Trying to figure my daily burn...

I'm approaching maintenence and I'm trying to figure out what the "burn meter" would be for a sedentary teenage girl. I'm not sedentary, but I find it easier to just log my activities separatley.

I've heard everything from 1,500 to 2,200 and don't know what to expect.

Calories burnt is affected by genetics, size and other factors aside from exercise so I can't really give you any advice.  But I'm not any sort of expert anyway :)

You could use a search engine to find different online calculators such as for BMR.  There are quite a few out there.  For example, I typed in the following information into one of them: Female--5' 4"--160lbs--Age 16.  The BMR was 1500; but then you also have to figure in the "Activity" adjustment.  I used "Sedentary," and the BMR was then 1800.  So that is one general result from one online calculator.  If you are moderately active, then it would jump up to 2000 or whatever.

wouldn't it just be easier to eat a couple hundred calories less then you already do? that way you can figure out what YOU need, not what the general guidelines say

those calculators arn't exactly accurate

I think the easiest way is to increase 200 calories every 2 weeks or so until you stop losing weight.

Original Post by suzushii:

I think the easiest way is to increase 200 calories every 2 weeks or so until you stop losing weight.

 she's gaining weight, not losing

Didn't you say you couldn't gain unless you went over 2800? Couldn't you sort of deduct activity and work it out from there?

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html

The above calculator is best for determining your caloric needs according to age, weight, height, and gender if you're under 21. CC's calculators and activity log will provide too low of numbers...in fact, mos calculators will! This is the only one designed especially for growing teens. Yes, the numbers that it provides may seem high, but they are appropriate for our age group.

In terms of your basic, no formal exercise caloric needs, that depends upon your lifestyle. If you sit on your butt all day, you need to eat the sedentary number provided by the calculator. If you are an active person in general and stand/walk around a lot, twitch or are generally restless, and preform household chores, then you should consider your basic, no formal exercise caloric needs to be the light (less than an hour) number. Another option you have is to use whatever amount you didn't gain on when you were sedentary as your base number. As others have said, your body is unique and you will likely require a different amount of calories than another person of your age, size, and gender.

It is a good idea to supplement appropriately for exercise when you have a history of under eating for you activity level. Now, in order to determine your *approximate* calorie burn per hour of formal exercise, plug your stats into the above calculator and subtract the sedentary number from the moderate (about 1 hour of exercise) number. That is how many calories you need to add to your intake for ever hour of exercise that you do. This calculator is based off of MET values of 5 or 6; it is based upon moderate intensity activity. If you are putting the same amount of effort into whatever activity you are doing, your body will burn about the same amount of calories no matter what it is. An hour of walking 4 MPH, biking at 12-14 MPH, swimming laps at a decent pace, and other similar activities are considered an hour of exercise with this calculator. There is no need to nit-pick about complete perfection in your calculations, as they will NEVER be perfect anyway, no matter how much math you do. Try not to get obsessive about your calorie intake, as that will only give your ED a way to slip back into your life. I am not intending to judge you...that can happen to ANYONE.

What are your stats anyway? There is a good chance that what I just explained was servery confusing, but I could re-explain myself if I had your stats and could give you some calculations examples.

I can see your reason for wishing to calculate your caloric needs, as you do want to eat properly and I'm sure that you also have a slight fear of overeating (I don't know anybody who doesn't fear that!), but calories are not an exact science when the highly versatile human body is thrown into the calculation, and it's a huge a waste of time to try figuring out perfect numbers. I'm sending you the best of luck, Zeb...please do not get too worried about calories, exercise and the like; it can grow into a horrid obsession and I know from experience that it's not pretty. You are smart enough to know not to over focus on one thing, I'm sure. :)

Thank you so much Missmagill. You are probobly my biggest inspiration on CC, if not the world! Hahah.

I'm for sure going to use the "lightly or moderatley" active settings as my base since I stand or walk lightly through most of the day when I'm not eating or exercising of course. I was never really sedentary except for back in like, fifth grade, and I don't know how many calories I ate then (most likley too many) so I'm probobly not going to take the option.

I usually use the website Caloriesperhour.com since you can input the exact exercise as well as your own weight for accuracy. Sometimes I'll add a little onto their caculations just to be safe though. I really don't want to accidently start losing again like I did last year and relapse again.

I'm more afraid of not eating ENOUGH than eating too much. If I gained, it wouldn't be terrible or anything of course. Losing weight is much easier for me than gaining. I'm just going to very gradually reduce and see what works for me. Everyone's different. I think I'll start with about 2,700 today and see how that goes.

