Plan to break my plateau - is this accurate??
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Replies
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Don't complicate it. Use the tools as given here. In a month, reevaluate.
Read this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506979-correct-calorie-deficit
Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
____________________________________________________________________________
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
These Activity Multipliers have been dogging me all day. :laugh: I completely understand it in theory, but since not all exercise is created equal, what feels intense to me might actually qualify as moderate on a scale like this. How do we know which one to really choose? For example, I've been doing 30DS regularly, burn around 220 cals according to my HRM, but it's very intense for me and kicks my butt. I sweat like crazy and can't talk during it (can barely form a coherent thougt!). Does that count as "hard exercise" for me or "moderate" since I do it or some other exercise 5-6 days a week?
Then you throw in something like the more advanced calculator I linked earlier and those numbers come out even higher than a safe conservative guess of the activity multplier, yet I saw someone post in another thread that owner of BodyMediaFits find it to be more accurate. :ohwell:0 -
BMR: 1441.55
from http://www.bmi-calculator.net
TDEE: 1722 (on a normal day sitting at my desk job)
from fitnessfrog.com
I'm still a bit confused by the two. So BMR is what I need to stay alive and TDEE is what I need to maintain my current weight? Both seem total poppycock to me bc I've been eating 1200 for almost a year and I'm not dead yet. =P0 -
Thank you so much for posting this question! I am having the exact same problem and am scared to bump up my calories as well!!!
After reading the comments, I am bumping up my calories from 1200 to 1400.... I'm scared to go any higher right now. Hoping the 200 is enough.
Feel free to add me if you want... might help to have someone experimenting with their calorie intake too!
0 -
Don't complicate it. Use the tools as given here. In a month, reevaluate.
Read this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506979-correct-calorie-deficit
Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
____________________________________________________________________________
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
These Activity Multipliers have been dogging me all day. :laugh: I completely understand it in theory, but since not all exercise is created equal, what feels intense to me might actually qualify as moderate on a scale like this. How do we know which one to really choose? For example, I've been doing 30DS regularly, burn around 220 cals according to my HRM, but it's very intense for me and kicks my butt. I sweat like crazy and can't talk during it (can barely form a coherent thougt!). Does that count as "hard exercise" for me or "moderate" since I do it or some other exercise 5-6 days a week?
Then you throw in something like the more advanced calculator I linked earlier and those numbers come out even higher than a safe conservative guess of the activity multplier, yet I saw someone post in another thread that owner of BodyMediaFits find it to be more accurate. :ohwell:
if your normal lifestyle is sedentary, 30DS generally makes you lightly active.0 -
BMR: 1441.55
from http://www.bmi-calculator.net
TDEE: 1722 (on a normal day sitting at my desk job)
from fitnessfrog.com
I'm still a bit confused by the two. So BMR is what I need to stay alive and TDEE is what I need to maintain my current weight? Both seem total poppycock to me bc I've been eating 1200 for almost a year and I'm not dead yet. =P
Take 80% off of TDEE or 250 calories. It's hard for you to aim fro 1 lb per week since you are close to your goal.
Also, your BMR is the amount of calories you need to maintain normal body function. Eating below that level consistently will just make your metabolism to slow down to adapt to the intake. Also, you don't exercise do you?0 -
Thank you so much for posting this question! I am having the exact same problem and am scared to bump up my calories as well!!!
After reading the comments, I am bumping up my calories from 1200 to 1400.... I'm scared to go any higher right now. Hoping the 200 is enough.
Feel free to add me if you want... might help to have someone experimenting with their calorie intake too!
If you want, PM me and I will show you what you should/can really eat. Remember you need to eat 500 calories above your TDEE to gain lb of fat. So in the OP's gain, she has to consistently eat 2300 calories and not exercise.0 -
BMR: 1441.55
from http://www.bmi-calculator.net
TDEE: 1722 (on a normal day sitting at my desk job)
from fitnessfrog.com
I'm still a bit confused by the two. So BMR is what I need to stay alive and TDEE is what I need to maintain my current weight? Both seem total poppycock to me bc I've been eating 1200 for almost a year and I'm not dead yet. =P
This is the problem, your body is now used to 1200 per day. Did you incorporate any spike days at all in there?
Trust me, go ahead and up it to 1400, you will not be sorry you did.0 -
I'll be brutally honest here and admit that no, I don't exercise much. I know that also has to change. Right now my exercise consists of dog walks, walks at lunch, and a lot of gardening. I will admit it, I hate exercising. I can have a lot of willpower when it comes to what I eat, but I have very little when it comes to getting off my lazy *kitten*.0
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Don't complicate it. Use the tools as given here. In a month, reevaluate.
Read this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506979-correct-calorie-deficit
Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
If you want to lose 0.5 pounds a week: (BMR*activity level*7) - (1750) = calories for the week, then divide this by 7 for calories for the day
If you want to lose 1.0 pound a week: (BMR*activity level*7) - (3500) = calories for the week, then divide this by 7 for daily cals
For every half pound more per week, add 1750 to the second set of brackets
____________________________________________________________________________
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
The funny thing is that I just did that and it comes out to almost exactly 1200 calories a day! LOL!
