New with questions

kermiefan
kermiefan Posts: 28
edited September 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi :smile:
I'm new here.
This is my situation. I had 14 pounds to lose. I started on May 1. Following the Food Pyramid eating plan, I would consume 1,400-1,600 calories per day. Sounds all good, right?
But, I exercised A LOT during that time also. I averaged 2.5 hours of exercise every day. (Did I mention that I like to exercise?:happy: ) One hour was usually exercise bike because it's my favorite and it kind of wakes me up. (I exercise first thing in the morning and wouldn't be able to hop right into doing something) One hour was aerobics OR strength training. I would alternate days on this.
I was tracking my calories and on average, I tended to NET 200-700 a day. I thought that was a GOOD thing. At the end of my 16 week summer, when I weighed in, I had only lost 10 pounds. Not only that, but, I had hardly dropped any inches. (I'm actually 5 pounds lighter than I was a year ago, but, the pants I wore then are on the snug side so that speaks volumes to me)
So--the thing is--I had kind of heard about BMR (I read Master your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels) and did some online research about it. Though I still am a little confused by the BMR thing, I THINK I might kind of "get it" so I think, from what this site says, that I need to increase my NET to meet my BMR. (With decent healthy choices, of course)
So---does this sound about right to you guys? I'm new at this and I don't want to end up gaining weight from doing this.........

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    With 2.5 hours of exercise you should be burining well over 700 cals. Also if you do the same exercises for weeks on end your body gets used to it and will actually burn less calaries for the same exersice and duration. Try changing up your routine with something completely diferent for a few weeks then go back to your current one for a few weeks and so on.
  • kermiefan
    kermiefan Posts: 28
    Actually, I do change up the DVDs. I have quite a few! :smile: My favorite strength training DVDs are Jari Love, Rob Glick, and Gilad.
    I have FIRM DVDs also-though I don't consider those as intense of a strength training as the ones listed. I have many step and aerobic ones by them, too.
    I have Jillian Michaels, also-and a many others. Quite a collection! I just rotate so I don't get tired of the same ones all the time.
    The only thing I do consistently is the exercise bike, since I basically use it to wake myself up and warm up for the "real" exercise. :tongue: At 4:30/4:45 am, I definitely wouldn't be awake enough to jump right into the DVDs-or most anything else... :laugh:
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    I would definately eat more, if I were you. I don't know if there is a "magic" number like 1200 calories that we should not go under, but I do know that for 4 years I tried and tried to lose weight by eating about the same as you are netting. Not only did I not lose weight, I gradually gained some, because eating that little isn't something I could do consistently, so I'd pig out now and then....really carbing up on processed stuff (which my body turned to fat immediately).

    Once I learned about all this a few months ago, I gradually began increasing my calories. First I brought them up to 1200 and I still didn't lose. Then I increased them to 1370 (by changing my activity level on here) and STILL didn't lose. Finally, I calculated my BMR + all my individual daily activities burned and subtracted 1000 calories (for weight loss) and came to 1450. Since I've been eating 1450, I've been losing steadily.

    Healthy foods, not just empty calories. Another trick to get your metabolism going is to eat often, don't go more then 3 hours without a snack/meal. That way your body never has a chance to send out starving signals, plus you're never feeling so hungry you eat unhealthy foods. I do have regular 'cheat' days where I eat way over my regular net (but still under my maintenance of 2450), every 2 weeks or so, I'd say.

    What do you have to lose by eating more?


    PS: BMR is what your body burns if you did absolutely nothing all day. It's the required calories to simply operate your organs. Everything you do (brush your hair, take a shower, sit and watch TV) burns even MORE calories. Don't go so low there aren't enough calories to operate your organs because your body slows your metabolism down to conserve all the fat it has stored away.
  • LeeiaL
    LeeiaL Posts: 40
    The trick is calculating how much you need to eat for FAT LOSS. First, you'll need to calculate your BMR, which is how many calories you burn each day with NORMAL ACTIVITY (excluding exercise). Then, you need to calculate your TDEE (total daily enery expenditure), which takes into account how much exercise you do.

    The number you come up with will be the # of calories you need to eat to MAINTAIN your weight. Scientifically speaking, it takes 3500 calories to burn to lose 1 pound of fat. So, if you take that last number and subtract 500 from it, you'll come up with the # of calories you need to consume to burn fat.

    Another way to calculate the calories you need to eat for fat loss is to subtract 15-20% from that last number. This will also give you a safe caloric range to stay within, where you will burn fat and also stay out of starvation mode (where your body hangs onto its stores).

    It looks like you've been doing the same (or similar) routines for a while and that you also do long bouts of cardio. To boost your fat loss, I suggest that you do Interval training (also known as HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training) to boost your results - you'll work out less but at higher intensities, which will probably boost your metabolism. This is especially true if you're trying to lose the last 10-15 pounds.

    Also keep in mind that your diet plays a HUGE role in how your body composition is distributed.

    Good Luck!!
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