Arguing with Myself on Cals and 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.

Replies

LittleMissDover

By your ticker it looks like you have 10lb or less left to lose so you should be aiming for 1/2lb a week at this point.

SideSteel

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.

drivenheart85

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.

bio_fit

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?

_CowgirlUp_

If it were really this simple...

Fortunately and UNfortunately, you're getting down to those last 10 lbs. which in MY case (and everybody is different) they are hanging onto me for dear life! I've been at the same weight now for over a year...give or take 3 lbs. I've upped my calories here lately so I'm hoping to see a budge in the scale or tape measure but so far...nothing.

californiagirl2012

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

deksgrl

By your ticker it looks like you have 10lb or less left to lose so you should be aiming for 1/2lb a week at this point.

This.

Unfortunately, it is going to be slower now, that's just the way it is.

holly3585

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!

Goal_Driven

By your ticker it looks like you have 10lb or less left to lose so you should be aiming for 1/2lb a week at this point.

This is good advice! I should consider this myself..

californiagirl2012

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)

drivenheart85

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.

deksgrl

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.

CDH786

You have to think about how you are going to maintain your new low weight once you reach your target. You have to eat and exercise in a way that is acceptable long term. So 5 weeks or 10 weeks to reach target doesn't really matter so long as you reach it and STAY SLIM. I think that if you push yourself too hard to achieve the goal, you will find it much harder to maintain once you are there. Time is on your side - and this needs to be a 50 year plan!

heybales

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.

_CowgirlUp_

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.

Yep. ^^^^this. You'll accept it when you have to I guess. You won't continue losing 2 lbs a week through that last 10 lbs. Trust me sweetheart.

drivenheart85

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.

deksgrl

Okay, so people give you their best thinking based on science, knowledge and experience, but it isn't what you wanted to hear. Fair enough.

drivenheart85

I literally just agreed with everyone. But just said I'm not to that point yet.

I'm here to talk about energy crashing. Not how long it will take to go from skinny to skinnier. I'm not even at skinny.

You cannot tell me I'm on my last ten pounds when you've never even seen my body.

erickirb

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.

That does not sound practical given the amount you have to lose. The less you have to lose the smaller your deficit should be.
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

If you follow the above guidelines, and incorporate strength training and adequate protein you will lose much less lean muscle as you lose, meaning at your goal weight you will have a lower BF%, and have less fat.

On top of the above goals if following MFP's intake, you should also eat back most, if not all, of the cals burned from exercising.

If you only eat 1300 and burn 600, that would be like eating 700 cals on non-exercise days, which is not enough for anyone.

jacksonpt

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.

erickirb

I literally just agreed with everyone. But just said I'm not to that point yet.

I'm here to talk about energy crashing. Not how long it will take to go from skinny to skinnier. I'm not even at skinny.

You cannot tell me I'm on my last ten pounds when you've never even seen my body.

No but we see your ticker which you made which show that is all you are looking at losing.

deksgrl

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.

30Purple

Your ticker says you're on the last 10

I literally just agreed with everyone. But just said I'm not to that point yet.

I'm here to talk about energy crashing. Not how long it will take to go from skinny to skinnier. I'm not even at skinny.

You cannot tell me I'm on my last ten pounds when you've never even seen my body.

heybales

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.

drivenheart85

Everybody's weight loss goals are different...just because you're on this site, doesn't mean your goal is to hit an 18% body fat level.

jacksonpt

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.

erickirb

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.

Best answer ever

deksgrl

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.

MinnieInMaine

Even if you would say you have 20 more pounds to lose, per the chart posted above, your weight loss goal would still be better at 1/2 to 1 pound per week. What we're trying to say is that you're obviously not eating enough for how hard you're working out and that is why you're experiencing energy crashes.

If you expect to get results from your workouts, you need to properly fuel your body. You might be able to continue to lose quickly doing what you're doing but what do you think is going to happen when you get to maintenance? You'll increase your calories and then put weight back on. It's much better to do a gradual increase now, slow your weight loss a little and be healthier.

drivenheart85

I want to hear the following, "Gee, since you were this same weight a month ago, eating the same amount of calories and doing the same amount of calories for exercise and everything was fine, that must mean there's something different wrong here now. Like maybe you're sick, maybe you're anemic, maybe you're going through a detox phase from the junk food/sugar. Are you drinking enough water? Are you overdoing the caffeine? Are you taking a multivitamin?"

Not, "You can't lose weight quickly, even though that's what you've done for the past entire year" And by quickly I mean 2 pounds a week...which is perfectly healthy.