70 cals is the difference between 10 pounds, really?

clocklady
clocklady Posts: 111 Member
edited December 17 in Health and Weight Loss
I mentioned this in passing in a thread over the weekend asking for advice on what to do about my lack of results and over training, but I've been thinking about it more and I'm curious to see what others think.

Last week I started thinking about how I've seen some people mention eating at maintenance for your goal weight, which makes sense to me. So I plugged in my info on several different on-line calculators and made a discovery. The difference between my goal weight TDEE and my current weight TDEE is 70 calories. Say what? That seems crazy to me.

I figured I was eating enough calories but according to the info I've find I may not have been. I was working out 6-7 days a week burning anywhere from 450-700 caloires a day. I was eating around 2000-2200 or so calories a day. Supposedly I should be eating more like 2500 calories.

I'm planning to cut back to working out 5 days a week to avoid over training and keeping my calories at 2150. When I calculated my TDEE for my goal weight with activity set at moderate (3-5 days a week) I came up with an average of about 2200 calories a day. So I figured setting it at 2150 is safe but not too low.

So, what do you think? Is it just me or does a difference of 70 calories seem ridiculous? Do you think my problem has been not eating enough? I'd love your input. Thanks!

Replies

  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    bump
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I'm not sure how much of a difference you were expecting, but that seems about right.
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    I guess it just seems so hit or miss. We're talking one piece of fruit a day, a slice of bread, half a serving of peanut butter, you get the point.

    Aside from the 70 cals, do you think not eating enough could have been my problem with lack of results? I have no medical problem that would inhibit weight loss, I eat very healthy, I workout, it's a freakin' mystery! :0
  • Erica0718
    Erica0718 Posts: 469 Member
    Bump :)
  • susieq_pt
    susieq_pt Posts: 12
    I have the same problem and have been told that I don't eat enough, but I don't know how much I should be eating. I also work out 5-6 days a week. Any advice??
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    If you only have 10 pounds to lose then I wouldn't think the difference in TDEE would be that great. I would follow the advice that I see most on the boards, which is to calculate a 10-20% deficit based on your TDEE. If you are eating at your maintenance level then it seems that you would lose very slowly, especially if you already accounted for your activity when calculating TDEE.
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    I'd rather lose slowly than not at all. :P I've been at this since December somethings gotta give. :)
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    By slowly I meant that it would probably be verrrry slow. :)

    Have you used the calculators at www.fat2fitradio.com? They will use your heigh, age, current weight and goal weight to give you the amount of calories you should eat based on your activity. The numbers are based ony our TDEE at your goal weight, as they say you should "eat like the thinner person you want to be". At sedentary level mine comes up to 1546 per day. They say you can go under by a "few hundred" in the beginning to have faster weight loss. I have 30 lbs to lose so I don't think my TDEE for my current weight would be much different than the 1546, meaning that I need to create a larger deficit to lose a noticeable amount of weight.
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    By slowly I meant that it would probably be verrrry slow. :)

    Have you used the calculators at www.fat2fitradio.com? They will use your heigh, age, current weight and goal weight to give you the amount of calories you should eat based on your activity. The numbers are based ony our TDEE at your goal weight, as they say you should "eat like the thinner person you want to be". At sedentary level mine comes up to 1546 per day. They say you can go under by a "few hundred" in the beginning to have faster weight loss. I have 30 lbs to lose so I don't think my TDEE for my current weight would be much different than the 1546, meaning that I need to create a larger deficit to lose a noticeable amount of weight.

    Yeah, fat2fitraddio is one of the calculators I used. They gave me the highest numbers and the 70 cal difference. I've tried a big deficit before with MFP's numbers set for 1/2 pound a week and got no results. That's why I was thinking about eating a bit more (closer to my goal weight maintenance) to see how that works. I see what your saying with the 70 cal difference, it would be very slow, so that's why I may shoot for a hundred or so lower than the goal weight maintenance.
  • momof2winsplus
    momof2winsplus Posts: 137 Member
    To lose 1 lb, you need a deficit of 3500 cal. So at only a 70 cal deficit, your rate of loss would be 1 lb every 50 weeks.
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    To lose 1 lb, you need a deficit of 3500 cal. So at only a 70 cal deficit, your rate of loss would be 1 lb every 50 weeks.

