Confusedadvice would be much appreciated please!

billygroat

New member
Hi guys

I have a question if I may, something doesn’t add up in my tiny girl brain....

And please don’t think I’m obsessed with weight loss, I’m most certainly not BUT I am the type of person who likes to understand how things work if you know what I mean.

I started Weight Watchers in Jan, have lost 12.5lbs so far, losing in between 1 and 1.5lb a week (which I know is a healthy loss) BUT I have tried to calculate my calorific deficit and i just don’t get it.....

According to the calculators my BMR is 1543, I need to consume 2343 to maintain, I am eating roughly 13-1400 cals per day and exercise 3 times a week burning 500 each time (kettlebells and Zumba) and believe me I am wet through when i finish....

SO, what I don’t get is if I need to have a deficit of 3500 to lose 1lb (i think my defecit is 1000 calories per day plus 1500 over the week for exercise) then shouldn’t I be losing 2lb+ per week?

Another questions is, how do people get to the stage of losing 3-4lb per week – its dangerous to go below 1200 cals per day so how can they ever create a deficit of 14,000? It seems impossible??

I now weigh 14st 2lb so its not like I’m close to my goal – I see so many people at the meetings dropping a lot more weight and they are not exercising – makes no sense to me!

Any input would be much appreciated, thanks!!

Julie
 
If your BMR is 1543, then you need 1543 calories per day to maintain.

If you do kettlebells 3 times per week that adds another 1500 calories burned.

Adds up to (1543 x 7) 10801 + 1500 = 12301 calories burned.

Let's say you eat 1400 per day, that's (1400 x 7) = 9800 calories consumed.

12301 - 9800 = 2501 calories that you burn more than you consume.

Which makes 1.5 lbs weight loss pretty good.

People can lose a lot more per week if their starting weight is very high. When I started at nearly 400 lbs, I easily lost 10 lbs per week for the first couple of weeks. Later on, it slowed down a lot.

Another factor is exercise, rigorous exercise every day will add to the amount of calories burned, obviously. Body composition is a factor as well, since a large amount of muscle and a well trained individual will have a much better working metabolism than the average person.

All of that said, I would think you're doing quite well with what you've done so far. You're losing steadily and slowly, which is really the best way to go. :)
 
Hi San

Thank you very much for your reply....

I keep seeing everywhere that the BMR isnt the same as Maintain, I will post this exert from a stickly on this site...

Remember that your BMR is not your maintenance calories. BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories you'd burn if you did nothing but lie in bed all day and breathe. It's the number of calories you need to run the basic functions of your body; to keep your heart beating, your blood flowing, your lungs working, etc.

Now I am even more confused!
 
Usually the BMR calculator should let you add your lifestyle, i.e. sedentary, moderately active, active etc.
Based on that, it will give you your BMR.

I wouldn't get too hung up on numbers though. The problem is that 5 different calculators are giving you 5 different results anyway, that's where a lot of the confusion comes from.

The main thing is that you are losing weight at a steady rate. As long as it works, that's the main thing, don't you think?

May I ask how tall you are and what your weight is at the moment?
 
Usually the BMR calculator should let you add your lifestyle, i.e. sedentary, moderately active, active etc.
Based on that, it will give you your BMR.

I wouldn't get too hung up on numbers though. The problem is that 5 different calculators are giving you 5 different results anyway, that's where a lot of the confusion comes from.

The main thing is that you are losing weight at a steady rate. As long as it works, that's the main thing, don't you think?

May I ask how tall you are and what your weight is at the moment?

Hi again San

Im 5'1" (dont laugh) 41 and 14stone 2lb
 
Back
Top