I got the scale to move! And calorie tip website.
 

I like this website, because of the cool calculator it has for maintenance, fat loss, and extreme fat loss. I also love it has a zig zag calorie calculator too...ever try to do it yourself? it's hard!

I love zig zagging. anytime I lost a bunch of weight it was because i naturally zig zag. 2000 , 1300, 1500, 1200, 1800, I was naturally eating like that...

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

oh yeah it worked. I have been eating 1200-1300 cs a day with fast 5. I hit a plateau. I upped my calories to 1700 3 days ago and I upped my calories to 1900 yesterday. ...and the scale FINALLY moved! dropped .8 :carrot:

Thanks for the site!!

you're very welcome!

Wow that site says I should eat 1992 calories for extreme fat loss. I usually do around 1600 a day and the scale is slow moving. Hmm? I would up my calories if I thought the scale would actually move.

Mine is like 1650 for extreme... I eat about that now and I lose 2-3 weekly. Yes, more then the 1-2 most people have but extreme? Hardly.

In fact my bodybugg seems to think my BMR is about 1700. So I'm only losing as much as I do because of my exercise training schedule.

I think zig zagging calories is the best way to get the scale moving pita...

ideal muse, I don't know what a body bug is...but I do know the website is a good suggestion for those who don't know where to start...and of course over time you can tailor any diet plan to your own needs!

I love that site! I like plugging in different weights and seeing how I will be eating in the months to come.

Jen -

Yeah I agree it's a good starting point. It just made me giggle.

Bodybugg is a device you wear that measures your energy output for the day which you use to balance with your food intake. Basically what most people do with food/exercise logs, but just gives you a bit more accountability about how movement throughout the day adds up and helps you track your deficit better. http://www.bodybugg.com/

Thanks, its making me wish i didnt have a desk job!

The extreme fat loss number is the bottom of my range in Sparkpeople, and the fat loss # is the top of my range in sparkpeople.

Does your desk job prohibit you from any other exercise? I have a desk job, but I still work out 5 times a week at least. Can't you?

This is the zig zag it shows me for fat loss

Fat Loss
Monday-----1784
Tuesday-----1427
Wed ---------2141
Thursday----1784
Friday--------1606
Saturday-----1962
Sunday ------1784

Those numbers looks so high to me, but I'm going to try it this week. What I've been doing isn't working, so I'll try a zig zag.

oh cool! I have to get a look at one of those body bug things...thanks for the link ideal muse.

cosmo, desk jobs are hard, because you don't realize how much less you are moving until the weight piles on. I had one for 2 years. gained 20 lbs. I was so much more active at my other jobs--i didn't realize what it would do without adding in EXTRA activity for the day. When you are a mover and a shaker..it's a real shock!

sea girl, I have computer logs of my caloric intake every time I tried to lose weight the most successful times were with zig zagging.

Thanks Jen :)
I'm going to try this too. I've been stuck in the 160s now for a while. I need to break it.

Just curious, out of the 3 given, what formula did you use?

-Mifflin-St Jeor
-Lean Mass (Body Fat%)
-Harris-Benedict

Good luck! :hug:

Pinto, i have heard from the experts when there are multiple formulas to use them and then take the average. They all contribute something. I have heard Harris-Benedict is the most reliable. But I don't know if that is true.

That's a good point.
I've used Harris-Benedict before and it was a fairly good estimate. I did use HB formula to come up with my zig-zag numbers. Here's hoping for the best :) and some good workout days!
Thanks again for this site.

u r welcome!

i just wanted to give a little more info on that pinto...

at my height..most websites state my ideal weight is between 120-130. However, in my experience even as a bulemic/anorexic teenager my weight was 125 lbs. and I was told my ribs showed through my shirt. Not a good weight for me. I look nice and trim and healthy at 130-140. So my ideal weight for me is 135 lbs. However, prepregnancy my weight was 145 lbs and I was very muscular.

I've never tried Zig-Zagging, but it seems useful!

Same concept as varying your workout to trip up your body, keeps the plateaus away.

lol "keeps the plateaus away" like "keeps the blues away"

EXACTLY like "keep the blues away"! ;)

I've used this website/calcualtor every week of my weight loss and I love it! I serioulsy don't know where I'd be right now without it.

awesome Moonlight! That is inspiring and gives us all hope. Look how far you've come!

do y ou use zig zagging ? and did you use extreme or just fat loss guidelines? Please let us know!

