Using fitday questions???

[lwdinsf]

Hi. I'm mostly a lurker, and a very grateful one at that. I recently discovered fitday.com either on this or the videofitness forums.. can't remember.

Anyway, after plugging in my food intake, it seems (and I suspected) that I intake less than I allegedly (according to the site, my heartrate monitor, etc) burn. In other words, fitday calculates calories burned as 2900 in one day, and calories intake at about 1400. I counted all my extra nibbles, too... Today was a very typical day for me, maybe a tiny extra cardio. . So, I'm wondering if there are any experts in the crowd out there who can tell me whether my basal metabolism could be much lower than fitday estimates?

Does anyone else have the same problems??

Thanks in advance,,

Laura in SF

 

[kimroberts]

I'm certainly no expert, but I have some personal experience with weight loss. About two years ago when I needed to lose weight, I had to actually eat more! Yep, I was eating so little that I was starving my body.

And one more thing too, I think fitday calculates bmr too high. I had one of those oxygen burn metabolic tests to calculate my resting metabolic rate this past summer. It was 1530 calories. With the amount of muscle I have, I had estimated my rmr with the help of some info on the interet to be 1800-1900 calories. That, too, was an eye opener.

Maybe one or the other of my problems can shed some light on your problem.

Kim

 

[Bobbi]

Laura, are you skin and bones? If you burn 2900 and take in 1400, you should be dropping weight like crazy. I am very active but on the homepage where you plug in you activity levels, I put sedentary which gives me a BMR of about 1300 plus another 300 or so for my everyday activities,then when I add on exercise, I have about a 2000 calorie output.

Here is a really cool website slideshow for figuring your numbers out:
http://iweb.tntech.edu/abrunt/chp-9a/sld018.htm

 

[Bobbi]

If you go through and click the right arrow it takes you through a breakdown of how our bodies use calories including the Thermic Effect of Food. It's neat!

 

[lwdinsf]

Hi Bobbi, Hello Kim,

Skin and bones... well, I'm that, plus some fat, muscle, etc... No, I'm not skinny. I weigh about 150, am 5' 6", and am described as "strong" but voluptuous (take it whichever way you want... I guess I'm muscular but I've got big breasts...ugh).

I haven't tried the website you mentioned yet, but I will.

Kim -- gee, I have been eating this way for so many years, I am afraid my body will definitely put on weight if I add another 500 calories. I think on some days I get as much as 2000, but those days are rare. I am not trying to starve myself at all -- been there, done that -- but I try to eat balanced and healthy and find I am still fighting an uphill battle. I was wondering, when you began to eat more, did you have a nutritionist or doctor help guide you through the process??

THANKS and Regards!
Laura

 

[kimroberts]

No, it wasn't a nutritionist. It was a very experienced personal trainer (my boss). I was pretty much eating only one large meal a day (and not a very healthy one) and surviving the rest of the day on diet coke. I started eating 5 small meals per day, of healthy stuff, and the weight peeled off, almost overnight. I didn't add a whole lot more calories, but the volume of food went way up because I was eating more veggies and less processed stuff. Before I got used to it, my face got tired of chewing!

I wish I had enough discipline to eat that way right now, but I don't.