Remaining calories

jds120275
jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys

I'm new to this so go easy on me. I'm hoping that someone can answer my question. I started a weight loss programme about 8 months ago and so far have lost 28-30lbs, my fitness and energy levels have gone through the roof and I'm feeling great. I am jeweler having a little trouble losing my last 7-14lbs, so decided to download my fitness pal to track my calorie consumption. On average I am burning anywhere between 2500 and 3500 calories a day through vigorous excercise, training sometimes 3 times per day. Circuits, cycling,spinning, weight training etc. I have always been very active and reasonably fit as I was ex military.

Anyway to get to the point I have been entering my daily calorie intake as accurately as possible and entering my calorie expenditure as well according to my suunto ambit 3s watch which apparently is a pretty reliable tool. However my diary states on most days calories remaining 3-3500 calories? Does this mean I should be consuming an additional 3000 plus calories? Surely not as I was led to believe I needed a deficit in order to lose weight. I know I need to be eating properly in order to stay healthy and maintain my energy levels etc but this sounds ridiculous. I am already eating 3 square meals a day and about 3 healthy snacks also drinking approx 4 litres of water.

Anyway I think I've covered it all my profile is public so feel free to browse it.

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Darren

Replies

  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
    If you're using a HRM, consider some. Don't trust the exercise calculator for MFP - brace yourself for condescending replies doubting your calorie burn (a bit high).
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    When you say you are "having trouble" losing the last few lbs, do you mean you stopped losing, or are you losing more slowly?

    If you were really ending up 3000 calories under, you would be dropping weight fast and feeling like crap. So either your exercise burns aren't that high, or you are greatly underestimating your calories eaten.

    Is today the first day you logged? If so, give it a few days to get the hang of everything and see what happens.
    As @lazsommer said, you will be questioned on the calorie burns, because they are crazy high, but it does sound like you do far more exercise than the average person! How do you come up with the calorie burns?
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
    Yes, you do need to be in deficit in order to lose. A 3500 calorie burn is huge (depending on your body weight), like an all-day bike ride or near marathon distance run for a 200lb man. If your measures of your exercise are accurate then you would be due some big eating and still stay in deficit. Calorie burns from weight training are really tough to gauge accurately. The most accurate measure is your body's reaction--if you are feeling ok and losing weight, stick with what works. No condescending intended!
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Ok guys I'm sorry I messed up a bit I entered my cycling 3 times today so my actual calories remaining is 2700 ish give or take 10/20 calories. This still seems excessive.
  • smcrimmon84
    smcrimmon84 Posts: 135 Member
    Where are you getting your calorie burn numbers from?
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Thanks guys for the replies

    As for the calorie burn this morning I started with a hard 25 minutes of treadmill intervals 18.5 km /Hr incline 2. 30 secs sprint 30 secs rest. Followed by 35 minutes of various body weight floor excercise. Pull ups dips press ups weights etc etc. 987 calories.

    Then had an hour off then went for a 15km bike ride average 23km/Hr 600 calories then tonight spinning for 30 minutes another 500 calories.

    This is pretty normal 2 to 3 times per day. As for the weight loss it's just stopped. Period 15,7 stone thats 217lbs. I have been feeling lethargic and have been craving sweet things but I've been sticking to the training and eating as clean as I can.

    If you need any more info please just ask.

    Thanks again guys.
  • smcrimmon84
    smcrimmon84 Posts: 135 Member
    But still, where are those numbers coming from? Are you wearing a HR monitor on the treadmill or going by what the treadmill says? Where are you getting the 600 calorie bike ride burn and the 500 calorie spin class burn number from?

    I also cant imagine 987 calories burned in 35 mins of body weight floor exercise in any situation..
  • annherrin
    annherrin Posts: 35 Member
    Maybe switch up your workouts? Less cardio one week and more the next. Same thing with weights. I hear muscle confusion is the best way to get out of that rut. I am not a professional in any way shape or form, but you may want to find a professional trainer to find out what is preventing you from reaching your goals.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    jds120275 wrote: »
    Thanks guys for the replies

    As for the calorie burn this morning I started with a hard 25 minutes of treadmill intervals 18.5 km /Hr incline 2. 30 secs sprint 30 secs rest. Followed by 35 minutes of various body weight floor excercise. Pull ups dips press ups weights etc etc. 987 calories.

    Then had an hour off then went for a 15km bike ride average 23km/Hr 600 calories then tonight spinning for 30 minutes another 500 calories.

