overwhelmed, panicked by dan´s roadmap

Reza151

I have a history of disordered eating and I´d like to get some stability. So after reading through many posts on here, and Tumblr fitness blogs, and trying to follow MFP advice, and taking in what trainers have told me before, I feel really overwhelmed and panicked. I´d like to follow Dan´s roadmap but I´m stil pretty confused. From a medical and scientific standpoint, it seems pretty accurate.

AnywhoI thought in order to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit, but, according to Dan (In place of a roadmap: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12), after caluclating BMR and body fat%, you set your goal weight to your current weight. I'm currently 125 lbs and I want to be 120. If I'm eating calories to maintain at 125, how will I get to 120? Here are my stats:

Current weight: 125.6, goal: 120 lbs
Height: 64.5 inches
BMR (according to Harris Benedict): 1384
body fat %: 24, lean body mass:95 lbs
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1661
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1903
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2145

Now, I work a desk job, but I take the bus and walk alot, and I hit the gym 3-4x a week, doing an hour of intense cardio (zumba, kickboxing, etc) and 30-60 minutes of weight training each time.

So do I eat the 1903 calories per day? Why is that higher than my BMR? Wont eating above my BMR cause weight gain? Or do I eat 15-20% under the 1903 calories?
I´m really obsessing and keep on changing my calorie goals between 1500, to 1300 to 1900, back to the original 2000. SO anyone can help clarify things for me, I´d be very appreciative:-) Thanks in advance! :flowerforyou:

eyeshuh

Your BMR is the least amount you should ever eat. If you were in a coma in the hospital, that's the amount they would pump into your body to keep you alive.

So, you pick one of those other numbers based on your activity and subtract the 15% from that. If you only have 5lbs to lose, you should really make it only 10%. Also, if I were you I would subtract from the 2145.

Then you plug in that number to your MFP and eat that every day. In this case it would spit out 1930 calories. However, using this method you would either not track your exercise on MFP or just know that your goal is the 1930 and ignore the MFP number.

GauchoMark

no, eating more than your BMR will not make you gain weight. You have to eat more than your TDEE to do that.

I use the sedentary setting and then add my workouts when I do them. Whatever that number is, be sure you are eating at a deficit from that. It should be higher than your BMR if you are doing it properly.

The way the roadmap works, you would use the lightly active one and just eat the same number every day and do not log exercise. You take the 15-20% from your 1903 number. You just have to make sure your activity level doesn't change significantly over time.

quirkytizzy

BMR is what you shouldn't even BELOW. Stands for "Basic Metabolic Rate." That's how much it takes to get up in the morning, go pee, make your food, drag your *kitten* to bed.

TDEE is what you don't want to be ABOVE.

The Roadmap thing was very intimidating to me, too, so a friend of mine very kindly crunched the numbers for me and explained it to me. Someone will be able to do the same thing here for you.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Eating over your BMR doesn't cause weight gain, eating over your TDEE (the number you get when you select your activity level) causes weight gain. You're not supposed to eat below your BMR but you're supposed to eat below your TDEE.

On another note, if you choose to factor your exercise into your activity level, make sure you're not logging your exercise calories in your diary. This would mean you were logging those calories (and potentially eating those calories) twice. You can set your activity level to sedentary if you'd like to log your exercise separately.

I don't recommend eating back all of your exercise calories unless you're using a heart rate monitor and subtracting your BMR. MFP always says you burned 2-3 times what you actually burned.

eyeshuh

Also, if you still have questions or you're uneasy about using the Road Map, I highly recommend you join the group. There are a lot of supportive people there that will answer your questions and put you at ease: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

LeenaRuns

.

lizzybethclaire

You want to lose 5.6 pounds not 100. Stop feeling overwhelmed. Just follow MFP and you will be fine.

wild_wild_life

The roadmap doesn't work if you are only trying to lose a small amount.

If you weigh 200 lbs and are eating at maintenance for 150lbs, yes, you will lose weight. If you weigh 125 lbs and are eating at maintenance for 120 lbs, the difference is not enough to create a deficit.

You don't need a map -- just create a small deficit (15-20% or 250-500 cals off TDEE) and you will lose. Anywhere between 1400-1700 would be great.

Reza151

Eating over your BMR doesn't cause weight gain, eating over your TDEE (the number you get when you select your activity level) causes weight gain. You're not supposed to eat below your BMR but you're supposed to eat below your TDEE.

On another note, if you choose to factor your exercise into your activity level, make sure you're not logging your exercise calories in your diary. This would mean you were logging those calories (and potentially eating those calories) twice. You can set your activity level to sedentary if you'd like to log your exercise separately.

I don't recommend eating back all of your exercise calories unless you're using a heart rate monitor and subtracting your BMR. MFP always says you burned 2-3 times what you actually burned.

That would explain my blood sugar spikes and sluggishness lately, then, i suppose, Since I was logging and eating those calories twice. Okay, I'll do like 12% below the 1903, so about 1880ish calories a day and if i need to up it, I will. And no more logging exercise since I'm sure MFP does overestimate (but so do the cardio machines at the gym).

Thank you all so much! These numbers do seem more do-able than 1500 and below.
I thought that the low numbers MFP has been giving me were ridiculously low >_<

Reza151

You want to lose 5.6 pounds not 100. Stop feeling overwhelmed. Just follow MFP and you will be fine.

