Why is this site so confusing?!?!?!

Stats: 5'6", 153 lbs, sedentary (but adding exercise 3 times a week for at least 45 minutes) - want to lose at least 10 pounds but would love to lose 15 or 20.

 

Ok, so this site is telling me to eat 1300 calories a day when I enter all of my stats. However, other sites that calculate BMR say that I should be eating 1500+ calories a day. Why are they so off? This site thinks that I only burn 1800 calories a day with a sedentary lifestyle, while other sites

(like: www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/  )

 Say that I burn over 2000, so if I ate 1500 I'd have a 500 a day deficit. 

I would love anything that could clear this up for me. I hate trying to eat 1300 or less a day, I feel dizzy and crabby and tired. I feel like if I ate 1500 I'd feel better - but I really don't want to gain weight!

 

Thanks guys. :) 

I'm not sure why the numbers you got are so off, thats kind of weird.. but I think what it comes down to is this, if you feel better eating 1500 calories a day, do it. Honestly, you definitely will NOT gain weight from 1500 a day... if you're sedentary, you're probably burning around 2000 a day (not even including the gym exercise!) and that gives you a 500 calorie deficit which is fantastic! 1500 is a great number to eat in a day, especially since youre doing the gym a few times a week. I would definitely stick to 1500, you'll feel better, be less likely to break your diet, and I'll bet ya anything you lose. Good luck :)

I may not be the best to answer, but here I go...

this site (CC) uses the assumption that 1200 min calories fits for every woman.  It is a fair asumption, they had to start somewhere right, but that is for a thin, 19 year old...so, it wouldn't work for a lot of us. 

Many of us have gone to a site to get out BMR for our stats...mine for example is 1633.  That is what I burn just living...if I were not to get out of bed even to pee.  (and with all the water I drink, we all know THAT will never happen!)

 With my activity level set at sedetary, CC has my daily burn, what I burn OUT of bed...normal life, bathing, cooking, cleaning, working, walking around, at 1900...

I am supposed to eat my BMR and have a deficit of 300 in days I don't work out and 500-1000 on days I do. 

For right now, I am actually eating about 1450-1500 calories and losing just over a pound a week.  If I stall I will eat more, if that doesn't work...eat less.  You need to play around a bit. 

I hope this helped! 

Thanks guys, that is helping! I think I'm going to try and eat around 1500 a day, and just up my workouts if I don't feel like I'm losing fast enough. I'm sick of feeling crabby and dizzy all day, and then going home and eating half a bag of chips! :)

 

Plus, now I don't feel like such a failure for not being able to stay below 1300. :) :) 

Original Post by helliferocious2:

Stats: 5'6", 153 lbs, sedentary (but adding exercise 3 times a week for at least 45 minutes) - want to lose at least 10 pounds but would love to lose 15 or 20.

 

Ok, so this site is telling me to eat 1300 calories a day when I enter all of my stats. However, other sites that calculate BMR say that I should be eating 1500+ calories a day. Why are they so off? This site thinks that I only burn 1800 calories a day with a sedentary lifestyle, while other sites

(like: www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/  )

 Say that I burn over 2000, so if I ate 1500 I'd have a 500 a day deficit. 

I would love anything that could clear this up for me. I hate trying to eat 1300 or less a day, I feel dizzy and crabby and tired. I feel like if I ate 1500 I'd feel better - but I really don't want to gain weight!

 

Thanks guys. :)

The website you reference (bmr-calculator) doesn't tell you how many calories you are burning in a day, I'm not sure how you got 2000 from that site.

They have  place where you can use some equation. I guess, looking at it again, that it's not all the off from this site - sedentary I got 1836 or something, and 'lightly active' which would include my 3 days a week exercise it was 2010. The really confusing part for me was why this site said I should eat 1300 or less and other sites say you shouldn't eat below your BMR.

 

Does that make sense? 

This site is a program. The programmers set the calorie target tool to not go below 1200 for women, 1500 for men. This is a generic minimum.

As described elsewhere, BMR is a better minimum, as it is more tailored to the specific person (the 1200 comes from the bmr of a 100 pound, 19yr old girl).

as long as you eat less than you burn, you won't lose weight. if you are burning over 2000, you can certainly eat 1500 and lose weight.

it really bothers me  that people assume that if 1200 is the minimum, they have to eat 1200. nothing could be further from the truth.

If you put down sedentary in your profile, then I can see 1800 coming up as your calorie expenditure for the day.  1300 calories would give you a 500 calorie deficit which would roughly translate to 1 lb per week of weight loss...warning, this doesn't work quite the same as you are at the high end of the normal BMI category.

The tools don't take into account your exercise when you log it separately, the higher level of exercise you have, the more bonus calories you burn when you're not exercising which is probably why you feel faint and dizzy when you don't eat 1500.

Part of it depends on how much muscle mass you have to maintain.  The important part in my opinion is to do what feels right to your body.  I would keep a calorie range from 1400-1800 and eat on the higher end on days that you do exercise and the lower to middle end on days that you really are sedentary. 

The best thing to do is be patient.  Keep close and honest track of your intake.  Start at 1500, see how that works after a month.  If you are losing too fast, increase - too slow, increase activity.  But if your body if giving you clear signals on the minimum calories it will endure (in your case 1500) - listen to it.  You should expect up to three months to lose 10 pounds.  For weight loss, faster is not always better.

I would experiment a bit wth your calories.  Try the 1500 cals you want but maybe take an extra 30 minute walk every day - just 10 min before or after each meal will help burn a few more calories.  Also make sure you are getting a good mix of protein fats and carbs and healthy foods.

I know for me only doing 1500 cals is difficult and I work out almost every day but when I dod stay within my 1500 - 1800 a day I will lose its weekends that I have issues with.

Be sure to cut your sugar and sodium and increase water intake and this will help too.

Not to discourage you but once you are in a healthy BMI which you are it is harder to lose weight.  ou may not lose 1 lb a week but try for even just a  1/2 and definately increase your amt of exercise or physical activity to at least 30 minute a day