Major sucess with higher calories!

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will somebody check my calculations for me? i just can't believe i am supposed to eat so much.

female, age 22, 5'9", 176 lbs, moderately active
goal = 155 lbs

i got 2,540 for my BMR. i can't imagine losing weight eating that much since i've had so much success eating at net ~1400 for the past three months (lost 25 lbs). wtf? i have hit a little bit of a plateau, but i increased my net calories to ~1600, should i really increase it more?

You have used your TDEE.

BMR = the energy you use if you were in a coma or sleeping all day - its what you use keeping your body going
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) = the energy you use on a daily basis in your normal life.

I re-ran your numbers, and your your BMR is approx. 1600 - 1700.

If you are using the calculator at http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ then you need to look at the number in the Harris-Benedict Formula section on the page. Look at the table under the "How Many Calories Should I Eat?" to see how much you should eat to lose weight at a reasonable rate based on the different activity levels.

will somebody check my calculations for me? i just can't believe i am supposed to eat so much.

female, age 22, 5'9", 176 lbs, moderately active
goal = 155 lbs

i got 2,540 for my BMR. i can't imagine losing weight eating that much since i've had so much success eating at net ~1400 for the past three months (lost 25 lbs). wtf? i have hit a little bit of a plateau, but i increased my net calories to ~1600, should i really increase it more?

You misread something, that was NOT your BMR given as 2540, but probably your TDEE.
Did you do the process right?

helloitsdan profile instructions

>>>>>IMPORTANT!!!
To get your numbers right please visit http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools
Do the Military Body Fat Calc first, then the BMR tool.
The BMR tool will give exact calories to eat on a daily basis.
Add 20% to this number to get your TDEE.
For Fat loss plans set up macros at 30% Protein/Fat each.<<<<<<<

you're right, that must be my TDEE. according to fat2fit, my BMR is 1642 calories. so, adding 20% = 1970 calories. i'm still confused: should i be NETTING 1970 or just making sure i consume that many calories regardless of exercise? thanks for your help!! i really appreciate it

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Considering 1 lb of muscle only contains 600 calories compared to 3500 cal in a lb of fat, it is easy to lose "weight" with VLCD because you end up burning off muscle.

I have never heard this. This totally makes sense! From what i've seen/exp VLCD usually lose like .25 lb - .5 lb a day. I always wonder how that was possible since 3500 cal = 1 lb. Now I understand why!!!


Edited for typos

will somebody check my calculations for me? i just can't believe i am supposed to eat so much.

female, age 22, 5'9", 176 lbs, moderately active
goal = 155 lbs

i got 2,540 for my BMR. i can't imagine losing weight eating that much since i've had so much success eating at net ~1400 for the past three months (lost 25 lbs). wtf? i have hit a little bit of a plateau, but i increased my net calories to ~1600, should i really increase it more?

thank you!!!!! however i'm still confused because being moderately active, it says i should eat 2545 calories per day. that just seems like such a stretch! any idea as to how many pounds per week one is meant to lose at the rate recommended by fat2fit?

So notice Dan's instructions say to add 20% to the calc eating suggestion in order to get a better TDEE estimate. Not that you are going to do anything with it - but that gap between eating level, and TDEE, is your deficit.

So if fit2fat gave you 2540 for your suggestion, then TDEE is estimated at 3048, and that gap of 508 is your deficit - which is 1lb weekly.

Your body is still lowering the metabolism. Since you are eating at 1400 and BMR is 1600-1700, a 200-300 undercut is not so bad that is does it quickly. And perhaps you haven't yo-yo dieted enough to make it quicker - good.

But, you will start to see diminishing returns as your BMR slows down. Because your true TDEE is lowering too.

So current 1600 BMR and TDEE estimate (mod act 1.55*1600) of 2480 means a deficit at start of 1080 (2480-1400), or 2.2 lbs weekly.
But as BMR slows, it will become.
1400 BMR * 1.55 = 2170 with deficit of 770, or 1.5 lb weekly.

So you'll still lose, just missing out on potential 0.7 lbs weekly. Compared to keeping BMR flying high!

Now, that is still is not bad because you are not undercutting it that bad (if BMR is 1700, that is worse) But as you lose weight, your BMR lowers too.

So you lose another 25 lbs to 150, and now your potential BMR is 1522, but actually still running at 1400, only undercut by 122.

So you are a lucky one, eating back your exercise calories has saved you from making that all worse. Do the math with 600 cal of exercise everyday not getting eaten back - very interesting what happens then.

The only caveat is, entering goal weight with suppressed metabolism could be bad as you try to increase calories to goal maintenance, you'll have at least as small potential compared to others of gaining some weight at first, as metabolism starts to come up.

Count yourself lucky. And yes, adding another 200 at least and still eating back exercise calories could make it a tad faster.
About 0.7 lbs faster eventually. When you get down to losing just 1.5 lbs weekly, might add that 200 in.

Thanks for the info. I hope this will help me re-start the losing because even with changing my exercise routine and/or adding more burned calories the scale doesn't move!!!! Reading you this morning keep me from loosing it and stay aboard. I am following the 1470 cal. mFP gave me and many time I don't reach the total of cal/ day. I also thought that burning more. Cal. With more exercises would help me loose faster because of a greater deficit!!! . So if I burn between 450-600cal, do I have to eat them all back? Or should I consider doing less exercise? Thanks for your help. Imp. To mention that I am closer to 60 and my metabolic rate is slower.

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How many PM do you think Helloitsdan got from this tread?! LOL poor guy!

Thanks for the info. I hope this will help me re-start the losing because even with changing my exercise routine and/or adding more burned calories the scale doesn't move!!!! Reading you this morning keep me from loosing it and stay aboard. I am following the 1470 cal. mFP gave me and many time I don't reach the total of cal/ day. I also thought that burning more. Cal. With more exercises would help me loose faster because of a greater deficit!!! . So if I burn between 450-600cal, do I have to eat them all back? Or should I consider doing less exercise? Thanks for your help. Imp. To mention that I am closer to 60 and my metabolic rate is slower.

The calculators should take changes to your metabolism due to age into account. And yes, you should eat your calories back. If you cannot eat them back, you may want to consider cutting back on cardio and adding strength training (not sure if you do that anyway). Strength training does not use up as many calories as cardio but has a bunch of other benefits. I would suggest you 'mix it up' between cardio and strength - they are both very good for you.

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@heatmack

Quick question, do I still count and eat my excersise if I follow the lightly active number of 1862 that was calculated by Fit 2 Fat? Or is it already included in that number?
I'm a nurse that works 12 hour shifts and walks for most of that 12 hours 3-4 days a week but then I have several days off in a row (anywhere from 2-6)where I'm not that active but I exercise. How would I calculate this??

That level you select should include all activity, and then you would not eat back exercise.

But Lightly Active is not correct for your level for sure. If you truly think it is inbetween (and I'd think inbetween higher levels actually), you can pick a number half-way between.

If you underestimate thinking you are making something better, you'll just be shooting yourself in the metabolism!

Thanks for clearing this up for me, I'm going to up my calories to the Moderate active and see what happens!

I'm getting really frustrated. I am over 250lbs, and my MD told me to stick to a 1500 cal diet! This has got to be insane. I try to listen to my body, eat when I'm hungry etc....
Figured I would stick with it for a while and see what happens. I have lost 55 lbs since August, and have been on a major plateau for about a month.
Grrrr
:sad:

55lbs is awesome!

Do you have to stay at 1500 for ever, or will the doctor adjust your goals as your weight drops?

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