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i think i need some expert help?

rachylouise87
rachylouise87 Posts: 367 Member
edited November 2024 in Introduce Yourself
i would love for some of you lovely people to give me your two cents on my current weight loss plan.
i am 5ft 1
160lbs
workout for 40-60 minutes 5 times a week
heart rate is usually between 140-160 in those sessions depending what i do
worked out my maximum hr which is 189bpm
how accurate are hrm's for calorie burn?
my calorie burn on my hrm is showing 800+ per session but that seems unrealistic. when i use
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx and http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx
these sites give much lower estimated burn.
my calorie goal is set to 1200 per day and i rarely feel hungry and i make good food choices with a low fat low salt and sugar options.
how many workout calories should i be eating back?
i initially was losing 1-2lbs per week and now i have been stuck at 160 for 4 weeks. i have noticed my fitness levels increasing just not the weight or how my clothes feel. my body image is slightly improved but not great.

the question is i dont know if i am doing this to the best i could be? could the problem be calorific or excercise?

should TDEE include exercise or without as my job is a desk job ?

sorry for all the questions im just trying to see where i am going wrong and would love input to get it right.

Replies

  • dgm82
    dgm82 Posts: 23 Member
    It sounds like you are losing fat and building muscle at the same time. You are doing everything right. Don't worry too much about the numbers just keep doing what you're doing! If you want to focus strictly on weight loss then cut the strength training and maybe 200 calories off.
  • rachylouise87
    rachylouise87 Posts: 367 Member
    would it be safe going to 1000 calories per day?
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
    Measure yourself, you might well find the number is decreasing even if weight isn't. If that's the case, you're doing great. People pay too much attention to the number on scales and it's no where near being the important one.
  • dgm82
    dgm82 Posts: 23 Member
    rachylouise87 wrote: »
    would it be safe going to 1000 calories per day?

    If you're not hungry at 1200 you should be fine with 1000. Everyone's metabolism is different. Especially if you have had a slow metabolism for a long time it does take a few months to get it back to normal.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited December 2014
    "should TDEE include exercise or without as my job is a desk job"
    TDEE includes everything. MFP method gives you a goal that excludes exercise, hence the logging and eating back.

    What does "workout" mean? That could be anything from pure cardio to pure strength training and everything in between.

    "Worked out my maximum hr which is 189bpm" - actual max HR may vary greatly from estimated averages.

    "how accurate are hrm's for calorie burn?" - depends on the HRM, the settings you enter and primarilly what you use them for. Steady state cardio if someone happens to be "average" could be reasonable. A more expensive HRM with accurate custom settings for HR and VO2 max can be pretty accurate when used for the appropriate exercise.

    "my calorie burn on my hrm is showing 800+ per session but that seems unrealistic" - per session of what? High intensity cardio (such as a one hour time trail on a bike) if you are very, very fit (verging on elite athlete) might be possible at your weight.
    How far/fast could you run for an hour? Putting those numbers in a running calculator might give you an idea of what you can realistically do.

    "how many workout calories should i be eating back?" - in theory all on them if you are following the MFP method but I have doubts about your calorie burns. If following TDEE your exercise should already be factored in.

  • rachylouise87
    rachylouise87 Posts: 367 Member
    mfp calculates my tdee as 1750 and i would say i am only eating 1-200 calories back from a 300-500 burn. - i am doing cardio 5 times per week. i only use the average HR on the monitor as a guestimate as i dont think its accurate and it seems to be overestimating burns. my fitness level is getting better but i wouldnt say i am really fit.
    my hrm is probably set up wrong to be honest as i dont know my low and max hr. i use the monitor purely for cardio workouts with .5kg weights.

    sorry for the confusion i am quite new to working this all out correctly
  • rachylouise87
    rachylouise87 Posts: 367 Member
    my deficit per day is 550 without exercise but this still doesnt seem to be helping?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I agree your HRM is probably way over estimating.
    Really if your weight loss isn't working out as you think it should the first thing to look at is your calorie intake and food logging accuracy.

    One thing I would suggest is ditching the Slimfast and eating real food in the appropriate quantities. If you read the label on Slimfast you may agree most of the nutrition is coming from the milk you are adding to it.
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