I Just Paid For A BMR Test + Consultation and...
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So after all of this I left worse off than I started. I did get my BMR which is 1,900 calories but the test only consisted of me breathing into a machine for 5 minutes, so I'm not even sure how accurate that was.
Doesn't this test your Resting Metabolic Rate and not your Basal Metabolic Rate? In that case, your maintenance really could be at 2,150, not counting exercise depending on your normal activity level. Sounds like she got her terminology backwards.
^^ This.0 -
You should've breathed into the tube for at least 15 minutes. 5 minutes is too short.0
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First, she doesn't really seem very knowledgeable. Was this just the tech running the test?
Secondly, looking at your food diary, you are over your calories just about every day. Also over pretty much all of your macros, but not nearly enough protein. You are NOT eating 2100 calories, but quite a bit more.0 -
No point paying for expert advice if you don't even try it. Give it a go for a couple of months and if nothing changes you'll know it's not right for you.0
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I agree that there is a lot of misinformation on here but all of the advice I took was from people who were successful on MFP and seconded by other successful members. Most seem to share these ideas:
1. Eat back your exercise calories
2. Calories in should be above BMR below TDEE (in my case TDEE being 2,950 - 3,550 depending on calculator)
3. Deficit = weightloss no matter what you eat
4. Never go below your BMR
Right now there are 230+ responses to the question of whether or not "eating dirty" stops weight loss and most seem to back up the no side. I'm just not sold that eating "clean" is the answer. I'm sure it works great for the people that do it and I'm not knocking it at all but a calorie deficit itself should be the main factor.
Based on points 1 and 2 above, it sounds like you're mixing two different diet approaches. If you're following a TDEE plan, you DO NOT eat back your exercise calories. If you are following the MFP plan, you DO eat your exercise calories back.0 -
First, she doesn't really seem very knowledgeable. Was this just the tech running the test?
Secondly, looking at your food diary, you are over your calories just about every day. Also over pretty much all of your macros, but not nearly enough protein. You are NOT eating 2100 calories, but quite a bit more.
No, it was the actual dietitian.
As far as going over, that's something I've tried for the last week+. on and off. Several members suggested eating more to lose weight and since I've been stuck in a plateau for almost two months I thought I'd give it a try. All I got out of it was that weird 7 lb swing in 3 days. Even with the extra calories my TDEE is still 3,000+ so still in a deficit.0 -
Some of that seems like B.S. BUT we have a tendency here to listen to all the folks on MFP and ignore advice we get from actual professionals. Briko was right. Points of view here become gospel, even when they are false. I'd maybe do what she told you for a couple weeks and see where it takes you. :-)
+1
Look, there's more than 1 way to lose weight. People go IIFYM, people do clean eating, people lose weight. Some never have a deficit below BMR some do.
You've done the MFP reading, you're pretty clued up... but if you're not seeing the results that your theory is dictating then you need to change something.
She's basically told you to eat more veg, don't eat late in the evening and eat a bit less than you would (with your exercise).
It's not crazy. The key to success with weight loss is consistency, just get your strategy locked and keep your head down, stop over thinking. Give it a 4-6 weeks then review.0 -
- Your BMR is 1900 calories and you say you exercise an average of 250 calories a day. You shouldn't eat more than 2,100 calories a day. - I don't even know where to start with this one. I asked what my maintenance calories were and she looked at the screen and said 2,150. Really? Isn't that pretty much what I would burn doing absolutely nothing? - Nope, if you go over that you aren't going to lose weight. - I mentioned that I eat back all of my exercise calories as well. That got a big NO! She told me not to eat back ANY of my exercise calories. Actually told me I wasn't working out enough and to do 60 minutes minimum of strenuous workout activity 6 days a week. Won't I be below my B...M.... Never Mind.
I'm confused here. If she said your BMR is 1900 then that is what you would burn doing absolutely nothing. If you are exercising 250 calories on top of that then you would be burning 2150 a day.
