Wow. If my TDEE is actually 2800 kcals then I've been way undereating, and what I thought was eating at maintenance for the past 2 weeks ... wasn't.

Eye opener. Thanks girl! :flowerforyou:

hm. that puts me between 2500 and 3300!! even chair bound it has me at 1800...

I had originally joined MFP with the thought of logging what I was normally eating to see what my habits were and making a plan from there.

That's not what happened. Somehow I let myself get jammed into a calorie bracket (EVERYONE WORSHIP TEH ALMIGHTY CALORIE) and now I'm an OCD calorie counter who thinks she's "failing" if the numbers are red at the end of the day.

Cripes, I dropped 20 pounds about 8 years ago just by walking regularly. The reason I gained it back is because I stopped walking. Simple as that.

I figure with all the lifting I'm doing nowadays plus the cardio I've started to add in, I should probably just trust myself and relax and eat like I know how without being all OCD about it.

I'm about to say eff it and quit counting altogether and doing what I know, now that I've got the "get your butt moving regularly" under control and no longer have an issue drinking a bunch of water every day, plus what I've learned about paying attention to calories and nutrition labels in general without letting the details make me batsh!t crazy.

At what point do you learn to trust yourself and rely on common sense? When did something as basic and foundational as eating get so fricken complicated?

^^AND they have to also be using averages for body compositions. Someone who has a lower muscle mass needs fewer calories - but if you are lifting, you need more just to function, and there isn't ANY way to tell MFP that. I find that very aggravating.

http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-classic

I used to think the number was wildly high but it seems to be coming out about right for me after loads of experimentation.

I will add the caveat that ALL of these calculators are not goingto take into account very high bodyfat, so if you are 200 lbs and 30% bf they're probably fairly on, but if you're 200lbs and 45% bf its going to overestimate quite a lot. Make sure you check the box for "female"

I'm sort of curious to know the margin of error. I get really hung up on numbers too. The calculator that Tameko posted doesn't give me anything different than every other one I've used. I get the same numbers from doing the roadmap thing and that takes into account your BF%. I'm toying with the idea of getting mine measured since I'm currently basing it on an average of some calculators and one of those hand-held things.


I skipped my workout today because neither my heart or head were in it. I might go tonight if I get off of work at a decent time. I didn't sleep well last night, but during my tossing and turning, I noticed that my legs are pretty hard. It made me happy. I'm incubating some sweet-*kitten* muscles in this fat cocoon. :drinker:

rofl should be 77. It would be embarrasing if my ohp were so much more than my squat.

Oh.... lol... That's hilarious.

I kept wondering if your arms and shoulders are bigger or still just toned and what it must look like lifting a 177lb OHP. My mind was just having trouble grappling with 177lb OHP... :-) lol

because I'm on a 20% ish defecit, if I eat ''enough'' grams of protein I'm exhausted from being low on carbs but if i eat more carbs I'm anxious about losing muscle mass.

Yeah, I totally get this Fishlover, it's been very tricky for me, too. Plus getting enough fats is very important, too! I tried lowering my carbs and upping my fats on rest days and that didn't work at all, I was really grumpy Some days it feels like a tightrope to get 'enough' of everything. On those days, I just go over a little bit and don't worry about it. I don't think you have much fat to lose, so maybe a 20% deficit is too much for you now? Not that I would know, LOL, not having been in that position before!!

Thanks for the response it's nice to know it isn't just me! I still don't really understand what my %BF actually is... Navy circumference has me at 29.52 and Covert Bailey has me at 22.85, which to me is a huge difference! I used heybale's spreadsheet which has me at a 21% deficit, unless i underestimated my activity level.

I'm at the point that if what I take away from MFP is a love for barbells, a generally better grip on my eating habings, and having had the pleasure to "meet" the ladies in this group, I'm going to call that a good time and be happy.

Lady, you are awesome, you just reminded me why I'm doing all this!!

Going to try not to be soooo crazy about trying to find the 'perfect' numbers for cals, macros, workouts, etc, and instead enjoy my stronglifts and eating delicious healthy-ish foods that make my body happy.

Have I mentioned lately how wonderfully supportive and helpful this group is? :flowerforyou:

Fish - I've done the Army version and have a scale that does bio-impedance and the BF% difference is like 5-7% between the two. At one point in the not so distant past I was down to about 20-22% BF and the scale was the closest. On the Eat, train, progress group they have an estimation thread that you can post to or just PM SideSteel your pictures and they can do a visual estimate.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/826435-bodyfat-estimation-thread

Well, I thought I hit my Bench press goal for April, but I have one number on my profile and a different one on the goals thread here. Good thing they are only 5 lbs apart! SO I did hit the 5x5 @ 110 goal on my profile and should get the 5x5 @ 115 goal for here soon. I also got up to 75 lbs front squat with no hip flexor issues. Row was steady at 105. I will probably try for 110 next round.

Squats felt great today at 145! One big thing I figured out was that I actually need to breathe while doing reps instead of taking one big gulp at the beginning and hoping for the best by rep 5. Oops.

