New Here with Questions

cloza12

I've been on MFP for a week, following what the website recommends and have lost 5lbs. Im now 258 lbs.
I've also been doing a lot of reading here and many people have different ways of losing weight. I came across a thread that brought me here. I went to Scooby's website to calculate the tdee and this is what I got:

BMR: 2077
TDEE: 3220
Daily Calories: 2576
This is at 20% (should I do 25% or 15% for my weight?)
I exercise everyday doing 30 min on stationary bike and 20 min Just Dance on wii. I don't have weights but I have the resistance bands that go on your door (hubby says they're the same as weights).
I have a 2 year old and 5 year old so going to the gym is out of the question.
I'm new to all this and very confused with all the different theories on MFP so Im sorry if this is just another thread same as others but I want to do what will work.
So, am I supposed to be eating 2576 calories a day? What exercising should I be doing exactly? Is this program more for people who weight lift?

braves1girl

Hey there and welcome! I'm no pro at this but I do know a little...enough to be dangerous :devil: A 15% cut is reccommended in this group. Have you been doing a very low calorie diet (VLCD) for very long or at all? If not, then start the 15% cut. Eat at cut for 4 wks and then eat at TDEE for a week to let your body know that it can trust you are going to keep feeding it properly.

If you have been eating a VLCD for a long time (I would say 4-6 mos) then you need to do a metabolism reset. That is eating at TDEE for anywhere from 4-12 weeks. There are stickies on the discussion page with tons of information on the reset and what to expect.

You should keep doing the exercising that you are doing, but I would add heavy lifting (or using the bands for a while if you've never done lifting or it's been a long time). Lifting is recommended but not required with this program.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck!!!:flowerforyou:

heybales

This program was meant to help people that have yo-yo dieted most their lifes are regular basis, by always eating at some low eating limit, creating a deficit that backfires eventually.
Or selected wrong activity level in MFP and selected unrealistic goal loss and were given a low eating limit with a deficit too big.
Or don't follow the MFP method of eating back exercise calories and increase their deficit to even a worse level.

It starts with the premise that no matter what you are doing, it's better to start with the best estimate of TDEE and then deficit, not what is the lowest safe recommendation and just eat there.
Because minimum recommended for safety is like minimum building codes. Not intended for longevity, aesthetics, or performance, just safety.

But most people do want to be healthy longer, look better, and perform better, so why would you limit yourself to minimum meant as limit for safety reasons?

Most here are doing lifting, because many have killed their muscle mass because of eating too little for too long. Too big a deficit causes muscle loss.
Decent deficit not so bad.

Now, since you are overweight, that Scooby calc using BMR based on age, weight, height is inflated right now, so your TDEE is inflated, which means you'd be eating more than you need to be. Still on the safer side, but not losing what you could.
That calc site also has a better calc that lets you choose Katch BMR based on bodyfat%, much better.

20% is easily supported by amount to lose right now.

Resistance bands are not the same as lifting though, which allows you to get to the point of failure which is where the body improvements from it happen. They can help if you were taking a steep deficit, but don't worry about it if you aren't.

And don't compare the 2576, or whatever the reduced amount is based on better BMR, to what you had been assigned by MFP.
Log some previous eating level food days before you joined MFP or started to diet. See what you may have really been eating. Then compare, especially if exercising now but not then.

Did you select Sedentary Activity level on MFP? Are you really at home with the kids? Most with desk jobs discovery they are really Lightly Active on days with no exercise, so are likely even higher.

But this method bypasses MFP's guess, and you manually set it up.

You can be doing whatever exercise you want to do, since it doesn't sound like you've lost any muscle-mass from eating too low for too long. Just keep the deficit reasonable.

If you want to log your stats, and have some calc's for getting your bodyfat%, and basically everything in one place, check out the spreadsheet linked in this topic. It'll help with better TDEE estimate by actual times at different exercise levels.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/750920-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

cloza12

Right now MFP has my calorie goal at 1540 and when i log in the exercise I do I do try to eat it back. So with that and continuing the exercise that I'm doing then I should be ok? When I do eat my exercise calories I don't feel hungry.

heybales

Right now MFP has my calorie goal at 1540 and when i log in the exercise I do I do try to eat it back. So with that and continuing the exercise that I'm doing then I should be ok? When I do eat my exercise calories I don't feel hungry.

I predict you will plateau. Depending on genetics and yo-yo dieting just depends on how quickly. Why?
That is too low.
You'll then see advice on MFP in general that you shouldn't be eating exercise calories, or not all of them because they are inflated. So you'll do that and lose a tad more, and stall again.
You'll get a HRM for better accuracy and perhaps a tad more loss and stall again.
Then those not in the know will claim you've gotten sloppy with logging food, ect.

Why? Because it's too low in general. Read up on what BMR and TDEE is and means.
Because you just said BMR, even if inflated, is 2000, and you think eating at 1540 should be just fine. That means you don't fully appreciate what BMR is. What your body would like to burn daily if sleeping deeply all day.
Don't provide, body will find a way to balance so it gets it. So less calories actually burned all day - slowed or suppressed metabolism.