Is the problem that you are more active even beyond your stated 250 exercise so your TDEE would be higher than 2150?0 -
Theoretically your RMR + Exercise + Daily movement + Body Burns from processing food = TDEE.. I had my RMR tested as well this month (2 methods, breathing into a mask and breathing while in a hood for 15+ minutes a piece) and am still struggling to get the exact number.. its really a trial and error0
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Keep in mind that a lot of what goes around on this website was started a long time ago and passed on as gospel truth. When in doubt, past threads are brought up, and the word spreads until there are a lot of people saying that same thing and it tricks us in to thinking it's true. Here are some things, you need to consider.
1) You CAN gain some muscle if you're overweight and eating at a slight calorie deficit IF YOU EXERCISE. If you don't, your body gets rid of the tissue that burns the most calories (to conserve). Unfortunately, that's muscle. If you're exercising, your body sees the muscle as necessary and gets rid of a higher percentage of fat vs muscle. I can go in to the physiology of it, but you can gain SOME muscle IF you exercise AND have excess fat. It's obviously easier to gain muscle mass if you're not at a deficit and the amount you gain while at a deficit will be limited. If you feel like you're muscle mass is less than it should be, it might be worth it to work on that and concentrate on "cutting" later down the road.
2) Your body certainly DOES treat calories differently depending on what part of your day/night (circadian) cycle you are in. It has to do with which hormones are present during different parts of your cycle. This differs depending on the person, but hormone levels that cause fat storage, hunger, etc. vary throughout the day.
3) Calories of even the same macros are treated (slightly) differently by the body. A carb can come in long chains, medium chains and short chains, and your body processes them (and releases hormones differently) depending on which you're consuming. All digestible carbs end up as blood sugar, but there are a lot of hormones and pathways that get them there, and they differ from each other. Differences are also found in proteins (animal vs plant) and fats.
4) That machine you were breathing in measures metabolism byproducts (CO2, etc.) and is pretty accurate if you're at complete rest while breathing in to it.
I'm sure someone will flame me for this post. It's like speaking against someone's religion, but the truth is the truth.
#1 Yes; #2 That's absolutely right ... don't go to bed on a full stomach. Eat most of your food for breakfast, lunch and snacks with a light dinner; #3 Definitely works that way for my body - calories from sweets mess with my insulin levels and stop my body from burning calories ; #4 Don't know about this one.0 -
You should've breathed into the tube for at least 15 minutes. 5 minutes is too short.
agreed. i have had my RMR tested twice over the past 6 months and both tests were AT LEAST 15 minutes each.0 -
Aww man, I did it all wrong... that damn portion control, flexible dieting and eating whatever the F I want (in moderation) really screwed me up.Keep in mind that a lot of what goes around on this website was started a long time ago and passed on as gospel truth. When in doubt, past threads are brought up, and the word spreads until there are a lot of people saying that same thing and it tricks us in to thinking it's true. Here are some things, you need to consider.
1) You CAN gain some muscle if you're overweight and eating at a slight calorie deficit IF YOU EXERCISE. If you don't, your body gets rid of the tissue that burns the most calories (to conserve). Unfortunately, that's muscle. If you're exercising, your body sees the muscle as necessary and gets rid of a higher percentage of fat vs muscle. I can go in to the physiology of it, but you can gain SOME muscle IF you exercise AND have excess fat. It's obviously easier to gain muscle mass if you're not at a deficit and the amount you gain while at a deficit will be limited. If you feel like you're muscle mass is less than it should be, it might be worth it to work on that and concentrate on "cutting" later down the road.
2) Your body certainly DOES treat calories differently depending on what part of your day/night (circadian) cycle you are in. It has to do with which hormones are present during different parts of your cycle. This differs depending on the person, but hormone levels that cause fat storage, hunger, etc. vary throughout the day.
3) Calories of even the same macros are treated (slightly) differently by the body. A carb can come in long chains, medium chains and short chains, and your body processes them (and releases hormones differently) depending on which you're consuming. All digestible carbs end up as blood sugar, but there are a lot of hormones and pathways that get them there, and they differ from each other. Differences are also found in proteins (animal vs plant) and fats.
4) That machine you were breathing in measures metabolism byproducts (CO2, etc.) and is pretty accurate if you're at complete rest while breathing in to it.
I'm sure someone will flame me for this post. It's like speaking against someone's religion, but the truth is the truth.
