going CRAZY on how many cals I should eat????

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  • DeeVanderbles
    DeeVanderbles Posts: 589 Member
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    The first week to week and a half that I was here I was trying to net near 1200 a day. I had small amounts of weight loss. However, I then went up to 1400 calories a day (MFP says my BMR is 1470 or something) and I've had larger losses consistently in the last week. Of my current 4lb loss, 3lbs of it has been in the last week.

    So go under tools to the BMR calculator, try to net that or a little under and eat back some or most of your burnt cals. :)
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    I dont have an HRM...I didnt think I needed one with a fitbit?

    My fitbit today says I have burnt 2494 cals today. if I took 500 off that, I would be eating 2000 cals a day which seems an awful lot :/

    With your exercise types, you probably don't need a HRM. Your Fitbit should track those ok.

    If 2000 seems like too much, have less. I promise despite what you read here that if you're eating at least 1200 calories and have body fat to burn you're not going to hurt anything.

    I would personally shoot for a 1000 calorie deficit from your Fitbit total. If you're hungry, make it 500 those days. Just try to average 750, or whatever value feels comfortable to you. Not starved, not stuffing food in to meet a number goal. It's ok if your intake varies day to day. You can have 1000 one day if that's all you want and 1500 the next. We women can be like that. What matters is your averages at the end of the week (or really the month).

    Good luck!
  • Cheeta_HH
    Cheeta_HH Posts: 489 Member
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    This has been driving me crazy too and Dan you are pretty amazing, would you do the same for me too?

    I'm 5'5 stuck at 163 for months and on my scales it says im about 34% body fat :(

    5'5" is about 1600-1800 daily.

    I am also 5'5". I just hit my goal weight today (YAAAAAAY!). I changed my goals on MFP from "lose a pound a week" to "maintain current weight" just now. My calories jumped from 1420 to 1750. Is that reasonable? (I intend to continue working out every day.)
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
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    If your MFP input is correct, you're good eating all the calories represented by that green number on your home page.
    And set your goals to reflect 1 pound per week weight loss.
    Take it easy, enjoy the ride. It's not a stressful race.
    Good luck:flowerforyou:
  • CazLovesCalories
    CazLovesCalories Posts: 144 Member
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    I dont have an HRM...I didnt think I needed one with a fitbit?

    My fitbit today says I have burnt 2494 cals today. if I took 500 off that, I would be eating 2000 cals a day which seems an awful lot :/

    Is the day over? you will still burn more at rest before the day is done. I forgot that fitbit syncs with MFP. I am not sure what it syncs or what. Total calories burned? exercise calories burned? I don't know. If you're not in to cheat meal/day's you can simply add up your entire week divide by 7 and multiply that number by .80. This will take 20% off your average burn per day and eat at that number constantly, regardless of exercise.

    It syncs calorie intake, and it sends any exercise cals to MFP. I get calorie adjustments on my MFP. That is when I have my fitbit and MFP set to lightly active, and I burn more calories than it expects, it sends an adjustment...if that makes sense?
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
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    Ok so if my BMR is 1459 and my TDEE is 1747 then 1747+700(running and strength training) = 2447-500 = 1947 so I should be eating 1947calories. But on the days I don't work out it'll be 1747-500=1247 which is below my BMR of 1459 so you are saying I should be eating a minimum of 1459 calories a day when i'm not working out and not 1247?

    Was that estimate of TDEE for sedentary, meaning non-exercise TDEE?
    From the fat2fit site? Otherwise the math doesn't work out correctly for TDEE from BMR, and that must mean you have little to lose because that site bases the suggested TDEE to eat at on your goal weight. Which means 500 is too great a deficit, and actually on their site, they already did a deficit, you don't add to it. Read the paragraph above the chart.

    If so, you at least got the right idea of adding back exercise and then taking deficit off.
    But wouldn't the effect be exactly the same if you took off the deficit and then added on exercise, as you describe too?

    Guess what MFP does?

