BMR, calorie consumption and working out

What type of Cairo are you doing?

if one hour plenty then if i burn just 222 cals a day?

Use HIIT, it's much better. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

though i dont know if he's a doctor....

It's true. I just forgot to put PhD after my screen name.

:-)

I wear a heart rate monitor with chest strap when working out to get accurate calories burned. MFP is not accurate.

I wear a heart rate monitor with chest strap when working out to get accurate calories burned. MFP is not accurate.

Agreed MFP estimated my calorie expenditure for 50 mins of spin at 450 where as my calorie count was 715 when using my HRM

Now it is totally dependant on age, height weight..... lots of stuff but numbers are never 100% accurate so just change it up and work hard dont do the same things all the time variety will give ¨¥ou greater results

The short version of my answer is this:

1. Stop what you're doing (including stationary bike and HIIT)
2. Go to the MFP Settings Page ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided )
3. Input your *correct* information (i.e. don't classify your normal daily activities as "Active" when it's "Sedentary")
4. Set weight loss to 0.5 pound per week given your goals (unless you are severely (+30 lbs) overweight, which you're not)
5. FOLLOW the program, focusing on the weekly average, not daily tracking (i.e. eat your net calories like it says)
6. Don't eat all your exercise calories burned (because it's usually substantially wrong)

Kudos to you for actually getting up and exercising! So many people complain and do nothing about it but doing something is usually better than doing nothing. You're clearly putting in the effort now you've just got to be more efficient (i.e. smarter). If you're doing two hours of stationary bike every day, then you're doing way too much to achieve your fitness goals.

Based on your profile, it looks like you're trying to lose about 9 pounds. I'd guess though that you don't want to lose 9 pounds of lean body mass (LBM, i.e. muscle). If that's the case, then you need to make a few adjustments. The first is in where you're placing your effort. I can't see your diary so I can't tell, but I'd place a lot more effort into making good food choices first before even worrying about exercising. Diet is usually 50-60% of the equation. For those of us wishing to lose weight, we usually go on calorie restricted diets but it is important to not severely under-eat which I'm afraid you're doing if you're basing your diet off of BMR.

You need to determine how much you can eat (i.e. your maintenance calories). You should be using your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This will be higher, usually substantially higher, than your Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is your calorie expenditure if you did absolutely nothing and laid in bed all day like a coma patient. Your TDEE is a much better indicator of the level of what you can and should be eating on a normal basis. Otherwise, your body will start eating into your lean body mass. If you were 5'6" ,130 pounds and moderately active your TDEE is much closer to 2200 calories a day not 1400 (see example: http://screencast.com/t/b3B2XUbEg )

After you've figured out your TDEE, then you have your true starting point for your goals. I'm guessing you want to look more fit. This is usually a combination of losing fat and gaining muscle. Well once again, how much you eat comes into play. You want to eat at a caloric deficit, but not too much of a deficit or you will end up losing muscle instead of fat. Since you only want to lose about 7 pounds, I'd recommend simply going with losing 0.5 pounds a week on the MyFitnessPal Settings page and just following the directions there.

Given the higher caloric intake you will likely have, and the fact that you need to eat back a substantial portion (say 80%) of your exercise calories or risk losing muscle, I sincerely doubt you will find you need to do stationary bike for two hours to help you achieve your goals. If you're finding it difficult to consume the amount of calories you should be eating, then I also would not recommend doing HIIT. That's because with HIIT, you still need to eat back the calories and it may cause you to consistently overeat your burned calories by substantial margins making your weekly average too high.

If you're focused on looking more svelte and trim for the summer, I'd recommend doing light cardio (e.g. walking for 45-60 min a few times a week or LIGHT stationary bike work) or, even better, heavy resistance training 3 days a week (and no more). Please do not be afraid of "getting bulky". First off, as most of the guys will tell you, this is incredibly difficult to do and you have to have the intention and nutrition to do it. Second, there are a ton of benefits to strength training you'd benefit from. I'd encourage you to check out this article, appropriately titled "Train Like A Man, Look Like A Goddess" http://www.leangains.com/2012/10/train-like-man-look-like-goddess.html

The last thing I'd recommend is make sure you get enough rest, including full nights of sleep. I know its not always possible but you should aim to get at least 7-8 hours of good restful sleep, 4 or 5 times a week. If you're waking up with an alarm in the morning, you're probably not getting enough rest. This alone can help you to lose fat.

Two common problems people have when it comes to fitness are doing too much and focusing on the wrong things. You have been putting in a ton of work on the exercise front but by focusing more on your diet, and getting good rest you will likely make more progress towards your goals.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the persistence (not luck) in reaching your goals and losing those last seven pounds!