Ya know, I just went to that site and for "Extreme" it lists the following

1624
1624
1949
1624
1624
1787
1624

Now, my questions are -

Do the calories need to be exact each day? For example...does it *need* to be 1624 or is 1600 or 1650 okay?

Also, what is considered extreme? 2 pound a week loss?

I have used the Zig Zag option through out my weight loss. When I started I used the extreme loss numbers because I wasn't exercising at the time...but as I started in introduce excercise, I had to up the calories to the fast loss numbers to keep the scale moving. Now I run for an hour every other day and do either pilates or ride my bike on the days I don't run.

I seriously love that calculator and recommend it to anyone who asks me how I lost my weight. It's really my "little secret".:carrot:

yay for you moonlight and thanks for indulging us with "your little secret".

Chic, the calculator just helps make it more exact. What I meant by "have you ever tried it yourself? is it is very hard to take a set number...and then day after day monitor your calories so you equal that set number for the week. I am sure if you are off 50 pts one day you can alter the next day fairly easily. But it gets kind of odd if you are doing it very often.

I have to play with so many combinations in order to hit the sweet spot for caloric intake for the week. I like that the calculator does it for you.

I never thought about cycling, but I don't think it really works for me because I was cycling all this week(from 1500 up to 2000) due to some poor food choice :( and I gained about a pound. But it's TOM, so who knows.

I think I'd like to stick with 1500, but I'm worried it might be too low.

Well, peachy..it is a little low for your weight, you could try a little higher maybe 1600-1700 and see if you lose. If the scale starts moving comfortably for you then it works.

The key behind calorie cycling is to make sure you don't go over your weekly allowance for your weight loss plan. If it is 1500 then that is 10,500. You can divide that up 7 ways whatever way you want.

I have to admit I was shocked at how well the Mifflin-St. Jeon calculation fit my experience. I had read in another thread that a study conducted by the American Diabetes Association found the Mifflin-St. Jeon most accurate (but this may have been using only diabetic patients). At any rate, it definitely was the closest I've found for ME.

To be honest, I was absolutely shocked. I thought I had an unusually low metabolism, and now I find that I'm not that far from average (since all the calculations are based on averages).

I liked the looks of the site. However when I plugged in my stats it tells me that they don't calculate for any age over 80.

I'm 85, and this irritates me.

Hey, guys. I am consistently MUCH lower than this calorie calculator suggest. I eat around 1400 cals a day, and this says for Extreme fat loss, I need at least 1870. Is that too low? My weight loss these past few months has slowed considerably, to where I am losing less than a pound per week, and sometimes not that. I usually do zig-zag, but with much lower numbers, topping out at around 1600. :/ What do you guys think? Should I try it? Some days it has me at 2000! That seems like so much!

it wants me alot higher then i am too, the problem is when i let myself go higher i start eating junk cause it fits in my allowance so i stall

Ooh.. I love the idea of this.. Gonna have to try it! =)

You still have to go by your body. I was really excited about the Mifflin calculator being "close" to what I experience, it's not exact. It still overestimates my calorie requirements considerably. It's just by about 250 calories instead of 1000 or more (I had one calculator estimate my maintenance calorie intake at over 4000 calories - Geez, I WISH. By that logic, I should be losing 5 lbs a week.).

The calculators at best give you a starting point, you still have to try it and see if it works for you, and if it doesn't you'll have to adjust. Try a few different calorie levels, maybe different macros (I do best on a lower carb diet. To lose the same amount of weight as on high carb, I can eat a few more calories on low-carb, and I'm less hungry).

True, Kaplods. You always know just what to say! ^_^ In any case, I may try it-I do find myself wanting to snack though I do curb it by doing something else, and that's worked, but I am just not losing as I should. I exercise 6 times a week at a level that I would say is pretty intense. I burn anywhere from 300-800 calories a day on a regular basis, depending on weather it's my run day, kettlebell day or if I do something extra on the side. I am starting to feel as though I am not doing enough exercise but I do anywhere from 30-70 minutes on one of the six times a week I work out and I am tired everyday, and I do as accurate a job of tracking my calories as I can possibly do. Seriously, if one chip goes into my mouth, I calculate how many calories it has and put that sucker in. I'm not going to quit this healthier lifestyle, but maybe I'm stressing my metabolism too much-I'll try this for a few weeks and see what kind of results it yeilds. I won't gain weight, and if the worst that happens is not losing for a few more weeks, well, that's not that bad. :D