Calorie cycling thoughts? Feeling overwhelmed!
SisepuedeLinda
Posts: 132 Member
Hello all! I’m not new but I’ve never been here noire than 4 months at a time lol. I’m 5’5 and When i last left I was 230 and now I’m 260! 😬 I’m very uneducated in health matters and what works best but I’ve come across some sites that discuss calorie cycling like eating more on intense workout days and less on rest days..is this an efficient way to start? Also,1350 calorie goal seems too little since other websites said like 1500. I’m overwhelmed with where to start since I’d like to lose 100 pounds.. Never been this weight before. Any comments or suggestions are welcome 
I know it’s better to just start but.. y’all don’t know how many times I’ve started and never completed lol 😂 would like a successful outcome this time!
I know it’s better to just start but.. y’all don’t know how many times I’ve started and never completed lol 😂 would like a successful outcome this time! 3
Replies
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SisepuedeLinda wrote: »Hello all! I’m not new but I’ve never been here noire than 4 months at a time lol. I’m 5’5 and When i last left I was 230 and now I’m 260! 😬 I’m very uneducated in health matters and what works best but I’ve come across some sites that discuss calorie cycling like eating more on intense workout days and less on rest days..is this an efficient way to start? Also,1350 calorie goal seems too little since other websites said like 1500. I’m overwhelmed with where to start since I’d like to lose 100 pounds.. Never been this weight before. Any comments or suggestions are welcome I know it’s better to just start but.. y’all don’t know how many times I’ve started and never completed lol 😂 would like a successful outcome this time!
Eating more when you do more.
Eating less when you do less.
That is exactly what MFP will cause to happen when used as designed.
MFP is giving an eating goal based on daily activity level (be honest) with NO exercise accounted for.
And your selected rate of loss - which could easily be unreasonable for many people. With 100 to go, 2lb weekly is reasonable though you'll likely not see that possible in the math.
You add on the exercise when actually done.
Other sites almost always give eating goal based on only planned exercise to be done (so you better do it) and no consideration of daily activity (mail carrier and desk jockey end up the same if same workout times), nor really what the workouts are (3 hrs of walking weekly is the same as 3 hrs hard spin bike classes?).
Use MFP as designed unless you just can't handle potentially eating different amounts daily, and your activity and exercise are very regular on weekly basis.8 -
You do understand that MyFitnessPal also works by giving you a higher calorie goal on days you exercise?
It's also you that picked 1350 (plus exercise calories remember) by the choice you made in selecting a certain rate of weight loss. 1500 including exercise (which other sites do) and 1350 plus exercise are going to be pretty close for you.
If it seems too low an allowance then pick a slower rate of loss. It really does seem like you need to concentrate on direction of your weight trend and making adherence easy rather than going for difficult and fast weight loss that crushes your motivation and leads you to give up and regain everything you have lost. With 100lbs to lose not giving up is the most important factor, don't make a tough job harder than it has to be.6 -
SisepuedeLinda wrote: »Hello all! I’m not new but I’ve never been here noire than 4 months at a time lol. I’m 5’5 and When i last left I was 230 and now I’m 260! 😬 I’m very uneducated in health matters and what works best but I’ve come across some sites that discuss calorie cycling like eating more on intense workout days and less on rest days..is this an efficient way to start? Also,1350 calorie goal seems too little since other websites said like 1500. I’m overwhelmed with where to start since I’d like to lose 100 pounds.. Never been this weight before. Any comments or suggestions are welcome I know it’s better to just start but.. y’all don’t know how many times I’ve started and never completed lol 😂 would like a successful outcome this time!
MFPs calorie target is without exercise...so when you do exercise you log it and get additional calories added to your target...so what you're describing is how MFP works in general.
Most calorie calculators are TDEE calculators which include exercise in your activity level when setting up...MFP is NOT a TDEE calculator which is why you log exercise after the fact. MFP is a NEAT method calculator. This is why most other calculators will give you more calories than MFP to start with...they are accounting for exercise up front. With MFP it's on the back end when you log it.5 -
Perhaps instead of stressing over how much weight you need to lose TOTAL - think of your weight loss as 5-10 pounds at a time. Stepping stones to get you to where you want to be.
