craigo3154 wrote: »

Colleen790 wrote: »

@craigo3154 Thanks again for the tips and good advice. I actually prefer to exercise at home but with the high temperatures here in Australia I thought I'd go to the gym for the air conditioning mainly. Yes, I followed that "Eat more to lose weight" idea that was being pushed at the time. Eat back your exercise calories. MFP friends saying you need to eat more. Doesn't work for me.

@Colleen790. The "Eat more to lose weight" idea has 2 underlying assumptions that most people miss:

1. You are already eating WAY less than you should (ie. deficit of more than 2000kj (500 calorie) per day) and have been for over a month.
2. The MORE you are being asked to eat is "good" food (particularly whole vegetables with fibre included).

If you have a BMI above normal, you almost always are carrying an abundance of stored energy that you body is capable of tapping into (adipose tissue / fat). Eating more slows down access to these energy stores. (There is WAY more to it than this, but this is the essence).

Metabolic damage is real, but takes A LONG time in SEVERE calorie deficit to occur (like in "The Biggest Loser" TV shows). Most never have the drive to push themselves willingly that far into danger.

Summary:

• Eat less than you burn per day (TDEE) consistently to lose weight
• To lose weight faster, do not eat back exercise calories

Calculating TDEE is difficult. Best we can usually do is refine the estimate based of observation and tracking. Ignore exercise equipment quoted calorie burn it is often quite exaggerated.

(Good guide for daily calorie limit is: https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ (40yo 75kg 5'6" female estimated TDEE is 1724 kCal {7213 kj} - Moderate weight loss (0.5kg per week) target is 1224 kCal {5121 kj} )