    Exactly what you described. And you end up with exactly the same result of eating below your BMR, if you select 1lb weekly.

    Now, here's the great thing, your daily non-exercise calorie burn is not limited by your selection of sedentary, it likely will burn more. I don't think I've never seen one comment from people wearing the FitBits and BodyMediaFit's that their non-exercise day's TDEE was ever at or less than the sedentary they had originally selected. They all found they burned much more.

    But the effects of underfeeding, wherever that may fall for you and cause a stall, can be averted by the concern you have, netting above BMR.

    Since you are describing exactly what MFP does anyway, just select Sedentary (if that is true non-exercise day, perhaps lightly active), and use goal of 1/2 lb.
    That should make a daily net goal of slightly at/above BMR.

    Then log exercise calories best estimate, and eat them back.

    You just did what you described, and stayed above BMR.

    Benefit now is when you lose weight, MFP will adjust the goal down automatically.

    The fat2fit method basically balances the energy needs over all the days, so some days may indeed be at/below BMR, balanced by eating the same amount on rest day and being over.
    Oh, the fat2fit activity levels for days means hours basically, 3-5 hrs week, 1-3 hrs, ect.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Wow - THIS!
  • CazLovesCalories
    CazLovesCalories Posts: 144 Member
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    Don't complicate what is very simple.
    If your MFP input is correct, you're good eating all the calories represented by that green number on your home page.
    And set your goals to reflect 1 pound per week weight loss.
    Take it easy, enjoy the ride. It's not a stressful race.
    Good luck:flowerforyou:

    Thank you, what about exercise cals?
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
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    Don't complicate what is very simple.
    If your MFP input is correct, you're good eating all the calories represented by that green number on your home page.
    And set your goals to reflect 1 pound per week weight loss.
    Take it easy, enjoy the ride. It's not a stressful race.
    Good luck:flowerforyou:

    Thank you, what about exercise cals?
    EAT THEM
    You'll notice when you log in exercise, the green number goes up.
    ENJOY!
  • Bmontgomery613
    Bmontgomery613 Posts: 200 Member
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    Ok, I swear this whole topic makes me feel like an idiot but let's give it one more shot!

    MFP says I need to eat 1680 calories so I have been, but then you minus the exercise calories, like today I did Zumba so I burned about 1000, which means for the day I only netted 680....is this going to make me plateau right away?

    The BMR calculator says I need to eat 2100, MFP says 1680. Someone please help me understand. I need the "calories for dummies" version if you don't mind :-)

    You got the right idea, but throwing together 2 different methods.

    MFP stats and goals has NO exercise included until you do it. So deficit is taken first, then when you add in exercise cal's eaten, the deficit is still there.

    That other site that came to 2100 included exercise in that total, then you subtract like 500. And I'm guessing you selected wrong activity level to come to only 2100.

    The end result would likely be the same.

    Now - I doubt you did a 1000 burn unless it was 90 minutes or longer.
    If you really did, try to eat back those cal's before your next exercise session. Doesn't have to be today, your body doesn't stop needing to feed the workout at midnight. So you are in the green today by 500 cal, you go into the red tomorrow with bigger breakfast/lunch/snack.

    Have to plan the day better so you can spread the load out over the whole day.

    I did 60 minutes of Zumba toning, and I am a big girl so I do burn big in the exercise dept. Im sure it is a high estimate though

    I don't think it's a high estimate at all. According to my heart rate monitor, I can easily burn 1000+ calories during a class. I think as we get smaller and our hearts and bodies get stronger, the burns aren't as good. But yeah, I can fully see her burning 1000 calories in an hour class.

    As for me, I'm 5'9 and currently 267, but I started where you are. Daily, I eat at least 2200 (2500 if I've worked out, but I'm using a different formula to figure those numbers). I work out 4-5 days a week. I am still consistently losing weight. I'm sure it's not coming off as fast as if I were only eating 1200 calories, but then again, I like my method because it's sustainable for me. My advice would be to play around with your numbers and find what works for you. But, definitely EAT. You and your body will be much happier if you are adequately fueling it.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    i'd say eat back your exercise calories and make sure you are actually burning what you think you are burning because MFP usually extremely overestimates calories burned.
  • CazLovesCalories
    CazLovesCalories Posts: 144 Member
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    i'd say eat back your exercise calories and make sure you are actually burning what you think you are burning because MFP usually extremely overestimates calories burned.

