very effective for those who want to improve their muscle strength, wind, and muscle endurance. How much fat you burn at this level is only one factor, improving your overall musclulature and endurance will increase your metabolic rate, working your heart rate up into the high seventy's or low eighty's will boost your HGH and Testosterone levels, which will help keep the cortisol in check, and will help you grow and keep muscle mass. All very important to a strong body and lean muscle mass.

3) Doubt it. 2 lbs a week is aggressive for anyone, and unless your burning muscle, you probabably won't be able to lose 2 lbs a week, nor should you want too. 2 lbs a week is drastic, and does weird things to the human body, about every 10 to 15 lbs or so the body chemistry changes a little, this changes your metabolic rate and the hormones released into the body, which means eating needs to adjust, exercise needs to adjust. Be flexible, don't measure your progress by weight, measure it by how you feel, and how you look in the mirror. Forget lbs, they are the last thing you should be concerned with at this point. I would focus on specific, activity related goals that push you forward like lowing your mile time, or increasing your sustained exercise heart rate by a specific % over the course of a month, or increasing your max weight on a couple of exercises.

And don't forget to change up your routine every six weeks or so, muscle memory will kill an exercise workout routine, and it will leave you bored with the routine.

135gratitude

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

You are the best SH!

Does this sound like a good workout program?

For the rest of June & July....
- Shred DVD level 1 & 2
- running

For August
- Shred DVD - level 3
- running

For September
- get personal trainer at the gym for 6 weeks

Thanks again - you add so much to this community of MFPers!
:flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

You are the best SH!

Does this sound like a good workout program?

For the rest of June & July....
- Shred DVD level 1 & 2
- running

For August
- Shred DVD - level 3
- running

For September
- get personal trainer at the gym for 6 weeks

Thanks again - you add so much to this community of MFPers!
:flowerforyou:

If that's what you enjoy, then sure, I would advise looking into some HIIT training though, it's a better workout then running alone (you can google HIIT training for more info), plus it varies your routine.

135gratitude

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

You are the best SH!

Does this sound like a good workout program?

For the rest of June & July....
- Shred DVD level 1 & 2
- running

For August
- Shred DVD - level 3
- running

For September
- get personal trainer at the gym for 6 weeks

Thanks again - you add so much to this community of MFPers!
:flowerforyou:

If that's what you enjoy, then sure, I would advise looking into some HIIT training though, it's a better workout then running alone (you can google HIIT training for more info), plus it varies your routine.

Thanks again! I will look further into HIT- I do some interval training, but no specific program.
:flowerforyou: