Calorie Defecit

[lifter891]

I have tried very hard to eat healthy as recommended in the "Trimming Down" post. But I recently signed up for Fittracker and have been recording progress. It says in the stats that i burn almost three thousand calories a day, but i only eat about 1,000. I am not starving myself or anything like that. Is this healthy???

[Boss Man]

You need to burn more than eat to lose weight, though burning 3 times yiour consumption sounds a bit much.

Especially as your intake is too low. You shouldn't be eating 1,000 a day, you need to eat more, and how much depends on your gender.

[DianaB]

Although Fit Tracker is good for tracking macros, take it with a grain of salt. The activities are estimated calories burned and are not very accurate. Also, it gives you an estimated BMR, each person if different so I would not say it is also inaccurate. Enter all your foods as custom items so you get an accurate F,C,P breakdown.
1000 cals a day is low, what are your goals/stats?
diana

[swanso5]

if indeed that is true which bossman always says it isnt (fitracker) and i beleive hiom then it's lucky you haven't simply vanished into thin air with a cal in vs out ration such as that...

if i was i would try this for the next 8 days

day 8 - before you go to bed take a wt and hopefully a and water % reading...if yuo need to do this earlier in the day for access purposes than you can do that just note the time of the day you do as you'll need to repeate this in 8 days time

days 7 - 1: eat as normal...eat when your hungry...don'ty think about what you're eating just eat as you normally would without trying to lose or gain wt...now writew everything you eat in quantities as well everything you drink

day 1 - at the same time you took your wt 7 days ago, do the same today continuing to eat as nornal up until that point

now add up all cal's from food and drink that you consumed over the 7 day period you recorded and dived by 7 (days)...this will give your daily average cal intake

now this is what you'll look for:

- if wt has gone up than you've eaten above your BMR
- if wt has gone down than you've eaten below your BMR
- if wt is the same than you've eaten at maintanence BR level

to detirmine if wt you gained was fat than check back to and water % readings

if you don't have access to / water readings than take measurements of chest across nipple line in a relaxed state with arms by sides and a wasit measurement taken at the button

- if chest increases but waist decreases than muscle gain and fat loss
- if chest increases but waist is the same than muscle gain
- if chest the same and waist increases than fat gain
- if chest increases and waist increases than muscle and fat gain

from here you can detirmine if you need to increase / decrease cal's depending on your measurements

[Boss Man]

if indeed that is true which bossman always says it isnt (fitracker) and i beleive hiom then it's lucky you haven't simply vanished into thin air with a cal in vs out ration such as that...

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this.

[admin]

lifter89 -

Our FitTracker system uses the Harris Benedict Formula to calculate each member's TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). This number is displayed on the "Cardio" page next to "Basal Metabolic Rate". This takes your BMR, which is comprised of several factors (height, weight, age, ) and multiplies it with an "activity factor" to get your overall calories. We label it "Basal Metabolic Rate" within the system to simplify it for our members.

The only factor omitted by the Harris Benedict Equation is lean body mass. Leaner bodies need more calories than less leaner ones. Therefore, this equation will be very accurate in all but the very muscular (will under-estimate calorie needs) and the very fat (will over-estimate calorie needs).

Boss Man & DianaB are correct. 1,000 calories is very low and you really want to increase this number with nutrient dense foods to optimally fuel your body. I just finished writing a "Nutrition 101" article which lays out some of the key points of a solid nutritional plan. You can check it out here:

http://www.shapefit.com/nutrition-101.html

Yours in health,

Kris
ShapeFit.com

[swanso5]

if fit tracker says you ecxpending 3000 cal's a day and you're only taking in 1000 than the calorie defict is far too great and you'll be burning plenty of muscle but probably not a lot of fat

[Boss Man]

Right thanks for the clarification. I just got a bit confused about the nature of your comment.

[SarahPT]

I have tried very hard to eat healthy as recommended in the "Trimming Down" post. But I recently signed up for Fittracker and have been recording progress. It says in the stats that i burn almost three thousand calories a day, but i only eat about 1,000. I am not starving myself or anything like that. Is this healthy???

Actually you are starving yourself. Just because your body doesn't feel hungry doesn't mean it's not getting what it needs. At only 1000 calories there is no way your body is getting all the nutrition it needs in order to function at it's best. There are so many things we take in from food everyday that make all the systems of our body work well. We can't deny it.

I really don't mean to be harsh, but I don't want to see you harm your body. It is a good idea for you to eat more. However, you should increase your calories nice and slow so you avoid weight gain, which of course will just frustrate you.

[lifter891]

Thank you all very much. I have so amazed by all your concern, it mean a lot to me.


Not only friends, but family have all noticed how much weight i have been losing in the last two months. But the scales say I only lost about 15 pounds and I am gaining muscle weight every week and losing fat. Something is missing in this equation. Why would I burn fat, build muscle and have a calorie defeciet?? Something just isn't adding up. Granted I was 185 pounds when I started workingout and lifting. I ate very unhealthy and was around 20% body fat (age 18). Now that I am eating healthy, exercising and lifting, I have shed pounds like crazy. I just do not want to hinder all progress. I will start eating around 500 more calories a day. And see what the results are. Thank you all again, I will keep you posted.

[quickness]

I reccomend you get the book "the abs diet". if you starve yourself to much then you will not only burn fat but much needed muscle. that book has a whole list of good things you can eat. mom got it for birthday i think