Deadlifts I'm really feeling in my lower back and a little in my *kitten*. Most of the guys who I see deadlifting are bringing their rears down quite far (like thighs parallel or below) before popping up in almost a squat looking thing. Is this normal?? I've been bending my knees enough to grab the bar and mostly opening my hip joint to lift it.. ?_?

And hate OHP. :sad: Stupid upper body.

Interestingly, my jeans have not been fitting very well at all in the thighs after workouts (down to normal the next day). It's amazing how much I can swell up! :laugh:

Going back to cardio on off days to get ready for a 5k next month. Will be so exciting!:drinker:

Back to lifting after straining my back on Wednesday. So, I didn't miss a lifting day!

5x5: 85 on squats, still working my way up. They were super hard today, but I think that has more to do with not being fully recovered from injury than anything else.
5x5: 90 on bench press...I was excited. My arms were shaking by the last set, but I did it.
5x5: 95 on rows. This is where my back injury let itself be felt, not too bad, just feeling strained and a bit sore.

Starting to worry about our family camping trip in May. We'll be out a week in a place with no technology, no cell signals, no gym...I'm anxious about it. Missing an entire week of lifting is scary to me.

Ah well, family stuff needs to happen. Besides, kids love it. 18th Century clothing, they get to throw knives and hatchets and chop wood, carry water, and no one cares how dirty they get.....boy heaven.

I have started to put protein powder in my coffee after my workout and I must say that it's quite tasty! So far I have only used vanilla with a little sugar free vanilla syrup but I think I might try chocolate protein powder on Sunday

I drink iced coffee every day! With about a half cup of skim milk and a dash of creamer. Nowadays protein powder goes in there too. Because why not? Best of all worlds all around! My creamer is vanilla flavored, as is the protein powder, and it works really well. I have a shaker cup thingy that I use to mix it before it goes into my lidded straw cup.

I'm going to try not logging for a few weeks and see where it gets me. I know what a portion size is now and how to make better choices (thank you MFP!). I did sign up here with the idea of learning portion control and educating myself about calories in general, but only doing it temporarily, so I guess it's test run time.

I've gotten into the habit of snacking on yogurt and cheese sticks, and so getting enough protein isn't going to be a problem as long as I pay attention and *sort of* track mentally. I don't really "cheat" on my log-free days anyway because why do self-sabotage? I did that for way too long and I'm done with that crap.

I did front squats for the first time yesterday, in an effort to teach myself to not lean too much forward with back squats. They're not so bad with that EZ curl bar, albeit a bit awkward. I did get them up to 45 pounds and I was pretty happy about that, because I started at 25 just to see what would happen. I'm liking the staggered 5x5 where my last set is the heaviest for the day. It's kinda cool to see how far I can push it.

Going to keep the Pendlays down to once a week because I can really feel them in my lower back when I support myself. Blergh. I need a pulling lift though, and so they're going to stay in my routine for the time being.

@ Xidia -- congrats on those PRs !!
@ glwerth -- those are some impressive numbers! I don't know what 90 lbs bench presses look like, hot dang!
@ vash -- I "sit" before I deadlift (as best I can ... it's kinda awkward) and make sure my shins touch the bar. Then I stick my chest out and straighten my back. With a mixed grip, it feels like I'm "pushing the floor away" when I deadlift. Best way I can describe it. The power comes from my posterior chain starting with my heels someplace and traveling up. I breathe before every rep because I'm not a fan of collapsing with a bar on top of me after passing out from lack of oxygen. :laugh:

Happy lifting!! TGIF !!! :flowerforyou:

To log or not to log??? I try and log throughout the week, but I never log at weekends. After a year or so of being obsessed with calories, then beating myself up because I went over that magic number, I am really trying to concentrate on lifting and exercise first.

I know what I should be eating, I know about portions. I now need to trust myself to have some self control and do this without logging everything.

I also still eat 'bad' things at times. I will not feel guilty about that, I love food and I see it not just as fuel but as something to be enjoyed.

And onto the exciting thing - lifting. This is week 2 of stronglifts for me. Loving it. My DL weight was 105. I looked at that number, then at my husband. Straight away I said I can't do it. I hadn't even tried. This was my problem with NROL4W, I didn't believe I could lift certain weights and didn't push. Anyway, the husband told me I could and wouldn't listen to my complaints when he loaded up my bar.
And you know what, I lifted it. 105lbs. Not huge compared to some people. But to me it was huge. It showed me to have more confidence, and not to give up. It was hard, but felt so good.

Deadlifts I'm really feeling in my lower back and a little in my *kitten*. Most of the guys who I see deadlifting are bringing their rears down quite far (like thighs parallel or below) before popping up in almost a squat looking thing. Is this normal?? I've been bending my knees enough to grab the bar and mostly opening my hip joint to lift it.. ?_?

I bring my butt down pretty far (at least parallel) for deads. Grab the bar by my shins and really use my legs to push through my heels and into the floor to throw my body up. Squeeze your butt as you straighten out to engage the core/hips. Maybe ask someone at the gym to check your form if you're worried about it -- last thing you want to do is hurt your back!