    This is pretty normal 2 to 3 times per day. As for the weight loss it's just stopped. Period 15,7 stone thats 217lbs. I have been feeling lethargic and have been craving sweet things but I've been sticking to the training and eating as clean as I can.

    If you need any more info please just ask.

    Thanks again guys.

    Are you getting the calorie burns from MFP? Are you wearing an HRM? Are you using a formula or a website calculator?
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Yes using a hrm Suu to ambit 3 sport version which I have found very reliable. I have used this type of hrm for many years as have many people. The 900 plus calorie burn this morning was a combination of treadmill intervals 25 Mins followed by floor exercises.
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    An hour of exercise, no matter how hard, giving you 1000 calorie burn? I don't think so.....
    Your HRM is broken........If you worked out hard, maybe half that.....
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Just taken this from the livestrong website
    A 150-pound person burns an estimated 756 calories in one hour of circuit training, according to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.
    I'm 217lbs 6,2. So a 1000 is reasonable. This is giving 100 percent effort.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    HRMs are only meant for steady-state cardio, not interval or strength training. 1000 calories is going to be quite inflated.
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    https://www.movescount.com/moves/move102242019
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    https://www.movescount.com/moves/move102242013
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    https://www.movescount.com/moves/move102241848
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    If you were in a daily 2500 to 3500 calorie deficit, you would not be "having trouble losing the last 7 to 14 pounds." Your body is saying that your HRM is inaccurate and that the calorie-burns you are logging are overestimates.
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Well even if the calorie burns are overestimates going back to my original question why is my calories remaining still so high? I could shave another 1500 calories off that figure and still have 1000 spare calories. It makes no sense. Also everyone is saying these estimates are way off but dont forget that almost 3 hours hard training a day. And as for not losing the last 7-14 lbs its fact I know because ive been trying to get brlow 15,7 stone for the past 5 weeks.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    OP, if you are not losing weight, then you are eating at maintenance, ie you are eating the same amount of calories as you burn. So either your "Calories In" is incorrect or your "Calories Out" is incorrect. Most people here only eat back @ 50-75% of their exercise calories because the numbers are so difficult to get right and are often gross over-estimations.

    The short answer would be to eat 250 less calories than you are currently eating, this should give you a half-lb loss per week. As to why the numbers you currently have aren't adding up, you could use a food scale for a few weeks while being careful to choose accurate entries in the database to ensure you are eating the calories you think you are, and eat back 50% of your exercise calories only, and see what happens.
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    Thanks kimny ill measure out portions tomorrow and be as accurate as I can. I gave another body composition test tomorrow with an instructor at my locsl gym, so ill mention it to him. Maybe its time to change routines or something, I changed from mainly cardio to resistance a while back but am not feeling it. Ill keep you posted, thanks again.
  • F6B2014
    F6B2014 Posts: 1 Member
    Try backing off the floor exercises as you may be muscle building. Let the cardio be the majority of your time and do light floor for a week to stay flexible. Good luck.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    A "reasonably fit" person simply isn't burning that many exercise calories. Your trust in your HRM is misplaced I'm afraid - worth rechecking your set up. You haven't entered kilos instead of pounds perhaps as your burns seem about double what I might expect?
    My biggest recent burn was c. 2250 from over four hours of very intense hill climbing on a bike.

    Your 3000 - 3500 cals a day would be the rough equivalent of a hundred mile cycle - every day!

    You are also seem to be using it for activities where a standard HRM which may give a reasonable estimate for moderate to intense steady state cardio simply can't give you a sensible estimate - this is an example:
    The 900 plus calorie burn this morning was a combination of treadmill intervals 25 Mins followed by floor exercises.
    Sorry but no chance that's right.

    Weight training is a very low calorie burn - on a par with brisk walking, HRMs will over-estimate wildly unless they have a specific mode for strength training.
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator2_2.cfm
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    jds120275 wrote: »
    http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator2_2.cfm

    You keep arguing, yet the fact remains, if you were really burning this much, you would be dropping tons of weight.

    So its time to get real, you are either swallowing a cheesecake between workouts, or you're not burning that much.
  • jds120275
    jds120275 Posts: 12 Member
    No cheesecakes I'm afraid. Just lots of cardio,loads of protein some carbs and healthy fats. Just had my latest bodystat fat weight has gone down 2 kg lean muscle mass has gone up. I'm not arguing by the way just explaining that it is definitely possible to burn 1000 calories during an hour of hard interval training.

    Thanks for the comments anyway.

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