Too much or too little?

[tjgillman 5]

@Superman84 hello, thanks for your reply. Wow well done that’s amazing, men lose a lot more a lot quicker than women I’ve read, I was on around 650cal a few months ago and was told I wasn’t eating enough especially for how much I was exercising and my body would go into starvation and my metabolism would slow dramatically if I didn’t up my intake, so I’m rather confused. But I’m going to try and decrease my calories and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

[New&Improved 1,780]

Unfortunately it's not a one size fits all formula to lose weight everyone is different

[catwoman7 11,212]

1 minute ago, tjgillman said:

@Superman84 hello, thanks for your reply. Wow well done that’s amazing, men lose a lot more a lot quicker than women I’ve read, I was on around 650cal a few months ago and was told I wasn’t eating enough especially for how much I was exercising and my body would go into starvation and my metabolism would slow dramatically if I didn’t up my intake, so I’m rather confused. But I’m going to try and decrease my calories and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

the "starvation mode" theory, from what I understand, is a bit controversial. Some don't believe it. And metabolism does drop, but I don't know that it's all that dramatic. When I weighed 373 lbs, I was averaging a bit over 3000 kcal/day. Now I can maintain my weight as long as I don't go over 1700 too often. So yes, my metabolism (or really - my need for calories) has dropped A LOT, but most of that is due to the change in my weight. For a woman in their 60's at my height and activity level, 1700 is maybe a little lower than average, but not much. I don't think my metabolic level was affected all that much.

[ms.sss 15,609]

@tjgillman : first, congrats on all your hard work and weight loss! Though you may not think it, but a 100lbs (45kg) weight loss in 10 months is NOT slow. It is average to above average.

Second, based on your height, weight, gender & daily activity, at a very high level, in order to lose weight you need to be taking in roughly LESS than 1800 cals a day (I got to this very general number using the calculator at https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/)

Sooooooo.... if you are averaging 1300 cals a day, weight loss at this time for you will be relatively "slow" compared to before, when you were bigger

Doing the math:

• it takes a calorie deficit from of at least 3500 to lose a lb.
• based on your stats, you need to get below 1800 to lose weight.
• you are taking in 1300
• which means: every day, you have a deficit of 500 cals.
• sooooo... that means it will take you 7 days to lose one pound (3500/500) IF you are in fact taking in 1300 cals and are moderately active EVERY DAY.

If you want to speed up weight loss, you'll need to create a bigger calorie deficit (which does NOT mean eating more nor exercising less)

Good Luck!

...and again congrats on the weight loss, you are doing great!

[ms.sss 15,609]

4 hours ago, tjgillman said:

and walking over 4 miles every day burning around 500cal

...also, i think that crediting 500 burned cals for 4 miles of walking seems a little high...?

[tjgillman 5]

@ms.sss Thankyou. I understand that so I can’t understand why I’m not losing right now? And surely I’m likely to lose even more if I’m burning an extra 500cal a day? I track my walk everyday on map my walk and I go by that so I don’t know how else I’m meant to measure it? 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’ll attach a screenshot. Thankyou

[catwoman7 11,212]

Trackers can vary a lot and I don't know how accurate most of them are. I just checked mine (sparkpeople). According to that, four miles in 60 minutes for someone at my weight (158 lbs) (I'm four pounds overweight according to my BMI chart) burns up 176 calories.

However, I've never really factored in the calories from exercise because I know most trackers are inaccurate. I go more by the time I spent exercising. I like to spend 30-60 minutes exercising at least five days a week.

The only time I really think about the calories is if I go a little over my maintenance range on a given day. If I've exercised an hour or so that particular day and only went over my range by up to 100 calories or so, then I don't worry too much about the extra calories. But I've never subtracted exercise calories from my food intake because I know "exercise calories" can vary so much depending on your size and what tracker you're using. It's just not all that reliable.

[tjgillman 5]

@catwoman7 oh yeah I’m aware they’re not 100% accurate but other than an app or calculator how are you meant to work it out? Your tracker is definitely wrong tho as google says 4 miles burns a lot more than that all depending on size and how fast you’re walking.. I just know that I’m walking for pretty much an hour and a half a day so I should be burning a fair amount but it’s not reflecting on the scales. So off putting.

[catwoman7 11,212]

8 minutes ago, tjgillman said:

@catwoman7 oh yeah I’m aware they’re not 100% accurate but other than an app or calculator how are you meant to work it out? Your tracker is definitely wrong tho as google says 4 miles burns a lot more than that all depending on size and how fast you’re walking.. I just know that I’m walking for pretty much an hour and a half a day so I should be burning a fair amount but it’s not reflecting on the scales. So off putting.

yes - it depends on how fast you walk. I don't stroll, but at the same time, I'm not a "race walker", either. I used 2 miles per hour in my tracker to get that number (176 calories). But I don't think my tracker is any more reliable than the others. But as I said, I don't really think about the calories I'm burning since I don't deduct them from the calories I'm eating, so it's not a huge deal to me if this thing is off.

P.S. I just realized I made a mistake in my above message. I put in 2 miles an hour for 60 minutes of walking. So to walk four miles would take me two hours - so that's 353 calories. How long does it take you to walk 4-4.5 miles?

Edited May 20, 2020 by catwoman7

[ms.sss 15,609]

6 hours ago, tjgillman said:

And surely I’m likely to lose even more if I’m burning an extra 500cal a day?

The calculation results I posted already accounted for your stated exercise (i.e., "moderately active")

...though like @catwoman7 said above, trackers are notoriously unreliable. If you really want more accurate information, you can get a heart rate monitor (a real one, like the ones attached around your chest...not an apple watch or other wrist wearables, which are also not very reliable).

How long have you been at a stall? When was the last time you saw a weight drop?

P.S. I too, do not give myself "credit calories" for any exercise performed. I'll stay at my maintenance calories whether I run 5K or not.

P.P.S. Further to the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of trackers: I'm 5'2", 115 lbs, and my watch tells me that I burn 277 calories when I run 5K (which takes me a little less than 1/2 an hour to run)

Edited May 21, 2020 by ms.sss

[tjgillman 5]

@ms.sss well that sucks lol. Will a heart rate monitor tell me how many calories I’ve burnt? 🥴 last time I had a drop was the 10th May.

[ms.sss 15,609]

Just now, tjgillman said:

@ms.sss well that sucks lol. Will a heart rate monitor tell me how many calories I’ve burnt? 🥴 last time I had a drop was the 10th May.

it will provide the data that will be able to tell you more accurately, yes.

Also, I didn't realize that your stall has been for only 10 days. If that's the case, I think its waaaay to early to worry about weight loss stoppage.

[tjgillman 5]

@ms.sss okay Thankyou I will look into that. I know but I’ve had months long stalls before and I worry this will be the same and the longer it goes on the more hope fades and I think is this when it stops? But Thankyou you’ve made me feel a little better.