Very confused

Tiddlypeeps

I have no idea how many calories I should be eating in a day.

If I go through the automatic goal thingy in MFP it tells me I should be eating between 1200 and 1800 calories depending on weather I set the activity level to sedentary or lightly active (I'm not sure which category I fall under), and depending on weather I want to lose 1 or 2 lbs a week.

I went through the motions in this post http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 which lots of people seem to recommend and it says I should be eating between 1896 and 2173 depending on weather I'm sedentary or lightly active. It says my BMR is 1617 calories.

I have been eating between 1500 and 2000 calories. I had previously set my goal to 1500 and was struggling to stick to it often going over by 100/200 calories, and very rarely going over 2000 calories. I haven't been losing any weight doing this, I didn't expect to because I was failing so often. This have been trying this for about a month.

The guy in the post above says that if your calorie intake is too low you won't lose weight.

A few stats in case it helps. My body fat % is somewhere between 30 and 35, the website linked in the post above says 35 and testing myself with a calipers says I'm 30. I'm 196 lbs and I'm 5ft 9inches tall. My goal weight is 165 lbs, I plan to reassess that target when I get closer to hitting it.

I plan to go to the gym and do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training 3 times a week, but up until now I've only really being going once/twice. So I know I haven't been very strick with this so I wasn't expecting to lose weight. I finally got my hands on a tape measure and a calipers so I could find out my proper BMR and TDEE, but now that I find out they are higher than what I have been eating I'm afraid to change, because it means eating more than I have been when I previously considered what I have been eating to be failing. And since I haven't been losing weight I'm worried that would cause me to put on weight.

I'm very confused

toomuchbootyindapants

You've not committed to anything yet long enough to see results. So why not go with what the road map thread has taught you - commit to doing it for a month - and report back with your results.

kae_blah

The feedback on this thread is likely to leave you more confused as there are lots of different methods which work for different people, and many people insist their preferred method is the ONLY method you should use.

I prefer to log my exercise and have the choice to eat back the calories or not.

The link you provided that uses the BMR is a set rate per day regardless of which days you exercise.

Remember any method you start can be changed and fine tuned over time. The first step it is start logging your intake accurately.

Good luck!

spamantha57

It is really easy to get confused by eating habits or diets because there really are a million different ways how to do things, & one method isn't necessarily better than the other.

Let's try & simplify based on the info you gave...

You have one thing telling you to eat between 1200 - 1800.
You already know you are too hungry if you just try to eat 1500 calories, & you should never have to be hungry (it really is good to listen to your body regardless of what you weigh or if you're trying to gain or lose) so you should definitely eat above 1500.
So now we're in the 1500- 1800 range.
A lot of people here will tell you never to eat below your BMR, and while I try to not touch that debate with a 10 foot pole, it's generally a good idea. Your BMR that you stated is 1617, so now we have 1617 - 1800.
But then you get that Road Map thing telling you to eat 1896... Oh, the frustration of numbers.
You seem to be doing fine not really ever going over 2000 as you said, so you probably want less than that.
So here you are, somewhere between 1800 - 1900 calories.
Pick one. If you do 1800, & exercise, don't forget to eat back most or all of your calories.
I hope that helped a little bit. It can get crazy when so many different things are thrown at you.

Arwaxx

i have my bmr set as my daily calorie intake and if i work out i eat them back... thats the easiest way i guess..
so i eat 1570 everyday

bathsheba_c

What spamantha said exactly. And stick to it for about a month to determine whether or not its working for the simple reason that normal weight fluctuations can mask how much fat you've actually burned.

cjsacto

Here's a really good calculator to find out what your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is based on a breakdown of all your daily activity. It's hard to just pick an activity level.

http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator

There are a ton of recommendations out there. Basically, if you want to keep your lean body mass and build muscle, eating too low can be a mistake even though it's tempting to try to lose weight very quickly that way, short term. Eating about 20% less than what your body is using for exercise AND just existing/breathing/walking around is healthy. That's your TDEE - 20%.

We all have to do a little trial and error to see what works best for us. What I do now and am finding very effective: I set MFP for 1.5 loss per week at "moderately active." I try to do enough exercise 6 days a week to get my MFP daily calorie goal up to 80% of my TDEE, and that's what I eat. (For me, that's about 1900 calories.)

