Confused on caloric intake to lose 2lbs/wk - please help

PJilly · May 2011

Ok...here's my story... I'm about to be 27 and I'm 149lbs and 5'5". I am trying to be 135 pounds so I need to lose 14 pounds. All my life I have Yo-yo dieted to lose weight. Way over exercised to lose weight and I have even starved my self for 3-4 days at a time to lose. My weight always goes up and down because obviously I'm losing weight the wrong way and probably a lot is just water. I want to lose my excess fat once and for all with out yo-yoing and really learn to eat and exercise right to keep it off for good!! I also have two little girls that I don't want to have the same problems with weight like I do. I want to lead by example on how to eat correctly to not gain and how to lose weight the right way. I did my BMR and it came out like this:
655+(4.35 x 149) +(4.7 x 65") - (4.7 x 27) = 1481.75.... I have a sedintary life style I guess because I sit at a desk all day a work(mostly) so my caloric intake I'm assuming is 1481.75 x 1.2 = 1778.1.

Ok so here is my question(dilemma)......

How many calories am I supposed to eat out to lose 2 pounds a week?... The internet says to decrease calories by 500 and increase my work outs by 500 calories a day. So ....do I subtract 500 calories from the 1778?....Because then I'm only consuming 1278 calories and that is below my BMR?... And if I burn 500 calories on my treadmill then my Net calories would be 778 for the day... I don't want to put my body in starvation mode. Plus I walk an hour on my treadmill everyday for an hour already. So since my body is probably used to this does it still count as calories burned...or is this now just part of my daily routine and I would have to do even more to lose weight? On livestrong.com it even says to count the "office work" I do as calories burned too, but wouldn't my body be used to doing that daily also?...

I'm just really confused as to what my actual Net calories per day should be so I can lose 2 pounds(or more) a week.

I think you're definitely on the right track by acknowledging you've lost weight in the wrong way in the past and want to learn to eat right and exercise to keep it off for good. That's awesome!

I also think you veer way off that track when you say you want to lose 2 pounds a week. I'd encourage you to aim for losing 1/2 pound a week at the most. I think even 1/4 pound a week might set you up better for long-term success.

If you do this slowly and deliberately, I have no doubt you will have amazing results. :flowerforyou:

TXHunny84 · May 2011

But if u are eating your calories back what was the point of the exercise? Aren't you trying to reduce calories and exercise more? I always hear eat less exercise more.....so why should I eat the calories I burned? I'm so confused.

PJilly · May 2011

But if u are eating your calories back what was the point of the exercise? Aren't you trying to reduce calories and exercise more? I always hear eat less exercise more.....so why should I eat the calories I burned? I'm so confused.

To me, the point of exercising is to become more strong, fit, healthy and flexible. The fact that it burns calories is incidental (except that it allows me to eat more, which is awesome!).

robin52077 · May 2011

But if u are eating your calories back what was the point of the exercise? Aren't you trying to reduce calories and exercise more? I always hear eat less exercise more.....so why should I eat the calories I burned? I'm so confused.

because MFP already gives you a deficit built into your goals.

Example:

Lets just say your maintenance was 2000 a day, nice round number....eat that and stay the same....

You tell MFP you want to lose 1 lb per week. It tells you a goal of 1500 a day (500 a day deficit=3500 a week. 1 lb of fat is 3500 calories).

so eat 1500 a day to lose 1 lb a week. NOW, if you exercise for 500 cals more than your daily lifestyle, you have taken those cals away from your body so it can't use them as fuel. That's bad. You now only have 1000 cals left to survive on, provided you ate your whole 1500. If you eat those 500 back, you STILL gave your body the 1500 it needs to live your daily life and you STILL have a 500 calorie deficit that day, since that's what you started out at.

Your goal is to make the number in your diary as close to zero as possible, including eating your exercise calories, provided you are not overestimating how much you burned....

Your NET cals (on the top of your homepage) should be EQUAL to your ORIGINAL calorie goal by the time you end your day. (in this example, 1500)

Food is fuel. Eat all your calories. Do NOT try to give yourself a bigger deficit that you already have. This will not help you to lose faster. It will hurt your metabolism and screw you up bad in the long run.

everythingispossible · May 2011

Just posted this in your other post.

Since you're so close to your goal you probably won't be able to lose 2 pounds per week. When you have less to lose it comes off slower. That's because your body uses both fat and muscle for energy and your body will use whichever one is closest to the area that needs the energy. So if you're working your legs but don't have enough extra fat to burn your body will burn a little leg muscle. That's why strength training is so important, it helps keep your muscles from losing mass. This also means that you can spot reduce a little. So if your belly has more fat than you'd like you can do lots of ab work to burn that fat. You also need to eat a little more, the amount you'd eat if you were trying to lose half a pound per week, so that your body continues to burn fat and not muscle.

You actually can't spot reduce and burn specific areas of fat on your body..

Read here for more info on spot reduction:
http://www.insideyourdiet.com/437/is-spot-reducing-a-myth/

"The theory of spot reducing was tested and proven false in the mid-1980s when the University of Massachusetts conducted an independent research study based upon these principles. The study put thirteen men through a rigorous workout routine that focused on the abdominal muscles only for a period of twenty-seven days. During the test, each man performed a total of five thousand sit-ups. Fat biopsies were taken from each man’s abdomen, back, and a buttock region before, during, and after the test was completed. The results found that fat levels decreased equally in all three areas tested, not just the abdominal area."

solpwr · May 2011

What Robin52077 said was awesome.

I will add: You need to try out myfitnesspal for 12 weeks minimum. The routine of it, the learning about what works and doesn't work, the commitment level you need to meet your goal of learning to eat and live a healthy lifestyle is not going to happen in 7 weeks. That's a yo-yo right there.

So go at it one pound per week and see how your body does. At 12 weeks along, you'll see what calories you need and what your workouts need to be like.

Once you hit your goal, readjust myfitnesspal and keep on using it. That's my plan; I have no doubt that this is a permanent change for me. At least until my iPhone quits.

LorinaLynn · May 2011

When you only have 14 to lose, 2 lbs a week is very unrealistic. Only those who are obese will lose that quickly. You should probably shoot for .5-1 lb/week.

What she said. exactly

What she said about what she said.

Aim for one pound a week max, and eat back most of your exercise calories.

When I signed up, I wanted to lose 2# a week, too, because I just wanted it GONE. Now!

But I wasn't overweight enough to do that. The most I could lose and still eat enough to be healthy was 1.3 pounds a week. After a few weeks on that, and losing on average 1 pound a week, I thought, "Well, if I'm only going to lose 1 pound, I might as well set it to lose 1 pound."

So I ate more. And the next weigh in, I dropped 2 pounds. :laugh: I averaged 1.5 pounds a week while trying to lose one, and averaged one when I was trying to lose 1.5.

When I got within 10 pounds of my goal, I changed my settings to lose .5 a week. Some weeks, I don't lose. Some I lose a half. Some 1.5. Some 1 pound. The body is a fickle thing. The weight will come off when your body wants it to. But not when you're not feeding it enough.

Confused on caloric intake to lose 2lbs/wk - please help

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