Here's why you're not losing weight! Follow this equation! (
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Jbradbury1964
Posts: 109 Member
Many people (including me) get a little frustrated by not losing weight and inches; and find themselves sitting on a plateau. Do not fret! This is quite natural for your body to do. What you need to remember is this weight was not put on overnight and therefore, its not coming off overnight. What you do this week, is not going to show the results on your body for about another 2-3 weeks. BE PATIENT AND KIND WITH YOURSELF!!!!
However, here is just some information I found on MFP and am sharing with others in hopes this will help.
BMR is the amount of calories needed to survive in a coma. Maintenance calories are BMR x activity level.
Go here to find your BMR: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/:happy:
Sedentary: BMR x 1.2 = xxxx calories
Lightly Active: BMR x 1.375 = xxxx calories
Moderately Active: BMR x 1.55 = xxxx calories
Vigorously Active: BMR x 1.725 = xxxx calories
Extremely Active: BMR x 1.9 = xxxx calories
So, based on your daily activity level, which depends mostly on your job, you would be at any of those calorie levels. Take that number, subtract 500, and that's your calorie goal. If you burn extra calories by exercising, you add those to your goal and be sure to eat those calories!
For example, my BMR is 1793 and I have a sedentary life.
1793 x 1.2 = 2151 Calories
2151 – 500 = 1651 Calories
So, if I do not exercise at all today, I will need to burn 1651 Calories
However, say I burned up 490 calories exercising today. I would take the 1651+ 490 = 2141
This means by the end of the day I would need to have eaten 2141 calories to lose a pound a week. Make sense?
I know it sounds weird you should eat to lose.
Remember; keep to a green diet (no light colored foods like breads, pasta etc) and add your protein (fish, chicken, beef) accordingly. I do not always eat a healthy because of my job, but I try.
I hope this helps in your quest to lose the weight. DRINK LOTS OF WATER and look at losing weight as a needed life change with the weight loss being the bonus!
Also, I am taking a multi vitamin + Energy along with Milkthistle. I can feel the difference in my energy level and know my metabolism must be working!
Good luck my friends! :flowerforyou:
However, here is just some information I found on MFP and am sharing with others in hopes this will help.
BMR is the amount of calories needed to survive in a coma. Maintenance calories are BMR x activity level.
Go here to find your BMR: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/:happy:
Sedentary: BMR x 1.2 = xxxx calories
Lightly Active: BMR x 1.375 = xxxx calories
Moderately Active: BMR x 1.55 = xxxx calories
Vigorously Active: BMR x 1.725 = xxxx calories
Extremely Active: BMR x 1.9 = xxxx calories
So, based on your daily activity level, which depends mostly on your job, you would be at any of those calorie levels. Take that number, subtract 500, and that's your calorie goal. If you burn extra calories by exercising, you add those to your goal and be sure to eat those calories!
For example, my BMR is 1793 and I have a sedentary life.
1793 x 1.2 = 2151 Calories
2151 – 500 = 1651 Calories
So, if I do not exercise at all today, I will need to burn 1651 Calories
However, say I burned up 490 calories exercising today. I would take the 1651+ 490 = 2141
This means by the end of the day I would need to have eaten 2141 calories to lose a pound a week. Make sense?
I know it sounds weird you should eat to lose.
Remember; keep to a green diet (no light colored foods like breads, pasta etc) and add your protein (fish, chicken, beef) accordingly. I do not always eat a healthy because of my job, but I try.
I hope this helps in your quest to lose the weight. DRINK LOTS OF WATER and look at losing weight as a needed life change with the weight loss being the bonus!
Also, I am taking a multi vitamin + Energy along with Milkthistle. I can feel the difference in my energy level and know my metabolism must be working!
Good luck my friends! :flowerforyou:
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Replies
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So what do you have to say about the "don't eat below your BMR" talk?0
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Take 500 off your BMR? Seriously? That would leave me eating 800 cals a day.
Unless you mean TDEE not BMR?0 -
bump0
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You lost me right here, friend.For example, my BMR is 1793 and I have a sedentary life.
1793 x 1.2 = 2151 Calories
2151 – 500 = 1651 Calories
So, if I do not exercise at all today, I will need to burn 1651 Calories
Don't start telling people to eat below their BMR. If you are not willing to exercise, you still need to eat between your 1793 and 2151.
If you don't have 500 calories to deduct, then use a smaller deficit. Don't start making things up.......0 -
thanks, but according to the equation, I would be eating LESS than 1200 calories a day, my number is closer to 1100 a day. (If i plugged in a maintenance goal, it would be about 1200).
i already crunched the numbers for myself, so I don't eat back all my exercise calories, I just started this, and already lost 2 lbs.0 -
Many people (including me) get a little frustrated by not losing weight and inches; and find themselves sitting on a plateau. Do not fret! This is quite natural for your body to do. What you need to remember is this weight was not put on overnight and therefore, its not coming off overnight. What you do this week, is not going to show the results on your body for about another 2-3 weeks. BE PATIENT AND KIND WITH YOURSELF!!!!