Well, MFP has your goal set there because you selected an activity level and weight loss goal.

From your description of activities, you should be set to Active in your Diet/Fitness Profile. If desk jockey's on rest days are hitting Lightly Active, you at home with 2 kids all day and night is much more than that. Please at least use Active.

With that activity level, MFP should see maintenance without exercise as around 3011. Now you can select a weight loss goal of 2 lbs weekly. But after you lose some, that'll be too aggressive.
That should set daily goal to around 2000. Just about right.

And then log your exercise from the MFP database. People will tell you it's inflated. It totally depends on if you are doing the activity as described, and if the description is specific enough. If you walked 3.5 mph flat, then that is accurate. If you did stationary bike leisurely but selected strenuous, then it'll be inflated, so just be honest.

But fact of the matter is eating at BMR is a tad too low really, so any inflated calories you get to eat extra because of exercise will be ultimately saving you.

Don't worry about logging the resistance bands, but do them for sure.

And always remember, you feeling full and your body being fully fed for your level of activity are 2 separate things.
You can shrink a stomach and mess up hormones such you can eat very little and not feel hungry. And your body will in due order slow everything down to do what it needs with what it gets.
Feeling hungry can be useful tool if metabolism hasn't been shot yet, so that's good.

How long does it take for a body low on a certain vitamin or mineral to start showing the effects of the deficiency? Sometimes months, but the body was never screaming for that probably until it showed up in some manner.
Same way you can be busy or stressed and not feel hungry, but you mentally know darned well your body needs food to operate.

If you need confidence these numbers are so high, really log some common eating days if even possible, sometimes mighty hard. Or use the spreadsheet and see what your TDEE is very likely close to, to see that 2000 and exercise is still a great deficit.
Remember, even eating back the exercise calories - the 1000 deficit is still there. Unless you eat to little and your body slows everything down to balance the stress.

Gapwedge01

Right now MFP has my calorie goal at 1540 and when i log in the exercise I do I do try to eat it back. So with that and continuing the exercise that I'm doing then I should be ok? When I do eat my exercise calories I don't feel hungry.

I predict you will plateau. Depending on genetics and yo-yo dieting just depends on how quickly. Why?
That is too low.
You'll then see advice on MFP in general that you shouldn't be eating exercise calories, or not all of them because they are inflated. So you'll do that and lose a tad more, and stall again.
You'll get a HRM for better accuracy and perhaps a tad more loss and stall again.
Then those not in the know will claim you've gotten sloppy with logging food, ect.

Why? Because it's too low in general. Read up on what BMR and TDEE is and means.
Because you just said BMR, even if inflated, is 2000, and you think eating at 1540 should be just fine. That means you don't fully appreciate what BMR is. What your body would like to burn daily if sleeping deeply all day.
Don't provide, body will find a way to balance so it gets it. So less calories actually burned all day - slowed or suppressed metabolism.

Well, MFP has your goal set there because you selected an activity level and weight loss goal.

From your description of activities, you should be set to Active in your Diet/Fitness Profile. If desk jockey's on rest days are hitting Lightly Active, you at home with 2 kids all day and night is much more than that. Please at least use Active.

With that activity level, MFP should see maintenance without exercise as around 3011. Now you can select a weight loss goal of 2 lbs weekly. But after you lose some, that'll be too aggressive.
That should set daily goal to around 2000. Just about right.

And then log your exercise from the MFP database. People will tell you it's inflated. It totally depends on if you are doing the activity as described, and if the description is specific enough. If you walked 3.5 mph flat, then that is accurate. If you did stationary bike leisurely but selected strenuous, then it'll be inflated, so just be honest.

But fact of the matter is eating at BMR is a tad too low really, so any inflated calories you get to eat extra because of exercise will be ultimately saving you.

Don't worry about logging the resistance bands, but do them for sure.

And always remember, you feeling full and your body being fully fed for your level of activity are 2 separate things.
You can shrink a stomach and mess up hormones such you can eat very little and not feel hungry. And your body will in due order slow everything down to do what it needs with what it gets.
Feeling hungry can be useful tool if metabolism hasn't been shot yet, so that's good.

How long does it take for a body low on a certain vitamin or mineral to start showing the effects of the deficiency? Sometimes months, but the body was never screaming for that probably until it showed up in some manner.
Same way you can be busy or stressed and not feel hungry, but you mentally know darned well your body needs food to operate.

If you need confidence these numbers are so high, really log some common eating days if even possible, sometimes mighty hard. Or use the spreadsheet and see what your TDEE is very likely close to, to see that 2000 and exercise is still a great deficit.
Remember, even eating back the exercise calories - the 1000 deficit is still there. Unless you eat to little and your body slows everything down to balance the stress.

^^^this ( I can never read about eating properly enough and still lose weight)

cloza12

Ok. First of all Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me. I had to read it twice but I'm pretty sure I get it now. I went to the spreadsheet and filled in my info, it came back telling I need to eat 1880. I changed that on MFP. And thats as far as I've gone. Do I need to change anything else? Do I eat those calories, do my exercise and ignore the =Net part from MFP?