Calories in and calories out question---

[Lyssalou76]

I'm wondering if someone could help me on this.  I've been using my Force for 8 weeks and have lost 14 lbs so far, which is great but I have a question regarding my calories.  I set my Force for -1000 calories a day to go with the -2 lbs a week.  When I see my dashboard and it tells me what I have left (calorie wise) to eat for the day.  Do I subtract that 1000 from that or is it already subtracted for me?  Like today I went to the gym and burnt approx 711 (polar heart rate monitor) and then I logged that in as my exercise but  it's telling me I have well over 2000 calories left to eat today after having about 450 calories.  Is that right???  Here's my stats just so you know--  38 F, 5' 10/11" and currently 216.  That just seems like a lot of calories to be eating. I've been eating around 1400-1700 on average but then my dashboard always says I'm under budget---but I do have to subtract that 1000 calories, right?  Anybody that could clarify this would be helpful to me!  Thanks in advance!!!

[RuthieBinLove]

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on your remarkable progress!  I am thrilled for you and encourage you to just keep moving and believing in what you are doing for yourself now and for your future!  I've been using my fitbit since the first of the year and the calories in vs out was very confusing to me, as well.  

As I have understood it, the fitbit does all the calculations for you and shows you how many calories you have to eat taking into account how much you are moving.  The more you move, the more calories you burn, the more you need to fuel your system and staying 1000 calories below your total daily burn, even if it means some days you are eating well over what you think is 'right' should allow you your 2 pounds a week while not starving your body or throwing it into a stasis.  

And the calorie counter will show you 'over' in calorie intake even when you haven't eaten a bite until you have burned the 1000 calories you want to NOT consume.  Which really confused me at first.

Good luck.  You are doing so, so well!

[Lyssalou76]

Thank you so much for your reply and for the congratulations!  I just thought I'd see a bigger number loss but feel great and can see some results so I must be doing something right.  I'm going to slowly add some more calories so the deficit isn't so huge!!!

Thanks again!

[Melissa79]

I have a qustion. Just got my first weekly progress report. I guess I am a lost new user. Parts of it seem to be written in a different language. I've made out what most of it means, but I am still very unclear about what the Calories In vs Out is trying to tell me. It says:

Weekly Total:

25,188 Calories Burned

10,432 Calories Eaten

-7,000 Plan Deficit

-7,756 Calories In vs Out

Is this good, bad, or ugly? I don't get it. I feel like I am eating all the time, and definately way too much. The only real change I have made as far as eating goes is removing all of the cream, butter, and cheese based sauces from my veggies. I have always been primarilarly a veggie eater from my grandmother who did most of my raising. I have just switched my sauces for dry herbs. Am I doing something wrong?

[slysam]

Mellissa79, from what you posted your deficit was 756 calories more than it should be for your goal. Basically you could eat another 100 calories per day over what you did last week. If your deficit is really that high (food logging accurate, not logging overestimates for exercise), it might be better long term to bump your calories up a little. You don't need to eliminate fat from your diet--fat helps with hormones and other important functions. Most people may do well to cut down on some fats, only because we tend to eat too much especially saturated fats. But you can probably reintroduce some of it if you want. Also, how is your protein intake? If low, that may be another thing to look at. It isn't hard to add 100 calories though, possibly adding back a little sauce to one meal a day would do it. I am not sure whether that is the best use of your 100 calories though, it would depend what else you are eating and whether you are getting enough of everything. Right now you are averaging a little less than 1500 calories, so you could eat a little less than 1600. This is just my layperson impression, I am not a dietition or professional.

[whome]

Actually, melissa79, you are 7,756 calories over your goal and are going to lose 4lb for the week instead of 2lb. You can see this from the fact that you supposedly burnt 25,188 calories and only ate 10,432 cal.

(25,188 - 10,432 = 14,756) so your total deficit for the week is 14,756 calories.

You can also get the same total by adding your goal deficit (-7,000) and your excess deficit (-7,756) .

7000 + 7756 = 14,756  and since those are negative numbers it is actually -14,756 calories.

If accurate, that is a BUNCH, and depending on how much you have to lose, probably not healthy - I am not a nutritionist or dietitian or doctor, either - so I only say probably - 

Good luck - hope this helps

Craig

P.S. @slysam - hope I am not coming across as rude (and that I got my numbers right, lol)

[Heybales]

@whome

"Yes, yes; with yours my figures do agree!" - Pirates of Penzance

Considering studies of healthy obese people show a metabolic slowdown when taking a mere 25% deficit off TDEE, it doesn't take much to see a 58% deficit is a recipe for disaster.

Well, unless someone is trying to start or continuing a lifetime of yo-yo dieting. Then right on the mark.

And frankly, at 8 weeks in, if this has been consistent, and no where near 4lb weekly is being lost - it's already happened.

[Melissa79]

Thank you very much for your reply. Your concern about my "deficit really being that high" is valid for someone who does not understand my mind and how detail oriented I am. Also a 1st born child perfectionist by far. My protien intake is good and has always been a concern of mine with my family history of diabetes and my personal hypoglycemia. Thank you again for your explaination in an understandable way.

[Melissa79]

Thank you as well for your detailed explanation. As noted before, I am a true perfectionist so I would guess-timate that I really did burn 25,188 calories. I was busting my butt, and still am - amazingly enough, it feels great!