I went for an hour long run/walk (half and half) and estimated to be about 300-350 calories burned. Does this sound correct? Keep in mind that I'm only about 5' or 5'1" and am pretty light. I'm also maybe going to go swimming today for about 30 minutes of swimming laps and maybe 30 minutes of just hanging out and swimming around - maybe 300 calories total? I don't want to obsess, but I don't want to mess myself up again either.

Original Post by zebulancherry:

Thank you so much Missmagill. You are probobly my biggest inspiration on CC, if not the world! Hahah.

I'm for sure going to use the "lightly or moderatley" active settings as my base since I stand or walk lightly through most of the day when I'm not eating or exercising of course. I was never really sedentary except for back in like, fifth grade, and I don't know how many calories I ate then (most likley too many) so I'm probobly not going to take the option.

I usually use the website Caloriesperhour.com since you can input the exact exercise as well as your own weight for accuracy. Sometimes I'll add a little onto their caculations just to be safe though. I really don't want to accidently start losing again like I did last year and relapse again.

I'm more afraid of not eating ENOUGH than eating too much. If I gained, it wouldn't be terrible or anything of course. Losing weight is much easier for me than gaining. I'm just going to very gradually reduce and see what works for me. Everyone's different. I think I'll start with about 2,700 today and see how that goes.

I went for an hour long run/walk (half and half) and estimated to be about 300-350 calories burned. Does this sound correct? Keep in mind that I'm only about 5' or 5'1" and am pretty light. I'm also maybe going to go swimming today for about 30 minutes of swimming laps and maybe 30 minutes of just hanging out and swimming around - maybe 300 calories total? I don't want to obsess, but I don't want to mess myself up again either.

Haha. Me, inspirational? What a lovely thought! ;)

I am the same way; I stand, walk around the house, preform household chores, and the like every day when I'm not eating or exercising (or sleeping!). I've been like that for years now, too, and as I'm home schooled, I'm not required to sit around in classes all morning and I can choose a lot of "active participation" activities for my studies! :)

I used to use caloriesperhour.com until I realised that I was LOSING weight, muscle mass, and sports performance when eating the calories suggested by its calculator. Once I began using the calories recommended by the BCM calculator, I stopped losing and my sports performance went sky high! It is easier to simply use the calculation that I mentioned on the BCM calculator than to fumble with the numbers that CPH gives you. It's nice not to spend a massive chunk of time calculating the calories you need to do an activity, right?:)

Wow...we're just plain twins or something, Kate! XD I experienced the same fears as you are currently feeling when i first moved on to maintenance after gaining. I can tell you right now that YOU NEED TO AVOID STRESSING OUT ABOUT CALORIES. I spent hours planning exercise and meals so that I'd get enough calories in, attempting to calculate and recalculate the calories I burned through exercise, and researching better methods of determining my caloric needs using a bunch of fickle numbers rather and ignoring my body. Stress caninduce weight loss. It did for me, and I'd hate to see you follow in my footsteps. Experimenting is a good idea, but do remember to guess high rather than low with your calorie needs...I guessed low and it destroyed my body, screwed up my digestion, and ruining my biking performance. Of course, you still need to watch yourself and make sure that you don't start spending a ton of time analysing numbers. If you have a normal and healthy appetite and don't have some sort of appetite-inhibiting illness, do give your body a chance to tell you what it needs.

I assumed that you're aiming for about 100 lbs, you are 5'4 and you are 14 years of age. The BCM calculator calated that you need:

• 1630 calories absolutely sedentary
• 1940 calories for lightly active (under 1 hour exercise), which is likely your "sedentary" needs
• 2220 claoires for moderately active (1 hour exercise), and
• 2700 calories for very active (about 90 minutes exercise)

2220 (the number for one hour of activity) minus 1630 (the number for no activity) equals 590 calories, which is how much EXTRA you will need to eat when you add one hour of exercise to your day. If you add two hours of exercise, you'll need 1180 calories. Doing more than 2 hours of exercise per day would likely NOT be a great idea for you right now, but that is something to discuss with your doctor. Whatever they say is fine to do is fine to do. :) I waited until my doctor approved my training for an eventual century bike ride before I rode more, for intense, as centuries require a LOT of training and I had to confirm with him that my body was ready for that. 

