How to incorporate BOD POD results with MFP...

AliciaYuhas
AliciaYuhas Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I retested with Bod Pod recently and did not get the results I was expecting - went from 31% to 33% body fat - my goal was 29.9% - under 30, which puts me "within acceptable limits". Went back through MFP to reset all of my calorie goals and wondering where I went wrong?! I am SO CLOSE and the technician said I was only TEN calories/day off from staying the same as last time (even though I thought I was going in the right direction - reduced clothes size, met fitness goals - ran a marathon, etc.). My numbers on MFP are way off...this should be simple math!

For now, I am taking exercise completely out of the equation and the eating back your exercise calories issue. My plan is to determine exercise calories based on the training plan for the day and eat back all but 250 - and reduce food by 250 for a 500 calorie/day deficit, or a pound/week. I want to stop tracking exercise - and only track food - on MFP because the net calories and daily remaining add to my confusion...

For food intake - when I choose sedentary, MFP suggests 1590 calories/day - Bod Pod says my RMR is only 1167 and my sedentary calorie requirements (or TEE) from Bod Pod is 1447. If I am only reducing by 250/day - it would mean 1340 according to MFP, but only 1197 (1200) based on the TEE Bod Pod suggested. I exercise a lot most days and didn't always eat back my exercise calories, until MFP. I am told that my body is in "starvation mode"...holding onto fat - yet, my calories are too high - so confused! The technician said I need to increase strength/resistance training and build muscle but that you can't build muscle while you burn fat and I should focus on one or the other - WHAT?!

Does this make sense? Also, is there a way to override the calories/day. I set up a "custom" plan for 1340 cals/day, but, based on the Bod Pod results, it is too high.

I want to lose weight, but I want to lose FAT. I have already lost 50 lbs and am within 10-15 lbs of the lowest healthy weight for my frame/body type and even if I lost only fat, I would be 26% fat...

Any resources to figure this out - once and for all - would be appreciated! How to make these two resources (BOD POD and MFP) work together and reach my goals...

Replies

  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    You can't build Additional muscle while in a deficit, but adding strength training will help you retain the muscle you currently have while losing weight.. doing all cardio with no resistance training will lower your scale number but your bf% may increase.

    As for your calorie plan, your RMR may be only 1167, but thats not number you eat.. you are going to want to eat a few hundred above that PLUS your exercise calories.. eating too little and having a huge deficit in calories can also reduce your muscle you are trying to maintain.

    You can change your calories on here, its under your settings I am not sure of the exact path I am sure someone will post it.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Bod Pod does not measure RMR - it just uses a formula like all the websites. I had my RMR tested and then immediately following that test had my body fat tested with Bod Pod. Bod Pod predicted my RMR was about 210 calories less per day than the actual RMR testing.

    If everything is working for you, do NOT change things based on the RMR estimate from Bod Pod. It was designed to give you body fat percentages, and that is what it does well.
  • AliciaYuhas
    AliciaYuhas Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks for the super quick response! I have pages and pages of calculations trying to figure this out...okay, I get that I need to add the strength training - that is likely what happened - I did "too much" cardio training for marathons and triathlons and not enough strength/resistance training - my weight went down, but my bf% went up. And thanks for clarifying that I can't build ADDITIONAL muscle while in a deficit.

    So - if I use the Bod Pod sedentary calorie need or total energy expend (TEE), it is 1447. The MFP sedentary calorie need (I assume based on gender, weight, height only) is 1590. I realize this is only 143 calories/day difference, but is seems that since I am so close to my goal that even 10 extra calories/day can make a difference.

    And then, don't I want to reduce my food intake by 250 cals/day (to add to my exercise deficit of 250 calories) until I reach my BF% goal?

    I could override the MFP system by saying I want to lose zero weight, rather than .5 lbs/week, and do custom number of calories per day. It wants to assume that I need 1590 calories/day and that 1340/day will do that. So, if I use the Bod Pod number, that would be 1197...but then there's the starvation mode issue...

    Also, how long is long enough to do a trial and error at a certain calorie intake to know if it's going to work? My PT said I may gain weight as we tweak this and that is a scary thought!
  • AliciaYuhas
    AliciaYuhas Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks omma_to_3.

    Okay, so Bod Pod just does body fat % - and the RMR is just an "educated guess" - I reread the page included called RMR Info Sheet and you're right, it says right there that it uses the equation of Nelson et al.

    There is still the question of which number to target for calorie intake - based on a sedentary lifestyle (I work in an office, I am not a lumberjack ;)), because even 143 calories/day could make a huge difference based on what the technician told me about being only 10 calories/day over and adding 2% body fat...

    I did think that this bod pod test was the answer based on how it was advertised - "are you eating enough to reach your goals"? and when I first did it, the technician said I wasn't eating enough...because my resting rate was so low - well, now it's lower and he said I overate (or underexercised) by 10 calories/day?!
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member

    So - if I use the Bod Pod sedentary calorie need or total energy expend (TEE), it is 1447. The MFP sedentary calorie need (I assume based on gender, weight, height only) is 1590. I realize this is only 143 calories/day difference, but is seems that since I am so close to my goal that even 10 extra calories/day can make a difference.

    And then, don't I want to reduce my food intake by 250 cals/day (to add to my exercise deficit of 250 calories) until I reach my BF% goal?

    I could override the MFP system by saying I want to lose zero weight, rather than .5 lbs/week, and do custom number of calories per day. It wants to assume that I need 1590 calories/day and that 1340/day will do that. So, if I use the Bod Pod number, that would be 1197...but then there's the starvation mode issue...

    Ok you shouldn't eat 1197 calories a day if you run marathons unless your 4ft, 90lbs.. Best way to figure out what you should be eating is to use one of the calculators to enter in your height/weight/age/activity level.. your definitely not sedentary.. I work in an office and do IT work, but I am moderately active cause I spend 6-8 hours working out a week.. So I would use scooby's calculator (you can google it) or just post what your stats are and I am sure someone will enter them in and give you an idea.. but ya if you run marathons and triathalons your not sedentary...
  • AliciaYuhas
    AliciaYuhas Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks Greenrun99.

    I am far from 4 feet tall and 90 lbs, LOL.

    I don't think I am sedentary, but went with sedentary to separate food from exercise and try to avoid confusion with eating back calories and what not...and figured it would be easier to deal with exercise separately because that may be where I am starving myself (not eating calories back - especially on double work out days or long runs).

    Will check out scooby's calculator...thanks for the advice!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    I do sedentary as well, and eat back all my exercise calories (measured by an HRM). I just stick with MFPs numbers, even though I know my BMR is a bit higher. It gives me a cushion for when I overeat.

    Once I'm done losing and need to switch to maintenance, I'll up my calories a bit at a time until my weight stabilizes. I'll probably start with a few hundred calories below what MFP considers my maintenance level and see what that does for me.
  • AliciaYuhas
    AliciaYuhas Posts: 5 Member
    Omma_to_3 - sounds similar to my plan of action...so is it working for you?

    I know that I go up and down about 8lbs and I realize that's not all fat and I am not ever going to get an exact number of calories...wish I could just get a simple formula...and get to the point of being "done losing"...
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Well, I'm steadily losing weight. I have another 25 to 30 to go though. Been doing it this way for 19 months so somethings working :-)
  • CarrieStL
    CarrieStL Posts: 162 Member
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