Calorie advice

jbdowns35

Ok, so I'm only on day 4 week 2. Week 1 I saw a 3lb loss. In week 1 my calories fluctuated on my low & high carb days. Now halfway thru week 2 I noticed that unintentionally my calories have been about the same, between 1400-1500 calories everyday. (Not taking exercise into account - not sure where I stand on exercise calories) And my weight has been exactly the same every morning. Should I tweek my meal plan to allow for less calories on my low carb days?? Or should I just not really be worried about the calories?? I realize I'm only halfway thru week 2, I'm not panicking because I don't see a loss yet this week. Honestly, I feel great because I've been exercising & have lots of energy.

But I thought the calories would pretty much automatically fluctuate up & down with the high carb, low carb - it just isn't working out that way this week. I think I remember reading in the book that there should be a 200 or 300 calorie difference on low - high days??? Should I make it a point to zig zag my calories???

Babeinthemoon - (and anyone else that wants to chime in) I know you are great at offering helpful advice & examining food diaries. You have my permission to pick my diary apart & critique it!!! Don't be afraid to give me some hard pointers!!!! I can take it!!

WIChelle

I have 0 experience since i'm new but I also thought it stressed the difference in cals in the book.

ramsfan84

THis is the exact some problem I was having. Babeinthemoon peeked at my diary and told me to eat the same amount of calories at all 5 meals which I wasn't doing. So I am trying that this week. Yesterday my son got strep throat and threw me way off my schedule. Anyway, I know I read in the book that you might have to tweak your plan a bit. I will be looking at that next. Because it seems my weight one is down a few ounces and the next day is up. Doesn't make since to me because my calories overall are still way under then what I used to be eating before I started tracking on here.

I would be interested to see your replies.

Julie

jbdowns35

Another thing that might add to the equation is that last week, I did alot of walking for my exercise. I take hour long, intense walks in the woods, alot of uphills & in the snow. I did do a few Ripped in 30 Dvds, but basicaly walked every day except one. So far this week I haven't walked at all & have been doing Ripped in 30 every day plus an additional ab workout a couple times. I feel like my walks are more calorie burning, while Ripped in 30 is maybe less of a calorie burn & more muscle building & toning.

Where does everyone stand with the whole exercise calorie thing?? Do you eat back your calories? I don't remember it being addressed in the book??? I should read the book again.

Blingslinger

Your calories should flucuate with your high carb / low carb days. On high carb days I shoot for 1500 calories and on low carb, 1200. I add my exercise into MFP and eat the extra calories earned (if I burn 300 calories on a low carb day, I technically eat 1500 even though MFP will say 1200). Hope that makes sense.

ramsfan84

THat is exactly what I thought doing the 30 day shred. Maybe I'm building more muscle. Someone on here who has done both 30 day shred and ripped in 30 before told me that with ripped in 30 it is more muscle toning then the 30 day shred was. But that same thought came into my mind. Everything I have read tells me that strength is really the best way to go to shed fat but I think you need both in your program.

Someone else told me to eat half of your exercise calories. There are so many theories out there.

Good thread. I am interested to hear what anyone else has to say.

babeinthemoon

You might regret calling me out on a post. I tend to be verbose. LOL!


Okay... So here's my take on the book's calorie ranges.

They are good... but mostly crap. LOL Go figure... me giving an ambiguous answer. LOL!

Background:
I ate at 1200 LC, 1500 HC and up to 2400 FD from July - October. I lost a lot of weight., most of my loss was during this time period. In June I didn't track my calories, I just ate at portion sizes.

By the end of October I had started running, and I was exhausted. Partly from emotional crap I have going on... and partly I'm sure because I wasn't eating enough calories. This is when I did my "Novemember Experiment," increasing my calories 300/day. I lost about 8 pounds in Novemember. Not as much as I could have, but I did well. December was a hard month. I continued eating higher calories, but started to slack off on my exercise... and then I took a 2 week break from CTL because I had been on the diet for 6 months, and I was stressed out. I lost one pound in december (before Christmas) and "gained back" 6... all in water weight I'm sure. I'm back down to a new low as of last week on friday.

With all of this, I've never "eaten back' my exercise calories. Mostly because in the book, Chris expects you to be exercising, but does not address eating more calories if you exercise. Also, my thought was, that as long as I eat close to my 2400 on fun day I'm good for the week (when you take your daily average into account.


Actual answer starts here:
So. Why do I think that the calorie guidelines are crap? Because on days that I chose to eat lean red meat for one meal, I have a hard time fitting all my veggies into the lower calories. Eat red meat 2x... and well, I might as well call it quits... if I'm in "diet prison."

So, starting this month (January) I have a new set of guidelines for myself. I'm hitting 1200/1500 as the low end of my calories. My goal is to eat proper portion sizes of foods... especially getting in all my veggies for the day. If I need 1300 on a LC day to get in all my veggies, then so be it.

On the days that I'm exercising (which hasn't been at all so far this week... I have not felt well), I'll allow myself up to add calories up to 300 total like I did in November. The goal is, if I add calories, they must still be in the proper combination for the day (protein/veggie/carb or fat).


So, How does this look on mfp? To make things easy, I have my daily calories set to 1500. If you eat 1200/1500/2400 during the week, 1500 is your average daily calories.