Your concern about my defict being a "bunch" and it's health value was actually very nice. You don't know me, but it still seemed like you cared enough to point that out. Thank you. I do have about a hundred pounds to loose, give or take. Your post also made me want to talk with my doctor, which I did yesterday. She said, everything is good.

[slysam]

---

Craig

P.S. @slysam - hope I am not coming across as rude (and that I got my numbers right, lol)

---

Craig, no worries. Yes I was misreading. She had over a 2,000 calorie deficit a day which would be for a four pound loss a week. I am not sure whether it is realistic to lose that much fat a week, there is a limit in how much can be reelased in a week. 

[slysam]

Melissa keep up the good work and keep in touch with your doctor. I have read that heart rate monitors calorie burn estimates are not as accurate for people with high levels of bodyfat (or maybe it was high BMI). Most do use a BMR estimate (based on height, weight, age and gender) as a starting point in the calorie burn and they also use assumptions about fitness that may not be correct. They have a margin of error if people are "perfectly average" in size, body composition, fitness, lung capacity but are more skewed if someone varies much from whoever their test subjects were. HRM's estimate oxygen use from heart rate and estiamte calorie burn from estimated oxygen use. So you may want to keep an eye on how well your results line up with the numbers you are using. Wishing you much success!

[Melissa79]

Thank you once again for your knowledgeable and caring responce. I probably need to stay quiet about my problems with the BMR estimate basing their assumptions on "perfectly average." Perfectly average is generally a lot different than most people assume - even a logic based calculation. In case you cannot tell, I am a social worker. I am wishing you much success as well.

[slysam]

Hi Melissa, I am not sure what a heart rate monitor companies "average' is. It might be "average" tri-athaletes or average runners. But it may be more even specific. My local university does fitness studies and sometimes advertised for subjects. I find it interesting how specific their criteria is (often male, 18-25, training a certain number of hours a week, etc). When you look at fitness studies, they often use small populations of very specific people. Often not women, but they are including more. Academic researchers often publish their work, but a company developing fitness gadgets in a competitive market will usually keep their findings somewhat secret so it is hard to know how many and what kind of people were involved in their testing. But that is a whole different topic, 🙂 The point was just that HRM's give estimates (and any device really) based on "averages" of their test subjects so are not always accurate for everyone exactly. At least not the calorie burn estimate. Sometimes people expect whatever they estimate must be true then get confused when they different estimates on their fitbit, cardio machine at the gym, other device or online calculator. All the estimates are based on some assumptions about averages to some extent and likely many (if not most) are not exactly average compared to the test subjects. I think these tools are still worthwhile though, just with a little cautious skepticism and comparison to actual results.

[Heybales]

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@Melissa79 wrote:

Thank you as well for your detailed explanation. As noted before, I am a true perfectionist so I would guess-timate that I really did burn 25,188 calories. I was busting my butt, and still am - amazingly enough, it feels great!

Your concern about my defict being a "bunch" and it's health value was actually very nice. You don't know me, but it still seemed like you cared enough to point that out. Thank you. I do have about a hundred pounds to loose, give or take. Your post also made me want to talk with my doctor, which I did yesterday. She said, everything is good.

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Actually, depending on workouts done, Fitbit is likely to underestimate.

For one thing, it estimates calorie burn for ALL non-moving time as your estimated BMR. Fact is, that's the burn while sleeping, being awake burns more, standing burns even more, other movements not counted as steps burn even more.

If you have typical 2/3 of day non-moving, it's underestimated.

Not sure what country, but in the US, Dr's only have to take 1 course in nutrition, and not recent at that, no requirement to stay up on human metabolism. Unless Dr is specialists, the vast majority really should be referencing you to a specialists, a nutritionist.

Yes, your huge deficit that is actually already NOT causing the results it should screams out as a loud a clear signal that despite being a perfectionist, if you don't know what you are trying to be perfect to, you can screw up your body, and make this whole journey a whole lot worse.

Have you played the end game out yet, as you are approaching goal weight, and thinking about maintenance.

Your TDEE will drop about 75 calories for every 10 lbs. With 100 more to go, that's 750 less calories you'll be burning daily near the end.

That means to keep your current weight loss, you'll need to be eating 750 less calories then too.

Think about how much you eat now - can you sustain and adhere to 750 less calories near goal weight successfully?

And if now you are only losing 1 lb weekly despite what the deficit may appear like, that means when you reach goal weight, you'll be able to eat 500 calories more.

So what you eat now - minus 750 - plus 500 to maintain. Is that reasonable level you'll be able to maintain on?

And be aware - this is based on you keeping up the same calorie burns in exercise as you have been to cause current weight loss - but the level of effort as you get light must be more intense, or longer.

So if you take a vacation week with less exercise and eat more - you'll gain fat.

If you get sick or injured for a week, you'll have to eat a lot less - or you'll gain fat.

Since that current eating level is might low, 750 less to reach goal weight looks rather scary.

Plus with suppressed metabolism and daily burn, you'll never get as much out of your exercise as would be possible.

So yes, concern expressed for strangers, but the approach being taken isn't strange sadly, all too common, and the outcome is all too known.