Calculators

mystasia
mystasia Posts: 58 Member
edited September 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys, wondering if anyone has ever done one of these calculations, and if they think that they are that accurate.
Its nice because it has a 700 calorie deficit included in it already. I am just wondering if it lines up with what people eat compared to the burn...

http://www.garrisonbodyhealthnutrition.com/bodyanalysis/caloriesburned.html

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

I found I am grossly under eating compared to what it says my calories needed is. Which I guess is why I am not loosing weight.

Replies

  • CrystalT
    CrystalT Posts: 862 Member
    If this thing is right, I'm drastically under eating. Using today for an example, MFP gives me 1320. I can't exercise because of an injury, so there are no additional calories there. I already figured out a few months ago that what MFP tells me is too low. I've been using a calculator at freedieting.com and adjusting my calories. That site has me eating about 1800 a day and I've been losing about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per week. I used the calculator from the link you posted and entered very basic activity (8 hrs of office work, 8 hrs of sitting quietly, 8 hrs of sleeping) and it shows that I need 2327 calories!!! That's another 500 calories a day from what I have been eating and 1000 calories more than MFP. Wow!! What a difference!!

    Are you planning on trying to adjust things?
  • mystasia
    mystasia Posts: 58 Member
    Wow, that is a big adjustment from what you are doing. When you use that freedieting site, are you aiming for a 1-1 1/2lb loss per week? Do you feel its pretty accurate?


    Yes, I need to adjust things. What I had been doing was assuming my BMR is 1500, (which I recently found out it is 1250) Eating around 1000 calories, but then on days doing anywhere from 300-1000 calories of work outs, here I thought I was having huge deficits all of October, which would equal huge weight loss, but on Sunday I weighed the same as when I started in October...

    When I do the calculations, on a very active day for me, sleep 8 hours, driving 1 hour, lying 2 hours, standing 1 hour, work desk job 10 hours , 2 hours of working out (walking, a gym class, and weight training) it says I need to eat 2584 calories, (I in October was only eating about 1000, but upped it yesterday to 1500) I am wondering if I should go higher, but eating 2584 calories really scares me!

    But what scares me more is doing all this work with my diet and exercise and not getting any results. I cried a lot on Sunday when I found out I hadn't lost even one pound....
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    The calculator you linked shows me at 2065, with extremely basic activities. No exercise whatsoever....I have done a detailed calculation elsewhere that goes into depth, ie: grooming, feeding pets, cooking, eating meals, driving, computer work, watching tv, reading, etc. and it comes up with 2450. I have had a hard time accepting such high numbers, but nevertheless am eating 1900 right now to try to reset my metabolism. Lost 1/2 pound at that amount too...go figure.:noway:

    The thing is, I have found it to be true that you really do not want to undereat, as your metabolism slows way the heck down to compensate. I did it for 4 years and am now really paying the price.
  • mystasia
    mystasia Posts: 58 Member
    The calculator you linked shows me at 2065, with extremely basic activities. No exercise whatsoever....I have done a detailed calculation elsewhere that goes into depth, ie: grooming, feeding pets, cooking, eating meals, driving, computer work, watching tv, reading, etc. and it comes up with 2450. I have had a hard time accepting such high numbers, but nevertheless am eating 1900 right now to try to reset my metabolism. Lost 1/2 pound at that amount too...go figure.:noway:

    The thing is, I have found it to be true that you really do not want to undereat, as your metabolism slows way the heck down to compensate. I did it for 4 years and am now really paying the price.


    Then maybe for you you are between the 2450-2065....if you have lost a 1/2lb/wk at 1900, that'd put you at 2150 for maintanance. Did you find that MFP amount it tells you to eat is too low also?
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    It was too low, yes. But then it's also based on my perceived activity level which might be totally out of whack.

    Originally, I thought it should be sedentary, but that gave me 1,200 cal. I changed to lighly active which gave me 1,450 cal. But I my weight loss slowed to nothing and didn't change for two full months. On Oct 20, I took an exercise break and brought my calories (gradually) up to 1900 which is where they've been ever since. It's all so confusing. I'm probably confusing YOU more...I should shut up, lol. :blushing:
  • CrystalT
    CrystalT Posts: 862 Member
    Wow, that is a big adjustment from what you are doing. When you use that freedieting site, are you aiming for a 1-1 1/2lb loss per week? Do you feel its pretty accurate?


