The dreaded BMR

caramia311

Sirius -- Have you been the doctor? Any possibility this is a thyroid issue?

caramia311

Also, if you open your diary, perhaps we can provide a better reply.

firedragon064

When you work with a trainer, they get you to build muscle so you will lose fat and keep/gain the muscle mass at the same time.
The scale won't be move as fast as your measurment. You probably will lose pant size faster than lose weight.

yarwell

Wanna lose about a lb a week - knock 500 cals a day off that number = 1463 cals.

Thing is she's there already, and it isn't working. So we need to rub the lamp and get the genie to pop out.

caramia311

Sorry, for the multiple posts, but I keep thinking of new stuff! How confident are you that the calories you are putting in are accurate? I find that when I first started out I was slightly underestimating what I was eating and thus underestimating my cals. Do you measure or weigh food?

Captain_Tightpants

Wanna lose about a lb a week - knock 500 cals a day off that number = 1463 cals.

Thing is she's there already, and it isn't working. So we need to rub the lamp and get the genie to pop out.

No. If she's there already and it didn't work she drops it by 200, tries it for 3 weeks and weighs again. No genie needed.

siriusalien

Hello,

I would like to tank everyone for their contributions. I'ld like to answer a couple of questions to fellow members in one post:
- Yes Have seen the Doc for FULL check up. ALL is fine. Damn near perfect
- I, unfortunately, eat out alot. Portion size is an issue. I'm pretty confident that I am educated enough about portion size to exercise control
- Exercise? According to my HRM I burn 350-450 calories per hour with trainer. trainer has me doing weights and cardio
- I'm going to drop to 1380 calories see what happens
- HOW do I open my diary?

jhgreer

Well, I had been eating 1535 following the calculations provided by another weight loss sight. But, I'm stalled at 204. I started looking afresh when my trainer recomended I was WAY over eating and should be at 1250...

get a new trainer.

^^my thoughts exactly.

caramia311

Hello,

I would like to tank everyone for their contributions. I'ld like to answer a couple of questions to fellow members in one post:
- Yes Have seen the Doc for FULL check up. ALL is fine. Damn near perfect
- I, unfortunately, eat out alot. Portion size is an issue. I'm pretty confident that I am educated enough about portion size to exercise control
- Exercise? According to my HRM I burn 350-450 calories per hour with trainer. trainer has me doing weights and cardio
- I'm going to drop to 1380 calories see what happens
- HOW do I open my diary?

To open your diary go to settings, then diary, and you should see an option to open your diary to friends or to the public.

Re: eating out. Unless you go to places that report their calories (and even sometimes there I think they may underestimate) you lose an element of control over what are eating. I think there are some types of dishes/cuisines where that could really add up. Can you minimize eating out or switch to healthier restaurant options?

siriusalien

Hello,

I would like to tank everyone for their contributions. I'ld like to answer a couple of questions to fellow members in one post:
- Yes Have seen the Doc for FULL check up. ALL is fine. Damn near perfect
- I, unfortunately, eat out alot. Portion size is an issue. I'm pretty confident that I am educated enough about portion size to exercise control
- Exercise? According to my HRM I burn 350-450 calories per hour with trainer. trainer has me doing weights and cardio
- I'm going to drop to 1380 calories see what happens
- HOW do I open my diary?

OK, Diary open.. I begin work at 7:30am and go to 5-6pm Eating out is an issue,I try to stick with protein and no sauces

To open your diary go to settings, then diary, and you should see an option to open your diary to friends or to the public.

Re: eating out. Unless you go to places that report their calories (and even sometimes there I think they may underestimate) you lose an element of control over what are eating. I think there are some types of dishes/cuisines where that could really add up. Can you minimize eating out or switch to healthier restaurant options?

yarwell

- HOW do I open my diary?

You did it. You might like to consider an alcohol break. Alcohol goes to the front of the queue to be processed by the liver and probably isn't a big help to fat burning. You can lose weight while drinking, as I did, but as well as factoring it into the calories you may find it's a handle you can turn to break your plateau by giving the liver a break.

siriusalien

- HOW do I open my diary?

You did it. You might like to consider an alcohol break. Alcohol goes to the front of the queue to be processed by the liver and probably isn't a big help to fat burning. You can lose weight while drinking, as I did, but as well as factoring it into the calories you may find it's a handle you can turn to break your plateau by giving the liver a break.

I had been operating under the assumption ( yes I know what happens when we assume) that calories were calories..So, you believe that the metabolism of alcohol by the liver creates another/different chemical process that affect calorie burn?

caramia311

Ok -- my thoughts. Before raising or lowering calories, I think you should consider the following:

1. Definitely eliminate or limit alcohol. Not only empty calories, but can significantly impact your body's ability to burn fat in general.
2. It looks like you have only been logging consistently this week (? -- maybe you logged but not on mfp?). In any event, I would keep logging and log everything to be consistently accountable. That will help you make sure you are eating within your calories.
3. If you are eating out try to stick to options where you can be reasonably sure about the calories.. Sauces (general tsao's chicken, etc.) can have a ton of hidden sugar and fat.

caramia311

Your body will process alcohol calories first rather than burning a mix of your body's stored carbs/fat, which is what it normally does when alcohol is not available.

