What should I set my calorie goal to?
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estherdragonbat wrote: »You can't really build much muscle in a calorie deficit. And really, the difference is negligible. If I put on 5 pounds of muscle, I'll burn 30 calories more than 5 pounds of fat. I probably burn that much turning over while I sleep.
Exactly why I recommend going to a gain cycle where you focus on lean mass building after 10-12 weeks (or you see a plateau/decrease in loss), which in turn will increase your BMR which will allow you to eat more and feel satiated and perform better in your workouts to burn more cals. In a cut cycle, or deficit as it's called here, you tend to lose muscle as well as fat.
I still have well over 100lbs to lose and am thus on a long cut/deficit cycle. I started 01/09 and am down approximately 25lbs now. I did take a weekend off at the end of March before resuming strict calorie counting 04/01. I'm currently losing 1.5-2lbs/week. I'll be on a break from strict counting the first week of May since I'll be in Disney. I still plan to take it as easy as I can by ordering smaller kids meals and drinking water, but I don't expect to lose much, if any, that week.
At some point, I predict if you don't change your diet for a period of time, you'll hit a huge plateau. That's your body adapting to what you're telling it is its new normal.
Right. That's what I'm saying though. I've had one planned weekend break. I'll have a planned week long break in 3.5 weeks. I'm planning another break the first part of July. All deliberately planned, intentional, but still very reasonable breaks.
Seem rather short to be considered a break. Mine are 8 weeks long.3 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »You can't really build much muscle in a calorie deficit. And really, the difference is negligible. If I put on 5 pounds of muscle, I'll burn 30 calories more than 5 pounds of fat. I probably burn that much turning over while I sleep.
Exactly why I recommend going to a gain cycle where you focus on lean mass building after 10-12 weeks (or you see a plateau/decrease in loss), which in turn will increase your BMR which will allow you to eat more and feel satiated and perform better in your workouts to burn more cals. In a cut cycle, or deficit as it's called here, you tend to lose muscle as well as fat.
I still have well over 100lbs to lose and am thus on a long cut/deficit cycle. I started 01/09 and am down approximately 25lbs now. I did take a weekend off at the end of March before resuming strict calorie counting 04/01. I'm currently losing 1.5-2lbs/week. I'll be on a break from strict counting the first week of May since I'll be in Disney. I still plan to take it as easy as I can by ordering smaller kids meals and drinking water, but I don't expect to lose much, if any, that week.
At some point, I predict if you don't change your diet for a period of time, you'll hit a huge plateau. That's your body adapting to what you're telling it is its new normal.
Right. That's what I'm saying though. I've had one planned weekend break. I'll have a planned week long break in 3.5 weeks. I'm planning another break the first part of July. All deliberately planned, intentional, but still very reasonable breaks.
Seem rather short to be considered a break. Mine are 8 weeks long.
I probably have a LOT more weight to lose than you do.1 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »You can't really build much muscle in a calorie deficit. And really, the difference is negligible. If I put on 5 pounds of muscle, I'll burn 30 calories more than 5 pounds of fat. I probably burn that much turning over while I sleep.
Exactly why I recommend going to a gain cycle where you focus on lean mass building after 10-12 weeks (or you see a plateau/decrease in loss), which in turn will increase your BMR which will allow you to eat more and feel satiated and perform better in your workouts to burn more cals. In a cut cycle, or deficit as it's called here, you tend to lose muscle as well as fat.
I still have well over 100lbs to lose and am thus on a long cut/deficit cycle. I started 01/09 and am down approximately 25lbs now. I did take a weekend off at the end of March before resuming strict calorie counting 04/01. I'm currently losing 1.5-2lbs/week. I'll be on a break from strict counting the first week of May since I'll be in Disney. I still plan to take it as easy as I can by ordering smaller kids meals and drinking water, but I don't expect to lose much, if any, that week.
At some point, I predict if you don't change your diet for a period of time, you'll hit a huge plateau. That's your body adapting to what you're telling it is its new normal.
Right. That's what I'm saying though. I've had one planned weekend break. I'll have a planned week long break in 3.5 weeks. I'm planning another break the first part of July. All deliberately planned, intentional, but still very reasonable breaks.
Seem rather short to be considered a break. Mine are 8 weeks long.
I probably have a LOT more weight to lose than you do.