I guess I need to gain the 125 lbs back and do it the right way next time.0 -
Aww man, I did it all wrong... that damn portion control, flexible dieting and eating whatever the F I want (in moderation) really screwed me up.Keep in mind that a lot of what goes around on this website was started a long time ago and passed on as gospel truth. When in doubt, past threads are brought up, and the word spreads until there are a lot of people saying that same thing and it tricks us in to thinking it's true. Here are some things, you need to consider.
1) You CAN gain some muscle if you're overweight and eating at a slight calorie deficit IF YOU EXERCISE. If you don't, your body gets rid of the tissue that burns the most calories (to conserve). Unfortunately, that's muscle. If you're exercising, your body sees the muscle as necessary and gets rid of a higher percentage of fat vs muscle. I can go in to the physiology of it, but you can gain SOME muscle IF you exercise AND have excess fat. It's obviously easier to gain muscle mass if you're not at a deficit and the amount you gain while at a deficit will be limited. If you feel like you're muscle mass is less than it should be, it might be worth it to work on that and concentrate on "cutting" later down the road.
2) Your body certainly DOES treat calories differently depending on what part of your day/night (circadian) cycle you are in. It has to do with which hormones are present during different parts of your cycle. This differs depending on the person, but hormone levels that cause fat storage, hunger, etc. vary throughout the day.
3) Calories of even the same macros are treated (slightly) differently by the body. A carb can come in long chains, medium chains and short chains, and your body processes them (and releases hormones differently) depending on which you're consuming. All digestible carbs end up as blood sugar, but there are a lot of hormones and pathways that get them there, and they differ from each other. Differences are also found in proteins (animal vs plant) and fats.
4) That machine you were breathing in measures metabolism byproducts (CO2, etc.) and is pretty accurate if you're at complete rest while breathing in to it.
I'm sure someone will flame me for this post. It's like speaking against someone's religion, but the truth is the truth.
I guess I need to gain the 125 lbs back and do it the right way next time.
I think you quoted the wrong post. I wasn't laying out a diet or exercise plan.0 -
If you're maintaining, then you must be eating the same amount of calories that you're burning. It doesn't really matter what anyone tells you.0
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Aww man, I did it all wrong... that damn portion control, flexible dieting and eating whatever the F I want (in moderation) really screwed me up.Keep in mind that a lot of what goes around on this website was started a long time ago and passed on as gospel truth. When in doubt, past threads are brought up, and the word spreads until there are a lot of people saying that same thing and it tricks us in to thinking it's true. Here are some things, you need to consider.
1) You CAN gain some muscle if you're overweight and eating at a slight calorie deficit IF YOU EXERCISE. If you don't, your body gets rid of the tissue that burns the most calories (to conserve). Unfortunately, that's muscle. If you're exercising, your body sees the muscle as necessary and gets rid of a higher percentage of fat vs muscle. I can go in to the physiology of it, but you can gain SOME muscle IF you exercise AND have excess fat. It's obviously easier to gain muscle mass if you're not at a deficit and the amount you gain while at a deficit will be limited. If you feel like you're muscle mass is less than it should be, it might be worth it to work on that and concentrate on "cutting" later down the road.
2) Your body certainly DOES treat calories differently depending on what part of your day/night (circadian) cycle you are in. It has to do with which hormones are present during different parts of your cycle. This differs depending on the person, but hormone levels that cause fat storage, hunger, etc. vary throughout the day.
3) Calories of even the same macros are treated (slightly) differently by the body. A carb can come in long chains, medium chains and short chains, and your body processes them (and releases hormones differently) depending on which you're consuming. All digestible carbs end up as blood sugar, but there are a lot of hormones and pathways that get them there, and they differ from each other. Differences are also found in proteins (animal vs plant) and fats.
4) That machine you were breathing in measures metabolism byproducts (CO2, etc.) and is pretty accurate if you're at complete rest while breathing in to it.
I'm sure someone will flame me for this post. It's like speaking against someone's religion, but the truth is the truth.
I guess I need to gain the 125 lbs back and do it the right way next time.
Well dang, I guess I am in the same boat! I will just have to live with knowing that I have done it all wrong 0 -
Aww man, I did it all wrong... that damn portion control, flexible dieting and eating whatever the F I want (in moderation) really screwed me up.Keep in mind that a lot of what goes around on this website was started a long time ago and passed on as gospel truth. When in doubt, past threads are brought up, and the word spreads until there are a lot of people saying that same thing and it tricks us in to thinking it's true. Here are some things, you need to consider.