No disrespect but that can't be. something is wrong with how your doing your calculations unless you are t rying to lose more than 1 pound per week.. You are 32 years old, 5' 7" and 143 LBS. I calculated your BMR and that is 1590.19 on a quick on line BMR calculator. Assuming you are lightly active you mulitply that by 1.375. (I don't remember what you said your activity level was. If you are moderatly active you would multiply by 1.55) That give 21.86.25. To lose 1 pound per week, which is where you probably want to be goal wise, you take 500 away from that. That puts you at 1686.25. I'm guessing at your height you are within 15 pounds of your goal weight. That being the case, you don't want to try more than that like say, 2 pounds per week as you will get exactly what you have which is plateauing. I might even suggest that you drop your goal to 1/2 pound per week. you've been palteaued for awhile, how great would losing 4 lbs over the next 8 weeks be?
As you get closer to your goal, your body starts playing jedi mind tricks on you to keep from losing more. You gotta play them back and one of the ways to do that is to increase calories and accept a slower loss but get things moving again. Another couple of tricks are up your activity, strength training and intermittent fasting ( see the leangains website). Bottom line, if you are doing the calculations corrrectly and have the objective set correctly you should be well above 1200 calories.0 -
if your normal lifestyle is sedentary, 30DS generally makes you lightly active.
Can you please explain the reasoning behind this? Lightly active is described as exercising 1-3x a week, but I exercise 5-6x a week. I think if I understood the why behind it, the math would make more sense to me. It just seems to me that 27 minutes of 30DS is a lot harder than taking a 27 minute stroll around the mall, which if I did THAT 3-5x a week would put me more than sedentary in itself. So it would seem 30DS would be moreso. Along the same lines, the same 27 minute stroll aound the mall is very different from 27 minutes at a brisk 4mph pace which is still different from 27 minutes at a 6mph run. So, this is where the activity multipliers are really confusing me.
I'm not trying to be argumentative....I really do just want to understand. My current weight and height don't allow a lot of wiggle room between my BMR and a sedentary or lightly active TDEE, and while time is on my side here and I'm not in a race to lose the rest of the weight, I would rather get this thing moving again than not.
The other reason I'm hung up on this is that I'm planning to start P90x in the next couple of weeks, so if I understand what my body is doing NOW it will help later when I introduce that level of exercise into my week.0 -
Bump0
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The funny thing is that I just did that and it comes out to almost exactly 1200 calories a day! LOL!
No disrespect but that can't be. something is wrong with how your doing your calculations unless you are t rying to lose more than 1 pound per week.. You are 32 years old, 5' 7" and 143 LBS. I calculated your BMR and that is 1590.19 on a quick on line BMR calculator. Assuming you are lightly active you mulitply that by 1.375. (I don't remember what you said your activity level was. If you are moderatly active you would multiply by 1.55) That give 21.86.25. To lose 1 pound per week, which is where you probably want to be goal wise, you take 500 away from that. That puts you at 1686.25. I'm guessing at your height you are within 15 pounds of your goal weight. That being the case, you don't want to try more than that like say, 2 pounds per week as you will get exactly what you have which is plateauing. I might even suggest that you drop your goal to 1/2 pound per week. you've been palteaued for awhile, how great would losing 4 lbs over the next 8 weeks be?
As you get closer to your goal, your body starts playing jedi mind tricks on you to keep from losing more. You gotta play them back and one of the ways to do that is to increase calories and accept a slower loss but get things moving again. Another couple of tricks are up your activity, strength training and intermittent fasting ( see the leangains website). Bottom line, if you are doing the calculations corrrectly and have the objective set correctly you should be well above 1200 calories.
It seems like every calculator comes out with a different result. Somewhere up there in this thread I did a BMR calculator and TDEE calculator and posted the results and where I found them. My results were different than yours.... so it's hard to know what to believe.
I would like to lose 1 pound a week. And yes, I am 13 pounds away from my goal of 130. I lost the first 23 pounds by doing the 1200 calories a day. I switched to ultra low carb after the first few months of my stall and it has not made the scale move. (I have not been counting calories on Atkins, but they have still been staying around 1200 or less a day. A lot of protein will do that!)
So I think, from what I gather from all of your wonderful advise (THANK YOU EVERYONE!) that I shall aim for 1400 to 1500 calories a day. I am going to gradually up my carb intake as well and ween myself off the ultra low carb Atkins approach -- but still stay far away from junk carbs.0 -
And THANKS for those who recommended the "eat more weight less" group - I just joined and am reading everything in there!
