Overestimating your calories burned....

EvgeniZyntx

1/2 lbs a week near goal isn't bad. Small adjustments win the race.

janatarnhem

Because I do not have a HRM or fit bit, I wonder about exercise calorie values.........I am not as fit as others I see in the gym / pool, so I go under on the burn for me. I have also dropped my TDEE by 100 food cals too, as I was maintaining and not losing!
I think you just need to play around till you find your numbers and always be open to go up and down with them.

3dogsrunning

I don't rely on calculators of any type. If, after a few weeks, I'm not progressing how I would like, I adjust my daily calories up or down by 150-250. Sometimes a bit more if I'm way off (like last month where I made a rookie mistake and was eating 800 cals too low per day and couldn't stay awake past 8pm).

Note: This only works if you start with a reasonable assumption about your daily calories. If you start with 1300 cals or something it's going to be impossible to make the right adjustments. It sounds like you did start with a reasonable 2000 cal for maintenance and assumed 1700 would be a decent deficit. That's what I would have figured too. Now, after not progressing for a while, I'd try lowering the calories 200 per day and seeing where I was after 3 weeks or so.

Unfortunately females are prone to monthly fluctuations in body weight and even waist/abdomen circumference and bioimpedance body composition measurements you see in handheld/scale BF% estimators. It is quite another world trying to adjust your calories from month to month when you are adding in these variables.

This is why I use a few weeks as a sample size and not just a single day's weigh in. I'm not a female, but I don't think TOM happens steadily over the course of 3-4 weeks. The weird thing is that my ultimate suggestion, adjust calories by a few hundred, is the exact same thing you're going to do after looking at the numbers on the calorie counting devices. So I'm not sure what part of my statement you're saying is off because we're going to do the exact same thing to lose weight, male or female.

But I digress. I'm going to assume that no female ever lost weight before the invention of HRMs and bodybuggs and other devices.

So, how goes your weight loss journey now?

DavPul

I don't rely on calculators of any type. If, after a few weeks, I'm not progressing how I would like, I adjust my daily calories up or down by 150-250. Sometimes a bit more if I'm way off (like last month where I made a rookie mistake and was eating 800 cals too low per day and couldn't stay awake past 8pm).

Note: This only works if you start with a reasonable assumption about your daily calories. If you start with 1300 cals or something it's going to be impossible to make the right adjustments. It sounds like you did start with a reasonable 2000 cal for maintenance and assumed 1700 would be a decent deficit. That's what I would have figured too. Now, after not progressing for a while, I'd try lowering the calories 200 per day and seeing where I was after 3 weeks or so.

Unfortunately females are prone to monthly fluctuations in body weight and even waist/abdomen circumference and bioimpedance body composition measurements you see in handheld/scale BF% estimators. It is quite another world trying to adjust your calories from month to month when you are adding in these variables.

This is why I use a few weeks as a sample size and not just a single day's weigh in. I'm not a female, but I don't think TOM happens steadily over the course of 3-4 weeks. The weird thing is that my ultimate suggestion, adjust calories by a few hundred, is the exact same thing you're going to do after looking at the numbers on the calorie counting devices. So I'm not sure what part of my statement you're saying is off because we're going to do the exact same thing to lose weight, male or female.

But I digress. I'm going to assume that no female ever lost weight before the invention of HRMs and bodybuggs and other devices.

So, how goes your weight loss journey now?

My TOM is very regular now, thanks for asking

spinnerdell

1/2 lbs a week near goal isn't bad. Small adjustments win the race.

I'm happy with slow weight loss. Yes, it's taking me years to lose what others lose in months, but I feel and look better with minimal stress.

Mr_Knight

So, here's my question. How many of you have ever realized that the calculators don't work for you?

The calculators are generally fairly good - the biggest problem is people use them wrong. Especially the TDEE calculators, where they aren't accounting for their high body fat percentage.