So confused with my calorie crap

nashbear

There are pedal machines that you could put under your desk to pedal while you work.

Many people use a rotating schedule for calories to kee the body guessing as to how many calories. like have 3 days at 1600 then one day at 1900. So your body does not think it is starving and go into fat retention/starvation mode. I am not sure if this is passe thinking. But it would be worth a try.

heygina

Have you tried consistently eating at 1700 a day to see what would happen over a sustained amount of time? Say a month?
When I upped my calories, to what I should be eating, I gained the first few weeks. Then I started losing.
Think about it. If you increase from 1300 to 1700 that increase is only 400 per day, or 2800 per week or 12000 per month. 12000/3500= 3.42 pounds in a month IF 1700 is a surplus for you (which I doubt it is).
While the calculators aren't accurate for absolutely everyone. I believe they are pretty close for most people. I just had my RMR tested at my doctor's office, and it was within 100 calories of almost every calculator.
Most people naturally doubt the number of calories a calculator tells them they can eat so they eat less, however you should never eat below your RMR.
If I were you, I would eat around 1800 for a month and see what happens. That puts you safely between your TDEE and your RMR.
Ultimately, for this thing to work you HAVE to find your true TDEE and the only way to do that is to eat a specific number for at least a month and see what happens, then adjust up or down until you find the point where you start to maintain. Once you have that magic number, adjust your calorie intake based on that.
I would also start exercising. "I don't have time" is not a valid excuse.....here is a link to a workout that only requires 7 minutes a day and you can do it at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ErRoLfWKTU
If you can spare 15 minutes, you can do some workouts that will give you the same benefits of 45 minutes normal time spent in the gym (if you do them right).
With your TDEE and RMR being so close to each other, you will either have to eat below RMR (not recommended) or exercise to create a greater deficit, unless you are ok with less than a pound a week loss (which is perfectly fine and what I am doing).

I'm also having trouble, and think I may be eating at too big a deficit. I have a lot of confusion. Are you saying here that I should eat my RMR number as NET calories or TOTAL calories?

Right now, Total calories, I get like 1500, net of exercise is more like 1100 or 1000.

Per calculator: BMR 2,041 RMR 1,899 (at lightly active, I work out 3-4 times a week circuit training) Sedentary RMR 1,657

should I have 1899 a day net? 1657 a day net? or 1899 or 1657 TOTAL?

Math says eat less + exercise more= lose weight. My body says eat less + exercise = stable weight.

Like I said, I think I'm undereating, been stalled for a few weeks even on a new exercise program. Would love to get straightened out for me the difference between eating net and eating total calories and which will produce weight loss at the numbers I've put up

or am I totally off base?

I try not to worry until I approach at least 6 weeks with no change as too many times I have seen the weight stay the same for that long then drop all at once or in a couple of days. As for your calorie amount, you never want to eat below your RMR. Now I know some people can get away with it if they have more to lose, but it's better to start building the foundations of a sustainable lifestyle from the start. Yeah, it's going to take longer to lose, but it's going to be more consistent and sustainable than if you starve yourself.
Personally, I eat about 300 calories above my RMR every day. I lift 3 days a week. I don't worry about exercise calories as I am enough above my RMR that I won't go below.
If I were you, I would calculate my TDEE and eat a couple hundred below that for at least a month and see what happens. You can expect an initial gain that may not drop right at the end of that month, and that's ok! It will come off eventually. If, at the end of the month, you are losing weight, add some more calories and do it for another month until you find the point to were you neither gain nor lose. This may take 8 to 12 weeks or more. But once you find it........You have this beat!
At that point you can eat 10 to 20% less than that magic number depending on how much you have to lose.
At some point your RMR and TDEE may get so close to each other that you cannot sustain a 20% deficit without going below your RMR. When that happens, just don't go below your RMR.

Thanks!!

based on your suggestion, I looked up a calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
to get TDEE. so TDEE is 2028. If I eat a couple hundred below that as suggested, I will be at 10% under TDEE, 1825 per day. It seems like a lot, so I did 15% which was 1724, and 20% which was 1622.

The 1622, 20% below TDEE is still above the 1540 I've set for myself, so apparently I've been eating too few calories and the proponents "of eat more, silly!!!!" are probably right.

Now I'll have to figure out how to set my mfp calories so that when I log my workouts it won't falsely inflate my calories allowed. Or just not log workouts... which should I do?

sobriquet84

watch your sodium. i'm not sure of what kind of food choices you're making, but if you're eating high sodium foods and you increase your calories by 500 calories, you could very well be adding a ton more sodium, which will reflect on the scale.

if you're sure sodium is not the problem, try upping your protein and your healthy fats while keeping your calorie goal the same.

of course i'm dispensing this advice without knowing your diet/food choices, but this is always the first two things to look at when experiencing this.

cedarghost

Now I'll have to figure out how to set my mfp calories so that when I log my workouts it won't falsely inflate my calories allowed. Or just not log workouts... which should I do?

I personally don't worry about what MFP tells me, BUT I already know my TDEE, so I just select custom and set it where I want. If you want to use it, I preferred to set it at "no exercise" then log exercise manually.