Arguing with Myself on Cals and Exercise

I think the following things:

1) You're overcomplicating things a bit with trying to lose x amount through diet and y amount through exercise. Net energy deficit is all that really matters.

2) The goal of losing X/week should be somewhat dictated by how much you have to lose.

I would use 1% total bodyweight per week as a very rough guideline, and I do mean very rough.

Well, I guess I don't care how it's distributed via either diet or exercise, that's just how it works out.

I'm thinking at the very least I could do 1400 a day and 500 cal workouts. That'd put me at about 1.66 pounds a week and I can see if my energy improves.

Just to confirm - you will be eating 1900 cals a day and netting 1400 through exercise?

I want to burn 1 pound a week through calorie deficit = 1300 cals a day and 1 pound through exercise....600 cals a workout @ 6 times a week.

-Am I nuts? I'm hitting energy slumps in workouts and I REALLY, REALLY don't want to give up my 2 lbs a week.

No you are not nuts. I did it. Well I'm probably much more tiny than you so I had to have even less calories. But I did it and gained muscle at the same time. While there is no "one size fits all" here is what worked for me --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

1400 calories a day is a good target to lose the last ten pounds....ONLY IF you eat back those 500 workout calories everyday! If not you would be netting under 1000, NO BUENO for loss. Your body will not want to let go of lbs. if it isn't getting enough fuel!

The amount of calories you need for a deficit is mostly driven by your height, the exact number is determined by your RMR. Since I'm only 5'1" my RMR is low. DXA shows it's only 1380. The taller you are the higher it will be. The online charts and tools are only a starting estimate. You might have to experiment with calories. You can always notch up and down by 100 as see what it does for you. This is all a big experiment that is different for each individual.

I found the following quote quite helpful

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index manual)

Also, I just can't accept .5 lbs a week, like it's not even in my realm of mental consideration. lol I would never in 5 billion years have the patience to lose the last 10 pounds in 6 months.

Your body may force you to accept it.

I'm not talking net calories. The way I do it, is that my net calories would end up being at around 900 on workout days and then just the 1400 on my non-workout day. I know a lot of people follow the net calories, but I never have even since day one. If I ate back all of my workout calories, I'd cry. lol To me, the net calories is something I'd do in maintenance mode, not in weight loss mode.

Also, I just can't accept .5 lbs a week, like it's not even in my realm of mental consideration. lol I would never in 5 billion years have the patience to lose the last 10 pounds in 6 months.

Then you are expecting to lose more than 1lb a week, and you will for awhile, until metabolism slows down for under-eating for your level of exercise.

If you really have the time and energy to exercise about 3600 per week, then go into MFP profile setup, change activity level to Lightly Active (those with FitBits and BodyMedia fits find they burn that level easily on non-exercise days).
Set weight loss goal to Maintain.

Now log your exercise calories and don't eat them back.

So your daily goal isn't lost in the credits given back my MFP, enter exercise calories after your last meal hitting your daily goal, or log 1 calorie.

Exercise is creating your deficit. At the end of each day, if you log the exercise calories, it'll tell you the expected weight loss.

With this method, MFP will automatically lower your daily goal as you log weight loss.

And are you sure MFP says your BMR is 1800? That is rather high, and of course it means your daily eating goal will be well above that. Sure that wasn't maintenance?

Oh, regarding the time for the weight loss, ask those that pushed too hard and stalled out for 6 months with no weight loss no matter what they did. Would you prefer getting to that level? Or see 1.5 lbs every 2 weeks until the end of the last 10 lbs.
Even if the time is equal, the stress of seeing no changes for 6 months would probably have you fail or splurge or binge, each of which would pack on the fat for that overage.
Doesn't really matter what you think you can accomplish at some point, the facts of what your body will do will show through, either sooner or later. You keep pressing for 2lbs weekly, you'll make some of that muscle mass, and you'll pay later because your metabolism will be slower yet, and easier to go over maintenance when it's small. So count in the time yo-yo dieting again to lose weight again down the road.

I'm not talking net calories. The way I do it, is that my net calories would end up being at around 900 on workout days and then just the 1400 on my non-workout day. I know a lot of people follow the net calories, but I never have even since day one. If I ate back all of my workout calories, I'd cry. lol To me, the net calories is something I'd do in maintenance mode, not in weight loss mode.

Also, I just can't accept .5 lbs a week, like it's not even in my realm of mental consideration. lol I would never in 5 billion years have the patience to lose the last 10 pounds in 6 months.

I think I'm on board with californiagir and am just going to have to listen to my body and come with a compromise between what it needs and what I want. MFP tells me my BMR is about 1800.

Sounds like there are some concepts you need to come to terms with.

Either that, or just deal with the side effects as they come.

Your ticker shows that you are nearly on your last 10 pounds.

Energy crashing typically means you aren't eating enough, or you are eating the wrong macros.

Through my body's last 10 pounds, probably not. But not through the last 10 I'm looking at right now. The last ten for my body would be in the 120's and 130's. I'd expect an all-out battle there. 140 lbs at 5' 7" for me is not tiny enough for world war 3...I've gotten there before at a quick rate and can do it again. Just was trying to troubleshoot the crashes I'm going through...they don't make any sense. But whatever, I'll figure it out and I should've never came to the forums because no one ever really understands what I'm talking about. Like I speak a foreign language.

Got that reversed. You aren't understanding what is trying to be explained to you. So indeed, you are speaking foreign language.
So do some research instead of going through the school of hard knocks. Learning from others is much to be preferred, if at all possible.

Most on here not only understand exactly why and what you are talking about, whether it be last 10 or last 20 the principle still applies, but already troubleshot their crashes and stalls and plateaus, and are trying to help.

You are right, you might some 2lb losses still at 20 lbs over, but doubtful, unless you don't care what the weight is exactly.
I can give you a great routine for losing weight, if you don't care it's muscle weight.

"I've gotten there before at a quick rate and can do it again" - I'm hoping that's not the start of yo-yo dieting, because it will get harder each and every time.
There may have been very legitimate reason for the gain though that is causing you to have to lose again, if that's what you mean.

And your symptom of energy crashing is exactly a side effect of what we are talking about. Your body probably doesn't have the means to repair as it should, nor replenish stores as it could, and over training while on a diet is a double-whammy stress on the body messing up hormones too that just doesn't help the situation either.

Why don't you send me a PM wiht the answer you want to hear, I'll post it here and we can all move on.

Your original question was this:

I want to burn 1 pound a week through calorie deficit = 1300 cals a day and 1 pound through exercise....600 cals a workout @ 6 times a week.

-Am I nuts? I'm hitting energy slumps in workouts and I REALLY, REALLY don't want to give up my 2 lbs a week.

The general consensus is that yes you are nuts. You aren't eating enough, and you won't be able to sustain a 2 pound a week loss. You have energy slumps because you aren't eating enough.

It doesn't matter what your ultimate goal is, that's pretty much going to be true no matter what your goal is.