Critique of diet program.
JeffseekingV
Posts: 3,165 Member
Been sitting at the same weight. But all my lifts are improving:
Just venting frustration that my BF is hovering around 18% and I can' seem to get any leaner. I'm no food angel but I try to eat better than I did before. It seems that I'll have to cut out everything in order to get more cut. Or do cardio until the cows come home. Arg
5 ft 7" 174lbs goal = 170 lbs. I checked my goals and adjusted it a bit but it still spit out 1540 calories/day. With 1lb per week. On days I work out, resting + exercise calories is usually around 2100-2200 calories
Using a TDEE calculator online, it spit out 2626 calories burnt per day. Moderate / litght exercise 3-5 days a week http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
Another member suggested I adjust the weight loss to .5 lbs per week
I guess I don't understand the big diff in between the TDEE and the mfp calorie caclulations
Most of my workouts are weight lifting while triple setting them for volume and to keep the heart rate up. I do 20 min of cardio after lifting.
Just venting frustration that my BF is hovering around 18% and I can' seem to get any leaner. I'm no food angel but I try to eat better than I did before. It seems that I'll have to cut out everything in order to get more cut. Or do cardio until the cows come home. Arg
5 ft 7" 174lbs goal = 170 lbs. I checked my goals and adjusted it a bit but it still spit out 1540 calories/day. With 1lb per week. On days I work out, resting + exercise calories is usually around 2100-2200 calories
Using a TDEE calculator online, it spit out 2626 calories burnt per day. Moderate / litght exercise 3-5 days a week http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
Another member suggested I adjust the weight loss to .5 lbs per week
I guess I don't understand the big diff in between the TDEE and the mfp calorie caclulations
Most of my workouts are weight lifting while triple setting them for volume and to keep the heart rate up. I do 20 min of cardio after lifting.
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Replies
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Tagging. Myself and/or SideSteel will respond shortly.0
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I can tell you that for the last two weeks, I'm been a bit sick. Lifting is okay but cardio is tough. I've gained like 2-3 lbs.0
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Do you use a food scale on everything or just sometimes? Or never?0
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Never. And yes, I bet that's skewing the food calorie estimations. If in doubt, I'll try to overestimate. But I think the problem is I'm over estimating the calories burnt during the lifting. I haven't found a good way to estimate double/triple setting weight lifting0
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I would seem that given most people's limited amount of time available to work out, one might have to make a choice. Cardio type of calorie burn in order to reduce weight/fat or strength via lifting.
I've been trying to make the lifting as calorie burning as possible but it seems not to be effective enough.
That or clean up the diet more.
I'll readjust the goals to 0.5lbs / week and repost the calorie allotments ere0 -
My opinion is that you should focus on strength training while strength training and ignore the calorie burn. Your deficit should be created mainly through diet, or cardio if you wish. Obviously there will be an increase to your TDEE when you strength train, but that should not be the purpose of it.0
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Are you saying that I should still strength train but not use those calories against my totals?0
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Changing the weight loss to 0.5 lbs per week ups the calorie allotment to 1,790 net calories per day0
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Are you saying that I should still strength train but not use those calories against my totals?
No. I was commenting on the fact that you said that you were trying to make the lifting as calorie burning as possible. I usually suggest something like 300 calories an hour for strength training if you want to ballpark the calorie burn.
At the end of the day, if your results are not what you expect, you can tweak that estimate up or down.0 -
Understood. Thanks. Is there a calorie burn on this site that estimates the lifting @ 300 caloires per hour?
MFP puts 60 min @ 237 calories per hour.0 -
Understood. Thanks. Is there a calorie burn on this site that estimates the lifting @ 300 caloires per hour?
MFP puts 60 min @ 237 calories per hour.
I round up as I don't think that does not take into account EPOC or size. If you want to be conservative, go with MFP numbers as they are pretty reasonable.0 -
How many days are you exercising?0
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2 days of heavy, 1 day of heavy accessory and light main lifts, try to do 1 day of light cardio only and b-ball 1 day.
On the lift days, I try for 30 min of cardio but the last few weeks I have not been able to do that. So for the last few weeks, I've been losing 200 calories per workout and not playing ball. so that's estimated 800 calories per week that I've not been able to do.0 -
Another member suggested I adjust the weight loss to .5 lbs per week
Ultimately I can see one issue that complicates things substantially, and I'll try to elaborate.
In MFP forums you will constantly see people urging others to eat more. In theory, there's some sense to it in that you're much more likely to adhere to a diet that has you eating just slightly less than you need (there are certainly other reasons that I won't launch into).
The reason I say it's complicated is that when you see someone write this (for example):
"I am averaging 1650 calories per day"
It is very easy to then conclude
"Holy **** dude you need to eat more, WTF. You're starving yourself, that's why you're not losing weight"
But we see pretty solid evidence that suggests that some (a lot, IMO) of people actually eat considerably more than they think they are eating, even when attempting to track intake. Given that you don't have a food scale or measuring devices, your situation could be one where increasing calorie intake could potentially be the wrong solution to this.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
NOTE: And herein lies the difficulty of offering advice when, especially in the general forums, people do not look for context. What I'm saying here is this: Someone of your stats shouldn't be attempting to lose weight on 1500 calories so the logical knee-jerk response is to tell you to eat more calories. But you're quite possibly not eating 1500 calories.
Your lack of weight loss would indicate the above to be true, but this could be attributed to other factors as well and as such we should dig deeper.
I'm very clearly spelling this out because there are several people who, while good intentioned, seem to believe that the blanket answer is to always eat more. In some limited cases this is correct and in many it is not.I guess I don't understand the big diff in between the TDEE and the mfp calorie caclulations
Those differences are highlighted indirectly this thread:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
Finally, after that long winded explanation, I have some questions:
1) How long have you been eating at this current amount?