    Yes, I need to adjust things. What I had been doing was assuming my BMR is 1500, (which I recently found out it is 1250) Eating around 1000 calories, but then on days doing anywhere from 300-1000 calories of work outs, here I thought I was having huge deficits all of October, which would equal huge weight loss, but on Sunday I weighed the same as when I started in October...

    When I do the calculations, on a very active day for me, sleep 8 hours, driving 1 hour, lying 2 hours, standing 1 hour, work desk job 10 hours , 2 hours of working out (walking, a gym class, and weight training) it says I need to eat 2584 calories, (I in October was only eating about 1000, but upped it yesterday to 1500) I am wondering if I should go higher, but eating 2584 calories really scares me!

    But what scares me more is doing all this work with my diet and exercise and not getting any results. I cried a lot on Sunday when I found out I hadn't lost even one pound....

    The calculator at the freedieting site is a little different. When you enter in your info, it gives you your maintenance calories, fat loss calories, and extreme fat loss calories. I believe the fat loss calories is supposed to be 1 to 1 1/2 lbs a week. I'll be honest, although they don't recommend it, I usually go with the extreme fat loss calories. The calories for extreme weight loss do not increase with additional activity, so I eat the same 1800 calories whether or not I'm active that day. I've just been assuming that since I've been losing 1 lb a week, I must be on the right track. But this makes me wonder if I could actually be doing better.

    Before I started biking, I was losing 2 lbs a week. When I started biking, I actually stopped losing for a few weeks and then started losing about 1 lb a week. I just redid the calculations to include 60 minutes of cycling. It says I would need 2875 calories a day, 1000 more than what I usually eat AND 1000 more that MFP would have me eat (including exercise calories). I'm really tempted to try this calculator for a few weeks just to see. I would love to start seeing 2 lbs come off instead of just one!! Worst case senerio would be that I gain. I can always go back to what I'm doing now if that happens.
  • jocelyne2
    jocelyne2 Posts: 271 Member
    Wow , that was eye opening great post :flowerforyou:
  • mystasia
    mystasia Posts: 58 Member
    Wow, that is a big adjustment from what you are doing. When you use that freedieting site, are you aiming for a 1-1 1/2lb loss per week? Do you feel its pretty accurate?


    Yes, I need to adjust things. What I had been doing was assuming my BMR is 1500, (which I recently found out it is 1250) Eating around 1000 calories, but then on days doing anywhere from 300-1000 calories of work outs, here I thought I was having huge deficits all of October, which would equal huge weight loss, but on Sunday I weighed the same as when I started in October...

    When I do the calculations, on a very active day for me, sleep 8 hours, driving 1 hour, lying 2 hours, standing 1 hour, work desk job 10 hours , 2 hours of working out (walking, a gym class, and weight training) it says I need to eat 2584 calories, (I in October was only eating about 1000, but upped it yesterday to 1500) I am wondering if I should go higher, but eating 2584 calories really scares me!

    But what scares me more is doing all this work with my diet and exercise and not getting any results. I cried a lot on Sunday when I found out I hadn't lost even one pound....

    The calculator at the freedieting site is a little different. When you enter in your info, it gives you your maintenance calories, fat loss calories, and extreme fat loss calories. I believe the fat loss calories is supposed to be 1 to 1 1/2 lbs a week. I'll be honest, although they don't recommend it, I usually go with the extreme fat loss calories. The calories for extreme weight loss do not increase with additional activity, so I eat the same 1800 calories whether or not I'm active that day. I've just been assuming that since I've been losing 1 lb a week, I must be on the right track. But this makes me wonder if I could actually be doing better.

    Before I started biking, I was losing 2 lbs a week. When I started biking, I actually stopped losing for a few weeks and then started losing about 1 lb a week. I just redid the calculations to include 60 minutes of cycling. It says I would need 2875 calories a day, 1000 more than what I usually eat AND 1000 more that MFP would have me eat (including exercise calories). I'm really tempted to try this calculator for a few weeks just to see. I would love to start seeing 2 lbs come off instead of just one!! Worst case senerio would be that I gain. I can always go back to what I'm doing now if that happens.


    Wow that is very interesting that you were losing more prior to biking. It could be muscle being built but it also could be that you're burning more than you in take, and you're body is making it slower for weight loss.

    I think I may try this calculator for a few weeks too, I weigh in Sunday the 11th, so I can see if it works then. I think I am going to subtract 200-300 calories from what it says I should eat for the consideration of error, or that its listing some activities too high.

    Its amazing to me discovering all this.