I wish it was that easy. It''s not even the number as much as wanting a sense of control really.

wild_wild_life

Eating over your BMR doesn't cause weight gain, eating over your TDEE (the number you get when you select your activity level) causes weight gain. You're not supposed to eat below your BMR but you're supposed to eat below your TDEE.

On another note, if you choose to factor your exercise into your activity level, make sure you're not logging your exercise calories in your diary. This would mean you were logging those calories (and potentially eating those calories) twice. You can set your activity level to sedentary if you'd like to log your exercise separately.

I don't recommend eating back all of your exercise calories unless you're using a heart rate monitor and subtracting your BMR. MFP always says you burned 2-3 times what you actually burned.

That would explain my blood sugar spikes and sluggishness lately, then, i suppose, Since I was logging and eating those calories twice. Okay, I'll do like 12% below the 1903, so about 1880ish calories a day and if i need to up it, I will. And no more logging exercise since I'm sure MFP does overestimate (but so do the cardio machines at the gym).

Thank you all so much! These numbers do seem more do-able than 1500 and below.
I thought that the low numbers MFP has been giving me were ridiculously low >_<

12% below 1900 would be a 230 calorie deficit so 1670, with no additional exercise calories. Sounds good.

JAT74

I started off on below 1000 calories on here which I set manually as that's what I'd been able to lose weight on before. I then set it a bit higher to 1200 as I got slated for following a starvation diet and then I read the Road Map post.

I then worked out that my TDEE was nearly 1700 and my BMR 1400. I have now set my MFP calories to 1450 and am eating back exercise calories or at least the majority of them based on my extra exercise. I am still usually at least 200 or 300 below what MFP says I should eat when I'm eating them back though which I'm sure more than accounts for anything overestimated in terms of calories burned off. On average I'd say I'm actually eating around 1600 calories which seems a lot for me and I'm slowly starting to lose weight.

Ok I have a lot more that I want to lose (around 25 lbs) so it will take me a little longer but if you only have 5 lbs to lose I'm sure it will come off in no time as long as you follow the advice on here.

Reza151

I started off on below 1000 calories on here which I set manually as that's what I'd been able to lose weight on before. I then set it a bit higher to 1200 as I got slated for following a starvation diet and then I read the Road Map post.

I then worked out that my TDEE was nearly 1700 and my BMR 1400. I have now set my MFP calories to 1450 and am eating back exercise calories or at least the majority of them based on my extra exercise. I am still usually at least 200 or 300 below what MFP says I should eat when I'm eating them back though which I'm sure more than accounts for anything overestimated in terms of calories burned off. On average I'd say I'm actually eating around 1600 calories which seems a lot for me and I'm slowly starting to lose weight.

Ok I have a lot more that I want to lose (around 25 lbs) so it will take me a little longer but if you only have 5 lbs to lose I'm sure it will come off in no time as long as you follow the advice on here.

Thank you! Mainly, I just want to have that routine so i stop flip flopping my intake and goals and have a sense of control. Losing the weight isn't as important as maintaining that lifestyle and feeling comfortable with what I'm eating, and what quantities, without having to hit the gym to feel okay (well still going to the gym, but not out of compulsion, fear, or guilt). Thank you all; you're wonderful! :-D :flowerforyou:

jlapey

You need THIS group. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress- Read all the forums here with the red pins and if you have questions, join the group. The experienced members who run it will be more than happy to help you.

Corkline

That sense of control and comfort will most easily come with that 1880... because you're not going to have to obsessively log your gym time, it's already built in. And if you lose, yay! And if you don't...stay on course for 4 weeks or so before tinkering. Remember all the formulas are based on EVERYONE, not you, the special snowflake... so this is all experimenting with n=1, the one being you! Enjoy the journey to a better lifestyle, not one fueled by guilt and compulsion and fear.

ladyraven68

I think you've mis-read the roadmap.

It tells you to put in your current weight, to work out your estimated current TDEE,

It doesn't then tell you eat at that TDEE, it tells you to deduct 20%.

AmberB519

Bookmarked for later.

1ConcreteGirl

Because you only want to lose a few pounds, the easiest thing for you to do is find your TDEE and subtract 10-15%. You don't want to do the full 20% because you don't have much to lose, and your body will probably respond better if you go about this more slowly. Try for a rate of loss at about 0.5 lbs per week.

Muddy_Yogi

I think you've mis-read the roadmap.

It tells you to put in your current weight, to work out your estimated current TDEE,

It doesn't then tell you eat at that TDEE, it tells you to deduct 20%.

^^^^^THIS

JGT2004

BUMP

newhabit

We have almost identical stats, I try to eat near 1900 on heavy workout days, 1750ish on moderate or lifting days, 1500-1600 rest days

wild_wild_life

I think you've mis-read the roadmap.

It tells you to put in your current weight, to work out your estimated current TDEE,

It doesn't then tell you eat at that TDEE, it tells you to deduct 20%.

I think the fat-to-fit radio thing told you to eat for maintenance for your goal weight. He may have changed it since it was a bit confusing.

hararayne

Considering your past with disordered eating, it makes sense that you are seeking control, because that is what most people with ed struggle with the most. I think it is better that you talk to you therapist and continue working on your ed behaviors. 5 lbs is not the end of the world.