Hi everyone! I've been lurking and posting here since May at this fabulous forum, spending quite an insane amount of time reading through very interesting posts and journals and would like your help/input on the following question if you may...

I've been fascinated with these bloody formulas for far too long in my life and I would like to know if they really are accurate.
I would be extremely interested in seeing who has followed these guidelines and eats at their 'maintainence' level without gaining weight or any other experience you would like to share.

I am in the process of an experiment where I am eating very near my maintainence of 2100cals per day. I'm averaging 1700-2100 and I'm going to do this for the next 4 weeks and see if I gain weight. Before that I had been trying to eat 1500cals basically my whole life :rolleyes: 10 years ago I ate 1500cals every day and maintained my weight around 125lbs. Then I stopped smoking, started exercising and the bingeing began! I gained 25 pounds in about 4 months! I then did a Body For Life Challenge and dropped the weight only to be very depressed at the thought of eating 1500cals for the rest of my life and as soon as I went a bit over I would get depressed, feel fat, binge and the cycle continued. I dropped the weight two times again only to yep, :rolleyes: put it all back on again. Anyway, enough about me, back to the BMR question. Any thoughts/experiences???

Hi there jacqui! :)
I just wrote in the other thread that I think they are guidelines. Sometimes I've found myself wondering if there really are 140 calories in 3 Entenmann's chocolate chip cookies. Well, they're different sizes and some have more chips, after all!

I generally eat at the maintenance level. I think that at first, I may have gained a little weight, but I think to get your metabolism to even out you have to be willing to stick with a plan, and I think the BMR calculations are as close as you can get, really.

One experience I had was when I decided I would just stop eating cookies and drinking iced tea. I never had them at the same time, yuck! :lol: Apparently, I didn't replace all those calories with *anything* in particular. I was alarmed after a couple of months of this that I'd actually gained weight. I think my body must have gone into some sort of starvation mode and was holding onto everything it could get, like it was saying "dumbass, give me some food, dammit!!!" It seemed weird at the time, but now I can see why it happened.

Everyone's a little different, so I don't think there's any way BMR calculations can be perfectly accurate. It's very hard to make people fit mathematical formulas, but those formulas are helpful tools for creating a healthy lifestyle. :tucool:

These formulas are only as accurate as they purport to be ... which, for you, is not accurate at all.

Why?

Because they're based on a bell curve. If you happen to be one of the lucky in the middle of the curve, GREAT! You will be on target. But if you are at either extreme edge, you'll be way off.

You can have the same gender, height, weight, age, and other characteristics of another person, and your metabolism might still be different by up to 500 calories. Why? Environment, stress, genetics, the composition of your foods, the amount of fiber and protein in your diet, and numerous other factors.

Equations are a starting point ONLY. They are NOT the end all, be all. To find out what works for YOU requires being consistent, keeping a detailed journal, and then adjusting as necessary.

Jeremy

Hi everyone! I've been lurking and posting here since May at this fabulous forum, spending quite an insane amount of time reading through very interesting posts and journals and would like your help/input on the following question if you may...

I've been fascinated with these bloody formulas for far too long in my life and I would like to know if they really are accurate.
I would be extremely interested in seeing who has followed these guidelines and eats at their 'maintainence' level without gaining weight or any other experience you would like to share.

I am in the process of an experiment where I am eating very near my maintainence of 2100cals per day. I'm averaging 1700-2100 and I'm going to do this for the next 4 weeks and see if I gain weight. Before that I had been trying to eat 1500cals basically my whole life :rolleyes: 10 years ago I ate 1500cals every day and maintained my weight around 125lbs. Then I stopped smoking, started exercising and the bingeing began! I gained 25 pounds in about 4 months! I then did a Body For Life Challenge and dropped the weight only to be very depressed at the thought of eating 1500cals for the rest of my life and as soon as I went a bit over I would get depressed, feel fat, binge and the cycle continued. I dropped the weight two times again only to yep, :rolleyes: put it all back on again. Anyway, enough about me, back to the BMR question. Any thoughts/experiences???

Wow! How about that! Exactly how many cookies and iced teas do you have in a day? :lol:
Thanks for your reply Butterflyer!

Anyone else? Come on ladies (or gents) don't be shy now...

Thanks for your reply Jeremy!
I have a question though-how about the Katch-McArdle formula that takes into account lean body weight? In BFFM Tom Venuto mentions that it's the most accurate method.
I think I'm going to know the answer to this one-it's a estimate right? I have to stop being the excessive number cruncher don't I? :D



These formulas are only as accurate as they purport to be ... which, for you, is not accurate at all.

Why?

Because they're based on a bell curve. If you happen to be one of the lucky in the middle of the curve, GREAT! You will be on target. But if you are at either extreme edge, you'll be way off.

You can have the same gender, height, weight, age, and other characteristics of another person, and your metabolism might still be different by up to 500 calories. Why? Environment, stress, genetics, the composition of your foods, the amount of fiber and protein in your diet, and numerous other factors.

Equations are a starting point ONLY. They are NOT the end all, be all. To find out what works for YOU requires being consistent, keeping a detailed journal, and then adjusting as necessary.

Jeremy

I agree with Jeremy. They're only a starting point and a guideline. And for a lot of people, they're not particularly accurate. Personally, I've never really bothered to calculate my BMR, and I've cut and bulked very well without doing so. (I did use a formula by John Beardi at one point that is based on lean muscle and various other aspects of training and diet-somewhat more complicated than other ones) For smaller people in particularly, especially if they are eating clean and plenty of protein and fiber, I find that BMR underestimates. This causes people to eat a greater caloric deficit than is ideal during a cut. Not a good thing.

These formulas are only as accurate as they purport to be ... which, for you, is not accurate at all.

Why?

Because they're based on a bell curve. If you happen to be one of the lucky in the middle of the curve, GREAT! You will be on target. But if you are at either extreme edge, you'll be way off.

You can have the same gender, height, weight, age, and other characteristics of another person, and your metabolism might still be different by up to 500 calories. Why? Environment, stress, genetics, the composition of your foods, the amount of fiber and protein in your diet, and numerous other factors.

Equations are a starting point ONLY. They are NOT the end all, be all. To find out what works for YOU requires being consistent, keeping a detailed journal, and then adjusting as necessary.

Jeremy

Thanks for your reply Jeremy!
I have a question though-how about the Katch-McArdle formula that takes into account lean body weight? In BFFM Tom Venuto mentions that it's the most accurate method.
I think I'm going to know the answer to this one-it's a estimate right? I have to stop being the excessive number cruncher don't I? :D

I think that formula's one of the better ones. But you're right; it's only an estimate. Find a level that works for you.

I totally agree with what Jeremy had to say. I used to count calories - did for months and months. It only stressed me out and exacerbated my O.C.D. :lol:

The best advice I can give you when you hit maintenance, is to eat a little more and just watch the scale every couple of days to see if it is dropping or rising.
I eat around 3,000 cals a day - but I am also a competetive boxer and train twice a day. I try to stay within 3-4 lbs. of my fighting weight.

Thanks for the replies! I think I'll continue with my experiment and try to find out my own 'sweet spot' that I can maintain on. :tu:

:lol: I don't eat so many cookies as I used to! After I realized it wasn't cookie magic that was keeping me at a stable weight, I just added in more food to my diet. I used Fitday as a guideline for a while to help me figure out what sort of eating kept me happy and healthy! Sometimes it changes, too.
You'll get it all figured out! :nod:

Jacqui,

Thanks for posting this thread. The answers may hold the key to breaking my plateau :tucool: