*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

[Martynt74]

Is that 1500 cals target not factoring in exercise etc? Because 1500 cals is low especially for a chap your size (talking height not just weight) and for the amount of activity you do. Personally ive been cutting again on around the 2k cals mark. My target is set at 1500 with zero activity so i eat back a reasonable amount of what i burn during exercise and im down around 7kg in the last 8-9 weeks.

Also if your watch is a garmin, mine is as well, i take its performance measure with a pinch of salt. I went for a long time where every session was +1-6. Then i had a couple of quieter weeks on the bike and only a couple of sessions were negative on the performance measure. Now again every session for the last couple of weeks has been +1-6 or more even! I dont feel like im constantly improving thats for sure.

Yeah, it's without exercise. I try and then eat whatever calories my watch says i've burnt. I know it's likely a high estimate, but given i use HR straps and power meters then i figure it should be fairly accurate and ~650kcal per hour seems around right for walking/cycling at the intensity i do.
I generally alternate between setting to 1500 and adding on calories burned and working out average calories over the week and then working out a revised daily amount from that. The latter probably makes more sense to ensure i'm adequately fueled for long rides etc, but i'm happy to take an overall average and look more at trending. If i "overeat" one day, then it doesn't affect me mentally as long as i know over the week i'm still in a defecit. I also purposely set to only 1500 because i'm not strict at tracking every little thing, so it gives me a buffer. If i have 2 coffess with ~50ml of milk, i know that those 100kcal or so of milk isn't going to affect me, whereas setting higher targets it becomes a bigger issue.

My general thinking is that if my BMR is ~2500kcal as per most calculators when selecting sedentary, then assuming i average 5000kcal a week in exercise at a minimum, and with maybe 5000steps per day on top of that. My daily calories burned should be around 3300 or so. As long as i'm recording 2000-2200/day in MFP, then i'm probably around 2500 with extra bits on top (milk, condiments etc) so i should still have a reasonable deficit on a weekly basis.

Yeah, the Garmin is weird. I sometimes turn it off. It's especially annoying when i used to run Ultras as they'd inevitably be a bit of a drive away with an early start, so occasionally i'd be waking up at 2-3am, then driving a couple hours ready to start around 6am. I'd be tired after poor sleep, and the mental impact of your watch saying you feel like crap 10 minutes into a 50 mile run isn't helpful

 

[Syla5]

I give myself a -200-500 buffer with calories, so my target on MFP is -1.5lb per week, my activity level is set to the lowest, this gives me a 1500 target, i then do my exercise on top, and i try to end the day anywhere from 0 to 500 calories remaining, depending on how the weight on the scale is moving and how my energy levels during exercise have been. 9.5 weeks in an 15.5lbs down, im a little ahead of target so these last couple of days and maybe the next couple i will be eating to have 0 calories remaining in MFP or go over and end at -100-200 remaining (so 100-200 over target) just to help boost back up ATP stores.

A 2500 BMR for sedentary though is quite high.

My general thinking is that if my BMR is ~2500kcal as per most calculators when selecting sedentary, then assuming i average 5000kcal a week in exercise at a minimum, and with maybe 5000steps per day on top of that. My daily calories burned should be around 3300 or so. As long as i'm recording 2000-2200/day in MFP, then i'm probably around 2500 with extra bits on top (milk, condiments etc) so i should still have a reasonable deficit on a weekly basis.

Track everything!! it adds up a lot faster then you think when you dont...... you know this

 

[Martynt74]

Haha i know. I'm just unsure if i'd stick with tracking if i put too much effort in, for example if i have Spaghetti for tea, i just search for a random entry for Bolognaise and stick around 700kcal in. I just need some rough ballpark figures, then my goal is to assess how things are going. Obviously it's easy with some things, like a meal replacement drink is easy to track (breakfast)

As mentioned the last week i should've in theory lost weight so obviously i'm undercounting as i didn't see the correlating movement, so my aim will be to up what i enter for various food items i eat. and eventually things should align!

 

[Martynt74]

A 2500 BMR for sedentary though is quite high.

I thought that too. Maybe due to size/weight? This site has me even higher!

 

[Syla5]

Really need to be using a calculator that factors in BF% as well, 2.6k works at 20% BF but at 35% it drops to 2.2k for example. Also BMR base is 2.1k adding on 450 for sedentary is the equivalent of 5k steps per day still above doing nothing. That's not really sedentary so I'm not sure why the calculators seem to have taken a shift that sedentary actually isn't baseline when really it should be pretty much.

 

[Martynt74]

Ah, that's decent to know, probably helps to understand why my deficit isn't quite as high as i would expect.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I would lean on the conservative side, go for a calorie intake between the 1500 and the number after exercise. Rather than use the calorie minimum + exercise as the minimum.

Shave 200 cal off the total just to be safe.

 

[Syla5]

Ah, that's decent to know, probably helps to understand why my deficit isn't quite as high as i would expect.

A combination of not actually tracking everything consistently, average generic calculator, and variance in calories burned tracking.

As @Raymond Lin says be conservative.

If you under track calories by 10% (track only 2k instead of 2.2k), over estimate your baseline by 10%-15% (set at 2.2k instead of 1.9k) and over estimate calories burned by 10% (burn 500-1k instead of 450-900) that could be easily 500 calories over target every day for what you might not realise. All these small things add up and this is why its essential, at least initially to really establish your baselines with strict tracking of all intake.

 

[Martynt74]

Can i not just set my goal to 1000 and then i'm onto a winner?

 

[Syla5]

Can i not just set my goal to 1000 and then i'm onto a winner?

Well you can now, if you have done a week at 1500 and not lost any weight then adjusting that down by 500 cals should see you at a -3500 deficit / -1lb per week. If you want to lose more then obviously you have to go harder then this.

 

[Somnambulist]

I just do bodyweight in lbs x 10-12 (lower end if I hate myself) and write my macros down daily on scrap paper. Protein stays similar regardless of what I’m doing, fats go a bit lower and obviously carbs take a bit hit but are still around 200g a day currently Whatever you put down you will 100% underestimate what actually goes in your mouth so really most of it is just monitoring the scale + measurements and eating less if things haven’t moved for more than a couple of weeks.