Need a too-low-calorie intervention

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_Amy_Budd
_Amy_Budd Posts: 378 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'll start with my admission - I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that I'm not eating enough, no matter how little I eat. But I don't want to be foolish or unhealthy, so I'm trying to do the research and figure out the right numbers.

So I was reading someone's blog today about zig-zagging calories, and she suggested a site that does the zig-zag for you: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm - so I go there, and while that site and MFP both use the same Mifflin-St Jeor formula, and both sites give me the same number for my Basal Metabolic rate, the recommended daily calories for each are very different.

For MFP, when I go to the Diet Profile section of settings, and put in sedentary lifestyle (I have a desk job) and 5 days a week of 60 minutes of exercise, to lose 2 pounds a week, it gives me a daily calorie target of 1,570.

But on the freedieting site, with 5 days a week of exercise, it gives me a daily target of 2,376! And it says that's a rock bottom low! But that's an extra 806 calories per day over what MFP says I should eat - or 5,642 more a week - which is a pretty significant difference. Thinking about it and crunching the numbers a bit, I figure that the freedieting site is probably figuring in my exercise calories for me, but even that seems high - if I said I workout 5 days a week, so I would have to burn 1,128 calories in each of those 5 workouts to make it up. And even my more strenuous workouts top out at about 800 calories, so I still wonder if this calorie target number is too high, or if the MFP number is too low.

Now, all that being said, most days I end up eating around 1,300 calories, and a lot of days, I eat less than that. And I exercise regularly as I do this, and I pretty much never eat my exercise calories.

I know, I know, you're all yelling at me. But have you looked at my current weight in my signature yet? I'm BIG. I'm a long, long way from starvation. I was thinking that I have about 100 more pounds to lose before I need to even start thinking about avoiding starvation mode and eating exercise calories.

And yet... I'm here, asking for an intervention, so you know that I'm not confident in my current plan. Despite the fact that I'm very happy with my progress since starting, I don't want to mess up my metabolism and just make it harder later. So I'm asking for advice from the MFP experts - those who like to work the math like I do, or those who started really large and have had success, or those who just have a better understanding of nutrition and fitness than I do.

My mind is open. Please educate me. :)

Replies

  • superstah00
    superstah00 Posts: 104 Member
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    I have no advice..sorry..but would like to know what others think also because I have checked out those zig zagging sites too and end up more confused than ever!:huh:
  • picturesing
    picturesing Posts: 228
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    I read the same blog and like you discovered it wanted to give me about 400 more cal than MFP.....I'll stick with the MFP numbers! And accomplish zig-zagging with my "days off" from work out!
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
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    Going into "Starvation" mode is not the same as being anorexic. Overweight and obese people go into starvation mode as well. If you are bigger you need to calories for your body to function properly.
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
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    On MFP, you earn exercise calories back, so when you work out and log the calories burned, you eat those calories back, and only those calories. On the other site, it includes those workouts in the estimated daily calorie consumption, so you wouldn't log those exercise calories burned or earn them back. MFP is a much better way to go in my opinion. I commented on that post this morning, I just don't think the breakdown on that site is as good as MFP.
  • kimmerroze
    kimmerroze Posts: 1,330 Member
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    That is because FRee dieting doesn't subtract your exercise out... it is dependent upon you working out to create your deficit, where as MFP subtracts your deficit out before exercise.

    If that makes sense.

    No you shouldn't eat that many more calories but basically this is what it looks like

    MFP
    Maintainence- 2500 calories a day (we will round to even numbers for the example) If you ate this you would nether gain nor lose
    Deficit calories-500-1000 per day, 500calories per day per pound lost in a week 500 x 7=3500 (one pound lost) 1000x7= 7000 calories 2 pounds lost.

    mfp subtracts these

    2500 maintainence
    -1000 deficit for 2 pound loss
    _____
    =1500 daily consumption
    If you work out you add those calories back

    FREEDIET

    gives you 2500 calories and is depending on you to exercise to make the deficit.
  • ekicinsk
    ekicinsk Posts: 92 Member
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    The MFP cal goal subtracted 1000 calories/day to create a deficit to lose 2 lbs a week. So if you add in the 1000, both number are within 200 of each other. My guess is the other website didn't add a defect to lose into its calculations.
  • phoebe45
    phoebe45 Posts: 5
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    my problem is i like to eat chocalte anything chocalate no matter what kind of chocalate i can eat it.I use to be skinny at one time but i had a kid 17 years ago and I go back into my size,and then it happen to me when i hit 40 and over the 40 mark i started to put the weight on really fast,I made a decsion to go to the gym and lose the weight for me,Since then i lost 10lbs and found it hard to keep off so yes i have a hard time keeping the weight off.
  • Tulip1924
    Tulip1924 Posts: 4
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    It doesn't matter how much you weigh to begin - your body needs food. In fact b/c you weigh more you need more calories now, otherwise your body will be starving itself and you will royally screw up your metabolism. I'm guessing the 1,500 calories is without the excerise on MFP. My guess would be that if you are exercising for 60 minutes a day you are burning quite a few calories, and therefore should be getting like 2,000 calories give or take. I wouldn't eat any less than 200 calories less then what they tell you, otherwise your body is going to go into starvation mode, b/c it is not getting enough nutrients to sustain itself. You are definately not eating enough if you are only eating 1300 calories or less a day. I weigh 196 pds. and am trying to lose 1.5 a week and I get 1,400 calories a day (without exercise).

