Blog I read had me thinking... hmmm?

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  • Luthorcrow
    Luthorcrow Posts: 193
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    Although MFP is not set up this way be default, I generally think calorie restrictions are the wrong way to go to lose weight. One because it doesn't teach your body to maintain a healthy weight on a normal diet, two because less calorie means a slower metabolism which is self defeating and lastly because your body needs your nutrients and it is harder to get that on crazy 1200 calorie, etc. diets.

    In my view it is better to set your calories for maintenance on MFP (which should be your MBR) and use your exercise as your deficit (not eating for it). Obviously when you get to your desired weight you will have to start eating more for you activity levels but that is smaller change then climbing up from a more restricted diet. It is also very hard to estimate actual calories burned during exercise so constantly trying to eat for activity levels while losing weight is tough game of guessing.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    To paraphase a blog I was reading earlier this afternoon, this woman's theory was you should eat like the weight you WANT to be at. In other words, plug your ideal weight into a calculator
    (she suggest this one - http://www.cancer.org/healthy/toolsandcalculators/calculators/app/calorie-counter-calculator)
    and make that amount your daily goal. This woman claims to have lost 25 lbs in a month this way.

    That should make sense. However playing around with this calculator, if I use her logic, it tells me that for my goal weight I should need 1900 calories daily. WHAT??? And that is if I am SEDENTARY. There cannot be any way that I could lose 70 lbs by eating 400-600 calories MORE per day than MFP already has me at, and lose weight FASTER than I am now. I can only think that her theory is not completely sound.

    Would anyone like to chime in on this? Thoughts?

    BTW, if anyone would like to see the blog entry I am speaking of, here it is - http://www.debramoorhead.com/blog/index.php/how-i-lost-25-pounds-in-one-month/

    Are we supposed to eat like the sedentary thing says...or are we supposed to subtract the calories is suggests at the bottom?

    It says I would need to eat 1352 calories to stay at 85 pounds. I can believe this, but I def won't get to that weight eating 1352 calories per day! :laugh:

    You want to weight 85 lbs??????????? why?
  • Persipan
    Persipan Posts: 85 Member
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    I've often thought that there might be an advantage to just eating the maintenance calories for my goal weight - it would take longer to get there, but it would avoid that awkward transition from weight loss to maintenance, so it really would be a lifestyle change; you could just adopt new sustainable habits and stick with them for good, and eventually you'd level out at the weight you wanted to be.

    And then I think, sod it, it'd take ages and I'm doing OK. It's sort of my plan B, though.
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
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    Gonna veto this one except for people with 30+ pounds to lose. Why?

    I need to eat 1939 cals to maintain my current weight, and 1830 to maintain my ultimate low goal weight that is ten pounds lighter. This gives me a deficit of 91 cals a day! One trip to a restaurant in a week or mismeasurement or lazy day and that deficit is GONE. :noway:

    Even if I maintained the 91 cal difference, I'm looking at 38 or so days to lose a pound of fat, and it would take me a year to lose 10lbs....
  • Luthorcrow
    Luthorcrow Posts: 193
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    @cutmd you calculation on your deficit would be right if all you did was lay in bed and never moved. If you are working out and not eating back for it, then that along with your other activities becomes your deficit. It also has the advantage of not over estimating your calories burned then over eating those calories back.

    For example if you ran for 30 minutes at a 7 MPH you would burn somewhere around 400 calories. Now you have 491 deficit for that day plus whatever else you did that day. Want to lose more exercise more. You never have to worry about your calculations being wrong on what to eat and your activity level determines your deficit so it encourages you to get moving.

    Calorie restrictions and the default MFP set up is for sedentary people. It is set up to lose weight even if you do nothing. If you and judging by your photos you are. Eat makes more sense to eat more and use your activity as you deficit. You will actually lose more weight vs. calorie restrictions and be more healthy.

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