calories to burn-question...

KendraA89 · March 2014

I currently weigh 151 lbs and am 5'7". If I eat a 1400 calorie diet a day (all healthy-chicken, salads, beans, veggies, eggs...ect), how many calories do I need to burn while working out to lose an est. 2lbs a week?
My BMR is 1,468 btw
Also, I workout twice a day, 6 days a week.
I know my deficit needs to be 1000 but I still don't understand it I guess. I am looking for an estimated amount of calories I need to burn during exercise to lose 2lb a week.

Thank you

diannethegeek · March 2014

1. If your ticker is an accurate measure of how much you have to lose, then 2 pounds/week is likely too aggressive a deficit.

2. Get an estimate of your TDEE. This is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or roughly how many calories your body burns in a day. There are a lot of calculators online to get an estimate of yours, like iifym.com/tdee-calculator

3. Take your deficit from your TDEE. Most people will tell you that 10-20% is a healthy deficit. With this method you have already included your exercise calories into your TDEE estimate so you do not eat back any additional calories after you log your exercise (unlike with MFP's method where you are meant to eat them back).

4. Profit.

TeaBea · March 2014

Not everyone can expect 2 pounds of weight loss every week. When you get close to your goal weight, a 1/2 pound a week goal is good progress. Weight loss won't be linear.

Your BMR is 1468 ......what is your TDEE? Your TDEE would include exercise......plug in the highest amount of exercise you expect to do and take 1000 calories off of that.

That number could be much lower than your BMR .....this would make 2 pounds a week an unhealthy goal. An unhealthy weight loss will have you losing fat+muscle as opposed to mostly fat.

Here are weekly weight loss ranges:
Pounds per week
75+ lbs to lose 2 lb range
Between 40 - 75 lbs to lose 1.5 lb range
Between 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lb range
Between 15-25 lbs to lose 1 -.50 lb range
Less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs range

3dogsrunning · March 2014

Your BMR is you Basal Metabolic Rate. It is what your body needs just to stay alive, like if you were in a coma.
On top of you BMR you burn calories every day, sitting, walking to the fridge, brushing your teeth, plus your job and exercise. All of these things taken into account is your TDEE - total daily energy expenditure. This is the number that you would maintain at .

To figure TDEE you can use online calculators. NOTE that MFP's does not use the TDEE method as they do not include exercise. You could also use MFP and log your additional exercise and include those calories. It usually ends up to be about the same amount.

So if your BMR
If you are very active (hard exercise 6-7 days a week) : TDEE = BMR x 1.725 (based on what you said in your OP)
So thats 2532 for your TDEE.
You create a deficit from this number. Its recommended 15-20% deficit or 500 calories per lb per week.
A 20% deficit would be around 500 calories. So your goal would be around 2030

As for the 2lbs a week - you do not have a lot of weight to lose. The less weight you have to lose, the lower you weight loss per week goal should be. 2lbs a week is only realistic for those looking to lose over 100lbs. For 20lbs or less it is suggest you aim for .5 lb a week, or about a 250 calorie deficit.

I am not sure why you are working out twice a day, 6 days a week. If it is for weight loss only, I would suggest cutting back since it isn't really necessary. Too much cardio and high deficits can cause problems. You can do less, and adjust your TDEE and calorie deficit, still maintain a decent calorie level and not have to kill yourself working out.

Keep in mind that if you are working out this intensely to lose weight, you have to consider what is going to happen when you hit maintainance. Are you going to keep working out that often to maintain it?

For example, if you changed to moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week) : TDEE = BMR x 1.55 would be 2275 for a TDEE. Even. with a 500 calories deficit (1lb a week) that gives you a goal of 1775 calories.

ETA -
the TDEE chart.
•If you are sedentary: TDEE = BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active (light exercise 1-3 days a week) : TDEE = BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week) : TDEE = BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (hard exercise 6-7 days a week) : TDEE = BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (very hard exercise & physical lifestyle) : TDEE = BMR x 1.9

cwolfman13 · March 2014

Ummmm....that calorie goal MFP gives you is your defcicit...that's why you put all of that info in...like when you say I want to lose X Lbs per week...MFP gives you a calorie GOAL based on how much you said you wanted to lose and your other stats. It derives these numbers from statistical averages of individuals of similar stats (i.e. age, height, weight, etc).

You "burn" calories 24/7. The vast majority of your "burn" is just your organs functioning, heart pumping, lungs breathing, etc to keep you alive (those are your BMR calories). This is followed by your NEAT calories...your day to day type of stuff (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (burn)). You EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) makes up a very small part of your total calorie requirements. BMR + NEAT+ EAT = TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)...your maintenance calories.

Other calculators will calculate your TDEE and then cut from that so that your calorie goal includes some estimate of exercise...MFP does not....MFP is a NEAT method calculator so your activity level is just based on your NEAT activity and then you log exercise separately after the fact to account for that activity.

If you put in your activity level appropriately, MFP is giving you a 1000 calorie deficit built into your diet...so your theoretical NEAT maintenance calories would be around 2,400 calories (1,400 + 1,000).