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Another thought occured to me and it was spurred by your statement that you've been stuck for months. When was the last time you took 2 weeks and just ate at maintenance? Your body (autonomic nervous syestem) has you figured out and has adapted beautifully. You may benefit from changing things up and going to maintenance of about 1800 to 2000 per day for 2 weeks to a month, then going back to 1/2 lb or 1 lb per week deficit. Kind of reseting your system. This affects hormones like leptin and ther things that will help (without getting too technical).0
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Another thought occured to me and it was spurred by your statement that you've been stuck for months. When was the last time you took 2 weeks and just ate at maintenance? Your body (autonomic nervous syestem) has you figured out and has adapted beautifully. You may benefit from changing things up and going to maintenance of about 1800 to 2000 per day for 2 weeks to a month, then going back to 1/2 lb or 1 lb per week deficit. Kind of reseting your system. This affects hormones like leptin and ther things that will help (without getting too technical).
That is basically what I plan to do!
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I don't know about increasing calories to lose weight. I hear a lot from people who say "eat more" to lose weight but I don't know the mechanics of that and it has never worked for me. It's funny because I usually get stuck at 145 as well when I get on a weight loss kick (back up to 160 now) and working my way down). That must be a magic number!
MFP only allots me 1200 calories as well at 160 and 5'2", I guess because of my height? You definitely can't eat less so I hope more works for you. Otherwise maybe increase the exercise or try intermittent fasting. I read that is good for plateaus.0 -
I don't know about increasing calories to lose weight. I hear a lot from people who say "eat more" to lose weight but I don't know the mechanics of that and it has never worked for me. It's funny because I usually get stuck at 145 as well when I get on a weight loss kick (back up to 160 now) and working my way down). That must be a magic number!
MFP only allots me 1200 calories as well at 160 and 5'2", I guess because of my height? You definitely can't eat less so I hope more works for you. Otherwise maybe increase the exercise or try intermittent fasting. I read that is good for plateaus.
It doesn't work and yet you keep doing it? Priceless. If you get stuck at 145.....maybe try something different. IJS.0 -
if your normal lifestyle is sedentary, 30DS generally makes you lightly active.
Can you please explain the reasoning behind this? Lightly active is described as exercising 1-3x a week, but I exercise 5-6x a week. I think if I understood the why behind it, the math would make more sense to me. It just seems to me that 27 minutes of 30DS is a lot harder than taking a 27 minute stroll around the mall, which if I did THAT 3-5x a week would put me more than sedentary in itself. So it would seem 30DS would be moreso. Along the same lines, the same 27 minute stroll aound the mall is very different from 27 minutes at a brisk 4mph pace which is still different from 27 minutes at a 6mph run. So, this is where the activity multipliers are really confusing me.
I'm not trying to be argumentative....I really do just want to understand. My current weight and height don't allow a lot of wiggle room between my BMR and a sedentary or lightly active TDEE, and while time is on my side here and I'm not in a race to lose the rest of the weight, I would rather get this thing moving again than not.
The other reason I'm hung up on this is that I'm planning to start P90x in the next couple of weeks, so if I understand what my body is doing NOW it will help later when I introduce that level of exercise into my week.
Generally, front all the numbers I have run, those who just do JM 30DS don't burn enough calories to go into moderately active category. But if you want, post your estimated BMR (using the tool function) and I can show you a few ways to look at it. When you do P90X, you will definitely be moderately active or even very active.0 -
I'm with you!!!! I hope what your saying is true, I just spent 5 weeks dieting and working out like crazy only to stay the same weight! I realized I am eating too few calories plus I was not eating my calories burnt. How long before you think I will see the scale drop if I start eating more calories and eating my burnt calories? Do you see results in a weeks time?0
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Psulemon said:
Generally, front all the numbers I have run, those who just do JM 30DS don't burn enough calories to go into moderately active category. But if you want, post your estimated BMR (using the tool function) and I can show you a few ways to look at it. When you do P90X, you will definitely be moderately active or even very active.
Ok, that does makes some sense because, you're right, it does only burn about 220 calories each time. I just wasn't sure if I should be going by number of times exercising, intensity level, or what.
After chewing on this some yesterday, I've come to the conclusion that I screwed myself up by not eating my exercise calories back. At 5'3", 35yo, 153 lb my BMR is 1350 (or 1450 if using Harris-Benedict).
I considered what I was doing when I was losing weight consistently. When I first started losing weight, I was *not* exercising and I was eating 1500 calories a day. I lost an average of .8 lb/wk. Based on that I figure my TDEE must have been around 1900 cals/day. Even though I have a desk job, that comes to an activity multiplier of about 1.4. Once I started exercising I thought it would just increase my deficit in a good way and boost me to the 1 lb/wk mark. And it did for a month. Then it stalled.
So, based on what I knew from before, I figure with exercise my TDEE may run between 2100-2200 -- which is an activity factor of 1.55. That would jive with exercising 5-6x a week, which I do. But I'm realizing that even at just 220 calories burned with 30DS, that puts me a consistent net calories below my BMR and could explain the stall.
I could either try to eat a full 2100 calories a day, or I can keep with the 1500 daily calories but start eating my exercise calores back regularly and see if that helps. That sounds like the better thing to try before jumping up suddenly.0
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