88meli88

There is NOT ONE magic number where you will lose but rather a range. I am about your weight, and having wisened up, I have my daily limit set just slightly above my BMR at 1600 and I eat back my exercise calories if I want to but do not force myself. I exercise 4 times a week for a min of 30 mins very intensely (either running or HIIT). I lost 7 lbs in 4 weeks. Good luck and feel free to add me as a friend.

patentguru

Great post. We are all confused. That is the point of the food diary. Guessing at what we eat (carbs, protein, fat) and how much we eat does not work or we would all be ripped in perfect shape.

Use the food diary for what it is. If after two weeks you lost no fat (not by scale!) measuring by tape measure, calipers, etc. then adjust you food, types, amounts, and exercise. Just because the sale doesn't go down does not mean you are retaining fat. If you are exercising then you can actually gain weight and lose muscle. Use the mirror too.

For example, after a few weeks I noticed I was way too hungry. I then adjusted my total carbs to around 120 grams or less (about 20%) and upped the fat amount. This worked for me and I feel good. What works for me may not work for you.

Furthermore, if you listen to all of the studies on food- you will not be able to eat anything. Use the food diary to see what works for you. For example, I realized I get sick on white flour so I cut back on it. I also learned other things about the food I eat from keeping notes. What works for one person may not work for another.

Some oversimplified generalizations:

Eat low glycemic carbs when not exercising to avoid spiking insulin.

Can't make fat from water and air. So everyone will lose fat if you eat less calories than you burn. We all just burn calories at a different pace. Again - use the diary for feedback.

Good luck and stick with it. This a very long term goal - years!

4C_diva

It is really easy to get confused by eating habits or diets because there really are a million different ways how to do things, & one method isn't necessarily better than the other.

Let's try & simplify based on the info you gave...

You have one thing telling you to eat between 1200 - 1800.
You already know you are too hungry if you just try to eat 1500 calories, & you should never have to be hungry (it really is good to listen to your body regardless of what you weigh or if you're trying to gain or lose) so you should definitely eat above 1500.
So now we're in the 1500- 1800 range.
A lot of people here will tell you never to eat below your BMR, and while I try to not touch that debate with a 10 foot pole, it's generally a good idea. Your BMR that you stated is 1617, so now we have 1617 - 1800.
But then you get that Road Map thing telling you to eat 1896... Oh, the frustration of numbers.
You seem to be doing fine not really ever going over 2000 as you said, so you probably want less than that.
So here you are, somewhere between 1800 - 1900 calories.
Pick one. If you do 1800, & exercise, don't forget to eat back most or all of your calories.
I hope that helped a little bit. It can get crazy when so many different things are thrown at you.

Exactly! Great advice!

Tiddlypeeps

Here's a really good calculator to find out what your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is based on a breakdown of all your daily activity. It's hard to just pick an activity level.

http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator

There are a ton of recommendations out there. Basically, if you want to keep your lean body mass and build muscle, eating too low can be a mistake even though it's tempting to try to lose weight very quickly that way, short term. Eating about 20% less than what your body is using for exercise AND just existing/breathing/walking around is healthy. That's your TDEE - 20%.

We all have to do a little trial and error to see what works best for us. What I do now and am finding very effective: I set MFP for 1.5 loss per week at "moderately active." I try to do enough exercise 6 days a week to get my MFP daily calorie goal up to 80% of my TDEE, and that's what I eat. (For me, that's about 1900 calories.)

That site says my TDEE is around 2,200, 20% off that would leave me with 1,760 so that fits closely with what the other site was telling me. I'll try setting my base calories to 1,800 for the next month and see how I get on.

I didn't include trips to the gym in calculating my TDEE. On exercise days should I increase that number? If yes should I eat back all of my exercise calories or just a percentage?

Cheers for all the advice everyone, I feel a lot less anxious about just experimenting to see what works.

bathsheba_c

TDEE is supposed to include exercise, so if you are not including it in your calculations, then you should eat back your exercise calories.

deksgrl

So here you are, somewhere between 1800 - 1900 calories.
Pick one. If you do 1800, & exercise, don't forget to eat back most or all of your calories.
I hope that helped a little bit. It can get crazy when so many different things are thrown at you.

No, you would not eat back exercise calories, unless you were doing exercise way above what you included when you figured out your TDEE.

BlueInkDot

So here you are, somewhere between 1800 - 1900 calories.
Pick one. If you do 1800, & exercise, don't forget to eat back most or all of your calories.
I hope that helped a little bit. It can get crazy when so many different things are thrown at you.

No, you would not eat back exercise calories, unless you were doing exercise way above what you included when you figured out your TDEE.

Yeah, by calculating your TDEE and whatnot you're taking into account your exercise/daily activity calories already - so if you're going to eat at that level, basically.... work out as much as you said you would! haha