Please explain this to me ... ?

Rainbowrabbit
Rainbowrabbit Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys
I joined this site today and it looks fabulous.
Stats: female, 5'2", 44, CW 120lbs, GW 112lbs. I have lost 28lbs so far following the basic principle of smaller portions/ no snacking/exercise.
But I am finding it hard to reach my goal of 112lbs. So I thought I would join and look more closely at my energy balance - have not counted calories so far.
So my calorie goal has been calculated at 1300. That seems so low?
Also can you only track cardio or weights as exercise? I have a horse so am fairly active but can not find the type of exercise I do?
I know this will have been explained a zillion times before but I would be very grateful if someone could help me figure out how much I should be eating based on my lifestyle/activity levesl?
And I would love to pick up some friends along the way :smile:

Replies

  • chloeobe
    chloeobe Posts: 72
    If I was you i'd buy a decent heart rate monitor. Im usually really active but it varies day to day and I do alot of weight training/ excercise DVDs and hillclimbing so If I wear one I can then just quick add my calories burned doing excerise...works for me

    This is the one I have:

    http://www.polar.com/uk-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4

    Good Luck!

    Also im 5"3 and 111 pounds and I only get 1200 a day!!
  • britzzie
    britzzie Posts: 338 Member
    Hi guys
    I joined this site today and it looks fabulous.
    Stats: female, 5'2", 44, CW 120lbs, GW 112lbs. I have lost 28lbs so far following the basic principle of smaller portions/ no snacking/exercise.
    But I am finding it hard to reach my goal of 112lbs. So I thought I would join and look more closely at my energy balance - have not counted calories so far.
    So my calorie goal has been calculated at 1300. That seems so low?
    Also can you only track cardio or weights as exercise? I have a horse so am fairly active but can not find the type of exercise I do?
    I know this will have been explained a zillion times before but I would be very grateful if someone could help me figure out how much I should be eating based on my lifestyle/activity levesl?
    And I would love to pick up some friends along the way :smile:

    Congrats on your loss! I like your approach! Some questions:

    What type of exercise do you do?

    What did you set your loss goal to? With so little to lose it should be 1 or even .5lbs a week.

    Are you fairly active during the day? On your feet a lot?

    ETA: A HRM is a great investment but not a necessity and not reliable to tell you how many calories you burn during daily activity.
  • Rainbowrabbit
    Rainbowrabbit Posts: 12
    I had thought of wearing a monitor that tells me how many calories I have used but they seem to have mixed reviews.
    I will check out the one you use. Thanks for the tip.
    Can I ask - do you generally stick to 1200?
  • TINAHUNTER1969
    TINAHUNTER1969 Posts: 219 Member
    If you do any type of exercise you are given more calories for the day - good luck on your journey :smile:
  • Rainbowrabbit
    Rainbowrabbit Posts: 12
    Hi britzzie

    Ride x 4 a week plus chores involved in having a horse such as grooming, mucking out etc.

    Loss goal is 0.5 lbs a week.

    I am a teacher so I am on my feet quite a lot through the day.

    One thing though is that I never do anything that actually gets my heart/breathing rate up. Do you think that would help?
  • eblakes93
    eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
    Do you ride every day, and groom and take care of your horse yourself? When I ran your TDEE, I got between 1700-1990 calories. If you are on the more active side of riding, your TDEE is probably higher, and if you are on the less active side, your TDEE is probably lower. And are you active at your job? Since you only have 8 pounds left to lose, I wouldn't lose at a rate of more thant .5-1 pound a week (eating at a deficit of 250-500 calories a day) I would consider netting between 1300-1550.

    Edit: You posted and basically answered all the questions I just asked while writing this post. :P
  • hananah89
    hananah89 Posts: 692 Member
    Since you have so few pounds left to lose, you need to make sure your settings are set at 0.5lbs/week. The closer you get to your goal the harder it is to lose and doing 0.5lbs will help.
  • britzzie
    britzzie Posts: 338 Member
    Do you ride every day, and groom and take care of your horse yourself? When I ran your TDEE, I got between 1700-1990 calories. If you are on the more active side of riding, your TDEE is probably higher, and if you are on the less active side, your TDEE is probably lower. And are you active at your job? Since you only have 8 pounds left to lose, I wouldn't lose at a rate of more thant .5-1 pound a week (eating at a deficit of 250-500 calories a day) I would consider netting between 1300-1550.

    Edit: You posted and basically answered all the questions I just asked while writing this post. :P

    Agreed. I bet you are on the higher end of the spectrum, as you have an active lifestyle and job. So I would set your profile as being "active" or maybe even "very active." That will give you more calories.

    When I typed in "riding" into the excercise search, a whole bunch of options came up. Grooming was in there too. However, as your grooming time already figures into your activity setting, I wouldn't log that as a workout.

    When eblakes said that you should "net" between 1300-1550 calories, she means that when you ride, you basically get calorie's back that you should eat at least 50% of in order to stay close to your goal.
  • eblakes93
    eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
    Do you ride every day, and groom and take care of your horse yourself? When I ran your TDEE, I got between 1700-1990 calories. If you are on the more active side of riding, your TDEE is probably higher, and if you are on the less active side, your TDEE is probably lower. And are you active at your job? Since you only have 8 pounds left to lose, I wouldn't lose at a rate of more thant .5-1 pound a week (eating at a deficit of 250-500 calories a day) I would consider netting between 1300-1550.

    Edit: You posted and basically answered all the questions I just asked while writing this post. :P

    Agreed. I bet you are on the higher end of the spectrum, as you have an active lifestyle and job. So I would set your profile as being "active" or maybe even "very active." That will give you more calories.

    When I typed in "riding" into the excercise search, a whole bunch of options came up. Grooming was in there too. However, as your grooming time already figures into your activity setting, I wouldn't log that as a workout.

    When eblakes said that you should "net" between 1300-1550 calories, she means that when you ride, you basically get calorie's back that you should eat at least 50% of in order to stay close to your goal.

    Yup!

    I used this: http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/ I entered your stats and put you at moderate activity for both work and leisure time and got a TDEE of aproximately 2000 calories. I would eat between 1750-1500 calories. Try it and see how you feel/how the scale feels! Good luck!
  • Rainbowrabbit
    Rainbowrabbit Posts: 12
    Thank you so much for the advice!

    Changed to active and got 1410 - going to assume that includes everything except riding.

    Going to log riding as my exercise. Did 45 mins today so that has put my calorie goal to 1573.
    That sounds more appealing and achievable!

    I really don't want to get hung up on the numbers but feel I need a different approach if I am to reach my goal.

    I guess the test will be just to see what happens with my weight and I might have to further adjust my settings.
  • eblakes93
    eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
    Good luck! Try this out for two weeks or so and see what happens. Keep us posted. :)
  • britzzie
    britzzie Posts: 338 Member
    Good luck! :flowerforyou:

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