Calories and calculator confusion.

SpazzyMal

I'm 24, female, 5ft2in, and essentially sedentary most days aside from when I am working out (which I now do 6 times a week, 3 days strength, 3 days cardio). MPF was recommending I net 1,200 to lose 1 1/2 pounds a week. I quickly found I was too hungry on that plan, so I set myself to lose 1 pound a week instead, netting 1,400 a day. I do not cheat and eat less than that, I eat back all my exercise calories, which usually come in at about 300-400 a day. I figured that since I am short and sedentary, that should probably be enough for me, though I know most people warn on here that eating so little is bad for you.

My weight loss stalled after a month of 1,200 calories and didn't change when I upped it to 1,400. I've been waiting to see my scale budge for a month now, and so far have only lost a pound. And maybe not even that, my weight seems to have possibly gone up again. I've waited a month because I know people's bodies fluctuate and I'm still pretty new to exercising, all things considered, so I figured I was probably retaining water in my muscles. (By the way, yes — I drink plenty of water, all day. At minimum, 2 liters.)

Well, today I looked at some of those calculators I see on here all the time, wondering if maybe MFP was off for me.

The TDEE calculator said that with heavy exercise (exercising 6-7 days a week, which I do) I need 2757 to maintain. With moderate, (3-5 days a week) I need 2477. I'm thinking I might need to go with moderate because while I exercise 6 times a week, I am, again, sedentary otherwise, and only burning up to 400 calories in a 30 minute workout so "heavy" seems a bit excessive. My RMR and BMR came in at 1,580.

So if I take my RMR/BMR and add in the 400 calories I burn exercising, I come to about 2,000 a day to maintain, which is about 500 less than the TDEE suggests (and even less than what TDEE suggests on the light exercise setting — 2,200. On the sedentary setting it gives me 1,900.)

Which one do I believe?

Today I changed my settings to net 1,500. But should it be higher? I have 50 pounds to lose and am wanting to lose about a 1 to 1 1/2 a week. This stall in my loss is really bumming me out, since I log everything and have been trying so hard, and this stall has come not near the end of my loss, where I would totally expect it... but right at the beginning. Major bummer. I'm just not sure what to do yet and am hoping someone can shine a light on this for me.

yarwell

from your diary it looks like you fairly frequently eat 1700 - 2000 which should give you a reasonable deficit from what you wrote, yet at that or lower calorie levels you didn't lose. You could consider only eating back half your exercise calories, as they may be overestimated or include your resting energy and be a bit misleading. You're diet is too carb heavy for me to contemplate :-)

Be interesting to see what people suggest.

Eat more / Eat less / Eat different stuff
Exercise more / Exercise less / Do different exercise

let's see......

SpazzyMal

Haha, I've never been a low carber, that's for sure. I'm slowly trying to change that at the moment, so it's a work in progress. But I am also vegan, so it's not as simple as just slapping an extra chicken breast on my plate or something. Carbs are just plain a natural byproduct of everything available in my diet, and I eat a fair amount of fruit. Now, I'm not gonna lie, I also eat a lot of bread and pasta, but I'm not entirely sure how to avoid eating so many carbs!

I probably need to up my nut and bean intakes in particular, and add quinoa into my diet. Do you think the carbs are part of my problem? I try to make sure I get the protein MFP recommends, and even go over on some days, unless I'm away from home and at someone else's house for the night, which happens sometimes and makes it a bit harder for me to watch it. But that's once or twice every other week.

I haven't considered that I might be overestimating exercise calories. I could probably give it a go cutting that in half.

Still definitely interested in hearing more opinions.

yarwell

Vegan and low carb would indeed be a challenge. It isn't easy for vegans to get the whole range of everything minerals / vitamins / essential fats & amino acids so I wonder if something may be absent or deficient from your diet and impairing weight loss. Calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, evening primrose oil supplements might be relevant.

Hope to see some more views too.

JayByrd107

Your level of activity should not be determined by frquency, but by intensity. I could play one game of ping-pong a day and qualify as a heavy exerciser using the exercise frequency method (6-7 times a week, right?). You need to determine how your chosen TDEE calculator sets the activity level and go based off of that.

Even though I exercise hard 5 days a week, I keep keep my workouts short, and based off of calories burned, I'm only "lightly active" by my calculator's estimates. I found that surprising. Go based off of quantifiable numbers and not vague ones.

jallen1955

Try Paleo....http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-paleo-diet/

JayByrd107

A vegan going paleo... yeah, that'll work.

cmriverside

Are you measuring and weighing all your Food? Especially nuts, oils, cheeses (if you eat them). It is very easy to overeat by hundreds of calories if you don't.

A food scale is only about $20, without one I have a hard time staying in calories. Even when I know the sizes of stuff, I tend to start adding a little extras here and there.

One of the best purchases I ever made.

SpazzyMal

JayByrd, thank you for your input. That's what I was really after — an opinion on which level of activity I should go by to calculate my recommended calorie intake.