IMO, how much weight someone has to lose has no effect on their body's ability to adapt.5 -
Actually, the more you weigh, the faster your metabolism and the easier it is to lose weight. As you shrink, your metabolism slows down. It's not about adaptability per se, but it is about longer time to get results.4
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Actually, the more you weigh, the faster your metabolism and the easier it is to lose weight. As you shrink, your metabolism slows down. It's not about adaptability per se, but it is about longer time to get results.
So you're suggesting someone who is 350-400 pounds has a higher BMR than someone who is 220 pounds merely based on body weight? You're saying the larger person would require more calories merely based on weight?0 -
Yes exactly (Plugged in my age and height for this at https://www.healthymummy.com/bmr-bmi-explained/calculate-your-bmr/) but used approx 400lbs for the first and 220 for the second:
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Actually, the more you weigh, the faster your metabolism and the easier it is to lose weight. As you shrink, your metabolism slows down. It's not about adaptability per se, but it is about longer time to get results.
So you're suggesting someone who is 350-400 pounds has a higher BMR than someone who is 220 pounds merely based on body weight? You're saying the larger person would require more calories merely based on weight?
Yes, because it takes a greater amount of energy to move a larger amount of weight.8 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »Yes exactly (Plugged in my age and height for this at https://www.healthymummy.com/bmr-bmi-explained/calculate-your-bmr/) but used approx 400lbs for the first and 220 for the second:nutmegoreo wrote: »estherdragonbat wrote: »Actually, the more you weigh, the faster your metabolism and the easier it is to lose weight. As you shrink, your metabolism slows down. It's not about adaptability per se, but it is about longer time to get results.
So you're suggesting someone who is 350-400 pounds has a higher BMR than someone who is 220 pounds merely based on body weight? You're saying the larger person would require more calories merely based on weight?
Yes, because it takes a greater amount of energy to move a larger amount of weight.
Well, I must be a medical/physical anomaly. When I started my journey at 290lbs and 29% BF, my BMR was 2055kcal measured by InBody Scan, not some chart. Now, at 250lbs and 17% BF my BMR is 2340kcal, again measured by InBody Scan.2 -
It really does sound like it: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
Increased muscle mass can slow the reduction in BMR, but it doesn't appear capable of raising it.1 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »It really does sound like it: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
Increased muscle mass can slow the reduction in BMR, but it doesn't appear capable of raising it.
Like I said I must be a medical/physical anomaly..4 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »It really does sound like it: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
Increased muscle mass can slow the reduction in BMR, but it doesn't appear capable of raising it.
Like I said I must be a medical/physical anomaly..
Or you don't realize that when you feel better you naturally move more. My own TDEE, which I track very methodically, has gradually decreased over the course of 150+ pounds until about 30 pounds ago when it began climbing again. I have gained a little over 200 calories. I feel so much better so I move more in non-exercise ways.
My TDEE will definitely start to fall again and that is fine and natural but I have a feeling I am not done improving the activity multiplier part of my equation.7 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »It really does sound like it: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
Increased muscle mass can slow the reduction in BMR, but it doesn't appear capable of raising it.
Like I said I must be a medical/physical anomaly..
Or you don't realize that when you feel better you naturally move more. My own TDEE, which I track very methodically, has gradually decreased over the course of 150+ pounds until about 30 pounds ago when it began climbing again. I have gained a little over 200 calories. I feel so much better so I move more in non-exercise ways.
My TDEE will definitely start to fall again and that is fine and natural but I have a feeling I am not done improving the activity multiplier part of my equation.
I said nothing about TDEE. I said BMR. If you want to debate the accuracy of an InBody Scan, that's a topic for a different section of the forum.
I'm done trying to share my knowledge with you all, which has been derived in places other than internet websites and what other people have told me. ✌
Good luck to you all.5 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »It really does sound like it: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
Increased muscle mass can slow the reduction in BMR, but it doesn't appear capable of raising it.
Like I said I must be a medical/physical anomaly..
Or you don't realize that when you feel better you naturally move more. My own TDEE, which I track very methodically, has gradually decreased over the course of 150+ pounds until about 30 pounds ago when it began climbing again. I have gained a little over 200 calories. I feel so much better so I move more in non-exercise ways.
My TDEE will definitely start to fall again and that is fine and natural but I have a feeling I am not done improving the activity multiplier part of my equation.
I said nothing about TDEE. I said BMR. If you want to debate the accuracy of an InBody Scan, that's a topic for a different section of the forum.
