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Some help please

mhbp123
mhbp123 Posts: 4 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
A lot of these questions I should know by now but I just want to make sure as it's the 'next step'

BACKGROUND

I'm a male in my mid twenties and since Jan 2016 I've lost 30kg through calorie control but daily exercise (mostly cardio) which has got more and more intense as time goes on and I get closer to my goal.

I wear a fitbit Blaze watch which monitors my heart rate of course and calories

PROBLEM

I am a couple kg off my goal now and need to start going on maintenance. The problem is that I've got into such a habit/mentality that if I don't spend hours a day working out and eating little I fear I will balloon up again - now I am well aware this is a common fear amongst people. But the thing I've noticed is that my resting heart beat has dropped from what I think was high 70s to around high 40s meaning I am losing less calories just doing nothing, therefore in my mind meaning I have to do more exercise/eat less to make up for a lower calorie expenditure.

I have recalculated my BMR/TDEE according to some online calculator and it says my TDEE is around 1900 to maintain (I personally think that's if I'm lucky).

Questions

1) My Fitbit Calorie expenditure number - how much should I trust it? (I've trusted it a lot so far)
2) If it says I've 'burnt' 1900 in a day, should I eat all those calories (maybe about 50 less to be on the safe side) to maintain?
3) The mindset, how do I change it? I realistically won't have time going forward to exercise for hours a day etc. So how do I stop feeling guilty if I do less or even nothing?

I know there are more questions but they've slipped my mind(!). I'm sure I'll post more as they come to me.

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    1. Some people trust it completely, others don't at all. It's trial and error, pretty much.
    2. Yes. That's the idea of maintenance. But for a man of your age, 1900 sounds awfully low for your TDEE. What are your stats?
  • mhbp123
    mhbp123 Posts: 4 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    1. Some people trust it completely, others don't at all. It's trial and error, pretty much.
    2. Yes. That's the idea of maintenance. But for a man of your age, 1900 sounds awfully low for your TDEE. What are your stats?

    What do you mean by 'stats' exactly? My height is 5 ft 7 if that helps
  • moorem93
    moorem93 Posts: 25 Member
    1. I would use the fit energy expenditure with caution, I would say you would need more calories, what is your current weight and height ?
    2. What's your current calorie intake right now? Depending on what it is you should increase a little at a time so for example 200-300 kcal perday and see how that goes. If you are still losing increase the calories intake again the following week by 100-200kcal per day. Or if you gain then decreAse the calorie intake the following week by about 50-100kcal.

    Your energy expenditure has dropped because your much smaller than you were. A bigger person has more calories is what it really comes down to in the end.

    What I would suggest to you is cut back on the cardio exercise to ~3 times per week and start to really try and promote muscle mass growth. Now the problem with this is that often for muscle growth to happen you need to be in a calorie surplus. So at the very least you need to be at maintenance or slightly above to gain muscle mass. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue so it will increase your resting energy expenditure. The process of getting here is slow though.

    I have only given you some facts, what I would suggest to you is that it would be well worth you going to a coach and asking him for a training program and dietary recommendations to set you on the right track. Be sure that they help to build your program around your schedule or time avaliable to train.

    All the best and great job so far!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    mhbp123 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    1. Some people trust it completely, others don't at all. It's trial and error, pretty much.
    2. Yes. That's the idea of maintenance. But for a man of your age, 1900 sounds awfully low for your TDEE. What are your stats?

    What do you mean by 'stats' exactly? My height is 5 ft 7 if that helps

    What is your weight and activity level? How many steps does your FitBit track for you on average? When you said your FitBit says you burned 1900, you are talking about total calories burned? That's what Malibu is saying sounds low, that is equivalent to your TDEE, and 1900 would be low for a male. Mine according to my FitBit, is 2100 and I'm a petite female at 5'2 and 120 lbs... That averages 14k steps/day.
  • mhbp123
    mhbp123 Posts: 4 Member
    I have no idea why I didn't mention before! I am 5ft 7 and currently weigh 64kg.

    My current calorie intake ranges from 1200-1600.

    I want to cut down my exercise as I think the obsession is becoming unhealthy so guess I'll try and cut down the cardio to 3 times a week as you suggest and just lift dumbells more at home the other 4 days but a proper programme may help.

    I'm just worried my TDEE etc. is too low and that's making me nervous
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Even if you stop exercising you will not balloon up on 1600 calories daily intake.
  • mhbp123
    mhbp123 Posts: 4 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Even if you stop exercising you will not balloon up on 1600 calories daily intake.

    Logically I know that, but I've been calorie counting and exercising so much that going from less than that to 1600 (at a minimum) feels like too much.

    I will try and go up bit by bit but that will be still so hard to do mentally without feeling guilty about every single calorie
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    Feeling guilty about every single calorie of the food needed to sustain you is a really unhealthy attitude. Please consider seeing a licensed psychologist before these thoughts cause you further damage. Take care of yourself!
This discussion has been closed.

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