    Would you like to check in and maybe we can start a group on this topic, and those who are upping calories and such. Maybe it could be called More calories, more weight loss, (hopefully!!) hehe

    All I know is that as scared as I am at trying it, its equally scary working so hard and not getting results!!
  • jocelyne2
    jocelyne2 Posts: 271 Member
    Im in ...anything is worth a try I have been working my butt off and the scale just doesn't want to budge and I can never stick to the 1200 cals a day when I don't workout. I usually cave in right before bed :grumble:

    which setting are you going to use fat loss which is recommended ?

    mine says to aim for 1724 for fat loss

    just found the tab for zig zagging interesting stuff lol
  • mystasia
    mystasia Posts: 58 Member
    Im in ...anything is worth a try I have been working my butt off and the scale just doesn't want to budge and I can never stick to the 1200 cals a day when I don't workout. I usually cave in right before bed :grumble:

    which setting are you going to use fat loss which is recommended ?

    mine says to aim for 1724 for fat loss

    just found the tab for zig zagging interesting stuff lol


    I was going to use the other calculator site actually and just subtract about 300-400 calories from what it says to eat.

    http://www.garrisonbodyhealthnutrition.com/bodyanalysis/caloriesburned.html

    This calculator which calculates calories burned in 24hrs based on what your day is like.
    So for example for me yesterday with my busy day / high work out day, it says I need to eat 2584 calories, but I'm really thinking of doing 2000-2200.... The 2584 number is including a deficit of 700 calories which would be about 1.5lbs per week. I just want to subtract the 300-400 because I am thinking there is always a rate of error, and they usually over estimate the amount of calories you should eat....
  • CrystalT
    CrystalT Posts: 862 Member
    Im in ...anything is worth a try I have been working my butt off and the scale just doesn't want to budge and I can never stick to the 1200 cals a day when I don't workout. I usually cave in right before bed :grumble:

    which setting are you going to use fat loss which is recommended ?

    mine says to aim for 1724 for fat loss

    just found the tab for zig zagging interesting stuff lol

    I did try zig zagging. It didn't really help, but that could have been because I wasn't eating enough. Maybe if I can figure out how many calories I really need to be eating I can try zig zagging again.
  • CrystalT
    CrystalT Posts: 862 Member
    Would you like to check in and maybe we can start a group on this topic, and those who are upping calories and such. Maybe it could be called More calories, more weight loss, (hopefully!!) hehe

    All I know is that as scared as I am at trying it, its equally scary working so hard and not getting results!!

    A group would be awesome. I'm actually in another group, but I don't have a problem with being in a 2nd. This is going to be a huge adjustment and some support would be helpful. I will have to work to figure out how to eat that many calories in a healthy way. I can understand being scared by it, too. No one ever wants to see the scale go up, but sometimes you just have to try something new if what you're doing isn't working.

    I usually weigh in on Fridays, but I'm flexible. Are we starting tomorrow?
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    I'll join in...I have other groups, but it's kind of demoralizing to never have any weight changes to share....I'd like to be with others going through similar situation as I am with my plateau.
  • mystasia
    mystasia Posts: 58 Member
    Would you like to check in and maybe we can start a group on this topic, and those who are upping calories and such. Maybe it could be called More calories, more weight loss, (hopefully!!) hehe

    All I know is that as scared as I am at trying it, its equally scary working so hard and not getting results!!

    A group would be awesome. I'm actually in another group, but I don't have a problem with being in a 2nd. This is going to be a huge adjustment and some support would be helpful. I will have to work to figure out how to eat that many calories in a healthy way. I can understand being scared by it, too. No one ever wants to see the scale go up, but sometimes you just have to try something new if what you're doing isn't working.

    I usually weigh in on Fridays, but I'm flexible. Are we starting tomorrow?


    Yes we can start tomorrow. I think a weekend weigh in is good. I do Sundays but you can do Fridays if you want... I think that is fine. I will start a thread tomorrow then called "Eat more to Lose More Group"
    I think I will post daily what the calculatorsays based on what I do that day, and then report how many calories I've eaten. As I said before I do plan on not eating as much as it says as I want to add in error for it being too high...

    Ya, I am with you, its about time to do something new since my plan of under eating did not work in October. :) Looking forward to our group and our experiment! Glad you guys are with me!
  • CrystalT
    CrystalT Posts: 862 Member
    In case anyone was looking for it, here's the thread that mystasia created for us.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/70189-eat-more-to-lose-more-group-week-1
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