BMR Rate and Daily Caloric Need numbers are a bunch of crap
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I agree not all bodies treat calories equally. After years of thinking a calorie is a calorie i discovered for my body type calories that come from simple carbs equal high weight gain. I discovered this 2 years ago. I had done well on my eating plan between Thanksgiving and Christmas and lost weight. I treated my self to cake from Christmas to new years. I ate my 1200 calories a day, and exercised but added a slice of cake and a 1/2 c of ice cream every night. for one week. The cake and Ice cream totaled about 4000 extra calories for the week. At the very most I should have only gained 1 lb. I gained 5 pounds that week! Not all calories are processed the same in your body.0
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I agree not all bodies treat calories equally. After years of thinking a calorie is a calorie i discovered for my body type calories that come from simple carbs equal high weight gain. I discovered this 2 years ago. I had done well on my eating plan between Thanksgiving and Christmas and lost weight. I treated my self to cake from Christmas to new years. I ate my 1200 calories a day, and exercised but added a slice of cake and a 1/2 c of ice cream every night. for one week. The cake and Ice cream totaled about 4000 extra calories for the week. At the very most I should have only gained 1 lb. I gained 5 pounds that week! Not all calories are processed the same in your body.
You're ignoring water and glycogen weight. You don't gain 5 lbs of fat or muscle that week. And I'm sure the gain went away in the next few days.0 -
I am so glad to see that you are not giving up and have an open mind to getting more information and trying the suggestions given. Not to add 'one more thing' to your list, and you seem to have a pretty busy and probably stressful life, I hope you are doing your best to get a good night's sleep every night. I have heard sleep is important to weight loss. I'm unclear as to how that matters, but that is what 'they say'.
I wish you the best of luck.....and keep plugging along and not give up! You will be the winner in the end!
Carrie0 -
did you try going to a nutritionist?
or you could buy a FitBit and aria scale:
http://www.fitbit.com/nz/product/aria/features
http://www.fitbit.com/nz/one
if you think the online calcs are wrong, the above are scientific and accurate. the online ones arn't great except for KM BMR.0 -
I agree not all bodies treat calories equally. After years of thinking a calorie is a calorie i discovered for my body type calories that come from simple carbs equal high weight gain. I discovered this 2 years ago. I had done well on my eating plan between Thanksgiving and Christmas and lost weight. I treated my self to cake from Christmas to new years. I ate my 1200 calories a day, and exercised but added a slice of cake and a 1/2 c of ice cream every night. for one week. The cake and Ice cream totaled about 4000 extra calories for the week. At the very most I should have only gained 1 lb. I gained 5 pounds that week! Not all calories are processed the same in your body.
actually a calorie is a calorie (in our case they are really kilo calories). it's a scientific unit of measurement for energy. a kilo calorie is the energy required to raise 1kg of water by 1 degree Celsius. no matter what food you eat, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
don't confuse energy with nutrition. you lose weight (i.e., stored "energy") by eating a deficit and/or exercising it away. the body runs on energy it gets from the food you eat and from stored fat (mostly). when you eat food, your body also derives nutrition from the food. if you eat alot of cake and potato chips, it's not going to get much nutrition. if you eat alot of lean meats and fruits and vegetables, it will get more nutrition. but 100 calories of ice cream is the same as 100 calories of spinach as far as how your body uses it for energy.0 -
Garbage in Garbage out... Your recording is flawed. 3600cals = a lb end of
It doesnt matter what your notional BMR is - you now have an accurate measure (even if your measuring technique is flawed) to stay the same weight - this is the key to success
reduce the consumption by 500 cals a day and you WILL loose a lb a week
My maintain cals is 2700... I dunno if in reality I'm eating 5000 a day or 1500 . my recording accuracy gives 2700 and I can adjust it to change my weight - never fails0 -
You need to remember that every only estimator for any of these numbers is just that - an estimator. Same as calories in food - all estimations. So if you are eating at a certain calorie amount for 60 or 90 days and maintaining weight - that is your body's maintenance calorie number - period.0
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It's been working for me. Math is the answer. I use http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to calculate and update every time I weigh in.0
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Your BMR is only an estimation based on your gender, height, weight and physical activity. Your metabolisim may not be running as fast as it should therefore you are not burning as much calories as you BMR says you are. The best thing to do if you really want to know is to buy a heart rate monitor and wear it for a few days (Not working out) and over about a 3 day period you should have a much more accuarate BMR. Good luck to you!!!!!!0
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It is normal for a body to fluctuation in weight from day to day. When I lost weight the first time. I lost the first 30 pounds sitting on my *kitten* doing nothing but calorie deficient. I looked at my BMR calculator and tried to eat under that. But being a woman and all that goes with it, my weight still went up at times even when I didn't change my eating habits.
I've noticed this time, when I don't go to the gym the scale the next day will go up 0.2 pounds even when I eat negative. So from Oct 27th to Yesterday my weight went like this 186.0, 186.2, 186.4, 185.8, 186.0, 185.8, 184.8
It looked frustrating there for a while. I estimate loosing 0.2 pounds everyday on my spread sheet just to see what date I might reach my goal and where it was looking like I wouldn't even loose a pound this week, the scale drops a pound in a day and my spreadsheet says I just might loose 1.8 pounds this week. So back on track.