Try cutting down or even eliminating alcohol for a week or two. I bet you will see a difference.

siriusalien

I had, indeed, been using another web based diet/exercise aaplication prior to this week. According to that site I was undereating a screwing my metabolism up. So, I played with high calorie foods on work out days.
I have gone from a size 20 to a comfortable size 16 and a squeeze into 14

mcarter99

How long has this stall been? Has it been no weight loss AND no body changes for 3-4 weeks? Are you doing new exercise types? If you're new to your workouts, it's normal for the scale to freeze up for a while. It's a good thing. And usually our stalls are not near as 'real' as we think. If you really are finding nothing has changed including the scale, not even .5 lb/week, for 3-4 weeks, then it might be time for a new (lower) calorie goal.

Ignore your BMR. It's a popular myth that your BMR calories need to come from today's food. In fact, they better not since you say you eat back your exercise calories.

yarwell

So, you believe that the metabolism of alcohol by the liver creates another/different chemical process that affect calorie burn?

I believe it's an accepted fact that the liver processes alcohol as a priority, so any other process is delayed until the alcohol is out of the way - probably because it's a toxic substance if allowed to accumulate.

While the liver is doing that it doesn't convert fat to glucose so there's a period of time where your fat burning efficiency is impaired. On the basis of "a calorie is a calorie" this may just mean that when it gets round to the fat then the same amount is processed faster to meet the daily balance. However if we burn 80 calories an hour and take 5 hours to quit the alcohol calories that's 5 hours less to process fat.

One could also argue that the alcohol calories aren't giving you any nutrition, so you could just drop them and have less calories in total without any loss of nutrients.

My comment is based on looking at ways to maximise fat loss really, and I think we need to go beyond a simple calorie balance to do that otherwise you would already be losing weight already. If there's a rate limit at which fat can be mobilised from store (30-33 calories per day per lb of fat reserve has been published) then there's at least a bit of logic that says have as many hours as possible where the liver isn't otherwise occupied and there isn't so much insulin around (from eating carbs) as to prevent lipolysis releasing the fat from storage.

Alcohol's role in nutrition / metabolism doesn't seem to be completely understood, Feeding people additional calories as alcohol doesn't make them put on weight like the same extra calories from chocolate, for example.

So I made my suggestion on the basis of something to try for a short period so you can see if it has an effect on yourself.

siriusalien

Yarwell,

No offense. I am a curious sort and love accumulated info. I appreciate you detailed responses

RuthieCass

Hello,

I would like to tank everyone for their contributions. I'ld like to answer a couple of questions to fellow members in one post:
- Yes Have seen the Doc for FULL check up. ALL is fine. Damn near perfect
- I, unfortunately, eat out alot. Portion size is an issue. I'm pretty confident that I am educated enough about portion size to exercise control
- Exercise? According to my HRM I burn 350-450 calories per hour with trainer. trainer has me doing weights and cardio
- I'm going to drop to 1380 calories see what happens
- HOW do I open my diary?

Eating out a lot is the biggest problem I see here. Why don't you try preparing easier meals for yourself at home (e.g., tuna salads, grilled chicken, frozen veggies, and so on)? I know it's really hard to give up eating out, but there is just no way that you can get a handle on what/how much you're eating at a restaurant. Even if the restaurant posts nutritional information, I can guarantee that there is no way the cooks in every one of the restaurants will adhere to the original recipe. I worked in restaurants (including chains) for years and I never saw a cook carefully measure a thing (other than for baked goods). Cooks are not going to sit there and measure out 2 tablespoons of butter, etc. that the "recipe" supposedly calls for. If you absolutely must eat out, multiply whatever serving you eat by 1.2. Or eat 3/4 (divide it up into quarters before you start eating) of the meal but record the entire serving.

Also, about being educated on serving sizes: Have you been consistently using food scales for a long time (a year +)? If so, you might have a good handle on portion sizes. If not, then you should probably not trust your own judgement. Please don't take this as a personal insult-- us humans are terrible at such estimation. My suggestion would be to reconsider your food choices before decreasing your calories. Keep in mind that if you drop calories too much, your body will try to preserve energy by decreasing energy spent in other ways-- less fidgeting, less energy for workouts (esp cardio), less shivering for warmth, and so on. So some people find they don't lose any more on huge calorie deficits than on moderate deficits.

How are your work outs going with the trainer? Is s/he pushing you? You should feel your heart rate increasing. I would also probably ignore the nutritional information this particular trainer gives you. And if s/he is not challenging you, you may want to look into getting a new one.

siriusalien

This week is going to be an alcohol free week. Lets see if that works