I used a BMR calculator that said I needed 2635 calories a day. To get even a 500 calorie deficit, I would need to eat 2100 calories a day and I would not lose weight. I have tried it before. So, what is the safest deficit I could do? I've heard it isn't safe to go below a 1000 calorie deficit. Even with that, I'd eat 1600 calories a day and I feel like I wouldn't lose weight. I don't seem to lose weight unless I'm under 1400 a day. Advice? I also do Tae Bo classes usually daily, burning at least 500, sometimes 900 depending on the class.

Also, when you're counting calories, do you also count the calories from fat in your daily number??

Forgot to add that I'm a 20 year old female with obesity definitely running in the family

When I use BMR calculators I factor in "serenity" as my physical activity. If you are 5'8 your base rate is definitely going to be less than 2000.

Now that being said they say for nutrition you should eat at least 1200 healthy calories. If you burn 500 of those 1200...you should still be fine.

How many calories do you burn during Tae Bo? Do you have a heart rate monitor? Keep in mind those calculators and heart rate monitors add in your resting metabolic rate...so for example for 1 hour your body will burn 70 calories even if you are sleeping. So you would minus that from your calorie burn whilst counting calories.

I posted a thread a few weeks back that explains the science of calories to make more sense. Good luck!

When I was about your age, I was about your same weight and nearly 5'7" and on nutrisystem. My calorie level was 2250, which seemed insane to me. I didn't think I could lose decently on anything higher than 1500 calories.

I actually lost better, and the reason wasn't even a huge mystery (once I really thought about it):

On 1500 calories or less, I had absolutely no energy. Even normal activities were exhausting.

On the 2250, I had a lot more energy. Even though I could see that I was losing at least as well as on 1500 calories or less, I did feel like it. Because I wasn't starving and miserable, it felt like I wasn't "really earning" my losses. Or I would want to cut further to lose more, even though I knew that cutting more really didn't result in more loss over the long term.


None of this necessarily applies to you, but if you're 20 and really can't lose under 1800 calories (let alone 1400), I would urge you to see your doctor and request a full metabolic panel (checking for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, thyroid disfunction....)

Hi!
I actually do have a doctor appointment in a couple weeks and I'm going to ask to be tested for some things. Even with a low cal diet, I don't lose weight unless I combine it with exercise (maybe I do lose, but it's slower and I don't notice). It's weird.
Thanks guys!

Can you ask your doctor to test your basal metabolic rate? A colleague at work did it, and they basically sit you in a quiet room for 30 minutes and you breathe normally into an apparatus. Then they calculate your daily metabolic rate by your O2/Co2 levels. That should give you a really good idea of the right number of calories for you.

I would be careful not to overestimate the calories you burn while exercising. Sources say 500-800 an hour for Tae Bo, not counting breaks. Tae Bo at that level is a very intense workout, roughly equivalent to running non-stop. If you aren't doing an hour at the full intensity shown in the videos, I would adjust accordingly.

Just an update if anyone cares, it was my scale!! It started giving me weird numbers (and 4lb weight gain/loss within 20 minutes) so I realized something was wrong. I went and bought a more expensive scale that I felt was definitely better quality and saw a 13lb weight loss! So excited! Weird thing is, the broken scale was only a month or so old and had a weight limit of 450, so I know I didn't break it! I feel so relieved; I was about to give up

When you are losing more than an average of 2 pounds a week. Everyone is different in regards to how their body will respond to certain calories. I am 210 now and in low 20s in terms of BF and I'm on a cut eating 1800 calories with around 175 g protein, 125 g carbs, and 65 g fat, give or take a few grams. I've only been doing it for a few weeks but dropped a little too much weight last week so I'm upping the calories another 200 for this week and we'll see what happens.

Did you try replacing the battery on the malfunctioning scale (if it's digital)? If the scale s digital and you have'nt tried a new battery, the scale might not be broken at all, it could just need a new battery.

A lot of digital scales start to weigh hinky when their battery starts to go, sometimes for weeks before the battery actually registers low-battery. And some don't have low-battery alerts, they just weigh inacurately for a while until one day the screen doesn't display at all (until the battery is replaced).

Our last scale started weighing hinky several months ago (like it always does when it needs a new battery), so we replaced the battery, and it didn't fix the problem (as it always had before). We took the new battery back to the store and had it tested. As it turned out the new battery was bad. Got another new battery and the scale worked great again.

On BMR calculators - Lots of BMR calculators give you BMR using a particular formula and then ask you your level of activity and say how much you would burn per day.

Two issues here.

First, a lot of BMR calculators use a formula that considers age, height, gender and weight. That is reasonably OK but if someone was 40 years ago, 5'4" tall female and weighs 150 pounds and is 40% body fat the calculator says that person's BMR is the same as a person of identical stats but with 25% body fat. In reality, the person with 40% burns much fewer calories per day.

The Katch McArdle BMR calculator uses body fat %. I have 40% body fat and it puts my BMR at about 75 calories less than the other calculators. So I know that BMR calculators that don't use body fat percentage will say I am burning more calories than I'm really burning.

Second most calculators after giving me BMR try to estimate TDEE. I always say sedentary on these (and just ignore the exercise I day). They always give me a number for TDEE that is higher than what I actually burn per day even with exercise. In short, the estimates of TDEE on most calculators are just laughingly off base. I wear a Fitbit and I know that I come nowhere close to burning as many calories as they say I do.

If I eat anywhere close to what they say I can eat to lose weight, I will gain because I'm not burning as many calories as they say I'm burning.

Now, I'm sure those calculators are accurage for some people. But, they aren't accurate for everyone. You have to do some testing and experimenting to see what works for you.

Hi!
Yeah, I replaced the battery and it's still showing a 15lb difference. I even had a Dr. appointment today and my new scale matched up with theirs. It's just such a relief because I was getting so frustrated and discouraged!