I think you should follow the advise of some other people here and seek professional advice.0 -
Here's the experiment I have done.
I logged my calories for roughly 90 days between Aug 1 and October 26. I plugged those numbers into an excel spreadsheet and got an average caloric intake of 1428. This number is not taking into account any calories spent in exercise.
According to every BMR calculator, my BMR is 1787. To get your Daily Caloric Need number, you supposedly take that number and multiply it by 1.2. That means I should need to eat 2144 calories per day to MAINTAIN my weight of 230.
On August 1, I weighed 230 pounds. Today, I weigh 230 pounds.
You are eating too few calories - you should not eat below your BMR or your body gets all screwed up - hence, no weight loss.
Eat over the BMR for 30 days and see what I mean.
I would like to see medical write up on this advice. I have done a ton of reading and no where does it say to never eat below you BMR.
To the OP I am guessing, that like my self and a few other people I know you will find you are insulin resistant. I worked out and tracked my calories for 6 months and wasn't seeing any results using a low fat diet. Changed my diet to a KD and kept my cals and works outs the same and dropped over 30 lbs in a month. You just have to find out what works for your body.0 -
OK, so someone help me understand this. I burn an average of 2400 calories/day according to my BodyMedia (that includes breathing all the way to exercising). My stats are 5'4, 219 pounds. According to the Withings scale I have 44% body fat.
MFP recommends me to eat 1200 calories, but then adds to it after my BodyMedia sends "adjustments". Unfortunately it does this after I sync them, which is only once a week so I need a general rule.
If I have access to the number of calories I burn/day is it safe to say I need to eat 1000 calories less than that to loose 2 pounds a week? Meaning I need to be eating closer to 1400 and not 1200?0 -
To get an accurate BMR you need to use a calculator that takes your Body Fat % into the calculation. If you have a higher body fat % your BMR will be lower. The BMR calculator on MFP and most of the other sites give you a much too high calorie level of you are considerably overweight. Unfortunately, you will find people that tell you that you are simply not eating enough and you should eat even more. Which is just a bunch of garbage misinformation that they repeat because they hear it from so many other people who are just repeating it.
This results in a lot of people not losing weight and even gaining weight after months of logging and exercising. I am sorry that you are yet another victim of misinformation.
Use the Karch-Mcardle BMR calculator. It factors in your Body Fat % and gives you a much more accurate number to start with. Multiple that number by 1.2 to get your TDEE for maintaining. Subtract 500 calories from that number to get your level to lose 1 pound per week. If you want to lose 2 pounds per week, burn an additional 500 calories with exercise, but DO NOT eat those calories back.
Try this for a couple of weeks and see how you do.
THIS!0 -
I would like to disprove everything you said.
I am following IF calculator(im not on IF diet)
IT IS ACCURATE TO A POUND OVER 6 WEEKS already.
you need to pay more attention when logging calories. you are doing it wrong. i am doing it right. works for me
Agreed.
If you are doing it right methodology-wise, and keep good results data, you should be able to calculate your calorie needs with a high degree of preceision, allowing you to set goals that you will achieve easily, on the nose, even if several months away.
My loss was accurate to a pound over more than 6 months (55 lbs after joining MFP). Gain was accurate to a pound over 4 months. I expect this cut I'm in now to be accurate to within a pound over 2 months.
This is not rocket surgery, its middle school level math.
You need the right mindset though. Accuracy is king. Not "safe". "Safe" is the enemy of predictable results as it introduces bias purposely. That is bad estimating 101. If you want safe, set safe goals, estimate as accurately as possible.0 -
The problem is more than likely your tracking was inaccurate, not the math.0
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Everybody is different. Those numbers are guidelines. You are responsible for determining what works for you.
This--those numbers assume you are healthy, and are based on *averages* for some people they will be higher, for some people they will be lower--that is how averages work. As others have mentioned, there are a number of medical reasons your caloric requirements may be lower (or that you might not lose weight eating what seems to be a deficit). There is also recent evidence that if you have lost more than about 10% of your body weight, your caloric needs are reduced (they're not sure for how long). I know for me, I have to eat about 10% fewer calories than I "should" in order to maintain my weight. I figured this out myself, and then read research that suggests some other people who have lost a lot of weight experience something similar. You have records, you know what you need to eat to maintain your weight, now, assuming you are healthy, you know what to subtract calories from in order to lose weight.
My other question was how careful were you about monitoring your intake. Did you record *everything* that went in your mouth? It's easy to eat more than you think you are if you don't. Did you measure your food properly? If you were estimating, there is a lot of potential for error. Moreover, for most foods (except liquids and semi-solids like peanut butter) volume measurements are very inaccurate, if you really want to know how much your eating, you need to weigh your food.0 -
I recommend seeing a dietitian so that you can get evaluated properly. Knowing the numbers can be extremely helpful when it comes the weight loss, but they've got to be accurate!
