This opened up my eyes today . . .

dragonfly74

after being stuck at the same weight for weeks and weeks I needed to do some research.

Guess I haven't been eating enough. This site has been a wonderful tool to me this morning. Even will give you meal ideas. I for the first time calculated my RMR and found out I need to consume at least 1326 calories a day. I haven't been doing this. My body needs 1724 calories to maintain it's weight (went to the cyberkitchen part of the site to determine this). So now I will be eating 1326 calories a day for a 398 calories a day deficit that WILL NOT put me below my calculated RMR. This I will try to burn off the rest with exercise ~ about 400 calories a day. So all in all a deficit of 798 calories a day x 6 days a week = 4788 calories for the week. Since 3500 calories is needed for a pound I should lose around 1.5 lbs per week.

Oh I hope this works!

This site has definitely opened my eyes.

http://www.shapeup.org/atmstd/sud10v3/sud10s7.php

lotusfromthemud

Just to add to your information overload...

I see from your ticker that you're very close to your goal weight. Please consider a less aggressive per week weight loss goal.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits?hl=calorie+deficits

Here's a thread that explains why very well.:flowerforyou:

AmberMommyTo2G1B

I'm a little confused by this... The rmr is that the amount you should be taking in? What exactly does this number stand for? What number that mfp gives you is represented on that site? I'm so confused


Ok I went back and looked at your post. So it says I should consume about 100 more calories then mfp has me calculated at for my rmr... should I actually trust this site?

Ahaverland

Your resting metabolic rate is what your body requires to sustain itself at a rest so while either sitting or sleeping, what will happen is if you consume less calories than what your body requires at rest your metabolism will slow in order to only require what calories you are consuming which prevents weight loss from occuring. However, if you consume at minimum your RMR calorie needs and then burn additional calories from exercise that is ok because your body still has the feul to sustain itself and the energy you are using to exercise is coming from your bodies fat stores. The take home message is you should not consume less calories than what your RMR is, your body is a smart machine and will do whatever it can to sustain life (and that includes the life of your fat cells!!!)

Ahaverland

And yes the site is legit, I have my bachelors degree in dietetics, what the site says is supported clinical research and is run by the surgeon general.

AmberMommyTo2G1B

Thank you I guess I'm a bit dense today sorry. Would you suggest upping my icalorie ntake to the number the site advises I take in or keep it at the lower number?

dragonfly74

Ahaverland ~ thanks for putting it in plain english ~ it definitely can be confusing. I was getting in my exercise at the time and couldn't reply so a big thank you! :flowerforyou:

AmberMommyTo2 ~ I would think about increasing your calories if you have hit a plateau like I have. If what you are doing currently isn't affecting your weight loss I would stick with it.

viviak ~ My starting weight that I have on here is my weight right after having my third child. I dropped to 150 really without much work. I have worked at getting this last 15 lbs off for months and months. I have changed things up so many times I am tired. Right now I am set up to only lose .9 lbs a week and I really don't want to lose less than that. I should be able to pull that off. I have been on Jenny Craig for 6 weeks and only lost a grand total of 2.5 lbs in that time and they had me at 1200 calories. Definitely not enough with the amount of exercise I am doing.

I will get this weight off!!! I have to and I hope increasing my calories is the answer as this site suggests.

Thanks again everyone and keep at it!

rjadams

So i just compared this sites calculation against the one here on MFP. MFP says my BMR is 1433 and the site you found says 1429. pretty close.

lotusfromthemud

Ahaverland ~ thanks for putting it in plain english ~ it definitely can be confusing. I was getting in my exercise at the time and couldn't reply so a big thank you! :flowerforyou:

AmberMommyTo2 ~ I would think about increasing your calories if you have hit a plateau like I have. If what you are doing currently isn't affecting your weight loss I would stick with it.

viviak ~ My starting weight that I have on here is my weight right after having my third child. I dropped to 150 really without much work. I have worked at getting this last 15 lbs off for months and months. I have changed things up so many times I am tired. Right now I am set up to only lose .9 lbs a week and I really don't want to lose less than that. I should be able to pull that off. I have been on Jenny Craig for 6 weeks and only lost a grand total of 2.5 lbs in that time and they had me at 1200 calories. Definitely not enough with the amount of exercise I am doing.