    Also if you are exercising and not eating enough your body is going to burn muscle instead of fat and you will get frustrated b/c you most likely will stop seeing progress.
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    MFP does not figure in your planned exercise.

    Freedieting does.

    That is your difference.

    If you follow MFPs guidelines, your exercise calories will be added to your daily calorie goal to keep a stable deficit.

    If you follow Freedieting's guidelines, your calorie deficit will vary according to how many calories you burned while exercising.
  • epj78
    epj78 Posts: 643 Member
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    Agree with the others on the zig zagging including your exercise calories. Frankly, I wouldn't confuse things with the zig zagging until if/when you hit a plateau.

    That being said, please try to eat the bare minimum that MFP sets for you. I won't be one to yell at you about not eating your exercise calories back, but you do need to eat the minimum calories MFP sets for you. If you do that and make sure you are eating clean, the weight will come off most likely at a rate of about 3 pounds per week (assuming you do moderate exercise) which is a great rate of weight loss and some will say too much (again not me). I have learned from experience that I don't worry about starvation mode with my body, but I do have to worry about binges. If I go too long under the MFP recommendations, I end up binging and undoing all my work - much better to eat at the higher calorie level even when its hard to wrap your mind around the "but I could eat less." Remember the tortoise wins the race......
  • hmm33502
    hmm33502 Posts: 201 Member
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    I eat when I'm hungry. I try to make healthy, lean protein, good fats, carbs from fruit and veggies, choices for every meal. I am not anywhere near perfect, but I try to listen to what my body is saying and keep my blood sugar under control by avoiding starches and eating mostly whole grains. I believe that a chocolate chip cookie every once in a while is a good thing.

    I have had WLS to help me feel full longer, but I still try to maintain in 1000-1200 cal per day range. I am generally down 2-4 lbs per week....consistantly.

    I had a seminar with a dietician and she said that our bodies can only process approx 24 grams of protein and 45 carbs per every 3-4 hour period. Anything else remains in the blood stream (carbs) or gets filtered out through the kidneys (protein)....this is an estimate based on the female body.....it differs for everyone, but I hope this gives you some perspective!

    Good luck!
    PS I'm a big girl with a sedentary job too!
  • JillyCornwall
    JillyCornwall Posts: 376 Member
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    Well thats the math taken care of!
    Regarding the 1300 being too low..well technically you are OK going with a big deficit as you..like me have a load to lose, however I have no doubt in my own mind.(.you must decide for yourself)..that when you start out really low..it gives you no room for movement as you lose weight....you can' keep going lower if you are already really low...so I say eat to the goal MFP have set you....and eat some of your exercise calories back..but if you don't its not life or death until you lose a fair bit..but bear in mind that you are going to be on a deficit for maybe 2yrs...that will mean a really boring lifestyle for an extended period if you are only going to eat the minimum...can you stick to it?...I'd go with eating that little bit more...good luck..
  • nyctraveler
    nyctraveler Posts: 305 Member
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    I had a seminar with a dietician and she said that our bodies can only process approx 24 grams of protein and 45 carbs per every 3-4 hour period. Anything else remains in the blood stream (carbs) or gets filtered out through the kidneys (

    hmm that's an interesting data point. I heard that a higher protein diet is not harmful in any way unless you have kidney issues. Did your dietician comment on anything along those lines b/c I generally eat around 100g of protein a day, although my goal is technically around 130-140g
  • nyctraveler
    nyctraveler Posts: 305 Member
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    Well thats the math taken care of!
    Regarding the 1300 being too low..well technically you are OK going with a big deficit as you..like me have a load to lose, however I have no doubt in my own mind.(.you must decide for yourself)..that when you start out really low..it gives you no room for movement as you lose weight....you can' keep going lower if you are already really low...so I say eat to the goal MFP have set you....and eat some of your exercise calories back..but if you don't its not life or death until you lose a fair bit..but bear in mind that you are going to be on a deficit for maybe 2yrs...that will mean a really boring lifestyle for an extended period if you are only going to eat the minimum...can you stick to it?...I'd go with eating that little bit more...good luck..

    you're actually supposed to "up" your cals as you lose weight, not lower them because as you are nearing your target weight, you should decrease your deficit

    I started out with 1200 and then hit a plateau --> reworked my regimen and upped my cals to 1400 and started losing again.
  • hmm33502
    hmm33502 Posts: 201 Member
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    She did say that more exercise, especially muscle building exercise, will use more protein since protein is used for the healing and building of muscles. I generally do around 25 grams per 3-4 hours...which is around 100 grams per day!

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