Should I up my calories? (Fat2Fit vs MFP)

MJ_Watson
MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I really need some advice on this: I've been using MFP for about a month and a half, and after the initial water weight plunge, I've been losing an average of 2lbs per week as planned. I've been really happy with that, but recently, I discovered the method on fat2fitradio.com, which is to eat the maintenance for your goal weight. I really like this philosophy, because I think it helps with sustaining the loss through teaching healthy eating habits and gives me more room to take away more calories later if I need to without creating too much of a deficit.

The issue is that the calories I'd need to eat doing that method are a LOT higher than what I'm currently eating, and I'm just terrified of messing with a good thing. And selfishly, I hate the idea of going from losing 2lbs a week to losing less than that (and I know that slow and steady wins the race, etc. but it's still a frustrating thought). Worse, part of me is CONVINCED I'm going to gain it all back and ruin all my hard work. I'm a former anorexic and still suffer from that mindset (more so that I'm paying close attention to what I'm putting in my mouth again), so I'm having to tell myself every day that food is not the enemy!! But that doesn't stop the fear...

My stats:

Height: 5'6
Current Weight: 237
Current Body Fat %: No official numbers. Online calculators range from 37-45%. Leaning toward the latter seems safe.
Goal Weight: 150
Goal Body Fat %: ~24%

I'm eating 1,500 NET calories using MFP settings with a lightly active setting and eating back most of my exercise calories. Fat2Fit's calculator has me at about 1,812 on a sedentary setting (I read advice to do sedentary and eat back exercise calories if your activity level varies, but I'm not sure that's accurate). I work out six days a week, currently doing 30DS four days and strength training three days, plus a decent helping of cardio mostly in the form of long walks spread throughout.

Sorry for the info dump, I just wanted to give any stats that might be relevant!

So, what is your opinion? Should I up the calories or am I crazy for trying to fix something that isn't broken??

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
    Your current plan for how much weight you have to lose isn't unreasonable for now. You said you eat 1500 net; about how much gross do you eat? How are your energy levels?
  • MJ_Watson
    MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member
    Gross is generally about 1,600 to 2,200 depending on how crazy I went with the exercise that day. (Those 2,200 days are pretty rare though.) And obviously 1,500 on my rest day... if I manage to actually make it a rest day, which I'm not so great at.

    Energy levels are okay, I think... I've got some insomnia problems so it's hard to tell, but the nights I sleep well I seem to be fine. Was super energetic until the last week or so when I've been sluggish, but that could be anything from the insomnia to the depression. (Too many variables, ugh.) I've noticed some extreme moodiness in the evenings lately, but I think that's because I've been having trouble getting in dinner before 10:00pm due to work and I'm just super hangry.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    How many calories do you typically burn a day? With Fat2Fit, you don't eat your exercise calories back so you would want to pick the lightly active or moderately active setting for that if you are sticking to the schedule you listed. I've found though, that the numbers suggested by Fat2Fit and MFP's numbers work out to be very similar numbers as long as you are eating your exercise calories back when you use MFP's settings.

    What I like about Fat2Fit, is it is easier to plan your day around having a set number of calories vs. adding in calories after you workout. I've been using their settings once I got closer to my goal weight because I like that it teaches you how to eat at your goal weight maintenance levels so it makes maintenance easier. I've also learned where my current maintenance levels are at right now. Since you're having success with MFP's numbers currently, why not stick with it until your weight loss slows down a bit and then switch to the Fat2Fit method?

    Good luck on your journey!
  • timbrom
    timbrom Posts: 303 Member
    I've been losing an average of 2lbs per week as planned. I've been really happy with that

    Don't fix what ain't broke. Wait until what you're doing stops working, which may or may not happen, than play with your numbers.
  • MJ_Watson
    MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member
    "Since you're having success with MFP's numbers currently, why not stick with it until your weight loss slows down a bit and then switch to the Fat2Fit method?"

    Thank you for your advice! I think that sounds like a good plan!

    This may sound stupid, though, but is there any chance I'll have brought my BMR down or shot my metabolism or something that would make me gain if I up calories later? I saw someone post recently that to maintain you have to eat 200 calories less than you ate to lose the weight, which just doesn't sound right at all but freaked the hell out of me nonetheless! I'm okay on 1,500 but eating 1,300 for the rest of my life sounds kind of miserable...
  • edack72
    edack72 Posts: 173 Member
    If aint broke don't fix it ....I wouldn't up calories until you reach your goal the bottom line less calories = weight loss more calories =weight gain. If you are losing with MFP plan I'd stick with it
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
    Are you exercising so much because you enjoy it or because you want to lose weight faster? If it's the latter, don't be afraid to cut back a little bit. Your muscles need rest to repair! Overdoing it all at once is a fast way to burn out too.

    A 1600-2,200 range for now seems reasonable to me. You can bump up your rest day calories over 1500 if you're feeling hungry (I'm almost hungrier on days when I don't exercise).