LC days, my range is 1200 - 1500.
Protein 100-130g
Fat under 60g
Carbs will be around 100g

HC days, My range is 1500-1800
Protein 100-130g
Fat under 40g (high end of goal, often my fat is between 25-35g)
Carbs will be between 150-200g or so. Sometimes a little higher, but not by much.

Funday: 2400. I'll let myself eat more (to 2700) if I'm hungry, and if I've met the below guidelines:
protein: minimum 100g
Fat under 60g
Carbs: eaten at least 5 servings of veggies/fruit
Usually my problem on funday is not getting enough veggies in... so if I am hungry at the end of the day, that is the time to eat them. LOL.


I'm still working on eating 5x a day, every 3 hours. This is hard for me. I'm a SAHM, and I homeschool my kids, so I'm easily distracted away from eating at the appropriate times. Sigh. I try to have all my meals be around the same portion sizes... and if I'm going out for dinner (rarely) I'll allow myself to eat more at that meal, and a little less at some of the others. Not "CTL" friendly, but it works for me.

So, my new rules are a little more fluid than the book. I'm still eating as I'm hungry... and my average daily calories are closer to eating to TDEE-30%... and I'm certainly eating over my BMR on a daily basis. So that will work for me for now.

Granted... I have not been "perfect" with my new rules since getting back to basics.... I've been overwhelmed with several things at home, so cooking in the kitchen has not been at the top of my priority list. I'm giving myself to the end of the month to get my MoJo back, since I'm doing an eight week health challenge with some friends starting Feb 2nd. There is money involved... and I want to earn at least 50% of the pot darn it! :laugh:

jbdowns35

Babeinthemoon - this has been very helpful, along with your diary feedback. I plan to do some number crunching & tweak my meal plan for next week & change things up some. Thanks!!!

sherrielynn2013

Very helpful. Thanks for all the information. You guys are great!!!!

MidgeN27

Thanks for all the info! I'm going to take a closer look at my diet and see if I'm hitting the right grams for protein, carbs and fats.... I may be off somewhere because I did not have a loss this week! Thanks again, this is very helpful!

MAV9855

Babe: this information has been very helpful. Thanks again.

losingmybehind

I'm a little late to the party, but I'll share what a trainer at the gym told me and you can decide what to do with it! I told him I was doing carb cycling and what it was, and also said that the first couple of weeks I had some good losses but then it tapered way off and I even went up in weight and asked him what he thought. He asked me a few questions, and when we got to calories, he said that 1200-1500 was too low. If you are exercising (which we all should be if we can), he said not to go below 1600-1700 calories/day.

So, I gave it a try, upped my calories and every day since the scale has registered a loss....not giant losses, but nonetheless losses. As far as using calories burned in exercise....I pretty much ignore that part of MyFitnessPal. Doesn't make sense to me to add them back in...I mean, I'm not exercising so I can eat more, right? Besides, the number of calories burned is pretty difficult to know for sure unless you have a heart rate monitor...there is such a huge disparity between the # on the machine at the gym and the # that MFP affords for the same activity. So, that's another reason I pretty much ignore calories burned and just focus on what I'm putting in my mouth. I do log the exercise tho, mainly because MFP is serving as a record of what I'm doing and eating so that when the time comes to tweak, I have objective info to use.

And, that's my two cents.

babeinthemoon

I'm a little late to the party, but I'll share what a trainer at the gym told me and you can decide what to do with it! I told him I was doing carb cycling and what it was, and also said that the first couple of weeks I had some good losses but then it tapered way off and I even went up in weight and asked him what he thought. He asked me a few questions, and when we got to calories, he said that 1200-1500 was too low. If you are exercising (which we all should be if we can), he said not to go below 1600-1700 calories/day.

I have to agree with what your trainer said... assuming that you are putting in consistant exercise. This is why when I did my November experiment that I still lost an average of 2 lbs a week, even though I was eating an average of 1800 calories a day. But in December when I continued eating at that quantity and my exercise slacked off... so did my weight loss. I essentially maintained.

My results in December was why in January I decided to eat according to a range depending on my hunger and the amount of exercise I did in a day. So far so since then. I still only lost a pound in January, but I lost almost another whole pant size, so I'm okay with the one pound down. Also my exercise was not quite as consistant as it was back in November... but I was gettting there.

Tweak the diet to what you need to do to lose weight. If that means eating more calories... great! If it means just exercising more, great! If it means, changing up the LC/HC days because of blood glucose numbers... Great!

jbdowns35

Quote: As far as using calories burned in exercise....I pretty much ignore that part of MyFitnessPal. Doesn't make sense to me to add them back in...I mean, I'm not exercising so I can eat more, right? Besides, the number of calories burned is pretty difficult to know for sure unless you have a heart rate monitor...there is such a huge disparity between the # on the machine at the gym and the # that MFP affords for the same activity. So, that's another reason I pretty much ignore calories burned and just focus on what I'm putting in my mouth. I do log the exercise tho, mainly because MFP is serving as a record of what I'm doing and eating so that when the time comes to tweak, I have objective info to use.

This is pretty much my view on exercise calories too. It's impossible for me to tell how many calories I burned anyway. I do have a heart rate monitor & I use it sometimes, but it gives me a reading of around 700 calories burned on my hikes & while the hikes are pretty intense, I can't help but wonder if that is a bit ridiculous. So, I don't trust it. I do log exercise on MFP, but just for the purpose of record keeping. I let my body tell me if I got in a good workout or if I was a pansy that day. If I have a day that I didn't push myself very much, I try to work a little extra hard the next day.