    If it was calorie in calorie out I would have lost my ten pounds months ago! lol

    **I guess it seems weird that I say that on a thread were I'm basically asking about how many calories to eat. I just mean that if it was as simple as just eating 3500 cals less than you burn over a given amount of time then I would be making some headway.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    I do believe that there is more to it than simply saying that a lb is 3500 calories. However, I am confused about how you are calculating your daily needs compared to how much you are netting. You said that you were eating your maintenance calories (for your goal weight) but then you said that you were eating 100 calories under that. Either way, it wouldn't be a huge deficit. How are you accounting for your exercise? Are you calculating calories burned per workout then eating (or not eating) those back? Or did you take your activity into account when you figured out your TDEE?
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    Mine is only a 60 calorie difference! Doesn't seem crazy to me! (assuming your close to your goal weight)

    I definetly think you're on track with trying to not overtrain. Sometimes it's all about that sweet spot between your BMR and maintenance calories. More aggressively you could eat your BMR :)
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    This is what I've been doing: I had MFP set for 1/2 a pound loss a week which put me at 1710 cals a day. Then I would add my exercise onto that. I have an HRM so my calorie counts are pretty accurate (I assume). I usually ate my exercise calories, but not all of them all the time. On days I burned 700 calories through exercise that would have me eating 2410, I usually ate more like 2000-2100.

    According to the TDEE calculators that I've looked at it seems I should have been eating around 2400 cals a day regardless. Since I plan to cut down exercise to 5 days a week to try to prevent over training that would put me at 2200 a day (according to the TDEE calculators for my goal weight and 3-5 days of exercise a week). The 100 less I mentioned was to try to add a bit to the deficit caused by eating at my goal weight maintenance cals.

    As you can tell I'm grabbing at straws here. I feel like I've tried everything under the sun and I'm getting nowhere. It would be hard for me to eat any healthier and I can't starve myself at 12-1400 cals because that would just lead to overeating and crankiness.

    I've tried all kinds of cardio and even strength training still with little results (measurements or weight). I can see more muscle definition in my legs which is nice, but that stubborn fat on top of it refuses to move. Grr.

    So anywho, this is my latest last ditch effort to figure out why I am a freak of nature and unable to shed some bodyfat. :)
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    yes, that's right. 70 calories on the short end. if you were using fat2fit, you might also notice that it says when you get close, you may want to drop 200-300 calories a day. 10 lbs. is close.

    Also, make sure your lifestyle consistently matches what you choose as activity level.

    EDIT: try upping your protein to somewhere bt 1 gram per pound of lean body mass and 30 percent of your calories. Make your protein goal no matter where the other macros may fall.

    blessings.
  • Tiggerrick
    Tiggerrick Posts: 1,078 Member
    Here's some interesting reading for you.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/08/26/a-better-model-for-predicting-weight-loss/

    http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
    70 sounds about right.
    The Mifflin-St Jeor equations are:

    Male: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age + 5
    Female: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age - 161

    These equations require the weight in kilograms, the height in centimeters, and the age in years. To determine your total daily calorie needs, the BMR has to be multiplied by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

    1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
    1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week, approx. 590 Cal/day)
    1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week, approx. 870 Cal/day)
    1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week, approx. 1150 Cal/day)
    1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job, approx. 1580 Cal/day)

    http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/cron1.html

    10 pounds is 4.5 kg. The equations for BMR have a factor of 10 cal/kg for weight. So 10 lbs less weight means BMR reduction of 45 calories. Multiply that by 1.55 for moderately active and you've got 70 calories.
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    yes, that's right. 70 calories on the short end. if you were using fat2fit, you might also notice that it says when you get close, you may want to drop 200-300 calories a day. 10 lbs. is close.

    Also, make sure your lifestyle consistently matches what you choose as activity level.

    EDIT: try upping your protein to somewhere bt 1 gram per pound of lean body mass and 30 percent of your calories. Make your protein goal no matter where the other macros may fall.

    blessings.

    I do remember seeing that on fat2fit now that you mention it. Maybe I'll try 2000 at day for a month and see what happens.
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