Burning cals

[gward84]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question, I want to lose 2lbs a week so need a 1000 cals a day deficit to do so. I burn about 4000 cals a day, but normally eat 2600-2700 a day resulting in a 1300-1400 deficit. Anyway my weight has stayed the same for 3 weeks now and was wondering if I should be upping my cals to 3000 a day so I hit near enough the 1000 cals deficit a day and that should kick me back in gear to lose 2lbs a week or should i stick to what i'm doing??

The last thing I want is to up the cals to 3000 and the weight goes up as well!

Any help would be appreciated 

[Dominique]

4000 calories is a lot to burn, even for a big guy (you did mention in this older post you were 6ft5 20st2lbs). You didn’t mention your age, but even if you were 25, your BMR would "only" be 2382 (as per the Mifflin St Jeor formula, the same Fitbit uses). And even if you were that young, you would still need the 2nd highest activity level for your TDEE to exceed 4000 calories (I’m using this online calculator). That activity level would correspond to at least 15-20k steps per day in my experience. Do these assumptions match your situation?

There’s a margin error in both estimating energy expenditure (what Fitbit does for you) and your intake (what you do. If you are quite a bit older than 25 and/or move quite a bit less than 20k steps per day, chances are you are not actually burning 4000 calories. Just in case: double-check your personal info (age, weight, height) is correct in your Fitbit settings. 

[GershonSurge]

It appears you may not be accurately counting calories.

If most of your exercise is from work other than taking steps, the Fitbits with a heart rate monitor tend to overstate the calories burned.

[gward84]

Hi Dominique, thank you for getting back to me. Having checked fitbit my height, weight and age are all correct in my settings (im 31 by the way) I normally hit 4000 cals burned a day when i do about 12,000 steps. I've just looked on the TDEE link you kindly put on and ive chose moderately active, which im guessing 12,000 steps a day is? and eating about 2700-2800 a day is about right, not sure how accurate this is though as the cals to maintain is different to what fitbit states.

[gward84]

by how much? and what should I be eating Gershon?

[shipo]

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@gward84 wrote:

Hi Dominique, thank you for getting back to me. Having checked fitbit my height, weight and age are all correct in my settings (im 31 by the way) I normally hit 4000 cals burned a day when i do about 12,000 steps. I've just looked on the TDEE link you kindly put on and ive chose moderately active, which im guessing 12,000 steps a day is? and eating about 2700-2800 a day is about right, not sure how accurate this is though as the cals to maintain is different to what fitbit states.

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What do you do in addition to the 12,000 steps to burn 4,000 calories per day?

[GershonSurge]

gward84,

If you aren't weighing food, reading labels, and using a tracking program like the one in Fitbit, it's almost certain you are undercounting calories.

I'm glad you asked what you should eat. I bet my life on Dr. McDougall's way of eating. I strongly suggest watching these  fourteen videos on YouTube all the way through before deciding. This way of eating will likely cure or prevent many of the medical probems a big person has. 

[gward84]

Nothing Shippo, although I am 6ft6 and 20st1 so naturally burn more calories than the average Joe. In my 12,000 probably 2-3000 is running 

[gward84]

Hi Gershon, many thanks for replying, i'm using myfitnesspal to count cals which includes weighing, measuring etc, its bob on what goes in calorie wise! 

[Mukluk4]

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@gward84 wrote:

Nothing Shippo, although I am 6ft6 and 20st1 so naturally burn more calories than the average Joe. In my 12,000 probably 2-3000 is running 

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Would love to see some real numbers to back up this claim.  I just don't see this mathematically occurring.

[JohnRi · Accepted solution]

Just to give you a comparison.  I'm 6'0", 210 lbs now.  My BMR has fallen to the 1900's.  When I was 281, it was closer to 2400.  Back then it didn't take much to burn 4000 calories.  I was so out of shape, that anything I did drove my heart rate up into the peak zone.  I WAS in very bad shape.

Today I'm can still burn 4000 calories, but it usually takes a very fast walk or bike ride.  I usually burn around 3500 most days.  But I hit 4000 calories on 5/29/16.  I walked six miles that day at very slow 19:38 pace.  Yesterday I hit 4 miles at a 14:20 pace.  So 19:38 is very slow.  Just over 3 mph.

I burned 4066 calories that day, 19,031 steps.

At 6'6" he's going to burn a more calories than I do.  Heart has to pump harder in the larger body. 

So I can see it is possible that 12,000 steps burns 4000 calories.  But I think his Fitbit is probably over estimating his calories burned by 250-500 calories a day.

If I were him, I'd eat around 2500 calories to see what happens.