I'm new here and have read quite a bit of Boss Man's recommendations. As well, I've read extensively on the ShapeFit website.
Back in November 2014, I was tested for a BMR. According to the test, BMR should be 2304 and it's 1800. However, I've read this would be low on both accounts due to weight. I've got a lot of weight to lose, over 100 pounds, and I'm 62 years young. activity level is light and I've multiplied out the numbers. For an 1800 calorie diet, I could take in 2475 calories minus 250 calories and exercise the other half for weight loss.
I've tried to take in less than 2000 calories as was suggested by endocrinologist, who ordered the BMR, but in the middle of the night I wake up and I'm starved. I'm literally dreaming about eating a high protein meal like egg whites or a high protein bar. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I have to eat a protein bar because I'm so hungry. endo suggested a caloric intake of 1550 calories and then exercising to make up the difference. I tried eating 1550 calories twice. By the time I'm climbing into bed stomach is growling and I'm feeling the need to eat a small meal. I start getting a low blood sugar headache.
Ten years ago I lost over 100 pounds by eating a lot more than 2000 calories a day. I ate clean 90% of the time, bicycled for only 20 minutes per day/3 days a week at 20 mph, and strength trained 2 days a week. I gained the weight back because I was under-treated for hypothyroidism and suffered from two medical conditions caused by the under-treatment.
How do I estimate caloric intake? Do I go by their tests and factor it to 2475 for light activity? I'm following nearly the same routine as 10 years ago except bicycling speed is 14 to 16 mph.
Thank you for your time.
Question About Correct Caloric Intake
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
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memorist15
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Re: Question About Correct Caloric Intake
Hi Memorist, good to speak to you.
Eating 1,500 calories or so does sound low if you're getting hunger pangs when you go to bed.
I don't understand why the Endocrinologist would say eat 1,550 calories a day and exercise to make up the rest, unless they meant lowering your calories to cut fat then do exercise to bolster fat loss, which sounds highly plausible, but the wording of that threw me off a bit.
You need adequate fuel for energy and adequate nutrients to help your body function, so there's a risk this may not happen eating the caloric amounts you've referred to, not least as you can get added calorie burning from exercise and a beefed up metabolism afterwards helping to burn more fat than usual, but when you then eat or drink anything with calories in it afterwards, the body shifts focus more towards calorie burning from food and not so much fat burning.
I'd be inclined to say have around 2,000 a day on workout days and around 1,800 on non-workout days for someone of your age, so if you eat 6 times a day, then you're cutting around 50 calories per meal out of your diet from the 3rd-6th meal and keeping calories the same in meals 1-2 to help your metabolism kick start earlier in the day.
You could also try something like a casein protein powder, as casein has 8 calories per gram versus 4 per gram like whey and soy do, so it provides an anti-catabolic action to spare muscles 2x longer than a normal protein powder, based on a like for like quantity.
You would take this before bed.
If you tried this, you might find the taste a little funny, so you could experiment with things like honey, cinnamon, mocha powder, ground ginger, vanilla essence and ground nutmeg, as one or more of those things might perk up the taste.
The other consideration being that casein can occasionally cause a bit of bloating.
Eating 1,500 calories or so does sound low if you're getting hunger pangs when you go to bed.
I don't understand why the Endocrinologist would say eat 1,550 calories a day and exercise to make up the rest, unless they meant lowering your calories to cut fat then do exercise to bolster fat loss, which sounds highly plausible, but the wording of that threw me off a bit.
You need adequate fuel for energy and adequate nutrients to help your body function, so there's a risk this may not happen eating the caloric amounts you've referred to, not least as you can get added calorie burning from exercise and a beefed up metabolism afterwards helping to burn more fat than usual, but when you then eat or drink anything with calories in it afterwards, the body shifts focus more towards calorie burning from food and not so much fat burning.
I'd be inclined to say have around 2,000 a day on workout days and around 1,800 on non-workout days for someone of your age, so if you eat 6 times a day, then you're cutting around 50 calories per meal out of your diet from the 3rd-6th meal and keeping calories the same in meals 1-2 to help your metabolism kick start earlier in the day.
