I'm at maintenance now, so upping my calories didn't seem like a huge deal to me. But it would have if I still have some weight to go....The book recommends that if you need to eat at a deficit to only do a 300 calorie deficit. So, for example, if on your workout days the book tells you to eat 2210, you would subtract 300 and only eat 1910.

bump

Thought I'd add my question to this thread as it's on the same lines:

I've just started and would like to make sure i've got the calorie thing right, with my age/weight/height, my RMR is 1186. So multiply this by 1.4 for a non active day is 1660. I have set this as my calorie limit on here, then any workouts I do I will add (and eat) the calories calculated by my heart rate monitor. By the way i'm in maintenance, just about happy with my weight, just want to change the composition!

Is that right?? The book says to reassess after 4 weeks to make sure it's right for you, but if i've misunderstood I'd rather know sooner obviously...!

I would love to know this too. I am also 38 but 5'2". I set my MFP goal at 1600 (maintenance non workout day cals). I am started NROL on Monday. Sometimes I burn 300-600 cals according to my HRM but the book doesnt have me eating too much of that back. So when i enter it on mFP (kije to do this) do I ignor that excercise cals earned or eat them? UGH.

I am also having a hard time figuring out what I should eat for calories. Im 5.5 162 pounds... could someone help me

I would love to know this too. I am also 38 but 5'2". I set my MFP goal at 1600 (maintenance non workout day cals). I am started NROL on Monday. Sometimes I burn 300-600 cals according to my HRM but the book doesnt have me eating too much of that back. So when i enter it on mFP (kije to do this) do I ignor that excercise cals earned or eat them? UGH.

Wow, that's a helluva burn. Anyone else get this? With my polar when i did the first workout (45 mins) i got under 300 cal burn. But as a rule i eat my exercise cals, so i'm adding this onto my 1660 base and eating them. We'll see i guess!

To my understanding an HRM can only accurately gauge calories burned for cardio exercises, not strength training. I think it's still a useful tool but I wouldn't trust the calories count at the end of your workout.

I would love to know this too. I am also 38 but 5'2". I set my MFP goal at 1600 (maintenance non workout day cals). I am started NROL on Monday. Sometimes I burn 300-600 cals according to my HRM but the book doesnt have me eating too much of that back. So when i enter it on mFP (kije to do this) do I ignor that excercise cals earned or eat them? UGH.

Wow, that's a helluva burn. Anyone else get this? With my polar when i did the first workout (45 mins) i got under 300 cal burn. But as a rule i eat my exercise cals, so i'm adding this onto my 1660 base and eating them. We'll see i guess!

To my understanding an HRM can only accurately gauge calories burned for cardio exercises, not strength training. I think it's still a useful tool but I wouldn't trust the calories count at the end of your workout.

I'm not saying with NROL but with supersets that supreme90 had me doing my heartrate was constantly up within my range during the whole workout so I consider that cardio as well.

If the HRM is off during strength training, I think it would tend more towards underestimating the burn. I wear mine, and my HR is elevated a good bit of the workout. But some of the moves where I think it would be ramped up (sweating, breathing hard), I look and I'm sitting around 95.

So I just log what it gives me, for lack of a better assumption, and we'll see where I end up!

Btw: I added 300 to my maintenance across the board, to create an AVERAGE surplus, went to 40/30/30 on macros, and I eat back my exercise cals. I'm 8 weeks in and my weight is up just under a pound. I decided I would rather gain back a little weight, even if some portion of it is fat, rather than risk pissing my time away trying to build muscle with inadequate nutrition. I plan to cut that surplus back in April to start slimming for summer. I should, theoretically, uncover all the lovely muscles I will have built by then!

From the information I've read this is not true. A heart rate monitor will often overestimate your calories burned doing strength training I won't write it all out myself because it's already been done by more knowledgeable individuals but here's why you shouldn't log your calorie output from your HRM when doing strength training.

"A heart rate monitor (HRM) is capable of estimating calorie burn pretty accurately—but only for aerobic (cardio) exercise, not for strength training. Here's why:

A HRM won't give you an accurate idea of how many calories you burn during strength training, because the relationship between heart rate and calorie expenditure is not the same during strength training as during cardio exercise, which is what the HRM's estimate is based on. Unless your weight training is very vigorous circuit training, the heart rate monitor will be overestimating your calorie burn by a fair amount.

The problem is a technical one. Calorie burning isn't determined by heart rate, it's determined by the number of muscle cells that are activated to perform a given activity. It's the working cells that actually use the energy (calories) and consume oxygen. When working muscle cells need more energy and oxygen, your heart rate goes up to deliver these things to the cells via the blood stream.

Any muscle that performs a high intensity or maximum effort (strength training) will trigger an increase in heart rate and blood flow. But if only a single muscle group is on the receiving end to utilize that extra oxygen (doing a strength exercise that isolates your biceps, for example), only a relatively small amount of oxygen (and calories) will actually be consumed.

So while a series of strength training exercises may elevate your heart rate like aerobic exercise does, you're not actually using as much oxygen and burning as many calories as you would be if you were steadily using several large muscles all at once, as when walking, running, swimming, or doing aerobics for example.

The heart rate monitor doesn’t know whether your increase in heart rate is due to several large muscle groups working (cardio), an isolated muscle group lifting a weight (strength training), or even if adrenaline or excitement is increasing your heart rate. It just knows your heart rate, and the formulas it uses to estimate calories are based on studies of aerobic exercise, not other activities. So, it's going to overestimate your calorie expenditure when the rise in heart rate is stimulated by using isolated muscles at maximum intensity, which is what occurs during strength training.

Written by Dean Anderson, Certified Personal Trainer"

I decided I would rather gain back a little weight, even if some portion of it is fat, rather than risk pissing my time away trying to build muscle with inadequate nutrition

Jarretd ^^^^^ my thoughts exactly!! Well put.

If the HRM is off during strength training, I think it would tend more towards underestimating the burn. I wear mine, and my HR is elevated a good bit of the workout. But some of the moves where I think it would be ramped up (sweating, breathing hard), I look and I'm sitting around 95.

So I just log what it gives me, for lack of a better assumption, and we'll see where I end up!

Btw: I added 300 to my maintenance across the board, to create an AVERAGE surplus, went to 40/30/30 on macros, and I eat back my exercise cals. I'm 8 weeks in and my weight is up just under a pound. I decided I would rather gain back a little weight, even if some portion of it is fat, rather than risk pissing my time away trying to build muscle with inadequate nutrition. I plan to cut that surplus back in April to start slimming for summer. I should, theoretically, uncover all the lovely muscles I will have built by then!

This is how I feel. How tall are you so I can compare where I should have mine (cals) set. I dont want to waste my time either. Like how you worded it.