Just Starting: Check my work?
ElizabethKalmbach
Posts: 1,415 Member
Hi. So, I've been plateaued at 153lbs for about 4 months now after losing 23 lbs without counting any calories or exercising at all. (I just dropped all processed foods from my diet.) After several months of plateau and cardio, I got on mfp to see if I could determine what my problem was. Initially, I was netting about 1200 calories after eating back all my exercise calories (which was what mfp was recommending.) After about 2 weeks of that, I wasn't feeling very well so I upped my net calories to closer to 1500. I have a thyroid disorder that makes me a bit sensitive to changes in my diet and at 1200 net calories I started getting SUPER COLD after every meal and I stopped... passing things... Things got much better around 1500 net calories, but I didn't want to feel like I was spitballing, and cardio doesn't feel like the right solution. (My waist measurement dropped 1.5 inches and my hips about 2 inches while I was on mfp, though my weight did not change. I was doing about 50 minutes of rowing per day, 5-6 days per week.)
So I got NROLFW and read it, and I started the weight program this week. (Who knew I could dead lift 85 lbs that many times? I sure didn't.) I'm RIGHT on the edge of all the calculations in both bf% and age, so I'm hoping someone will have some advice for me.
I am 35, 153 lbs, 5'5, and approximately 25.7%bf according to the military calculator. (It usually rounds up to 26.)
Katch McArdle and Harris Benedict spit out results within about 50 calories of one another:
KA: 1484/2302/1957
HB: 1454/2255/1916
I'm following the book pretty exactly except that his calories were way lower than this, and I am supposed to eat 1550 calories on rest days and 1800 on workout days before attempting to reduce anything. His lower numbers are based on my age and theoretical activity level. I DO have a thyroid disorder that causes my metabolism to be lower than it should be, but I am taking thyroid replacement. Should I eat 1900 calories/day to start and see how it goes? 2255 really seems like a lot of calories without involving fast food. I tend to feel best doing IF, so I end up getting the bulk of my calories in one or two meals. Without involving Wendy's, that seems like a huge number.
What do you all recommend? Anyone else here have hashimoto's disease? I do weigh myself everyday, but I'm not too obsessed about the number relative to the way I look and feel. It's just a measurement. If I can get down to a 26 inch waist again and do a chin-up at 154, so be it... However last time I did both of those things, I weighed 132 - pre baby and thyroid wreckage.
So, advice? I have followup questions, but I don't want this post to get too much more WALL OF TEXT. :P
So I got NROLFW and read it, and I started the weight program this week. (Who knew I could dead lift 85 lbs that many times? I sure didn't.) I'm RIGHT on the edge of all the calculations in both bf% and age, so I'm hoping someone will have some advice for me.
I am 35, 153 lbs, 5'5, and approximately 25.7%bf according to the military calculator. (It usually rounds up to 26.)
Katch McArdle and Harris Benedict spit out results within about 50 calories of one another:
KA: 1484/2302/1957
HB: 1454/2255/1916
I'm following the book pretty exactly except that his calories were way lower than this, and I am supposed to eat 1550 calories on rest days and 1800 on workout days before attempting to reduce anything. His lower numbers are based on my age and theoretical activity level. I DO have a thyroid disorder that causes my metabolism to be lower than it should be, but I am taking thyroid replacement. Should I eat 1900 calories/day to start and see how it goes? 2255 really seems like a lot of calories without involving fast food. I tend to feel best doing IF, so I end up getting the bulk of my calories in one or two meals. Without involving Wendy's, that seems like a huge number.
What do you all recommend? Anyone else here have hashimoto's disease? I do weigh myself everyday, but I'm not too obsessed about the number relative to the way I look and feel. It's just a measurement. If I can get down to a 26 inch waist again and do a chin-up at 154, so be it... However last time I did both of those things, I weighed 132 - pre baby and thyroid wreckage.
So, advice? I have followup questions, but I don't want this post to get too much more WALL OF TEXT. :P
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Replies
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Bump.
My food diary should be open. That dip in my calories about two weeks ago was when I was being medicated with antibiotics for a sinus infection. The meds made me really sick to my stomach, so I couldn't really eat much, but I've been gradually working my calories back up. Comments? Encouragement? My biggest concern is the potential calculation problem caused by my thyroid. I should be getting an oxygen exchange RMR done in a couple of weeks, so that should also help say where I am at NOW. But not where I could be, right?0 -
Outside testing with going up and down in calories for like 2 or 3 weeks at time to nail your TDEE on a steadily done not-new workout routine, yes RMR test is next best for you.
But if you are taking meds, then really metabolism is not lower than normal, right?0 -
That is what I think, but I PERSISTENTLY see dieticians putting thyroid patients on lower calorie diets than other people, even when they're corrected with replacement thyroid. I was wondering if there was a reason for that other than superstition and lack of experience.
What I DO notice about myself more than "normal people" is that my T3-T4 conversion stops/slows if I am eating too few calories. I get really cold after every meal and I become constipated. :P If I find myself IN that condition, If I spend a day or two ingesting heavy carbs (and it's not like I don't get a fair amount of fiber to begin with.) then I can get everything going again. But I have to increase calories and eat a solid 800 calorie refined wheat pasta dinner...0 -
Also, somewhat conveniently, I work for the department of nutritional sciences at my local university. I can get an RMR oxygen exchange test done for about $30.
Stupid cheap. Yay, dietetics student minions! 0 -
Considering you can mess with those levels merely by eating too little, ya, that is of concern.
I know some on the verge of needing medicine are told to eat more to correct it. So indeed odd to say yours is messed up, lets eat less.
Unless the ones recommending eating so little are doing DEXA scans for body comp, and comparing beginning to while following advice, they have no idea if they are making you lose muscle mass.
They are looking at weight only, not what long term bad state they just put you in.0 -
So all of that considered, I should start eating my way up to 1900 calories per day, eventually aiming for 2200 or so? Or should I just hold at 1900 until I can get my RMR done in a week or two (Spring Break! No students.) and adjust from there?0
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Always better to start from higher level and come down later.
Starting lower may show no results and you end up going higher anyway and wasting time.0 -
Well, OK, then... I'll shoot for 2200, but it's gonna take a few weeks for me to recondition my stomach to hold that much. Initially, this is going to involve a massive number of cheats involving protein shakes, I think. :P0