You could also try something like a casein protein powder, as casein has 8 calories per gram versus 4 per gram like whey and soy do, so it provides an anti-catabolic action to spare muscles 2x longer than a normal protein powder, based on a like for like quantity.
You would take this before bed.
If you tried this, you might find the taste a little funny, so you could experiment with things like honey, cinnamon, mocha powder, ground ginger, vanilla essence and ground nutmeg, as one or more of those things might perk up the taste.
The other consideration being that casein can occasionally cause a bit of bloating.
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memorist15
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- Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:34 pm
Re: Question About Correct Caloric Intake
Hi Boss Man,
Thank you for your input. I'll look into the casein protein powder.
The endocrinologist figured going down to 1550 calories would subtract 250 calories from 1800 calories ( BMR), and then I'd exercise for 250 calories to equal 500 calories subtracted from 1800 calories. One problem with this is, I exercise more than that as it is. During cycling, I burn between 400 and 700 calories. I'm not really interested in cutting down on the cardio to meet the endocrinologist's goals, which I think are not even feasible nor smart for that matter. cardio is only 15 to 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Hardly something to cut down to 250 calories.
None of his suggestions make sense. If 1800 calories is BMR, exactly what I need to eat for sleeping 24 hours a day, and I take away 500 calories from that, through exercise and caloric reduction, wouldn't I be taking away the very calories I need to sustain life? Wouldn't that actually cause metabolism to lower further due to lack of sufficient caloric intake?
And further, wouldn't I lose muscle tissue? The very muscle I need to rev metabolism? 
understanding about BMR is: the calories needed to sustain life while sleeping for 24 hours. This used to be the only test to diagnose hypothyroidism. The patient would go into a dark room and be hooked up to equipment. Then the patient went to sleep. The results indicated the calories needed for a person to sustain life while sleeping. People who appeared to be "normal" were compared to those suffering from a set of symptoms which appeared to be those of a slower metabolism.
I'm being conservative on the exercise/activity level factor. Through reading many different versions of what defines sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active, and extremely active, I now realize that activity level is moderate (1.55). I previously placed myself at sedentary. That wouldn't account for the days where I exercise or strength train or clean house.
So the formula is: 1.55 x 1800 = 2790 calories
To lose weight I'd subtract a minimum of 500 calories through a combination of exercise and caloric reduction.
2790 - 500 = 2290 calories on moderately active days.
2290 calories is a far cry from the 1550 calories endocrinologist suggested.
Right now I'm eating between 1900 and 2000 calories per day. And like I said on the lesser caloric intake days I feel too hungry throughout the night.
Thank you for your input. I'll look into the casein protein powder.
The endocrinologist figured going down to 1550 calories would subtract 250 calories from 1800 calories ( BMR), and then I'd exercise for 250 calories to equal 500 calories subtracted from 1800 calories. One problem with this is, I exercise more than that as it is. During cycling, I burn between 400 and 700 calories. I'm not really interested in cutting down on the cardio to meet the endocrinologist's goals, which I think are not even feasible nor smart for that matter. cardio is only 15 to 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Hardly something to cut down to 250 calories.
None of his suggestions make sense. If 1800 calories is BMR, exactly what I need to eat for sleeping 24 hours a day, and I take away 500 calories from that, through exercise and caloric reduction, wouldn't I be taking away the very calories I need to sustain life? Wouldn't that actually cause metabolism to lower further due to lack of sufficient caloric intake?
And further, wouldn't I lose muscle tissue? The very muscle I need to rev metabolism? understanding about BMR is: the calories needed to sustain life while sleeping for 24 hours. This used to be the only test to diagnose hypothyroidism. The patient would go into a dark room and be hooked up to equipment. Then the patient went to sleep. The results indicated the calories needed for a person to sustain life while sleeping. People who appeared to be "normal" were compared to those suffering from a set of symptoms which appeared to be those of a slower metabolism.