It is natural to want to lose weight fast and thus choose the highest per week weight loss rate. But the goal is sustainable progress, not fast and furious. If 1350 is not something you can do LONG TERM then you are right to question it. Instead aim for 1 or 1.5 pounds per week. Going from 2 to 1.5 should mean +250 cals you can eat per day, so 1600 + exercise instead of 1350.
And one other thing: there is no completion. Your goal is to live a long, healthy life I imagine. Try to make the best you can of each day, even if each day is not 'perfect'.5 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »SisepuedeLinda wrote: »Hello all! I’m not new but I’ve never been here noire than 4 months at a time lol. I’m 5’5 and When i last left I was 230 and now I’m 260! 😬 I’m very uneducated in health matters and what works best but I’ve come across some sites that discuss calorie cycling like eating more on intense workout days and less on rest days..is this an efficient way to start? Also,1350 calorie goal seems too little since other websites said like 1500. I’m overwhelmed with where to start since I’d like to lose 100 pounds.. Never been this weight before. Any comments or suggestions are welcome I know it’s better to just start but.. y’all don’t know how many times I’ve started and never completed lol 😂 would like a successful outcome this time!
MFPs calorie target is without exercise...so when you do exercise you log it and get additional calories added to your target...so what you're describing is how MFP works in general.
Most calorie calculators are TDEE calculators which include exercise in your activity level when setting up...MFP is NOT a TDEE calculator which is why you log exercise after the fact. MFP is a NEAT method calculator. This is why most other calculators will give you more calories than MFP to start with...they are accounting for exercise up front. With MFP it's on the back end when you log it.
This makes a lot of sense! I forgot that’s how it worked I was thinking I had to adjust my goal every time I exercised. Thank you!2 -
Thinking about what you need to do to lose 100 pounds would be overwhelming. I have 40 to lose and find THAT to be overwhelming. What I am trying to do now is set daily goals that will help me feel better. My goal for yesterday was to use my tracker and drink 60 oz. of water. I didn't meet the water goal but I did track. Today is a new day. I am setting the exact same goal. Baby steps.1
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I think the best thing is to start simple. Unless you have a specific reason otherwise not to, I really think most people would do fine setting a reasonable rate of loss in the guided setup and just letting MFP do the math for you. Stick with that for a while, logging your food and exercise as MFP intends you to do, and see how it goes. That's how I started and it's still serving me well, although I have made a few small adjustments along the way. I don't think it would have made much sense, though, to expect me to have figured that out before I even started!
As you become more familiar with how MFP works, and get to know what you are like when you're not overeating (because it is a lifestyle change!), then you can start playing with it a bit if you want to.
Honestly, I think a lot of people end up giving up because they make it harder on themselves than they need to. People can endure intense suffering for short bursts of time, but not long-term, and not without knowing precisely when it will end. You're building habits for life, here, which calls for long-game discipline. That's a very different strategy than going all in and burning out in short order. I have about fifty pounds to go, which sometimes feels overwhelming, but most of the time it feels fine because I'm not depriving myself and going so hard I feel like I'm going to collapse. It'll probably take me about a year more to get there. That feels like a long time, but it really isn't compared to the rest of my life. 1 -
I'm 5'6" and started at 124 kg (about 270 lbs). I wasn't very active to begin with but trying to lose on 1500 or less for me was unsustainable and absolutely miserable. I had no energy, I was tired all the time and it ended up setting me back.1
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I would strongly encourage you as a beginner to keep it as simple as possible. Aim for consistency with finishing each day a few hundred calories below maintenance and you'll start to see progress which will motivate you to keep doing it. Consistency is after all the most difficult part of weight loss. No need to start trying to get away with 'high calorie' days - that's just asking for problems.4
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I would strongly encourage you as a beginner to keep it as simple as possible. Aim for consistency with finishing each day a few hundred calories below maintenance and you'll start to see progress which will motivate you to keep doing it. Consistency is after all the most difficult part of weight loss. No need to start trying to get away with 'high calorie' days - that's just asking for problems.
I think the overarching point is that "maintenance" isn't a fixed number if one is comparing between more and less active days. If I don't move around much, maintenance is about 1,400 calories. If I have a day with my average activity, then it's about 2,000. If I have a very active day, it's about 2,500. That's worth accounting for, IMO.4 -
I found it much easier to eat the same amount everyday and go on the weekly average. when I was your weight I could go below 2k without feeling bad mentally and physically. I walked everyday to keep active. Ive lost 100 pounds.1
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