am I eating enough?

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kealambert
kealambert Posts: 961 Member
in Food and Nutrition
i'm hovering around 300 (god help me), and do 5 days in the gym, 3 day lifting split, averaging around 40 minutes per visit, mondays i do fairly intense effort ultimate frisbee for an hour, and then a day of cardio/HIIT for about an hour.

my goal has been set to 1lb/week, with a sedentary lifestyle, i'm 6 4, so it had me at about 2500 cals/day. I just went to 1.5 lb/week as of yesterday, just to see if a change would help. that alots me 2200 and change, pre workout...

my diary is open, and I know some of the things that will come back to me regarding it, but mainly I need to know if I'm eating enough or possibly too much.

Replies

  • heidiberr
    heidiberr Posts: 643 Member
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    So looking through your diary--with my experience on this journey--I would say make sure you are eating all your calories--leaving more than 100 on your plate per day could put your body into starvation mode.

    Watch your sodium--but you are aware of that :) I have suggestions for swaps if you need them.

    I would suggest tracking fiber as that made a huge difference to me in losing weight--making sure I got enough.

    I hope this helps :)
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    yes, the evil sodium, which I feel I've gotten a pretty good handle on for the most part...and it looks like my fiber is pretty sound, I eat lots of oatmeal and apples, both daily, which should more than handle the 24g i need...the problem is I don't trust the calories burned the exercise tracker on here calculates...I feel like 45 minutes of strength training has to burn more than 250 calories
  • heidiberr
    heidiberr Posts: 643 Member
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    I've heard the calorie counts can be way off. For me, I've never plateaued with using their calorie counts, but I only count pilates calories, not strength training.
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    I've heard the calorie counts can be way off. For me, I've never plateaued with using their calorie counts, but I only count pilates calories, not strength training.

    hmmm, how does that work?
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    Heidiberr's suggestions sound good to me. I don't think your'e calorie intake is worryingly low but tbh I think there's no rush in dropping the pounds if you're in it for the long haul, so if i were you I'd stick to the recommended weekly weight loss of 1 lb and given the fact that you're fairly active not sure what degree sedentary applies to you.

    Anyway keep monitoring it - imo you want to make sure you're not losing weight too rapidly.
    Best of Luck.
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    given the fact that you're fairly active not sure what degree sedentary applies to you.

    I'm glad you mentioned this, I was under the impression this was in regards to just your work or home life, not gym life, should I change this??
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
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    I'm an active person in general, but I still put my activity level as sedentary as I tend to sit on my butt 8 hours or more a day. When I'm active, I'm REALLY active. So far so good.
    I'm lazy and don't feel like going over to your diary, but a few things that usually help people is to make sure you're staying away from a lot of the pre-packaged and processed foods. They have tons of sodium and really aren't that good for you. Second, drink lots of water. It really helps with keeping you feeling a little more full, and think of frequent bathroom trips as additional exercise! LOL. I honestly will drink up to a gallon a day, some days more, during the summer time, and almost as much, if you count tea, in the winter time. It's really helped me out a lot over the years. And if you get used to drinking lots of water, you don't need to worry as much about the sodium intake!
    Hope something here helps!
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    I'm glad you mentioned this, I was under the impression this was in regards to just your work or home life, not gym life, should I change this??

    I'm not realy sure. I'm kind of curious about this myself as a newbie also. :wink:
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    I'm an active person in general, but I still put my activity level as sedentary as I tend to sit on my butt 8 hours or more a day. When I'm active, I'm REALLY active. So far so good.
    I'm lazy and don't feel like going over to your diary, but a few things that usually help people is to make sure you're staying away from a lot of the pre-packaged and processed foods. They have tons of sodium and really aren't that good for you. Second, drink lots of water. It really helps with keeping you feeling a little more full, and think of frequent bathroom trips as additional exercise! LOL. I honestly will drink up to a gallon a day, some days more, during the summer time, and almost as much, if you count tea, in the winter time. It's really helped me out a lot over the years. And if you get used to drinking lots of water, you don't need to worry as much about the sodium intake!
    Hope something here helps!

    not lashing out at you, but if you are to proffer advice, do look at the diary first :) I drink more than the alotted recommendation of water, sodium intake is one of my main foci, and I really don't eat much in the way of prepackaged foods

    thank you though for the input on a gallon of water, I'm sure I could do that
  • heidiberr
    heidiberr Posts: 643 Member
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    I've heard the calorie counts can be way off. For me, I've never plateaued with using their calorie counts, but I only count pilates calories, not strength training.

    hmmm, how does that work?