    Thankfully my fitbit is pretty good at working out how many calories I burn :)
  • vklebanova
    vklebanova Posts: 152 Member
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    What Zumba toning are you doing that's burning 1000 calories?

    I go HARD at my exercises and only burn around 600 doing Zumba Exhilerate followed by Zumba Toning and Zumba Sentao.

    That's 60% of your calorie burn and my Zumba workouts are like 2.5 hours long.

    Are you using a HRM?
  • aliann30
    aliann30 Posts: 291 Member
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    WTH?? I'm totally in the same boat...so confused. I went to: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ which told me that my BMR is 2223?????!!! It says for my goal weight, I should be eating 1948 per day - isn't that WAY too much? I thought the number MFP gave me was too high, so I manually took it down to 1400 calories. I haven't added in exercise yet. I haven't been hungry, and I have over 100 lbs to lose, so I assumed I can afford the huge deficit....

    Should I continue at 1400, or should I up it to the recommended 1900? I don't want to overeat, but I don't want to waste my time and go into starvation mode...HELP!!!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    WTH?? I'm totally in the same boat...so confused. I went to: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ which told me that my BMR is 2223?????!!! It says for my goal weight, I should be eating 1948 per day - isn't that WAY too much? I thought the number MFP gave me was too high, so I manually took it down to 1400 calories. I haven't added in exercise yet. I haven't been hungry, and I have over 100 lbs to lose, so I assumed I can afford the huge deficit....

    Should I continue at 1400, or should I up it to the recommended 1900? I don't want to overeat, but I don't want to waste my time and go into starvation mode...HELP!!!

    1948 is the (estimated) maintenance calories for your goal weight. most RDAs are based on a 2000 calorie a day diet so that seems reasonable.

    Do fat2fit again, and put your current weight as your goal weight. what does it estimate is your current Maintenance?
  • aliann30
    aliann30 Posts: 291 Member
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    It gives me 2668.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    i'd say eat back your exercise calories and make sure you are actually burning what you think you are burning because MFP usually extremely overestimates calories burned.

    Thankfully my fitbit is pretty good at working out how many calories I burn :)
    i have a fitbit, but it doesnt actually count the calories i burn...it a pedometer not a HRM. i'm curious as to how yours does this?

    Edit- i think you are counting those calories it says you burned just doing your normal routine...thats not accurate. and its not an accurate way to measure how many calories you burn during a work out. you need something that tracks your heart rate to do this.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    What Zumba toning are you doing that's burning 1000 calories?

    I go HARD at my exercises and only burn around 600 doing Zumba Exhilerate followed by Zumba Toning and Zumba Sentao.

    That's 60% of your calorie burn and my Zumba workouts are like 2.5 hours long.

    Are you using a HRM?

    i was wondering the same thing...1000 calories is pretty extreme especially for Zumba. i did zumba for 60 mins and only burned 355 calories.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    It gives me 2668.

    Deducting 20% gives you around 2000 calories.

    deducting 500 cals for 1lb a week gives you 2100.

    Even deducting the maximum recomended 1000 calories gives you 1700 calries.

    There is no need to drop to 1400, and a deficit that large could even be detrimental.
  • aliann30
    aliann30 Posts: 291 Member
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    It gives me 2668.

    Deducting 20% gives you around 2000 calories.

    deducting 500 cals for 1lb a week gives you 2100.

    Even deducting the maximum recomended 1000 calories gives you 1700 calries.

    There is no need to drop to 1400, and a deficit that large could even be detrimental.

    Thank you for the insight! I will definitely increase my budget and see how that works.
  • Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim
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