I will get this weight off!!! I have to and I hope increasing my calories is the answer as this site suggests.

Thanks again everyone and keep at it!

yes, but my confusion/concern lies in that according to your OP, you're creating a deficit through calorie restricting, and then increasing your deficit more through exercise. Maybe I mis-read it? With only 16 pounds left to lose, creating a larger deficit will hinder, not help your weight loss efforts. When you're that close to goal weight, weight loss slows. Sad but true. When we're close to a healthy weight, our body tries to maintain homeostasis, and the "sweet spot" of deficit becomes smaller.

sorry to harp on this, hth.

TnTHawkins

after being stuck at the same weight for weeks and weeks I needed to do some research.

Guess I haven't been eating enough. This site has been a wonderful tool to me this morning. Even will give you meal ideas. I for the first time calculated my RMR and found out I need to consume at least 1326 calories a day. I haven't been doing this. My body needs 1724 calories to maintain it's weight (went to the cyberkitchen part of the site to determine this). So now I will be eating 1326 calories a day for a 398 calories a day deficit that WILL NOT put me below my calculated RMR. This I will try to burn off the rest with exercise ~ about 400 calories a day. So all in all a deficit of 798 calories a day x 6 days a week = 4788 calories for the week. Since 3500 calories is needed for a pound I should lose around 1.5 lbs per week.

Oh I hope this works!

This site has definitely opened my eyes.

http://www.shapeup.org/atmstd/sud10v3/sud10s7.php

Thank you. Great site with a wealth of information.

Laceylala

SO...my rmr is 1651. If I eat 1651 cals a day, then go and burn 600 at the gym that night, I need to eat those 600 cals back, right?

I think I am not eating enough calories still....this week's diary is a good example at least.

1651-600=1051 I know for a fact that is WAY too low. Can I eat half of the exercise cals back or do I really need to eat the whole 600? (as an example)


Would love for someone to take a look at my diary (its public) and tell me what you think about this at least. I am asking, so I won't take offense if I hear something I don't like! I've really tried this week to eat super well and work out well, so this week is a good example of how I'd like to live my life forever..
Thanks!
L

lotusfromthemud

SO...my rmr is 1651. If I eat 1651 cals a day, then go and burn 600 at the gym that night, I need to eat those 600 cals back, right?

I think I am not eating enough calories still....this week's diary is a good example at least.

1651-600=1051 I know for a fact that is WAY too low. Can I eat half of the exercise cals back or do I really need to eat the whole 600? (as an example)


Would love for someone to take a look at my diary (its public) and tell me what you think about this at least. I am asking, so I won't take offense if I hear something I don't like! I've really tried this week to eat super well and work out well, so this week is a good example of how I'd like to live my life forever..
Thanks!
L

I took a look at the food diary, and it looks pretty good to me.

The only suggestion I would make is to consider your intake of sugar. For myself, I try to avoid anything sweetened with refined sugar. Also, to bump up your calories, a handful of nuts (providing you're not allergic) would do the trick.

What I do is at the end of a week, I total my calories for the week, and then calculate a per-day average. I was concerned for a long time that I was under/over my calories. What I've noticed by this method is that my body seems to know how to even itself out. So, for example, if I'm four calories under goal on one day, I might go over a few days later, so my daily calorie average levels out.

So many factors effect our bodies needs on a given day. Some days you're just plain hungrier or less hungry.

HTH.

Is that your BMR according to the calculator here?

Laceylala

I just started looking at sugars again and am going to probably start cutting out next week.