    Also, congrats on trying to go about things the healthy way. You seem to be doing great with your recovery. :)
  • saudade88
    saudade88 Posts: 29 Member
    I've been losing an average of 2lbs per week as planned. I've been really happy with that

    Don't fix what ain't broke. Wait until what you're doing stops working, which may or may not happen, than play with your numbers.
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
    This may sound stupid, though, but is there any chance I'll have brought my BMR down or shot my metabolism or something that would make me gain if I up calories later? I saw someone post recently that to maintain you have to eat 200 calories less than you ate to lose the weight, which just doesn't sound right at all but freaked the hell out of me nonetheless! I'm okay on 1,500 but eating 1,300 for the rest of my life sounds kind of miserable...

    Uh that doesn't even sound remotely correct. Perhaps they meant 200 calories more than what you used to lose weight? Even that doesn't make much sense. As you calculated on fat2fitradio, to maintain at your goal weight if you were sedentary, you'll be eating about 1800 calories. If you add any exercise on top of that, you'll be in the 2000s.
  • MJ_Watson
    MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member
    "Don't fix what ain't broke. Wait until what you're doing stops working, which may or may not happen, than play with your numbers."

    This seems to be the consensus, then! Thanks everyone!! I think I've just been psyching myself out. ^^
  • mjschumacher100
    mjschumacher100 Posts: 30
    No, MFP is a bad method, you want to eat the MAXIMUM calories you can and still lose weight, even if the weightloss is very low. Here's why. If you eat 1500 cals now...in a month you will stall. So you'll have to cut even further, or add more exercise, a month later you'll ned to do the same again.

    Before you know it you'll be stuck doing 2 hours cardio a day eating 200 cals.

    Instead eat 50/100 cals below you maintenance. When you stall, drop by another 50 and so on. It'll be less drastic, results slower but you'll get there in the end without having to resort to crazy levels of calories etc. Ideally you'll be losing weight slowly even when on 1500 cals in a few months time rather than doing it the MFP way and being stuck not losing weight on 600 calories.

    Plus, when you've reached your goal and it is time to up the calories you can do so without your metabolism being totally screwed and putting all that weight on again. You'll only need to add a small amount of calories each week and your reverse diet will last a month or so.
  • MJ_Watson
    MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member
    "Are you exercising so much because you enjoy it or because you want to lose weight faster? If it's the latter, don't be afraid to cut back a little bit. Your muscles need rest to repair! Overdoing it all at once is a fast way to burn out too."

    I actually am enjoying it, especially the strength training, but I hear you. I think there's some part of me that feels like rest days are just me trying to be lazy and I end up going crazy and doing something excessive. Two of those 2,200 were supposed to be rest days!! :embarassed: I'm going to try to be better about it and be kinder to my body (my biggest goal in this, when I can get my brain off the scale).

    Thank you for your help and your kind words!! I really appreciate it. :heart:
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member

    This may sound stupid, though, but is there any chance I'll have brought my BMR down or shot my metabolism or something that would make me gain if I up calories later? I saw someone post recently that to maintain you have to eat 200 calories less than you ate to lose the weight, which just doesn't sound right at all but freaked the hell out of me nonetheless! I'm okay on 1,500 but eating 1,300 for the rest of my life sounds kind of miserable...

    That advice does not sound accurate at all. To maintain, you would need to eat more calories than what you did to lose weight. Maybe they meant 200 calories higher instead, which still isn't accurate because everyone needs to find their own maintenance calories and it varies greatly. Since you're grossing between 1600 to 2200 calories now, I think it's very likely that you'll continue to eat those same amount of calories once you hit maintenance (or even higher) as long as you continue your exercise.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    Are you exercising so much because you enjoy it or because you want to lose weight faster? If it's the latter, don't be afraid to cut back a little bit. Your muscles need rest to repair! Overdoing it all at once is a fast way to burn out too.

    A 1600-2,200 range for now seems reasonable to me. You can bump up your rest day calories over 1500 if you're feeling hungry (I'm almost hungrier on days when I don't exercise).

    Also, congrats on trying to go about things the healthy way. You seem to be doing great with your recovery. :)

    I've found I'm always hungrier on rest days, too. It all ends up balancing out though.
  • MJ_Watson
    MJ_Watson Posts: 180 Member

    This may sound stupid, though, but is there any chance I'll have brought my BMR down or shot my metabolism or something that would make me gain if I up calories later? I saw someone post recently that to maintain you have to eat 200 calories less than you ate to lose the weight, which just doesn't sound right at all but freaked the hell out of me nonetheless! I'm okay on 1,500 but eating 1,300 for the rest of my life sounds kind of miserable...

    That advice does not sound accurate at all. To maintain, you would need to eat more calories than what you did to lose weight. Maybe they meant 200 calories higher instead, which still isn't accurate because everyone needs to find their own maintenance calories and it varies greatly. Since you're grossing between 1600 to 2200 calories now, I think it's very likely that you'll continue to eat those same amount of calories once you hit maintenance (or even higher) as long as you continue your exercise.

    Right! Okay, that sounds much more reasonable. I was thinking it made approximately zero sense, but I've not got the greatest handle on weight issues, so I can never be sure. Guess that's what I get for listening to people on the internet. (Wait......)
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    Right! Okay, that sounds much more reasonable. I was thinking it made approximately zero sense, but I've not got the greatest handle on weight issues, so I can never be sure. Guess that's what I get for listening to people on the internet. (Wait......)

    Hahaha! :)

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