I'm being conservative on the exercise/activity level factor. Through reading many different versions of what defines sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active, and extremely active, I now realize that activity level is moderate (1.55). I previously placed myself at sedentary. That wouldn't account for the days where I exercise or strength train or clean house.
So the formula is: 1.55 x 1800 = 2790 calories
To lose weight I'd subtract a minimum of 500 calories through a combination of exercise and caloric reduction.
2790 - 500 = 2290 calories on moderately active days.
2290 calories is a far cry from the 1550 calories endocrinologist suggested.
Right now I'm eating between 1900 and 2000 calories per day. And like I said on the lesser caloric intake days I feel too hungry throughout the night.
Re: Question About Correct Caloric Intake
I think you're more on point. Eating around 2,290 on workout days and around 2,000 a day on non workout days.
Basal Metabolic rate, BMR, is the minimum amount of calories needed to sustain a healthy metabolism, so is you have established a BMR of 1,800 I don't understand why you would benefit from going lower.
I'd try the things you said and I highlighted above and see how that goes, coupled with some of the suggestions I mentioned on previous post.
Basal Metabolic rate, BMR, is the minimum amount of calories needed to sustain a healthy metabolism, so is you have established a BMR of 1,800 I don't understand why you would benefit from going lower.
I'd try the things you said and I highlighted above and see how that goes, coupled with some of the suggestions I mentioned on previous post.
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memorist15
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Re: Question About Correct Caloric Intake
While reading further about metabolism, I discovered this wonderful website which goes into detail about it. It defines 'Catabolism' and 'Anabolism' and the metabolic states ‘Absorptive’ and ‘Post-Absorptive.’
Their definition of Basal Metabolic Rate:
The minimum calorie requirement a person needs to sustain life while resting.
Further, the website lists the factors which determine one’s metabolic rate. When I read one factor, diet, I understood why metabolic rate is decreased from what it should be. I've been eating below BMR for a long time.
Here's the link to the website:
http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/metabolism/
According to their BMR calculator, I should be eating 2377.8 (2378 rounded off) calories to maintain weight and stay in bed for 24 hours resting (Not reading, knitting, crocheting, being sick, playing a game on an iPod or iPad or anything else. Just resting).
If I use the activity factors I get these figures:
For moderate activity days, 5 days a week.
2378 calories X 1.55 = 3686 calories
Because I'm extremely overweight, I'd exercise and cut calories up to the sedentary activity factor (832 calories) from that figure.
3686 - 832 calories = 2854
I wonder if I aim at tested BMR, that I'll never reach ideal BMR? Is that how this works. I'm I starving myself further to match the tested result? I don't know if anyone knows this answer except maybe someone with a degree in nutrition or a dietician.
Just thinking out loud and writing it here.
Thank you for reading and taking your time to read posts.
Their definition of Basal Metabolic Rate:
The minimum calorie requirement a person needs to sustain life while resting.
Further, the website lists the factors which determine one’s metabolic rate. When I read one factor, diet, I understood why metabolic rate is decreased from what it should be. I've been eating below BMR for a long time.
Here's the link to the website:
http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/metabolism/
According to their BMR calculator, I should be eating 2377.8 (2378 rounded off) calories to maintain weight and stay in bed for 24 hours resting (Not reading, knitting, crocheting, being sick, playing a game on an iPod or iPad or anything else. Just resting).
If I use the activity factors I get these figures:
For moderate activity days, 5 days a week.
2378 calories X 1.55 = 3686 calories
Because I'm extremely overweight, I'd exercise and cut calories up to the sedentary activity factor (832 calories) from that figure.
3686 - 832 calories = 2854
I wonder if I aim at tested BMR, that I'll never reach ideal BMR? Is that how this works. I'm I starving myself further to match the tested result? I don't know if anyone knows this answer except maybe someone with a degree in nutrition or a dietician.
Just thinking out loud and writing it here.
Thank you for reading and taking your time to read posts.