My bmr on MFP is like 8 calories under what this other site said, so that was a good sign.

lotusfromthemud

I'm a big fan of eating at least your BMR calories, even factoring in exercise calories. Your weight loss might not be rapid, but it will last and you won't be hungry.

IMHO, it's the one flaw in MFP's system that it defaults to the 1200 calorie minimum for everyone. I still MFP, though.

cfischer81

Ok, now I'm confused. It says that my BMR is 1,820 calories a day (or 1829 on the other site)...MFP has my intake set at 1640 cal. per day and actually "suggested" I lower it again now that I've lost some weight. Does this mean I should be eating more? I have still been consistantly losing weight at about 2 lbs a week for the last 5 weeks but there are certainly days I could eat more!

Anyone?

cds2327

Ok, I am completely confused. It told me that my RMR is 1669, and I need to consume 1842 to stay where I am. Obviously I don't want to stay where I am.
So what am i supposed to do.....eating 1669 calories is only a 173 defecit, and that won't amount to anything as far as weight loss.

I'm probably missing something completely obvious, so any help would be very appreciated.
I also though if I eat 1669 a day (defecit of 173) and then burn say 400 working out, then that would be a defecit of 573 (so over 3500 a week), but then doesn't the 573 defecit put me under how many calories i need??:huh:

lotusfromthemud

This is a more in-depth explanation.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits?hl=guide+to+calorie+deficits

What I'm not saying is that an important issue in eating at least your BMR is being close to an ideal weight.

The higher your BMI, the larger your deficit can be. Essentially, your excess body fat stores can serve as a food source. (this is a non-scientific way to put it). When you start hit a healthy BMI/lower body fat percentage, those stores are gone, and you need to trick your body into dropping weight by hitting a deficit sweet spot.

HTH.

Questfor250

I don't want to rain on your parade but be a carful optimist. Why? My RMR is 2880. That is 2 calories per minute while I sleep Times 60 minutes Times 24 hours. I eat 2200 calories. I am struggling to get past 300. Numbers are numbers but your body will determine your success. All you can do is what is supposed to be right and let your body to the rest.

dragonfly74

yes, but my confusion/concern lies in that according to your OP, you're creating a deficit through calorie restricting, and then increasing your deficit more through exercise. Maybe I mis-read it? With only 16 pounds left to lose, creating a larger deficit will hinder, not help your weight loss efforts. When you're that close to goal weight, weight loss slows. Sad but true. When we're close to a healthy weight, our body tries to maintain homeostasis, and the "sweet spot" of deficit becomes smaller.

sorry to harp on this, hth.

I don't think I am explaining it very well. I WAS only eating 1200 and exercising A LOT. Now with this new calculation I am planning on eating MORE calories and exercising LESS. So I will be restricting my body less. I will not be creating a larger deficit, actually just the opposite. Thanks for your help and I appreciate your input.

Laceylala

Well let me just say that I've been working out and eating less for 8 weeks and haven't lost anything. Yes, I've seen my body shape change but nothing in inches, etc. I know it takes time but having a numbers figure to work with helps me get going in the right direction when clearly I am getting to a point that something needs to change in one direction or another so my body gets going here.

Thanks Viviakay for helping me!

dragonfly74

Ok, now I'm confused. It says that my BMR is 1,820 calories a day (or 1829 on the other site)...MFP has my intake set at 1640 cal. per day and actually "suggested" I lower it again now that I've lost some weight. Does this mean I should be eating more? I have still been consistantly losing weight at about 2 lbs a week for the last 5 weeks but there are certainly days I could eat more!

Anyone?

If what you are doing is working for you ~ and it looks like it is (congratulations)!!! I would stick with what you are doing. I have been at a plateau for weeks and obviously was doing something not right. So I need to change it up a bit. MFP has me at 1200 calories and this other site has me at 1326 so that is quite a bit of difference. We shall see what happens.

Congrats on your continued weight loss!