Jallen, going paleo would be difficult, at best. Now, while I'm obviously no stranger to making drastic and long-lasting changes to my diet, I'm really not sure I could stick with that. And I'm not sure I would want to. It would make my life all but impossible. Ironically, vegan paleo also cuts out almost all high-yield sources of protein.

CMRiverside, I haven't bean properly measuring, no. But I have tried to over-estimate. I'll add that to my list of things to pick up next time I'm at the grocery store.

jallen1955

A vegan going paleo... yeah, that'll work.

Actually, it is quite do-able and there are online resources to help with the planning. I have known vegan bodybuilders and paleo vegetarian atheletes and they do very well.

Soy can be problematic for a lot of people and it can stall weight loss. It is worth considering dropping soy for a couple of weeks to see what happens.

Klamber26

(Do not mean this rudely) But what exercise are you doing for 30 min that burns 400 calories?

beachdiva2010

I recommend scoobysworkshop.com. I would put moderate as your level, and give yourself a 15% fat loss. After you answer the 6 questions it will give you your BMR, TDEE, and your -15% daily goal. Manually change your NET to your goal, and you are on your way. Hope this helps! Good luck!!

Also, ignore the rest of MFP . the numbers on here are way off. Never eat below your BMR. .

SpazzyMal

(Do not mean this rudely) But what exercise are you doing for 30 min that burns 400 calories?

HIIT. I do it for about 35-40 minutes. MFP says I burn 350+ on it. I believe the calculated amount of calories burned lessens as you get closer to your goal bodyweight — I have 50 pounds to lose, so that could account for why it's such a large number. Obviously, whether that is entirely true or not, I am unsure as I do not have a HRM. I definitely end my workouts drenched in sweat and ready to collapse on the floor though.

Jallen — I know it's doable for others. Some people in other forums I have read have done it largely due to allergy concerns. I'm just not sure it's for me. As for soy in particular, I actually do not eat that much of it, compared to most vegetarians. Generally if I have soy it's in a faux meat at one meal, and even then I prefer seitan much of the time, which is gluten-based. I don't eat a lot of soy in processed foods aside from that, and I drink almond or hemp milks instead of soy milk. I do occasionally eat tofu.

BeachDiva — Where is the calculator on that site? I seem to be missing it.

Klamber26

(Do not mean this rudely) But what exercise are you doing for 30 min that burns 400 calories?

HIIT. I do it for about 35-40 minutes. MFP says I burn 350+ on it. I believe the calculated amount of calories burned lessens as you get closer to your goal bodyweight — I have 50 pounds to lose, so that could account for why it's such a large number. Obviously, whether that is entirely true or not, I am unsure as I do not have a HRM. I definitely end my workouts drenched in sweat and ready to collapse on the floor though.

Jallen — I know it's doable for others. Some people in other forums I have read have done it largely due to allergy concerns. I'm just not sure it's for me. As for soy in particular, I actually do not eat that much of it, compared to most vegetarians. Generally if I have soy it's in a faux meat at one meal, and even then I prefer seitan much of the time, which is gluten-based. I don't eat a lot of soy in processed foods aside from that, and I drink almond or hemp milks instead of soy milk. I do occasionally eat tofu.

BeachDiva — Where is the calculator on that site? I seem to be missing it.

Well I'm jealous. lol. I work by butt of doing the hill programs on the elliptical and still only burn a measly 150 calories. Need an HRM as well.

Also, I'm sure you already know this, but if you don't, they make soy protein powder. That would help a great a deal getting your protein intake up.

SpazzyMal

Oh, I know! I use a rice protein powder right now, though. Every day in my morning smoothie. =D

beachdiva2010

(Do not mean this rudely) But what exercise are you doing for 30 min that burns 400 calories?

HIIT. I do it for about 35-40 minutes. MFP says I burn 350+ on it. I believe the calculated amount of calories burned lessens as you get closer to your goal bodyweight — I have 50 pounds to lose, so that could account for why it's such a large number. Obviously, whether that is entirely true or not, I am unsure as I do not have a HRM. I definitely end my workouts drenched in sweat and ready to collapse on the floor though.

Jallen — I know it's doable for others. Some people in other forums I have read have done it largely due to allergy concerns. I'm just not sure it's for me. As for soy in particular, I actually do not eat that much of it, compared to most vegetarians. Generally if I have soy it's in a faux meat at one meal, and even then I prefer seitan much of the time, which is gluten-based. I don't eat a lot of soy in processed foods aside from that, and I drink almond or hemp milks instead of soy milk. I do occasionally eat tofu.

BeachDiva — Where is the calculator on that site? I seem to be missing it.

I used scoobyworkshop.com. Go to calorie calculator, answer the 6 questions, then it will give you BMR, TDEE, and your -15% daily goal. Go in and manually change your NET to this number. This is what you need to eat each day. You may show a slight gain while your body adjusts (not always). What do you have your macro's set to? I suggest 40 carb/30 protein/30 fat. make sure to track your sodium too.