1200 vs 1500 again!

Onesnap

If I HAD not eaten back my workout calories I would have only been fueling my healthy body with around 760-800 calories per day. Think of it that way and justify eating them back. If you don't eat them back how are you eating enough to fuel the machine?

knyagrl

thanks for all the resources, everyone!

CTCMom2009

I don't have any answers but am also interested to know. I've also just put my calories up from 1300 to 1500 and freaked that I'm going to put on weight.

Me too! I'm trying the TDEE - 20% method now rather than the default MFP values. I've been stuck for a while now.

Laeitniear

When my PT suggested I up my daily calories to 1800 (from 1350) I was really nervous. But it worked!

It's surprisingly hard to eat 1800 QUALITY calories a day.

ShaSimone

I just used Scooby's workshop to calculate the TDEE and BMR for my GOAL weight 150 pounds. TDEE is around 1700 calories, BMR is around 1400. So I've set my goal calories for each day at the TDEE of the weight I want to be, won't eat back any exercise calories, and try to be over 1400 but under 1700. The way I worked it out in my brain it works. Wish me luck!

keriberi9

If you do the TDEE-20%, do you eat back your calories from exercise??

Francl27

Wow, found a few TDEE calculators online and they have me eating 1900 calories per day (yikes!) in order to lose 40 pounds in ten months! I just can't do it. I'm having a hard enough time upping from 1200 to 1500 without fear!

Why? You say you eat your calories back, so you should be close to 1800 anyway if you eat 1200 plus your exercise calories back. Which sounds good to me. If you eat 1900, you're not supposed to eat your exercise calories back anyway. So it's really about the same.

Just eat 1900 and don't eat your exercise calories. I'm 5'5", 179lbs, and been losing steadily at 1600-1700 a day (with 150-400 calories of exercise a day, but usually closer to 200).

Serah87

No!! :happy:

OtiWanKenobi

Wow, found a few TDEE calculators online and they have me eating 1900 calories per day (yikes!) in order to lose 40 pounds in ten months! I just can't do it. I'm having a hard enough time upping from 1200 to 1500 without fear!

I was the same way too for several months...Actually on a long plateau since August 2012!!! :grumble: I tried it around January and gained! :noway: Freaked out and stopped. BUT then I read that if you've been eating at a high deficit for a long period of time it will take several weeks ( 4 - 6 weeks depending on your body) to acclimate to the change and finally realize you're not trying to deprive it of energy anymore.

I finally to the leap and got over my fear in March to give it a go and I was very PATIENT with myself. In two months of eating around 1900 (I don't eat back my exercise cals) and lifting heavy weights in addition to my cardio, I have lost almost 8lbs and 11" inches total. That's about 1lb a week! Here's my before any after:

March 2nd vs. May 3rd.

mariposa224

Wow, found a few TDEE calculators online and they have me eating 1900 calories per day (yikes!) in order to lose 40 pounds in ten months! I just can't do it. I'm having a hard enough time upping from 1200 to 1500 without fear!

According to your original post, you're eating between 1550-1800 after you eat your exercise calories. Why are you so fearful to up to 1500 when you're all ready eating at that level? It's not like you're going to pack on 20 lbs overnight. Bottom line, you have to find out what works for you. You've all ready stated that this ISN'T working for you. Definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over & expecting a different result. If you want a different (BETTER) result, try upping your calories. You're not going to get a different result by continuing to do the same thing.

OtiWanKenobi

If you do the TDEE-20%, do you eat back your calories from exercise??

No you wouldn't because your TDEE includes your activity level. (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

petstorekitty

If you do the TDEE-20%, do you eat back your calories from exercise??

It depends on if you include your exercise into your TDEE.

I do not include it since I do not exercise every day. through normal activity my TDEE ends up being about 1660 - 20% =1328.
So we make that the daily goal to net. If I workout I eat more because I want to reach at least around the net goal of 1328.

When I'm consistent on this formula it works.

but I also use a heart rate monitor now because I want to track my calories as accurately as possible.Plus I measure and weigh and log all my food. being consistent in that is also necessary and when I am, I see results.

*************About bumping up from 1200 calories*********

I only started the 1300 + a couple months ago.
I bumped from 1200 to 1300 and the first couple weeks I gained a couple lbs.
I also added strength training
after a couple weeks I began to lose and not only lbs but inches!

I tried to bump up to 1500 from 1300 and gained again and got scared. when I do bump my calories up again I will do it slowly, like 50 to 100 at a time for a couple weeks.

please pardon any spelling mistakes. I don't care enough to spell check right now. x Kitty

melindasuefritz

DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH U WEIGH

keriberi9

If you do the TDEE-20%, do you eat back your calories from exercise??

No you wouldn't because your TDEE includes your activity level. (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

Thanks

Isakizza

What is TDEE??? Where would I get this information? Thanks

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

YES! This was a huge eye opener to me. I wasn't eating enough, crazy!!!
Well I had a hard time understanding the long version of that post, and apparently others did also. He wrote a shorter, easier version to follow. Here's that link...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Hope it helps you. It's so nice not to starve and still lose weight.
:happy:

Isakizza

Wow, found a few TDEE calculators online and they have me eating 1900 calories per day (yikes!) in order to lose 40 pounds in ten months! I just can't do it. I'm having a hard enough time upping from 1200 to 1500 without fear!