2) How much total weight have you lost in this time frame?
3) How much weight have you lost in total since you started dieting?
4) When did you start lifting?0 -
Been at this MFP for roughly 2 years I guess.
SW = 190 lbs. probably 3-4 years ago.
CW = 174-176 lbs now.
Been lifting since my SW. But I'm not new to lifting as I've powerlifted 10 year prior. If there's any newbie muscle/strength/weight loss gains to be had, they are long gone. Although my strength has increased thoughout this process.
I didn't get my BF done at 190lbs. But at 180lbs, I was measured at 19%. Using a digittal scale, I'm now at around 18.5% at 175lbs.
Not the most accurate but both times were measured using a electrical type of BF measurement. Hopefully, they are just as accurate (or inaccurate) both times. So the Delta change is someone relavant.0 -
Been at this MFP for roughly 2 years I guess.
SW = 190 lbs. probably 3-4 years ago.
CW = 174-176 lbs now.
Been lifting since my SW. But I'm not new to lifting as I've powerlifted 10 year prior. If there's any newbie muscle/strength/weight loss gains to be had, they are long gone. Although my strength has increased thoughout this process.
I didn't get my BF done at 190lbs. But at 180lbs, I was measured at 19%. Using a digittal scale, I'm now at around 18.5% at 175lbs.
Not the most accurate but both times were measured using a electrical type of BF measurement. Hopefully, they are just as accurate (or inaccurate) both times. So the Delta change is someone relavant.
Thanks.
I'm going to chat this over with Sara a bit and one of us will get back to you.
Can you also please let us know what has happened with your weight in the past two months or so?0 -
Past two months the weight has gone up/down around 2-3 lbs but never breached the 170lb mark.
Was holding steady at around 172-174lbs until the last few weeks where I've gained a 2-3lbs. I've noted that my cardio has gone down during the last few weeks due to being sick, busy etc..0 -
After adjusting to 0.5lbs, the calorie allotment goes up to 1,790 net.
Will also try to track every little thing or if in doubt overestimate the portions to make sure the calorie count isn't low0 -
After adjusting to 0.5lbs, the calorie allotment goes up to 1,790 net.
Will also try to track every little thing or if in doubt overestimate the portions to make sure the calorie count isn't low
I really think your first way to go about this is to not change your intake yet, and just make every effort you can to increase tracking accuracy so you can then see what happens when you eat at the amount you're supposed to eat at.
Just to give you some perspective, I'm taking this on myself for my own progress, and I own and use a food scale regularly and I STILL overeat by a little bit as I catch myself taking a few nibbles of something here and there, or estimating the milk that goes into my protein shake, or whatever else it is that I'm not 100% accurate on.
I would guess that I probably eat 100-200 more calories than I log, and this is coming from someone who regularly uses a food scale.
I'm only offering this as perspective to you.0 -
True, I'll eat candy and not log it. I must slap my hand for doing that. But the reworking of the weight loss is probably a smart move anyway.
I just don't think I can weigh everything out like that. At most maybe measure by the 1/2 cup the portions I'm using.0 -
The issue that I see here is not so much the estimating of the foods (well, not the primary issue) but the lack of logging in the first place. On looking at your diary over the last month, there are quite a few days with only one entry, or missing meals or just no logging at all. I would encourage you to log everything, even if estimating the portion sizes at first, to get a feel for how much of an error in estimated intake was are talking about.0
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*sigh* I'll work on that too. But it's ot like I'm hiding massive cheat days. But again, need to log. Understood!0
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After adjusting to 0.5lbs, the calorie allotment goes up to 1,790 net.
Will also try to track every little thing or if in doubt overestimate the portions to make sure the calorie count isn't low
I really think your first way to go about this is to not change your intake yet, and just make every effort you can to increase tracking accuracy so you can then see what happens when you eat at the amount you're supposed to eat at.
Just to give you some perspective, I'm taking this on myself for my own progress, and I own and use a food scale regularly and I STILL overeat by a little bit as I catch myself taking a few nibbles of something here and there, or estimating the milk that goes into my protein shake, or whatever else it is that I'm not 100% accurate on.
I would guess that I probably eat 100-200 more calories than I log, and this is coming from someone who regularly uses a food scale.
I'm only offering this as perspective to you.
I often thought I probably did that and I purposely knocked 100 cals off my goals to try and factor it in.0 -
I try to overestimate my calories in order to try to address that. the biggest problem is when eating out at a place that isn't a chain. You have to guess at the calorie count by using another resturant's meal0
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Locking so we can keep track of active threads better. Please PM myself or SideSteel when you wish to follow up or if you have any questions in the interim.0
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Unlocked at OPs request0
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My weight had crept up to around 176lbs at the time of posting that thread.
After upping my caloires from 1lb/week to 0.5lbs / week, the calorie allotment is around 1750 per day. I've lost 1-2 lbs since switching.0 -
Hi!
It's great that you have started to lose weight again. Not trying to give you a hard time here but I am a little confused as to how you know what your intake is when you are still not logging most days. How do you track your intake?0 -
At worst, the days I don't log are at or above the calorie limit. I log 5 days a week at least. Or try to.0
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At worst, the days I don't log are at or above the calorie limit. I log 5 days a week at least. Or try to.
Looks like those numbers, from days you log are net as you gross is quite a bit higher - over 2,000. Not logging some days is not necessarily a big deal of you are progressing like you want and are ensuring you get enough protein.0
This discussion has been closed.