Should I have lowered my calorie goal?

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knt217
knt217 Posts: 115 Member
edited May 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I started here in March as a 197-195 lbs. 5'6.5" female. 30 yrs old. I stay home with my toddler, workout 6x a week anywhere from 45 min to 1 1/2 hrs (lifting and cardio) and have my level set to active with a goal of 2# per week (just to come a bit closer to the goals spit out by IIFYM- 1910, Scooby calculator- 2111, and the 1600-1800 suggested by the R.D. I saw). This had my goal set at 1580 cals for MFP. I always enter my exercise calories given by my Polar FT4 for cardio, but don't include anything for my strength training, and I tend not to eat these back, but just have them there as a cushion for when I go over, or if I really feel like I need an extra something. So far, the weight loss has been great, and I'm down to 177 lbs at 53 days in.

After my recent weight input, MFP prompted me to decrease my calorie goal from the 1580 to 1500. IIFYM now says I should be at 1960, and Scooby puts me at 2006. I went ahead and did this, but I'm finding it more of a challenge to stay within this goal- especially on Sundays- my rest day. Maybe this is more of a mental problem- but I don't want to eat back my exercise calories for fear of sabotaging the work I've done. I'll list my workout schedule below. Do you think it's really time that I lower my goal? My diary is open for viewing.

Monday- Strong lifts 5x5, Boot Camp 45 min
Tuesday- Zumba 1 hr, Boot Camp 45 min
Weds- Strong Lifts 5x5, WERQ 1 hr
Thurs- Zumba 1 hr or Boot Camp 45 min
Fri- Strong Lifts 5x5, WERQ 45 min
Sat- Zumba 1 hr

Replies

  • ceva034
    ceva034 Posts: 18 Member
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    My understanding that in calculating IIFYM the figure given to you takes into account an estimation of all your calories including those you burn by exercise, compared to MyFitnessPal where it doesn't include exercise calories and expects you to eat back those exercise calories once entered.
  • ceva034
    ceva034 Posts: 18 Member
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    Sorry and to answer your actual question, yes lower your calorie goal. As you get lighter your calories will also decrease.
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
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    If you are still losing it's not necessary to lower your goal.
  • knt217
    knt217 Posts: 115 Member
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    ceva034 wrote: »
    My understanding that in calculating IIFYM the figure given to you takes into account an estimation of all your calories including those you burn by exercise, compared to MyFitnessPal where it doesn't include exercise calories and expects you to eat back those exercise calories once entered.

    I understand that, which is why I moved MFP to active to more closely reach the goals the other sources gave. Even at 1580, after having 4-500 calories added from exercise, I was more in the range of the IIFYM and Scooby calculators.

    amyrebeccah wrote: »
    I'm so confused. Are you talking about lowering your calorie goal to 1500? That's totally unnecessary for the amount of work you're doing. If you can't convince yourself to eat back part of your exercise calories, go back to a TDEE calculation so it's not messing with your head.

    I am. I just don't know how to accurately assess the amount of work I'm doing, and I hate that MFP wants it lower already! Everything I read here says not to trust my HR monitor, and so I try and just use the exercise as a bonus rather than something extra to eat. That, and the R.D.'s suggestion being 1600-1800 regardless of exercise (her exact words), and that range coming from when I was almost 20 lbs heavier- I'm just not 100% sure what I should be doing.
  • knt217
    knt217 Posts: 115 Member
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    Wouldn't the TDEE amount be maintenance for me though? I'm not looking to maintain. I still have about 45 lbs. to lose.
  • prettywingss04
    prettywingss04 Posts: 29 Member
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    I manually changed mine as someone else suggested. I followed my TDEE - 20 % and used that as my goal in MFP. From what I've gathered, if your active, don't follow MFP, use ur TDEE minus whatever rate 10-20% for your calorie goal.
    I chose Scooby calculator as well..
  • syndeo
    syndeo Posts: 68 Member
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    Your HRM is close enough for this. Don't forget, you also burn calories that you are not tracking. Ie, walking to the car, fidgeting, going to the bathroom etc.
  • knt217
    knt217 Posts: 115 Member
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    amyrebeccah wrote: »
    knt217 wrote: »
    Wouldn't the TDEE amount be maintenance for me though? I'm not looking to maintain. I still have about 45 lbs. to lose.

    Yeah, I get that, that's why I said TDEE calculation but not just eat at your TDEE. Didn't you just say above that scooby and iifym gave you certain totals consistent with your goals? Those goals likely took into account what you wanted to lose, they usually deduct a certain percentage like 20% from your maintenance calories. The numbers you gave above would fit that just fine. My question is why don't you just eat one of those? The reason that they are higher than MFP is because they take exercise into account and MFP doesn't.

    Edit: Also, don't get so hooked on fast weight loss that you keep yourself at an aggressive pace forever. As you get closer to goal, you will want to lower your deficit to one less aggressive (say TDEE -15% and then -10%) to make the deficit more doable and the weight loss slower and more sustainable.

    Ah- I see- the weightloss goal it gives rather than the TDEE it lists. I just feel like they are so high- I don't want to set a goal higher than the person I sat with in real life recommended. IDK. I guess I need to just get over my mental block and eat back some of the dang calories. I'm losing weight, and I'm not hungry, so I guess I just have to get over the color of the numbers on MFP on my rest days.

    I know that this 2 lb/week loss rate can't last forever, but so far it's going well. I feel fueled, I've not been hungry, and it's working. I assume once I get to to 25-30 lbs I'll have to lower it to 1.5 lbs per week, and then 1 lb per week for the last 20, maybe .5/week to get the last 5...we'll see. I'm not super hung up on that aspect. I just want to make sure that I'm not somehow sabotaging what I'm working at by setting it too high on my own, but I also don't want to feel overly restricted, or (is this even possible??) screw up my metabolism by eating too little.

    This is the first time I've ever had to pay attention to what I've eaten(I mean- I should have been...it's what got me here). When I was younger- highschool/college- I could eat whatever I wanted and didn't seem to gain weight. Then I got married, and pregnant and BAM. On came the poundage, and I never figured out how to lose it (or even cared to try) until this year. I had a later term loss in February, and that was the push I needed. I don't ever want to go through that again, and if by some cruel twist of fate I do, I don't want my weight to be something in the back of my mind that I could think could have even possibly contributed to losing a baby. That entire experience has left me fairly dedicated to this goal. I just want to be sure I'm doing everything right to get myself there.

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