HOW WILL WE EVER TRULY KNOW HOW MANY CALORIES TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT?

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Dotyfahed
Dotyfahed Posts: 33 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know we state our "activity level" when signing up. And it gives you an allotment of calories based on that info and how much you want to lose per week. But so many sites & doctors say such conflicting info. I work out 5-6 days a week for about an hour(combo of cardio & strength training). Plus I walk several times throughout the day(total steps vary from12k-15k). But based on the fact that my job is a desk job, I am slated to be sedentary or lightly active at best. But when I use multiple sites to calculate how many calories I should eat for my age & weight, they are usually MUCH higher.. I have been up & down in the weight department. I have lost over 70 pounds which has taken over a year & a half. Most of that time I was on WW. And most of that weight was lost in a year and I was not really losing anything the last 6 months so I switched to MFP to see if it would boost my loss. I still have 20 pounds left to lose. So my real question is how do you all really know what calorie consumption helps you lose weight? Do I consider myself active and just go with it? Do I consider myself sedentary and try to log in the exercises? I have to be honest when I say I have done both and the calories seem to be about the same but I'm still sitting in the same place weight wise that I was when I started almost 2 months ago with MFP. I'm frustrated and just needed some insight. Any advice would be helpful. Just want to move along on this journey and stop being so frustrated. Sorry for the LONG post as well..
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Replies

  • BigNate17
    BigNate17 Posts: 65 Member
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    Most accurate way would be trial and error.

    You said the calorie goal that you were given tends to be too high for you. Does that mean you have been consistently meeting that goal for at least 2 weeks with no change in weight?

    If so, I would recommend slowly reducing calories as well as increasing daily activity until you notice a change in weight.

    The websites are only a guideline in determining your TDEE, the best way to determine how many calories you need to eat to be in a deficit would be to experiment with the numbers yourself.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    I knew it was enough when I was losing weight at the rate I expected. My calories were just a bit higher than what MFP recommended but if I had a better idea of calorie burns it might have been closer.
  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
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    Trial and error.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    Another question could be how much weight do you really need to lose. Is your goal weight just a number set by you, or is it based off of recognized charts or suggested by your doctor?

    We've seen it here where persons were struggling to lose more weight while already below what the ideal weight charts say they should be at.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    To add to others, it can and will change over time, depending on whether you go up or down in both weight and activity.

    Using myself as an example: when I first started, I was almost entirely sedentary at 265 lbs. 1600 kcals/day had me losing 2 lbs. per week. Fast forward to now, and I cycle between bulk and cut cycles. Last summer, 2800 per day had me gaining a stupid amount of weight (2.5 lbs. per week) when I started bulking at 150. Now, after going through a couple of bulk/cuts, it takes ~3200 per day to have me gaining 0.4 per week when I am between 165 and 175.

    Though my lifting schedule has remained pretty consisten over that year, my NEAT has ramped up like crazy as my body adjusted to better perform under caloric surplus. I absolutely cannot sit still anymore. I try to sit down and play a video game, and I'm grinding my teeth and needing to get up and walk around after fifteen minutes.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Ultimately, you go by the bathroom scales. Calorie estimates are a good starting point but if you aren't losing weight then you aren't in a calorie deficit.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,041 Member
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    Here's how I lost 25 kg.

    I entered my details into MFP.
    I chose sedentary as my activity level.
    MFP gave me a number of calories ... in my case 1250 cal.

    I logged whatever I ate as accurately as possible ... weighing 95% of it.

    I exercised.
    I logged the exercise using light/low/slow choices and underestimating distances/times a bit.
    The exercise gave me some extra calories.
    I ate about 50-75% of them back.

    I lost weight. :)


    If for some reason (and no reasons spring to mind using that plan above) I would not have lost weight, I would have adjusted something.
  • chesstauren
    chesstauren Posts: 11 Member
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    You have to track it manually, if you want to be accurate. Losing weight is a simple math. Food adds the energy surplus and exercise subtracts it. After a few weeks, you'll see how much weight you lost, and then it's a matter of elementary math to calculate your base metabolic rate.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
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    I log as accurately as possible, using a food scale and logging food before I eat them or immediately after so don't forget.

    Then, each week I average how many calories I am eating and weigh myself. If I want to be losing more, I try cutting back.
  • db121215
    db121215 Posts: 60 Member
    edited July 2017
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    Log everything. Do your activities as you do. When the scale shows a loss, you know you're dialed in. When you lose, you may need to lower Cal intake a bit or increase activity to keep the trend moving.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    If you haven't lost anything in 2 months first check that your logging is as accurate as you can be. Get a food scale to check portion sizes. Check that the entries you are using from the database are correct.
    With mfp you are supposed to choose an activity level without exercise and then log exercise. A lot of people eat only a portion of calories burned from exercise to account for overestimated burns.
    If you have checked everything and still are not losing then start lowering your calories. If you are maintaining at the current amount drop it by 250 to lose .5 lb a week or 500 to lose 1 lb per week. If you are close to or at a healthy weight choose .5 lb per week.
    Some people find it helpful to use something like trendweight, happy scale or weightgrapher to show weight loss trends over time.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,622 Member
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    From experience with people who had a lot of weight to lose, the usual thing I have to change is their INTENSITY of their exercise. Weight loss not only means a lower BMR, but also less calories burned to a lower weight. And if the exercise has been consistent and not been progressive, the body may have adapted to the load.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    Dotyfahed wrote: »
    I know we state our "activity level" when signing up. And it gives you an allotment of calories based on that info and how much you want to lose per week. But so many sites & doctors say such conflicting info. I work out 5-6 days a week for about an hour(combo of cardio & strength training). Plus I walk several times throughout the day(total steps vary from12k-15k). But based on the fact that my job is a desk job, I am slated to be sedentary or lightly active at best. But when I use multiple sites to calculate how many calories I should eat for my age & weight, they are usually MUCH higher.. I have been up & down in the weight department. I have lost over 70 pounds which has taken over a year & a half. Most of that time I was on WW. And most of that weight was lost in a year and I was not really losing anything the last 6 months so I switched to MFP to see if it would boost my loss. I still have 20 pounds left to lose. So my real question is how do you all really know what calorie consumption helps you lose weight? Do I consider myself active and just go with it? Do I consider myself sedentary and try to log in the exercises? I have to be honest when I say I have done both and the calories seem to be about the same but I'm still sitting in the same place weight wise that I was when I started almost 2 months ago with MFP. I'm frustrated and just needed some insight. Any advice would be helpful. Just want to move along on this journey and stop being so frustrated. Sorry for the LONG post as well..

    Activity level is based on how active your job is. You log exercise separately.

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    When I weigh my food on a digital food scale, eat the calories MFP gives me, eat most (but not all) of my exercise calories, I lose as expected over the course of a month.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
    edited July 2017
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    I get 1200 here. When I did Weight Watchers in the past it was on a points system but I did it along with MFP for a while last year and I realized that Weight Watchers was allowing me between 1000-1100 calories per day and I lost the best on that amount. So I don't eat back my exercise calories here at MFP for that reason. I lose a lot slower on MFP than I did on Weight Watchers but it works and it's free so I'm sticking with MFP for now.

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