However, here is just some information I found on MFP and am sharing with others in hopes this will help.
BMR is the amount of calories needed to survive in a coma. Maintenance calories are BMR x activity level.
Go here to find your BMR: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/:happy:
Sedentary: BMR x 1.2 = xxxx calories
Lightly Active: BMR x 1.375 = xxxx calories
Moderately Active: BMR x 1.55 = xxxx calories
Vigorously Active: BMR x 1.725 = xxxx calories
Extremely Active: BMR x 1.9 = xxxx calories
So, based on your daily activity level, which depends mostly on your job, you would be at any of those calorie levels. Take that number, subtract 500, and that's your calorie goal. If you burn extra calories by exercising, you add those to your goal and be sure to eat those calories!
For example, my BMR is 1793 and I have a sedentary life.
1793 x 1.2 = 2151 Calories
2151 – 500 = 1651 Calories
So, if I do not exercise at all today, I will need to burn 1651 Calories
However, say I burned up 490 calories exercising today. I would take the 1651+ 490 = 2141
This means by the end of the day I would need to have eaten 2141 calories to lose a pound a week. Make sense?
I know it sounds weird you should eat to lose.
Remember; keep to a green diet (no light colored foods like breads, pasta etc) and add your protein (fish, chicken, beef) accordingly. I do not always eat a healthy because of my job, but I try.
I hope this helps in your quest to lose the weight. DRINK LOTS OF WATER and look at losing weight as a needed life change with the weight loss being the bonus!
Also, I am taking a multi vitamin + Energy along with Milkthistle. I can feel the difference in my energy level and know my metabolism must be working!
Good luck my friends! :flowerforyou:
I see what you are saying, however, I can tell you from experience, it did not work for me.
I was just 5lbs from my goal three years ago and actually did do as you have described above and what actually happened was that I stalled. I then joined a group on here that was an experiment - ate 1200 calories per day, NOT eating back exercise calories. The result was - the week after starting the experiment, I reached my goal. Unfortunately, I ate crap after reaching that goal weight, hence the return here!
Therefore, this time around, I ignore all maths, all scientific calculations and stick to 1200 calories per day. During exercise days, I may go into those calories by 100, otherwise I leave all of them alone. I have done this consistently since 1st January 2012 and am now just 7lbs away from goal weight.
Since returning to MFP, I have noticed a distinct increase in scientific, numerical calculations that basically, do my bloody head in.
From personal experience (which is all I have to go on and so is reliable for me IMO), calories in -v- calories out and WHAT I eat is all I need to go by xxx0 -
huh?0
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I totally agree with Di3012! I have been doing the 1200 Calorie a day and not eating what you exercise for several months. I average 5-6 pounds a month. It works for me and that's what I'm sticking to!0
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I totally agree with Di3012! I have been doing the 1200 Calorie a day and not eating what you exercise for several months. I average 5-6 pounds a month. It works for me and that's what I'm sticking to!
Sure, that works when you are still 65 pounds overweight. In about 20 pounds you are going to be on here saying, "Frustrated, why can't I break out of this plateau?"
And then, eat more. *ohwell*0 -
Many people (including me) get a little frustrated by not losing weight and inches; and find themselves sitting on a plateau. Do not fret! This is quite natural for your body to do. What you need to remember is this weight was not put on overnight and therefore, its not coming off overnight. What you do this week, is not going to show the results on your body for about another 2-3 weeks. BE PATIENT AND KIND WITH YOURSELF!!!!
However, here is just some information I found on MFP and am sharing with others in hopes this will help.
BMR is the amount of calories needed to survive in a coma. Maintenance calories are BMR x activity level.
Go here to find your BMR: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/:happy:
Sedentary: BMR x 1.2 = xxxx calories
Lightly Active: BMR x 1.375 = xxxx calories
Moderately Active: BMR x 1.55 = xxxx calories
Vigorously Active: BMR x 1.725 = xxxx calories
Extremely Active: BMR x 1.9 = xxxx calories
So, based on your daily activity level, which depends mostly on your job, you would be at any of those calorie levels. Take that number, subtract 500, and that's your calorie goal. If you burn extra calories by exercising, you add those to your goal and be sure to eat those calories!
For example, my BMR is 1793 and I have a sedentary life.
1793 x 1.2 = 2151 Calories
2151 – 500 = 1651 Calories
So, if I do not exercise at all today, I will need to burn 1651 Calories
However, say I burned up 490 calories exercising today. I would take the 1651+ 490 = 2141
This means by the end of the day I would need to have eaten 2141 calories to lose a pound a week. Make sense?
I know it sounds weird you should eat to lose.
Remember; keep to a green diet (no light colored foods like breads, pasta etc) and add your protein (fish, chicken, beef) accordingly. I do not always eat a healthy because of my job, but I try.
I hope this helps in your quest to lose the weight. DRINK LOTS OF WATER and look at losing weight as a needed life change with the weight loss being the bonus!