1) You CAN gain some muscle if you're overweight and eating at a slight calorie deficit IF YOU EXERCISE. If you don't, your body gets rid of the tissue that burns the most calories (to conserve). Unfortunately, that's muscle. If you're exercising, your body sees the muscle as necessary and gets rid of a higher percentage of fat vs muscle. I can go in to the physiology of it, but you can gain SOME muscle IF you exercise AND have excess fat. It's obviously easier to gain muscle mass if you're not at a deficit and the amount you gain while at a deficit will be limited. If you feel like you're muscle mass is less than it should be, it might be worth it to work on that and concentrate on "cutting" later down the road.
2) Your body certainly DOES treat calories differently depending on what part of your day/night (circadian) cycle you are in. It has to do with which hormones are present during different parts of your cycle. This differs depending on the person, but hormone levels that cause fat storage, hunger, etc. vary throughout the day.
3) Calories of even the same macros are treated (slightly) differently by the body. A carb can come in long chains, medium chains and short chains, and your body processes them (and releases hormones differently) depending on which you're consuming. All digestible carbs end up as blood sugar, but there are a lot of hormones and pathways that get them there, and they differ from each other. Differences are also found in proteins (animal vs plant) and fats.
4) That machine you were breathing in measures metabolism byproducts (CO2, etc.) and is pretty accurate if you're at complete rest while breathing in to it.
I'm sure someone will flame me for this post. It's like speaking against someone's religion, but the truth is the truth.
I guess I need to gain the 125 lbs back and do it the right way next time.
Well dang, I guess I am in the same boat! I will just have to live with knowing that I have done it all wrong
Again, sorry you took it that way, but I wasn't outlining a weight loss philosophy or diet here.0 -
how did you lose 125 pounds?0
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Obviously you are not a professional - or you would be losing weight. Obviously what you heard on MFP is not working, because most people on the internet are wanna-be nutritionists/professionals.
If what you are doing is not working - what do you have to lose by trying something new?0 -
If you're maintaining, then you must be eating the same amount of calories that you're burning. It doesn't really matter what anyone tells you.Obviously you are not a professional - or you would be losing weight. Obviously what you heard on MFP is not working, because most people on the internet are wanna-be nutritionists/professionals.
If what you are doing is not working - what do you have to lose by trying something new?
My RMR tested at 1900 calories. I workout an average of 250-300 calories. That puts me at 2,200 calories a day assuming I sleep 23 hours a day and work out for one. It doesn't account for my daily activity (probably another 700 - 1,000 a day based on online calculators). I've been at 2,100 calories or lower for 5 months.
My maintainance can't be 2,100 calories based off of what my RMR is. If I were to try something new this way I would end up netting way way below my RMR.
I agree that there is a lot of bad info out there. What I was looking for are the people on here who lost a lot of weight, hit walls and plateau's etc... to offer what they did/learned to keep everything going. The two posters above who lost 125lbs are a perfect example. I'm sure people on here, myself included, would love to hear what they did to keep losing weight and get over the hump when the calorie deficit by itself stopped working for a while.0 -
I agree that there is a lot of misinformation on here but all of the advice I took was from people who were successful on MFP and seconded by other successful members. Most seem to share these ideas:
1. Eat back your exercise calories
2. Calories in should be above BMR below TDEE (in my case TDEE being 2,950 - 3,550 depending on calculator)
3. Deficit = weightloss no matter what you eat
4. Never go below your BMR
Right now there are 230+ responses to the question of whether or not "eating dirty" stops weight loss and most seem to back up the no side. I'm just not sold that eating "clean" is the answer. I'm sure it works great for the people that do it and I'm not knocking it at all but a calorie deficit itself should be the main factor.
Based on points 1 and 2 above, it sounds like you're mixing two different diet approaches. If you're following a TDEE plan, you DO NOT eat back your exercise calories. If you are following the MFP plan, you DO eat your exercise calories back.
Correct, but generally MFP + exercise calories is the same as TDEE-20/15/10%. The gross number will be relatively close.
ETA: a lot of people don't do the MFP way correctly (i.e. eat the calories back).0
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