    Strength training calories are tricky from what I understand.

    You might want to read some of these links: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    Banks (the guy who made most of them) is pretty much an expert on all of this MFP stuff and I've followed his guidelines to a TEE.
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    I've heard the calorie counts can be way off. For me, I've never plateaued with using their calorie counts, but I only count pilates calories, not strength training.

    hmmm, how does that work?

    Strength training calories are tricky from what I understand.

    You might want to read some of these links: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    Banks (the guy who made most of them) is pretty much an expert on all of this MFP stuff and I've followed his guidelines to a TEE.

    very cool...which link do you think applies to this problem??
  • heidiberr
    heidiberr Posts: 643 Member
    Options
    I've heard the calorie counts can be way off. For me, I've never plateaued with using their calorie counts, but I only count pilates calories, not strength training.

    hmmm, how does that work?

    Strength training calories are tricky from what I understand.

    You might want to read some of these links: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

    Banks (the guy who made most of them) is pretty much an expert on all of this MFP stuff and I've followed his guidelines to a TEE.

    very cool...which link do you think applies to this problem??

    I cut this from one of the links, but I think it's what you are looking for:

    : you need to be above your BMR calories to keep your body functioning. You want to be less than the calories you need to maintain your current weight to lose weight.


    My BMR is 1670 which is the amount of calories I eat every day no matter how much or how little I exercise. I do this for two reason

    1. I totally agree you should not eat below your BMR, your body needs to keep functioning
    2. I calulated my TDEE, TDEE is the total number of calories that your body expends in 24 hours, including all activities. TDEE is also known as your "maintenance level". I based this on my current weight. Here is a rough way to calculate your TDEE. Take your BMR and multiply it according to your activity level

    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.)

    With my numbers I consider myself between Mod and very active so I multiply my BMR by 1.6, this gives me a TDEE of 2672. So if I wanted to maitain my current weight of 211(which I don't) at my current activity level I would eat 2,672 calories a day. But I want to lose weight. So I am reducing my caloric intake for a 2lb a week weight loss, which is 1,000 calories a day. So, to lose 2lbs a week I eat 1,672 calories a day and wouldn't you know it, that's right where my BMR is! When I actually did all these calculations I was very happy to see the numbers were supported both ways. This is also why I don't adjust my food intake for exercise, I've already worked my activity level into my calculations on my TDEE, now if I really do an extra long workout that's more than my average I'll certainly add some more calories in.



    Now for me personally--I put myself as lightly active on MFP AND I eat all my exercise calories--and am still losing the weight. I work out every single day plus I walk around work a lot.

    So basically--find your BMR and TDEE. Then somewhere in between those numbers will be a great sweet spot to lose weight.
  • Kloss914
    Kloss914 Posts: 27 Member
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    Yeah, what Heidi said .... Lol.... I do, however, eat at TDEE and don't often eat all my calories back. I am a runner and sometimes the burns are up there and I couldn't possibly fill that with healthy choices. So essentially, I eat until I"m full on those days and do allow more if my body asks for it. I am steadily losing but did just break through a VERY long plateau with what I found worked. I upped my protein (once a day I eat a 40 gram protein shake either for lunch or breakfast with flax seed and almond milk blended ), added more healthy fats ( I believe for me this was key because I wasn't eating many fatty foods and the scale wasn't moving) ????? I'm not sure I totally buy into the feed your burn mentality but there is something to be said with making your body comfortable and willing to let the fat go ??? !!! I'm no expert. I also found the opposite of what you mentioned about MFP calories..... I find that my HRM that I wear for workouts is almost ALWAYS lower than if I just input time and activity into the MFP counter ??? So I go by my heart rate monitor. I do have a resting heart rate of 49 and think for sure that that plays a factor ! Hope all this helps. I don't usually jump on the forums but am friends with Heidi and thought I had something to add. Good luck on your journey !!!
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    thanks for your input all :)

    I'm going to up my activity level to moderately active (3 lift days and 1 day of intense frisbee per week), and my goal to 2 pounds /week (i know it's high, I'm going to try it, if I'm really hungry, I'll adjust) and then not eat back my calories, within reason. again, if i find i'm really hungry, i will adjust.

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