Please help me with my numbers

suzyw7
suzyw7 Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'd be very grateful for some help please.

I have been tracking on MFP for the past month, I let MFP work out the numbers for me and I've been eating my exercise calories back. For the first three weeks I lost 5.5 pounds in total, I've been very happy with this as I haven't been hungry and tired. This week is the fourth week, I've done exactly the same as the previous three weeks and I've gained 2 pounds!!

I'm female, aged 37, I currently weigh 166 pounds and I'm 5 ft 6. I exercise 5-6 days a week doing Jillian Michaels DVD's working out at a total of 250 minutes over the week. I have a HRM so know exactly how many calories I burn doing my DVD's.

I have plugged my numbers in and come out with a BMR of 1513 and Moderately Active TDEE of 2345 so with taking off 20% this would bring me down to 1883 calories that I should consume each day. Is this correct?

I worked out that over the past few weeks I've been eating around 1700 to 1800 calories per day so as this is a little jump in numbers will I lose weight? I want to do it the TDEE way as I've spent years doing Weight Watchers and such like, but now I want to change my ways for life not just to reach a goal weight and although the eating exercise calories way was working I've been reading up a little bit on TDEE and assume this is a better way to do things?

My first initial goal is 154 pounds. I've been very lazy over the years and have spent the past few months building up my fitness with Jillian Michaels DVD's which I love and I love how fit I'm getting with them so I plan to continue this for the foreseeable future.

Thank you in advance.

Suzanne x

Replies

  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    Do you weigh only once a week? If so, you may have just had a higher sodium meal the night before and are retaining water, ate later than usual and still had some stuff sitting in your system at weigh in, had a harder workout than normal and are retaining fluid in your muscles.
    Also, it could be coming up to/during your time of the month which can make weight fluctuations worse from bloat/water retention and such.
    This is one of the reasons I went back to weighing everyday, so I get used to the fluctuations, and generally know what causes them so I am rarely confused about why I am up.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    You don't have a lot to lose and should only be on 10-15% deficit not 20%. Also I've noticed plenty of people say they aren't dropping weight when doing those DVD's but they lose inches which is more important anyway.

    Editing to say not sure about what your total loss you want is now since your ticker says you only have a little to lose but you mentioned first goals.. How much do you need to lose?
  • suzyw7
    suzyw7 Posts: 11 Member
    Do you weigh only once a week? If so, you may have just had a higher sodium meal the night before and are retaining water, ate later than usual and still had some stuff sitting in your system at weigh in, had a harder workout than normal and are retaining fluid in your muscles.
    Also, it could be coming up to/during your time of the month which can make weight fluctuations worse from bloat/water retention and such.
    This is one of the reasons I went back to weighing everyday, so I get used to the fluctuations, and generally know what causes them so I am rarely confused about why I am up.


    Yes I only weigh once a week. Funnily enough I did eat later last night as we went to a party and had buffet food, I ate more than I normally would at that time of night so that may be it.

    I did used to weigh every day but I was getting so obsessed with my weight that I now only weigh once a week and take that number as my weight for the week regardless of what it says!
  • suzyw7
    suzyw7 Posts: 11 Member
    You don't have a lot to lose and should only be on 10-15% deficit not 20%. Also I've noticed plenty of people say they aren't dropping weight when doing those DVD's but they lose inches which is more important anyway.

    Editing to say not sure about what your total loss you want is now since your ticker says you only have a little to lose but you mentioned first goals.. How much do you need to lose?

    I didn't realise I would only need a 10-15% deficit.

    I've been exercising consistently for approx three months and didn't lose any weight, I have lost plenty of inches though. It's only been in the past month that I've been seriously counting calories that I've lost actual weight, which I was pleased about!

    I'm the lowest weight I've been for years at 166, but I do want to get down to 154. I may want to lose more weight, but I will see when I get there, because I'm combining fitness I may be more than happy with my size at that weight. So I suppose that is my only goal right now to get to 154.

    Thanks
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    The closer you get to goal the less deficit there should be.
  • suzyw7
    suzyw7 Posts: 11 Member
    The closer you get to goal the less deficit there should be.

    Okay, thanks for that. I'll run the numbers again and see what comes out.

    Do you think the way I plan to do it is correct with the TDEE or should I just carry on with base calories and eating back my exercise calories the way I have been doing for the past month?

Categories