I'm done trying to share my knowledge with you all, which has been derived in places other than internet websites and what other people have told me. ✌
Good luck to you all.
You know, I wasn't going to bother checking into it, but...
https://muscleevo.net/dexa-scan-accurate/How accurate are DEXA scans when it comes to tracking your progress over time? Are they worth the money?
Are DEXA Scans Accurate?
The simple answer to this question is no, DEXA scans are not an accurate way to measure your body composition.
That said, no device can accurately measure how much muscle and fat you have.
The only way to truly measure your body fat is to have all of it stripped out, placed on a scale, and weighed. This method is highly accurate. The only downside is that you have be dead in order for it to happen.
A better question to ask yourself is this:
Are DEXA scans accurate enough so that I can use the information to make better decisions about what to eat and how to train?
DEXA does a reasonable job at estimating group averages. But, it’s not so good at tracking individual changes in body fat and muscle mass over time https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20307312See note.
https://w10.fit/understanding-inbody-scanner-track-results/While it is one of the more accurate body scanners on the market, its findings shouldn’t be taken as gospel. As with all measuring tools, there are surrounding factors that can have an influence on the reading taken at the time.
It's also been debated here and not all that long ago: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10655310/how-accurate-are-inbody-scans8 -
You can lose weight consistently being in a deficit- however, I'd argue you'd lose it faster and more efficiently by avoiding adaptation. I've been getting a lot of "woos" from people who think they know everything because someone told them or they read it on this forum...I had to seek out information and do my own experiments to derive my opinions.
"Cycling through phases" every twelve weeks sounds more like adaptation than simply eating what you enjoy in proper amounts. You are getting woos because you are pushing broscience. People who have been here, losing weight by counting calories, have also done their research to seek out information and derive their opinions.4 -
Well, I must be a medical/physical anomaly. When I started my journey at 290lbs and 29% BF, my BMR was 2055kcal measured by InBody Scan, not some chart. Now, at 250lbs and 17% BF my BMR is 2340kcal, again measured by InBody Scan.
I'm not sure how you derive a must in there as there are several other hypotheses up to explaining the observation. Variance in instrumental results or instrumental error are just as, if not more, likely to explain it. A very common issue is that BMR measurement isn't accurate if you aren't at maintenance as adaptive thermogensis will have set in. If you had been losing weight when you had your first scan, that could explain it - in fact it seems rather likely as BMR calculations for 290 lbs with 29% body fat is actually a BMR of 2387.2 -
peachvine29 wrote: »
Peachvine, that's fantastic! I am the same height and am also within 15 pounds of my goal. I have read several posters on MFP suggest that when you get this close to goal, you should reduce the deficit to the 0.5 lb/week (just like MikePTY suggested). It's great to hear back from you and hear that it's been working for you! I've been on a maintenance plateau for a while, and this week I changed my settings to 0.5/week. It was great timing for me to read your post and I hope to experience the same success that you have! Thanks for the inspiration.1 -
egbert2016 wrote: »peachvine29 wrote: »
Peachvine, that's fantastic! I am the same height and am also within 15 pounds of my goal. I have read several posters on MFP suggest that when you get this close to goal, you should reduce the deficit to the 0.5 lb/week (just like MikePTY suggested). It's great to hear back from you and hear that it's been working for you! I've been on a maintenance plateau for a while, and this week I changed my settings to 0.5/week. It was great timing for me to read your post and I hope to experience the same success that you have! Thanks for the inspiration.
I'm so happy to inspire! Yesterday I was 140 (which marks exactly 60 lbs. lost) and today I am 139.6, haven't seen that in years! (I know daily fluctuations don't matter much at all and they don't bother me when they go up, but these were nice numbers to see). It is working, I am set at sedentary but honestly I get up from my desk so much and walk on my breaks I think I actually burn more and am losing over my goal. I tried doing lower calories but I was just too hungry.
Good luck, press on!!!1 -
A nutritionist told me to eat more protein and drink more water while reducing carbs. Maintain the same calories. The protein is harder to burn but also keeps you full longer and helps prevent binge eating.0
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Another update. Today I am 138.4 lbs., but I've been as low as 137 as of last week. Still losing weight. I am so much happier and less hungry though just by raising my calories to 1,500. I was thinking about it and I have yet to binge eat in many weeks. I feel much better emotionally (no shame or guilt) and feel happy to hit my goal every day, and it's not too hard. Just wanted to say!2
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