Weight-Loss Can I just check something please.

Weight-Loss
C

CheifBear

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Having just read one of the stickys on working out my BMR I am a little worried.

My BMR works out at 1407 calories. I am 30 years old, 5feet 2.5 inches tall and weight 9st 12.5. I have been eating 1400 calories a day and lost almost 3 lbs the first week I tracked and 1lb the next week.....and I track to the calorie....I have learnt about not tracking the hard way :blush5:

I am pretty active, I go to the gym at least 4 times a week and do 3 x circuit classes and 1 x spin class...I also go and run sometimes.

So it says on one of the stickys to multiply my BMR by 1.6 which = 2251 and then minus 500 which = 1751 and that is the amount I need to eat to lose weight......surley this is too high???

I am worried about upping my calories to that and then not losing weight but equally I am worried about not upping my claories and not losing as much as I could be.

Shall I just stick to my 1407 and see how I go?

Many Thanks

Siobhan
 
It's up to you - however, if you're happy with your weight loss I wouldn't stress too much over it. You could always take a 'week off' and up your calories to 1700 and see if you're still losing at an acceptable weight, but I wouldn't let it stress you too much if you're happy with your progress.
 
Your body is the best thing to follow in this case. Usually if you stay over 1200 calories you will be okay as long as you aren't extremely active then 1400 is more of a minimum. Don't take your BMR to heart always, it's meant to really push you in the right direction. Everybody burns calories differently and the best way to judge whether or not you're eating enough is to see if you have enough energy to do what you want to do.
 
So, lets get the mythbusting toolbelt out.

1751, or 1800 for ease of use, kcal, per day, is not at all too much for someone that goes at it 4 times a week who wants to loose weight. It is more like, reasonable.

1200 is a dire minimum unless you are on a medically supervised VLCD which you are not if you don't have a doctor breathing down your neck.

But as other suggest, go with your body... aim for not loosing more than 2 pounds / week, or so the clever people over at that department at my workplace says. (excellent argument from authority no?)
 
You're doing very well. The calculation that you have been following sounds about right. I do not think you need to drop your numbers below that. If you can sustain 1407, I'd say go with that. If not, realize that you have some headroom between there and the 1700 number in the event that you make "eating errors."

I am very impressed with what you are doing. Very good.
 
Thanks Dobner....that is nice of you.

Kara - Too high to lose weight is what I mean. I didn't lose weight at all last week and I tracked to the very last calorie (1407 cals a day), so now I am worried I am eating too little.

Thing is I think 1400 calories should be more than enough to keep somebody not going into starvation mode. Not only that but I did lose weight in the first 2 weeks based on 1400 calories.

I think I am frustrated because I just want someone to say to me "Siobhan do this and YOU WILL lose weight" ....but just when I think I have cracked it, my weight stays the same.

Then I have friends who don't work out as hard as me, they cut calories and the weight drops off them :banghead:

Sorry to whinge.....I just really want to get down to 9 stone.

Siobhan
 
CheifBear said:
Thanks Dobner....that is nice of you.

Kara - Too high to lose weight is what I mean. I didn't lose weight at all last week and I tracked to the very last calorie (1407 cals a day), so now I am worried I am eating too little.

Thing is I think 1400 calories should be more than enough to keep somebody not going into starvation mode. Not only that but I did lose weight in the first 2 weeks based on 1400 calories.

I think I am frustrated because I just want someone to say to me "Siobhan do this and YOU WILL lose weight" ....but just when I think I have cracked it, my weight stays the same.

Then I have friends who don't work out as hard as me, they cut calories and the weight drops off them :banghead:

Sorry to whinge.....I just really want to get down to 9 stone.

Siobhan
Click to expand...

Everyone's body is different. If you are exercising A LOT and you are only eating 1400 calories a day then your body is going to hold on to every fat cell for dear life because it is expecting to just get the bare minimum. If you eat a little more for your body, mind you you could add in salads, some whole wheat crackers, some high fiber cereal not any junk food, and your body will realize it does not need to hang on to the fat cells because you are supplying your body with enough energy. You probably lost weight the first two weeks because you put your body into shock, and now it is just use to what you are doing and as I said before, just holding onto your fat cells.

I am telling you many people here who have achieved their weightloss goals are eating way more than 1400 calories, and they are keeping their figures because they are giving their bodies what they need.

Also, you need to think about what happens when you hit a plateau? Usually that is when people make small changes like cutting calories further and changing up their workouts. How will you get any lower than 1400, really? It seems more reasonable for you to consume 1600-1700 and cut down to 1400-1500 when you finally do hit a plateau or are at the last 10 pounds, which is where many people struggle.

Don't try to eat little to lose weight faster. When I was 14 I cut my calories down to about 500-700 daily and lost 30 pounds in a month, and I looked so sickly and nasty. My eyes were shrunken in and I had looked just so frail and unhealthy. And who knows what I did to my vital organs like my heart, which could now fail me in the future for doing something so stupid.

If you keep trying, and incorporate more food (healthy ones of course) you WILL lose the weight you want.

Losing weight is 80% what you eat and 20% working out, so if you are ignoring proper nutrition, all the workingout in the world will not give you the results you want.

Good luck.
 
If you have accurately calculated that you need 1751 calories to lose 1 pound per week, then 1400 calories would be another 351 calories per day, which would translate to an expected 1.7 pounds lost per week. That's not a ridiculous amount, so I would tend to agree with you that you are not in any severe starvation mode, unless you have a pretty low body fat percentage. Besides that, at 1400 calories per day, your calories are just about 10 times your weight in pounds, which is often recommended as a reasonable amount. So, I think it is probably just a garden variety plateau, nothing to be concerned about. Believe in the laws of physics. You will lose weight.
 
I don't know if this will help me achieve an answer or not but I have lost weight.

I had a chinese on Friday night, though I did count it calorie wise. I went out Saturday night and drank about 2 pints of lager and 5 vodka and tonics, I also had 2 pieces of pizza and a handful of cheesy chips at the end of the night. On sunday night I had 2 pieces of pizza and half a kebab.....I have lost 2 1/2 lb :confused:

Now I know this is all very bad....extremely so....but what really gets to me is that I still don't know where I am at? I got down to 9 st 11lb by initially cutting to 1400 calories....after the second week I started staying the same. I have now stuffed my face full of junk and lost weight....this is very frustrating!

Did my body just need a kick up the arse do you think? Maybe I did hit a plateau.

I have a strange body! ha! ha!

Siobhan
 
Read this:



Finally, many have reported whooshes following an evening which included alcohol. A mild diuretic, this would also tend to implicate water balance issues in the whoosh phenomenon.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Kara that is a very interesting read.

So going forwards would you say I should go with 1400 calories or would you go with BMR x 1.6 to take into account my activity?

I am not sure which is the best course of action to be honest.

Siobhan
 
1400 calories seems to have worked for you and it's not unhealthily low for your weight. I'd stick with it and see where it gets you over the next month or so.
 
Thank you, I shall do that then. :cheers2:
 
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