Should I follow nurses diet or tdee
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5 lbs in 4 weeks is perfect, and shows that the nurse nailed it - the 1500 calories she recommended is producing a very healthy weight loss pace. TDEE calculators just produce estimates; you have to listen to your own body, and your body's saying "yep, this is working correctly." Also, "eat the exercise calories" is not aimed at dog walkers but people who are hitting the gym or sweating on cardio equipment. A one mile dog walk is about 50 net calories, nothing you need to concern yourself with, except insofar as if you do it every day for a month, you'll earn an extra slightly less than half pound lost. I would just do what the nurse said; it's working. Why change a winning hand?
Also, as you lose weight, your TDEE will come down. Those 5 lbs you lost, guess what, your TDEE has already come down by ~ 25 calories, as you can see for yourself on any online TDEE calculator. So even if your calorie deficit is a tiny bit more than you'd like it to be, you are already headed in the direction of the 1500 being the right number.6 -
You could go a little higher but there is there is nothing inherently wrong with that calorie level. Pay attention to your macros and eat 100g protein minimum. If you feel chronically deprived or significantly increase physical activity/exercise, increase it a little.2
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Based on your results (which is not enough data yet) your average deficit has been about 625.
In about 2 more weeks you should be able to tell even better but if you really believe this is creating a larger deficit for you you may need to tighten up your logging. Are you using a food scale to weigh all solid food? Are you using good database entries that you have verified for logging?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
And this isn't even taking into consideration the larger initial weight people lose when starting a diet. OP may very well have her weight loss slow down now as she is probably creating less of a deficit than that. If the first two weeks weren't included it would give a better picture of her current eating deficit.0 -
joannemgregory wrote: »The nurse at my GP has put me on a 1500 cal diet recommended MFP but said don’t eat your exercise calories
The first 4 weeks I lost 5lb which was perfect.
I am concerned I am not eating enough calories
My BMR is 1717 benedict Harris or 1450 Katch McCardle
I put my activity as lightly active as I am mostly at home and my only exercise atm is walking the dog.
That gave me a TDEE of 2318 cals
I have alway believed in eating exercise calories if I eat a 1500 calories diet I will be eating at a deficit of about 800 cals. I am concerned I will not be eating enough to cover my body’s base needs
My stats are 45
Height. 5 ft 7in
Weight. 220lb
Body fat 50.2%
Sounds like the 1500 is just about right for you. If you feel that you should be eating more, there is nothing wrong with that, but know that it will slow your weight loss. Logging inaccuracies are very common and will easily slip in unnoticed. I suspect you are probably getting more than 1500 without realizing it. If you are happy with your current rate and how you are doing things right now, then stick with it. If you prefer to eat more, then do that, but expect the weight loss to slow. There's nothing wrong with losing more slowly either.4 -
It is your weight loss ... do what suits you and what you can sustain.1
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joannemgregory wrote: »1500 seems low and fairly random. How did they come up with that number?
Our stats are similar (I'm 5'7" 209 and 46 years old) and MFP has me at 1700 (sedentary) to lose one pound a week.
I would say unless there was some type of complex reasoning that got them to the 1500 number you'd be correct that you should still eat back exercise calories.
Try for 2 weeks and see how you feel. You can always add the exercise calories if your energy levels are low or take them away if you're not losing
UK recommended calories for average female is 2000cals
The 1500 cals is a 500 cal deficit to give you a lb a week loss
So, whether you're a 5'0" woman with a desk job who is trying to lose the last few vanity pounds, or a 5'10" woman working construction who needs to lose 60 pounds, the nurse is going to recommend 1500 calories a day, and tell you that if you're training for a marathon you shouldn't eat anything more to fuel those workouts? I think it's clear this advice is not very well thought out.7 -
I personally prefer the TDEE method because that way I don't have a changing goalpost every day for hitting calories and macros.
So I work out my TDEE on the online calculator, reduce my calories by 25% and hey presto.
At least I know exactly how much to eat each day.
And also, on days that 25% is too big a deficit and i'm still very hungry (not peckish - but actually HUNGRY), then I know I can eat extra.
For example, if my maintenance is 2000, I eat at 1500. If I'm "starving to death" i'll eat more - like 1700 or 1800. I'm still under my maintenance but I'm no longer starving and the weight still goes down.
MFP is too confusing with the calories from exercise. The calories burnt are just guesstimates anyway so for me personally, just too fluid for my liking.
EDIT - Oh and as you lose weight you need to actually re-calculate your TDEE. The lower your weight gets the lower your maintenance gets too, so just remember to adjust it every so often.3 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »joannemgregory wrote: »1500 seems low and fairly random. How did they come up with that number?
Our stats are similar (I'm 5'7" 209 and 46 years old) and MFP has me at 1700 (sedentary) to lose one pound a week.
I would say unless there was some type of complex reasoning that got them to the 1500 number you'd be correct that you should still eat back exercise calories.
Try for 2 weeks and see how you feel. You can always add the exercise calories if your energy levels are low or take them away if you're not losing
UK recommended calories for average female is 2000cals
The 1500 cals is a 500 cal deficit to give you a lb a week loss
So, whether you're a 5'0" woman with a desk job who is trying to lose the last few vanity pounds, or a 5'10" woman working construction who needs to lose 60 pounds, the nurse is going to recommend 1500 calories a day, and tell you that if you're training for a marathon you shouldn't eat anything more to fuel those workouts? I think it's clear this advice is not very well thought out.
Only that most probably underweight or healthy weight women, and athletes do not visit the dr to lose weight, so it is probably safe to assume that this is the recommendation for more or less average height, overweight women at a certain age range. I know it is the same in the hospital near me: they will give diabetic patients guidelines on how many calories and what carbs to eat based on groups (age, BMI, physical activity) etc. This is not fine tuned, but it is still a very good starting point, even if it is 200 calories off. It is safe to assume most people are that off in their logging anyway.2 -
As a UK nurse I'd just like to add that we get zero training in dietetics (unless you then go on to do an extra course such as diabetic training) so it's quite likely that your practice nurse was giving advice based only on her own ideas & experience. I've heard my colleagues come out with some completely off the wall ideas about dieting/weight loss & theyre experienced nurses. I'm not saying that your nurse was massively wrong but just that you can't take all advice as gospel just because it comes from a professional13
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virginiajharris wrote: »It could be she misunderstood how MFP is set up or what you were telling her. My nutritionist told me not to eat back my exercise calories. But, that is because she assumed I was eating all my calories and then using exercise to create the deficit. When I pointed out that I was already creating my deficit with my diet and exercise was creating extra deficit, she told met to go ahead and eat them....but maybe not all of them in case I'm overestimating calories burned or underestimating calories consumed.
Given that the nurse recommended that the OP use MFP, doing so without understanding how it works and then advising that the OP not use it as designed borders on professional malpractice.1
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