Eating too little yet need a deficit!

I am a long time CCer that fell off the wagon and needs some help:

I am 5'2" and my weight has jumped up to 130 pounds from me not exercising and eating out all the time and not paying attention to calories. I totally fell off the wagon. My all time low was 118 and I would love to get back down to 120.

So I work out 3-5 days a week, combo of lifting weights and doing cardio (mix of intervals and steady state).

When I wear my HRM for my workouts and log my activity, I usually burn around 1800 calories a day according to CC. My sedentary burn is only 1530.

So if I am working out 3-5 days and I want a 500 calorie deficit, I have to eat 1300 calories a day?? It seems SO low. What about days I don't work out? I need to eat the minimum of 1200 and only have a 300 cal deficit?

Help me drop these pounds! I need to fit into my wedding dress!

I think you are reading it wrong if your sedentary burn 1530 and you burn 1800 in exercise you should eat 2,290 or so on the workout days..

my math may be off by a bit

No, I explained it wrong. When I add my exercise into CC, it gives me a total burn for the day being 1800.

I only burn 300-400 a workout.

Why would she want to eat 500 more than she burns on workout days if her goal is to lose weight?

I think if you could eat 1300-1400 each day (including non workout days), you should see results. Even on days when you don't exercise, if you are working out 5 days a week, you probably burn more than you would if you were always "sedentary".

Alternatively, you could opt for a little slower weight loss, and eat 1400-1500. It might go a little slower, but sometimes feeling like you aren't starving all the time helps take the pressure off and allows your body to relax.

Just make sure you are counting accurately, and giving it your all on exercise.

Original Post by bmfan77:

I think you are reading it wrong if your sedentary burn 1530 and you burn 1800 in exercise you should eat 2,290 or so on the workout days..

 

my math may be off by a bit

 I don't think you have it right....but I could be wrong as well.

Nicole, if I'm understanding you right, you burn about 1800 for the entire day on days that you work out?  If so, you might just have to accept a 300 or 400 calorie deficite instead.  Sure, you can lose weight if you want, but the last 5 or 10 lbs is always the hardest.  It's because our bodies are getting so close to their ideal weight that the difference between sedentary burn and daily burn gets smaller and smaller. 

Am I making sense?

Yes, I burn 1800 total on days that I work out.

You do make sense- thanks Peaches. Thank Amethystgirl too. I guess I will just plug along with my smaller deficits, but working out makes me SO hungry

because you still need x amount of calories per day. using myself as an example

to maintain my current weight i need like 2,300 calories per day to lose 2 pounds per week i need to have 1,500 calories per day.

yesterday i had 1,919 calories in food, but I burned 1,180 calories in exercise giving me a net of 739 calories for the day, which was to low..

I may have misunderstood her post, but if she needs 1530 calories per day to maintain her current weight, and she burned 1,800 calories in a day shes is -270 calories. eating 2,290 calories on workout days would give her about a 500 calorie defect..

here is a screenshot from the program i use on my iphone, maybe the CC tools are completly diferent, I don't know..

http://bmtimagehost.net/view.php/1401_IMG0147 1.PNG.html

http://bmtimagehost.net/view.php/1402_IMG0146 .PNG.html

BMfan- you misunderstood. I burn 1800 a day. I only burn 300-400 calories working out.

Ok I understand now

it's just a different way of counting everything then i am used to

nicole - since you say working out makes you really hungry, can I ask how many times per day you are eating? 

I am on about 1400 calories per day right now for the days when I burn 1800 calories in total.  I find that the only way to not be overly hungry is to eat it in 5 small meals, making sure that I have a pre-workout snack and followed by a meal right afterwards.  The other thing that helps is to make sure I'm getting enough fiber and eat foods that provide more volume (specifically, big huge salads with beans).

I am a long way from 130 let me tell you - but man I'm gonna have a really hard time when I get down to maintenance!

Thanks for putting it in perspective for this 5'2" woman :D

Good luck and congrats on the wedding!

I eat 5-6 times a day, small meals.

Breakfast

Lunch

Afternoon snack

Pre-gym snack

Dinner

nighttime snack (not always)

I just never really feel FULL. I eat lots of protein, complex carbs, healthy fats. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and greek yogurt.

I am also 5'2" and I'm at 137... due to injury I can't work out, so my 1800 burn just dropped to 1500. I'm trying not to stress about a mere 300 calorie deficit.

the suck is that i look bigger even though I'm still slowly losing, because working out really kept things in some kind of order. lol - seriously though, clothes aren't fitting as well, I'm swelling!

I think once we get to this point we just need to have patience. *shudder*

When I finally get back to my workouts, I eat 1300-1400. (alternating days).

I MISS my buffer though! Now I can't slip in an extra snack or drink if I want, I have no wiggle room.

*bummed* *trying to be patient!*

I've been 1200 - 1250 (alternating days) for this whole week.

I think you are misunderstanding the burn meter.

Sedintary burn might very well be 1500.  But most people are not really sedintary.   Getting ready for work, work, house work, playing with the kids etc all burn calories.  This will be BEFORE excercise.  So most people are "lightly active".  Excercise might bring your calorie burn up to moderate to very active.

I would reassess what you put in for your activity level.  I bet you will lose quite well on 1500 cals a day.

So I shouldn't set my activity level at sedentary? What would be a good place to set it for someone that works a desk job during the day but works out 3-5 times a week? Most weeks it is at least 4 days....

I work at a desk all day, and work out usually 6 or more times per week.  I set mine at sedentary, and log my workouts separately, since sometimes it's weights, sometimes a bicycle commute, sometimes a swim...

Clint

So I just bought a HRM that allows you to wear it all day and track your calories burned. ( I realize it's not the most accurate thing out there, but hey, it's better then nothing). I used to have my activity level set at sedentary but after wearing this HRM for awhile, I've found that I burn approx. 2700 calories a day so you might just be suprised at how much you actually move in any given day. And  the 2700 hundred does include my exercise.

"So if I am working out 3-5 days and I want a 500 calorie deficit, I have to eat 1300 calories a day?? It seems SO low. What about days I don't work out? I need to eat the minimum of 1200 and only have a 300 cal deficit?"

So far I've eaten around 1050calories today. It's 9PM. Like your mother always said, eat your veggies.

On none 'workout' days, you still don't have to be sedentary. Go for a walk, scrub the kitchen, move your butt.

Hey, you have received some really good advice already but wanted to ask, does your HRM allow you to input personal info like age, weight, sex, etc? if so, have you checked that it has your current weight and not your previous weight of 120lbs? (I assume you used it to lose weight the last time around as well.. )

Like another poster suggested, consider adding some fun activities on your rest days.. like walking, biking, swimming, tennis, bowling, roller blading, etc... every little bit helps...

Good luck!