I was the same way too for several months...Actually on a long plateau since August 2012!!! :grumble: I tried it around January and gained! :noway: Freaked out and stopped. BUT then I read that if you've been eating at a high deficit for a long period of time it will take several weeks ( 4 - 6 weeks depending on your body) to acclimate to the change and finally realize you're not trying to deprive it of energy anymore.

I finally to the leap and got over my fear in March to give it a go and I was very PATIENT with myself. In two months of eating around 1900 (I don't eat back my exercise cals) and lifting heavy weights in addition to my cardio, I have lost almost 8lbs and 11" inches total. That's about 1lb a week! Here's my before any after:

March 2nd vs. May 3rd.

This also happened to me, the fear of eating more to lose. VERY HARD to change your way of thinking. I didn't stay on the plan long enough to see results and quit. I've started again and committing to at least 4-6 weeks before thinking of changing up my plan again. So far so good.

tunachick

Can I just throw this out there? How about stop doing the number game. The number on the scales doesn't mean you LOOK a certain way (thin/fat.) It doesn't take into consideration how much muscle you have, your bone structure, or your height. (Or, maybe you have the fancy one that includes all of that like I do...I still don't go by that number though.) The number on the treadmill, stair climber, elliptical or bike doesn't take into consideration that you might be squeezing your glutes with each stride or walking up hill backwards using huge muscles groups. Again, the numbers on the machines lie. And as far as calorie number goes...where do I begin?? You can eat 1500 calories in doughnuts but it sure doesn't mean you're going to LOOK any different. Or, you can eat 1500 calories in all protein and look like a shriveled up prune. My point? Stop counting numbers as a total success or failure at the end of the day. It's not about CALORIES in vs. CALORIES out. It's about what you are doing on the machine, at the gym, or in the weight room. And it's about the amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar in EACH meal and what times you are eating those meals. If you are a woman who weighs over 150 pounds you should be eating a lot more than 1500 calories for fat loss. (Emphasis on FAT loss not WEIGHT loss.) If you are eating under the amount you should be, and then you are exercising and burning MORE calories, plus add in the extra calories you should be burning all day just breathing...well, of course your body is going to hang onto every single bite. It might not get enough calories tomorrow! Start out with 2000 calories. (It's not as hard to eat that many calories as you might think if you are eating enough protein and carbs.) And most importantly, how many times a day are you eating? Because if you are like most people, you skip breakfast, have a light lunch, and then a light dinner. Your metabolism only works if you make it work. If it doesn't have calories to burn, it doesn't have a reason to do work.
A lot of information here. Sorry to go on and on. It's just sad to me when people eat less, exercise more, and go into metabolic melt down. The older we get, the more we need to keep it on fire by eating smaller meals through out the day. The End.

redheaddee

What is TDEE??? Where would I get this information? Thanks

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

This. 1200 calories + not eating back exercise calories = your body thinks it's dying. If you eat 1200, exercise say 300 calories, you are NETTING only 900 calories/day. NOT healthy. Gotta eat back those exercise calories.

ETA if you were on life support in the hospital, they would tube feed you more than that. That's basically what your BMR is, the base amount of calories your body burns doing nada.

OtiWanKenobi

Can I just throw this out there? How about stop doing the number game. The number on the scales doesn't mean you LOOK a certain way (thin/fat.) It doesn't take into consideration how much muscle you have, your bone structure, or your height. (Or, maybe you have the fancy one that includes all of that like I do...I still don't go by that number though.) The number on the treadmill, stair climber, elliptical or bike doesn't take into consideration that you might be squeezing your glutes with each stride or walking up hill backwards using huge muscles groups. Again, the numbers on the machines lie. And as far as calorie number goes...where do I begin?? You can eat 1500 calories in doughnuts but it sure doesn't mean you're going to LOOK any different. Or, you can eat 1500 calories in all protein and look like a shriveled up prune. My point? Stop counting numbers as a total success or failure at the end of the day. It's not about CALORIES in vs. CALORIES out. It's about what you are doing on the machine, at the gym, or in the weight room. And it's about the amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar in EACH meal and what times you are eating those meals. If you are a woman who weighs over 150 pounds you should be eating a lot more than 1500 calories for fat loss. (Emphasis on FAT loss not WEIGHT loss.) If you are eating under the amount you should be, and then you are exercising and burning MORE calories, plus add in the extra calories you should be burning all day just breathing...well, of course your body is going to hang onto every single bite. It might not get enough calories tomorrow! Start out with 2000 calories. (It's not as hard to eat that many calories as you might think if you are eating enough protein and carbs.) And most importantly, how many times a day are you eating? Because if you are like most people, you skip breakfast, have a light lunch, and then a light dinner. Your metabolism only works if you make it work. If it doesn't have calories to burn, it doesn't have a reason to do work.
A lot of information here. Sorry to go on and on. It's just sad to me when people eat less, exercise more, and go into metabolic melt down. The older we get, the more we need to keep it on fire by eating smaller meals through out the day. The End.

WELL SAID!!!! :bigsmile:

mariposa224

What is TDEE??? Where would I get this information? Thanks

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

This. 1200 calories + not eating back exercise calories = your body thinks it's dying. If you eat 1200, exercise say 300 calories, you are NETTING only 900 calories/day. NOT healthy. Gotta eat back those exercise calories.

ETA if you were on life support in the hospital, they would tube feed you more than that. That's basically what your BMR is, the base amount of calories your body burns doing nada.

Her original post said "When doing 1200, I would burn between 350-600 calories at gym and eat most back with no loss. " That would lead me to believe she's generally eating at least the 1200, but more often somewhere between 1550-1800.