Also, I am taking a multi vitamin + Energy along with Milkthistle. I can feel the difference in my energy level and know my metabolism must be working!
Good luck my friends! :flowerforyou:
The part I bolded is incorrect. You're supposed to figure your exercise into that equation. Therefore, if you have a desk job yet work out 3-5 times a week, you're not sedentary. You're moderately active and you should instead multiply by 1.55. You would then subtract your calories and not add in your exercise calories.
It then works out to:
1793 x 1.55= 2779 Calories
2779 – 500 = 2279 Calories
And you wouldn't eat your exercise calories back!!!!!!
This site doesn't work that way when calculating your calories and that is why you have to add them in if you're eating according to the MFP guides. Where most people go wrong on this site is they go for 2 lbs a week loss no matter how much weight they have to lose. MFP allows that so it will drop below your bmr but never below 1200.0 -
what MFP suggested as my calorie intake is the same you are explaining here?0
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It's ok...I was just sharing and different things work for different people. I lost 3lbs in 9 days so it worked for me. Please, everyone, do what is working and don't change. I did the equation and it just seems to work. Good luck all and please don't attack people for sharing information. Like I said, each one of us is different and we lose weight differently so use what works.0
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I eat my calories back...it works for me0
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If I stop losing weight when I'm not "still 65 pounds overweight", I might try eating more. And it's 59 pounds that I have left to lose! It's just that eating back what you worked so hard to exercise off goes against my logic!0
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If I stop losing weight when I'm not "still 65 pounds overweight", I might try eating more. And it's 59 pounds that I have left to lose! It's just that eating back what you worked so hard to exercise off goes against my logic!
You aren't "eating back what you worked so hard to get off"...You are eating back to fuel your body to do those exercises...You are eating back to fuel your body to build muscle....Muscle burns fat...0 -
It's ok...I was just sharing and different things work for different people. I lost 3lbs in 9 days so it worked for me. Please, everyone, do what is working and don't change. I did the equation and it just seems to work. Good luck all and please don't attack people for sharing information. Like I said, each one of us is different and we lose weight differently so use what works.
No. We are not each different. That would be snowflakes. You will lose weight when you are eating above your BMR and below your TDEE. Finding that number is not rocket surgery, and you can find it on about 300 different websites.
Weight loss occurs when you eat enough food of nutritious content to fuel your body and you exercise enough to burn off any excess. This is not an "opinion," and we aren't all different. It's a numbers game. You are telling people to deduct calories from their BMR. This is incorrect information, and we will continue to point that out. It may have worked for you, you have A LOT of weight to lose. You can do that for a while, if you are obese, but not everyone should believe that your calculations are science. The calculation is inherently wrong if you are using incorrect assumptions, and we will continue to point that out.
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I would seriously be eating 750 calories a day, plus exercise calories, which is usually 200 calories a day that I earn. I don't think my body would survive on between 750-950 calories per day. Not everyone on here has a huge amount to lose so I'm not sure that would work for everyone.0
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Here is my frustration. Every BMR calculator I use gives me a different BMR. Hard to know which one is correct.0
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I honestly don't understand whar a BMR or TDEE are - or how you figure them! All of this is new to me. But, I'm almost 64 years old - doesn't that factor in? I can tell you it was a lot easier to drop 20-30 pounds when I was in my thirties than it is now. I have fibromyalgia - I take meds that cause weight gain. How does that factor in? I have insulin resistance, which also causes weight gain because my insulin does not break down any sugar I eat. Is that factored in? We all are NOT the same. I believe that's why my doctor said for me to take in fewer calories and burn more!0
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I honestly don't understand whar a BMR or TDEE are - or how you figure them! All of this is new to me. But, I'm almost 64 years old - doesn't that factor in? I can tell you it was a lot easier to drop 20-30 pounds when I was in my thirties than it is now. I have fibromyalgia - I take meds that cause weight gain. How does that factor in? I have insulin resistance, which also causes weight gain because my insulin does not break down any sugar I eat. Is that factored in? We all are NOT the same. I believe that's why my doctor said for me to take in fewer calories and burn more!
The process is the same. All your above factors figure into your calorie needs, yes. You have to figure out those needs individually. I am close to 60, and when I lost my weight I was on several prescriptions (five years ago).
As you age, your metabolism slows. Different meds affect your metabolism, too. I was eating 1200 cals for the first 35 pounds of my weight loss. Then I stopped losing - for two and a half months I bounced around at 163-166 (I'm 5'7"). Why? I wasn't eating enough. I increased my calories to 1600, and I started to lose again.
I was eating below my BMR at 1200. My BMR according to most sites is around 1400. My TDEE is around 2000. I was still eating enough, I wasn't tired anymore, and I felt great at 1600.
You can Google BMR and TDEE for more info, or you can keep doing what you are doing. Eventually you will hit a plateau. You can search the forums here for lots of info, too. Use the "Search" feature above this title.0
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