Silly calorie question :)

DrG3n3

Good morning ladies!

I have a quick question, just to get a few opinions so I don't go crazy

I am into Stage 2, with 3 workouts left before I am done.

When I started stage 1, I was at 178, and currently I am at 183.

I used the books calculations for a 300 calorie deficit and it has me at 1700 on non workout days, and 2033 on workout days which I've been hitting pretty well except for the last two days where I was exhausted from helping my sister move and didn't eat a whole lot. My question is that, since I haven't lost ANY inches or ANY lbs and Ive been doing pretty good cardio on off days (with real rest days too ) do you think that now is a time I should re-evaluate my calories? I know the book mentions that we have to find what works for us, and I'm thinking I may been to drop my calories some more, but I just don't know :P

Thanks for helping me out

cpa8198

Definitely re-evaluate your calories...

Other things to consider:
Macros (are you getting enough protein?)
Calories at each meal (I am a firm believer of 5-6 smaller meals).
Water intake


Just my two cents :flowerforyou:

jenniet04

Did you eat at maintenance at all during Stage 1? How tall are you? I have a really hard time believing that dropping your calories will help. Have you considered that too much cardio is hurting you, even if you are having rest day?

I agree with cpa on the macros and water - are you getting enough protein and water?

If you are going to drop them, I would do it slowly, like 50 calories a day for a few weeks, then re-evaluate. Also, lots of us didn't notice any weight loss until we were on rest weeks - have you taken a rest week?

DrG3n3

To answer questions, here goes.

I am 5 ft 1. I get plenties of protein and plenties of water. I aim for the macros the book has set. Occasionally I go over on carbs, maybe once a month, but otherwise I'm pretty spot on. I ate at maintenance for roughly 3 weeks during Stage 1 and then aimed for what the book had set. I didn't gain or lose during those weeks except about 3 lbs water weight which dropped during the rest week. I don't think I'm doing too much cardio. I barely did any during stage 1, and now that I'm in stage 2 I am running a bit on rest days, maybe 30 minutes, or doing about 15 of HIIT a day a week extra. I feel that it's really moderate to low, I'm not pushing myself as hard as I do during the weight sessions.

Hope that does it

bizco

I don't follow the book's diet plan but instead I use MFP the way it's designed to be used so there is no manual tracking or guesswork, the system does it all for me.

1. Choose a reasonable calorie deficit if you're trying to lose weight (mine is set to lose 0.7 lbs. per week)
2. Customize your macros, micros and calories (to match the weekly weight loss goal above)
My macro %s are 45/30/25 carbs/protein/fat. Micros are fiber = 30g, sodium = 2100mg
3. Log all workouts in the Exercise tab
4. Eat back your extra earned calories from exercise

To customize, go to My Home>>Goals>>Change Goals>>Custom. Save your changes by clicking "Change Goals."

DrG3n3

I don't follow the book's diet plan but instead I use MFP the way it's designed to be used so there is no manual tracking or guesswork, the system does it all for me.

1. Choose a reasonable calorie deficit if you're trying to lose weight (mine is set to lose 0.7 lbs. per week)
2. Customize your macros, micros and calories (to match the weekly weight loss goal above)
My macro %s are 45/30/25 carbs/protein/fat. Micros are fiber = 30g, sodium = 2100mg
3. Log all workouts in the Exercise tab
4. Eat back your extra earned calories from exercise

To customize, go to My Home>>Goals>>Change Goals>>Custom. Save your changes by clicking "Change Goals."

Ive got all of that down except MFP has me set to lose a half pound a week. Does having it set at .7 make you feel good? As in you don't feel too tired or anything and your workouts aren't suffering? I don't think it'd be a huge difference than what I have now, just curious is all. My macros have been 40/30/30 for months before doing New Rules and I feel that it works for me. I'm not a huge carb lover (breads and such). I did see the scale drop a lb (not to my lowest) this morning, so maybe I will try changing it to a larger goal such as .7 or close. Do you use an HRM to calculate calories burned or use what the book gives?

paj315

I'm sure you have already evaluated this but, are you precisely measuring all your food? Eyeballing can get you off track really easily.

I agree with the others maybe your deficit is too high. Also look at where your carbs are coming from. Whole foods? Also look at the sugar that you are consuming.

samntha14

Honestly I let MFP do all the math for me. I set myself at sedentary and maintenance. Those are my calories for non-lifting days. For lifting days, I manually put in 300 cals to eat back under "cardio": strength training. I put in any actual cardio cals separate, using a HRM for accuracy. If you want to do the 300 cal deficit, then set your MFP to 1/2 lb per week. It will be less than 300 cals most likely but it will get you where you need to go. I'm at maintenance and I still lose a little here and there.

Have you measured or taken a body fat reading lately. This program is designed for fat loss not weight loss LOL

As others have said, in this program hitting your macros is key 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein, especially the protein. I'm just getting there now. I started at 50% and am now getting down to 40%...most days lol. If you're already hitting that, I don't know what else to tell you. People are different and you may need to work your calorie settings until you find the sweat spot that works for you. But each time you adjust keep it for a full cycle to see if it's really working.

DrG3n3

Yep, measure my foods like a fiend. I may change the setting in mfp to have it calculate everything but it seems pretty close to the book. My garbs come from good foods, brown rice or sweet potatoes, veggies and whole grains. I fell I hit all that spot on. The problem is I haven't lost inches. Or bf which unless I get dunked seems pretty inaccurate. My goal is to lose bf, keep lean muscle and drop clothing sizes. Maybe I could hold on a bit longer. I don't know good signs of having a too high deficit or good ways to tell. When I was eating at maintenance or even higher I did maintain.

natini

Maybe you should try another online calculator and see what that says and compare it to the book. The book was a little low for me and I burn about 450 calories on my lifting days. I walk 1 mile as a warm up and another mile at the end which adds about 200 calories to my burn that day. I like the scooby calculator online.