This. Follow Sarah recommendation.0 -
Here's the experiment I have done.
I logged my calories for roughly 90 days between Aug 1 and October 26. I plugged those numbers into an excel spreadsheet and got an average caloric intake of 1428. This number is not taking into account any calories spent in exercise.
According to every BMR calculator, my BMR is 1787. To get your Daily Caloric Need number, you supposedly take that number and multiply it by 1.2. That means I should need to eat 2144 calories per day to MAINTAIN my weight of 230.
On August 1, I weighed 230 pounds. Today, I weigh 230 pounds.
But, according to these "scientific" numbers I should have had an average daily caloric deficit of 716 calories. In 90 days I should have been roughly 18.5 pounds lighter.
But I'm not.
I think this is a bunch of made up crap.
And it's cruel because it causes overweight people to obsess over every minute on a treadmill and every morsel of food placed in their mouth in hopes that one day all those numbers will add up to some fat lost!!
Just my opinion.
This is not to say that losing weight is impossible. I'm just saying that people who try to tell fat people that "its all about the numbers" is lazy, insensitive, and stupid.
I'm sure you can tell I'm a little bit irritated. I did math. For nothing.
Are you for real complaining about this? I just checked your diary for August, and for at least 15 days, you ate less than 1300 calories (you BMR is 1787!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And then there are a few binges in there a few days where you logged nothing. How do you calculate an average with nothing?
The madness continues throughout September. Most days you hover between 900 and 1100 calories. Your metabolism has slowed to a halt!!!
But there are some binges in September - 3000 calories on 18 September - Sausage Croissant for breakfast with a hash brown, Taco Bell Steak Burrito for lunch, big cheeseburger for a snack at 6pm with 5 churros, macaroni cheese for dinner with rib-eye steak and some bread on the side!
And then on the same Friday (21 September), another binge of 3200 calories (and then another blank day where I really wonder what's in there).
The extreme low cal madness continues with days with only 800 - 1000 calories and then another binge of pizza hut one day and a McDonalds Caramel Sundey the next with some more Pizza Hut. Whopper with cheese the very next day, Taco Bell the day after with a whole milk latte, a donut and waffles for breakfast the very next day (at this point, I'm starting to think you are having us on), another donut the next morning for breakfast and the next with Wendy's for lunch, nothing logged over the weekend then the extreme low calorie MADNESS continues for a few days (1062, 848, 1060, 940, 1033, 1092, 981, 987) and then a day of pork sausage patties with eggs on a muffin for breakfast, big cheese burger for dinner, toffees. Then another binge of tacos, cheeseburgers, donuts.
And then you come on here to say that these numbers are a bunch of crap?
I actually cannot believe that you could even come on here to have people look at your diary, because quite frankly, while I applaud you for generally logging everything, you really do eat crap when you are not completely starving yourself. (And before anyone jumps on the "1000 calories isn't starvation", it IS starvation for someone with a BMR 1700). You are doing some long term damage to your body and you need to stop this craziness!!
Increase your calories and start looking at what you put into your mouth. Starving yourself for 5 days and then binging for 2 isn't exactly working. You need to be more consistent and eat less donuts.0 -
I say that you are eating too little.
Checked my numbers for the last 90 days and averaged about 2080 per day with 14 pounds lost. My BMR is ~1600 (Katch-McArdle) and, no, I do not eat clean.
Find what works for you and don't give up. Good luck on your journey.0 -
I have to say that stress can play a big role in weight gain/lack of loss. Being a care taker is stressful. So is being a parent and working full time. You do have a lot on your plate.
Are you sure you haven't lost size? In the last 8 months I have only lost 7 lbs but I've lost about 12 inches off my thighs, hips, waist, belly, arms and neck.
I am glad that you have gone to the dr. to be tested. I have some kind of thyroid issue that they have been watching. For years they thought it was underactive but now they are wondering if it is doing something else causing it to be low then high then normal. Regardless, my gland is swollen so obviously something isn't right. I am also T2 diabetic treated with 2 meds. This seems to make weight loss that much harder. I have to be more vigilant in what I eat and how much I exercise. If you are insulin resistant metformin can really help.
Regular exercise can really help with the stress level and insulin resistance, if you have it. I think I would go crazy if I didn't work out almost every day.
Given you have so much to deal with already perhaps not dieting is the better way to go. Be aware of what you eat and how much. Try to fill up with veggies, always eat whole grains, avoid fried foods and never keep eating so you are really full. I don't believe in deprivation so eat a little treat here and there so you don't binge. Substitute lower cal items like low fat cream cheese for regular cream cheese, skim milk for whole milk. The biggest thing is to learn to eat until you are satisfied, not full. I lost 20 lbs this way years ago and kept it off. Hubs lost 40 lbs recently doing this.
Make sure you take some time for yourself. Maybe take a yoga class or your time at the gym will give you a break from the pressures of life. I have been a caretaker for my spouse and for other family members and it isn't easy. You may want to see if there is a support group in your area. Caretaking of a spouse is much harder than caring for a parent or other family member and you need to have support and make sure you feel as good as possible.0
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