TL'DR and/or still confused...just eat to your calorie GOAL MFP gave you. Log your exercise and make some allowance for estimation error and eat back a portion of your exercise calories = WINNING. Everything is built in...that is the awesomeness of a calculator...it does all the calculating for you.

kshadows · March 2014

#1 - 2 pounds a week is too much unless you have 40+ pounds to lose
#2 - if you know your BMR, you should know that you should never eat LESS than your BMR. That's the energy you need to breathe, move, digest food, live
#3 - I'd figure out your TDEE and go from there.

deksgrl · March 2014

2 pounds a week is too aggressive. You will burn muscle and then you will just be a skinnier version of the fat you think you are now.

MFP calculates what you need to lose weight not including exercise. When you exercise, you need to eat MORE for fuel. You still maintain the same correct deficit to lose the weight though.

brianpperkins · March 2014

Holy borderline unhealthy thought pattern, Batman.

First ... why do you think it has to be two pounds a week? Secondly, where are you coming up with 1400 calories as your intake goal? (I'd bet it is related to the skewed two pound per week figure)

What are you currently doing for exercise and what is your non exercise activity level?

Without those simple questions answered there is little chance of providing you with healthy advice towards achievable and sustainable results. Your current plan looks like a crash, muscle destroying, unhealthy approach .... at least from the limited details you've provided.

KendraA89 · March 2014

Okay. I think I get it. I guess I am a little too eager to lose weight. I was down to 143lbs in January so I guess I just wanted to jump back to that asap. I lost my job so I stopped being active and started eating junk food 24-7 so I gained weight pretty quickly... I ultimately want to get down to 130-135lbs and get a hot bod like Michelle Prestin (minus the boob job) lol... I don't plan on working out 2 times a day forever. Just until I at least get back down to 140. I am, however, going to continue weight training and doing moderate cardio at the gym to maintain once I lower my body fat percentage. If I slim down, but gain weight, I'm okay with that too As long as its muscle. So, as long as I eat around 1500-1700 (healthy) calories and continue exercising, I should continue to lose weight?

deksgrl · March 2014

So, you have about 20 pounds to lose.

Set MFP to lose 1 pound per week, then eat more when you exercise.

OR

Find out what your TDEE is and eat 20% less than that. After you lose 10 pounds, change it to 10% less than your new TDEE. TDEE includes your exercise, so you would not eat more for exercise with this method.

You wont gain weight in muscle when you are eating less than TDEE.

KendraA89 · March 2014

Brianperkins- lmao! I didn't realize 2lb a week was too much. Oops... I do Insanity in the am and lift weights/30 min cardio in the evening. Throw out what I said about losing 2lb a week. I just wanted to know how many cals I should be eating and how much I should be burning..

As far as non-exercise activity, I have 2 two year old that keeps me pretty active but I am a stay at home mom so aside from taking care of her and daily house cleaning, I don't do a lot outside of exercise

KendraA89 · March 2014

My TDEE is around 2343... So, minus around 500 and I have to eat around 1800 calories daily?

brianpperkins · March 2014

"Lmao" is an immature response. You can grow up, get serious about this, and start on a path to improving your body composition in an intelligent manner or you can keep grasping for random numbers on an internet forum. The choice is yours.

3dogsrunning · March 2014

Wow. That's a little unnecessarily harsh.

Yes, that would be a good place to start. Try that for a few weeks (ie more than 2 or 3) and adjust from there. Good luck.

deksgrl · March 2014

20% off of 2343 is 468 calories so your goal would be 1875.

After you lose 10 pounds, recalculate your TDEE and then take 10% off for your new calorie goal.

1800 is close enough.

SonicDeathMonkey80 · March 2014

Well that escalated quickly... lmao

KendraA89 · March 2014

Just because I joke does not mean I am any less serious about it. I actually don't think I could be more serious about getting in shape. I'm absolutely not trying to take random guesses and pick and choose numbers hoping for the best. I honestly just don't know some things... I'd hire a nutritionist or a trainer if I could, but unfortunately I don't have the money. This is my only access to information. Sorry if I come off naïve or immature. I really would like guidance on how I can reach my goals. Thank you everyone for your input.

sjohnny · March 2014

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

sjohnny · March 2014

You're fine. Don't worry about one ....... whatever that was......

AllonsYtotheTardis · March 2014

Overact much? Get over yourself.

AllonsYtotheTardis · March 2014

... stupid double post :grumble:

KendraA89 · March 2014

I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. Opened my eyes to how unhealthy I was being eating too few calories. I'll give the new 1900 calorie intake a few weeks and post my results from it. Thanks again :-D

DirrtyH · March 2014

Here's a Snickers, dude.

ashleycde · March 2014

Everyone else has given you the right information to get started. I know I had some trouble wrapping my head around the numbers at first, especially as to what my net calories should be, and this site really helped make sense of that for me because it took into account my goal weight as well. I, too, don't have very much weight left to lose so 2 lbs of week is not a healthy rate of weight loss, and I am aiming now to lose .5 - 1 lb per week. If you plan on eating back your exercise calories back, do not take that into consideration when estimating your activity level. If you do, don't eat any exercise calories back that would be within that activity level.

Use this to estimate your body fat % for a more accurate TDEE estimate.

http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/mbf/

Then remember that number, and fill this out.

http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/

LoraF83 · March 2014

Seriously OP, ignore that response. You're getting great advice and it sounds like you've got a plan to move forward. Good luck!

calories to burn-question...

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