Now, if you write that number down (590) and write your "sedentary" needs (1940) next to it, you can easily determine your caloric needs each day without having to fumble with the BCM calculator each morning. The equation that you'd need to use to determine your *approximate* caloric needs using these numbers is:

(hours of exercise x 590) + 1940 = your caloric needs

Does that make sense? :) By the way, your hour-long walk/run, so long as it was 4 MPH or faster (which I'd guess it was, with your running) burned 590 calories. As for swimming, I'd count 45 minutes of it as exercise, so that would be about 440 calories. Yes, that sounds insane--I know--but you need to keep in mind the fact that your body is undergoing a LOT of development inside and out right now. 14 years old is a prime time for female organs to develop and that requires a LOT of energy. You also may end up growing taller now, so long as your body is no longer starving (I grew 3 inches taller through proper eating after weight restoration in 2007!). Lastly, remember that exercise requires a good bit fo fuel, and as teenagers, we burn fuel up even quicker than those that are older than us. It's like comparing those massive monster trucks to station wagons; you can bet that the trucks aren't going to go anywhere near as far as the station wagons on a tank of gas. :P

I'm homeschooled too! x) I love it.

Do you ever sit down? I had a really bad compulsive exercising problem a year or two ago and I would NEVER sit. Not to eat, not to do school, not even when I felt like I needed to relax. My whole family was really worried and they all knew about it because I would never do things like watch movies or take time to talk to them. I felt horrible about it. Sitting for a little while isin't bad right? I mean, I can't walk EVERWHERE - a car is nessessary sometimes! Hahah.

Original Post by zebulancherry:

I'm homeschooled too! x) I love it.

Do you ever sit down? I had a really bad compulsive exercising problem a year or two ago and I would NEVER sit. Not to eat, not to do school, not even when I felt like I needed to relax. My whole family was really worried and they all knew about it because I would never do things like watch movies or take time to talk to them. I felt horrible about it. Sitting for a little while isin't bad right? I mean, I can't walk EVERWHERE - a car is nessessary sometimes! Hahah.

 I sit down for meals and I ride to various places in the car...I sit through church services and appointments, too. I stand when sitting is optional, but I don't act like a freakazoid by standing when it's inappropriate. :P 

the only way to figure out your maintenance needs is to maintain.  keep logging if it helps you, but caloric needs will vary from person to person and day to day, so you really just have to do it.  pay attention to what you're eating, what you're doing, and what you weigh, and adjust as necessary.

I'm the same way now. I actually prefer to stand most of the time because sitting is just uncomfortable.

This coming school year I'm taking a couple classes at a co-op and will have to sit in "school" for three hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's not so bad right? At least it's not seven hours EVERY DAY. Yikes. I don't see how kids in public school can stand it to tell you the truth. I've been homeschooled since 4th grade and I'd never want to go back.

Original Post by zebulancherry:

I'm the same way now. I actually prefer to stand most of the time because sitting is just uncomfortable.

This coming school year I'm taking a couple classes at a co-op and will have to sit in "school" for three hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's not so bad right? At least it's not seven hours EVERY DAY. Yikes. I don't see how kids in public school can stand it to tell you the truth. I've been homeschooled since 4th grade and I'd never want to go back.

Sitting is not optional in this situation, and no, sitting isn't bad. You really needn't worry about whether it is "okay" to sit or not; we'd not be able to sit at all if we were never meant to do so! ;) 

...But, yeah, I attended a Charter School for my freshman year of high school and my rear end got extremely sore within the first week of classes! Haha! It's something that one adapts to, I think--just as most people can't stand for as long as those like us do.

By the way, Pgeorgian has a point that trail and error is the only sure-fire method of determining your body's unique caloric needs. Please do remember that, and only take my advice as a BASELINE. If you feel overly full to the point of being sick or you feel ravenously hungry, don't feel obligated to a specific number of calories. I know that it's nice to have an idea of what to eat, but do let your body do some talking, too. :) 

Zeb, were you actually still doing work? How did you manage it not sitting down?

i'm 5' 1" as well, but I'm 19. i'm actually eating enough calories to gain since i'm still slightly underweight. i maintain on about 2200-2300 a day with about an hour's worth of exercise. however, i'm never too sure since it's difficult for me to estimate calories. i may actually be eating less than that since i find it strange for a shorty like me to have to eat so much to maintain!

as for figuring out daily burn, i would just steadily decrease a bit at a time from your current intake now until you are no longer gaining. i think that 2000 minimum still applies even at your height. miss magill's method seems pretty legit too, although i seem to be at odds with my own calculator results.