BMR vs MFP calorie limits (frustrated & confused!)

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  • Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim
    Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim Posts: 267 Member
    bump
  • siriusalien
    siriusalien Posts: 207
    Could be your excercising too hard or too much. Just saw my endo yesterday, need to stay in fat burning zone - cardio zone only burns sugar, fat doesn't convert back to sugar so your body will turn muscle to sugar to burn and leave the fat behind. I was going to the gym everyday for over an hour for the last 2 months trying to burn fat but I lost 3lbs of lean body mass that I could not afford to loose. He said I was getting my heart rate up too high and only burning the sugar and because I don't have all that much sugar (carbs) in my diet my body was using my muscle. You definitely need to do light weight training to keep from losing too much lean body mass (30min x3 a week not more than 10lbs) - Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does. Also, my physch said don't pay attention to the scale ~ it can't tell you from a sack of potatoes. Try to find out your body composition % and work on that number.

    OK Now this is confusing. The body knows to burn sugar vs fat based on heart rate? AND the higher the HR isn't the best?
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    No offense but I think someone misunderstood their endo.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Could be your excercising too hard or too much. Just saw my endo yesterday, need to stay in fat burning zone - cardio zone only burns sugar, fat doesn't convert back to sugar so your body will turn muscle to sugar to burn and leave the fat behind. I was going to the gym everyday for over an hour for the last 2 months trying to burn fat but I lost 3lbs of lean body mass that I could not afford to loose. He said I was getting my heart rate up too high and only burning the sugar and because I don't have all that much sugar (carbs) in my diet my body was using my muscle. You definitely need to do light weight training to keep from losing too much lean body mass (30min x3 a week not more than 10lbs) - Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does. Also, my physch said don't pay attention to the scale ~ it can't tell you from a sack of potatoes. Try to find out your body composition % and work on that number.

    Wow, so much about this is wrong. HR zone's have already been debunked. It doesn't matter which zone you are in (see link 1). Also, light weight more reps is less effective than heavy weight low rep (see link 2). So whoever is telling you this, is out of date and is living by old advice.

    http://alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html


    http://www.livestrong.com/article/372745-heavy-weight-vs-light-weight-weight-loss/
  • NYAnnie33
    NYAnnie33 Posts: 61 Member
    Hi Mel :) It took a while for my weight to start to go down. This is what I think helped.

    1. I started to use weights ( you said your food nutr. said to do this and I agree. It def makes a difference and when you weight train your body is still working after you stop, where as cardio once you stop your body stops burning. Both are needed to lose weight. check out this article

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/421082-weights-vs-cardio-your-guide-to-the-perfect-body/

    2. I really try not to eat back all of my gained calories because I figure at some point since nothing is exact I might have messed up my calories and I don't want to over eat them.

    3. I often questions my calories on here also though, I have no clue if 1,200 is correct. I think maybe print out the summary of your weeks for your food nutritionist and see what your lacking or over eating. I need to pay more attention to other things like fat and carbs and not concentrate only on the calories. Also I try to remind myself that just because the calories fit into my day there are just certain things I shouldn't eat and other things that will help with the weight loss.

    You can do it Mel!!
  • 70davis
    70davis Posts: 348 Member
    bump
  • smilebhappy
    smilebhappy Posts: 811 Member
    bump to read later
  • gward_1984
    gward_1984 Posts: 13
    From what I have learnt on this forum and trying it myself, if you want to lose wight you should NOT be eating less than your BMR, you should be eating that number minimum.

    If you want to lose weight steadily work out what your TDEE should be using the websites on this thread and eat 15 - 20% less than what that says. The weight will come off steadily, even if it does mean eating more than what MFP suggests.

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