How to Eat

meanredspider

I've started using the Livestrong site to track calories to focus on weight loss (I was to lose 5kg before the start of the motor racing season).

My question is this: what's a sensible calories deficit a day?

Livestrong reckons my base calorie intake should be around 2000kcal a day to lose 750g a week. On top of that I get credit for my commute. Livestrong reckons thats around 1000kcal each direction (15 miles at 16mph+) - my Garmin reckons 1200kcal - I think less. The thing is, whatever that figure is (even if it's just 600kcals each way) I tend to meet just my base calories with what I eat - so the ride is extra deficit. So I'm at least 1200+kcal deficit a riding day. Is that too much?

SBezza

I would suggest calculating around 600 calories each way for you commute, 1,000 kcal for a hour means going very hard for the whole commute.

1200 kcal deficit is OK as long as your diet is a good diet IMO, I would include a decent percentage of protein just to help avoid muscle loss, but at that deficit you may experience muscle loss, though probably not in the legs.

danowat

I am going to disagree and say a 1200cal deficit is too much, it will slow down your metabolism, and eventually make losing more weight, more difficult, plus you'll struggle to maintain your current level of activity.

I'd personally say that 500cals a day is a better target deficit, 1lb a week loss is a good target.

SBezza

danowat wrote:

I am going to disagree and say a 1200cal deficit is too much, it will slow down your metabolism, and eventually make losing more weight, more difficult, plus you'll struggle to maintain your current level of activity.

I'd personally say that 500cals a day is a better target deficit, 1lb a week loss is a good target.

It won't slow down if you are doing daily exercise though, exercise increases the metabolism.

Now if you were sedentary then yes I agree, but not for an active person. When I was losing weight and exercising everyday, I probably survived on less than 2,000 kcal a day for quite a while, so probably had a calorie deficit of around 1500 a day, depending if I went to the gym twice a day.

You can quite easily maintain the current level of activity if you eat the right foods.

amaferanga

What's your BMR?

Unless you have a particularly active job then its probably around 2000kCal. To loose 750g each week needs a calorie deficit of about 800 per day so if you did no additional exercise that'd mean consuming only around 1200kCal per day. With your commute burning around 1200kCal then that means you can consume about 2400kCal per day on the days you're commuting.

I think that's right but I stand to be corrected....

meanredspider

amaferanga wrote:

What's your BMR?

Well that's what I'm assuming Livestrong has calculated to give me a target of 2000kcals a day to achieve my weight loss - so somewhere north of that (2500kcals??).

I do tend to ride pretty hard - averaged 165bpm (57RHR 183MHR 46yo) for the 15 miles this morning though I'm trying some slower (<70%) rides mixed in.

I've lost a couple of kilos in the last 3 weeks but I want to be sure that what I'm doing isn't counterproductive. A couple of years ago I lost a kilo a week for 15 weeks but that was mostly relatively light exercise (<30 mins a day) and sensible eating - but I was very unfit and (obviously) pretty overweight. That weight has stayed off.

SBezza

See how you get on, if you find you are struggling, eat a little more each day. Thing with calculations from the web, is that they are just guessimates, and such you may not need as much as the Livestrong site suggests, though you might need more.

Pokerface

SBezza wrote:

See how you get on, if you find you are struggling, eat a little more each day. Thing with calculations from the web, is that they are just guessimates, and such you may not need as much as the Livestrong site suggests, though you might need more.

Wot he said.

1200 cals a day deficit isn't too much (if it's from exercise. Too much if you're not doing anything). However - you may find it hard to run that deficit EVERY day. Some days you are going to be low on energy and extra hungry. So eat more on those days if you need to.

If you can maintain your energy/performance levels and eat less - then keep it up.


(The recommended daily deficit for losing weight is usually 500 cals a day - but that is for someone who isn't exercising. If I do a big ride and use up several thousand calories - I don't feel the need to replace every single one of them. Because on rest days I tend to actually eat more than on training days!)

meanredspider

Thanks all. I hadn't really worried too much about exact calories but I thought I'd track it for a while just to "reset" my eating habits and was struck by the radical difference between bike days and non-bike days which just got me thinking. I think on weeks like this where, because of son's hospital appointments, I'm only going to manage 3 days (100 miles) I'll be fine. My target is always to do all 5 days (160 miles and 10,500ft of elevation gain) when I think I need to get a few more calories into me.

vorsprung

A normal kind of protocol for dieting and not loosing muscle is to decrease required calories by 10% and increase protein intake. Look in your local library for books by Anita Bean

So with your profile of 2000kcal base + 2000kcal exercise, have a deficit of 400kcal a day

I have to agree with the comments that 1000kcal each way seems a bit far out. I do a hilly 15 mile each way commute everyday and assume it is 800kcal total

To take on more protein eat more eggs/tuna fish/lean meat

Pigtail

I'm not an expert - but I've lost a pretty steady pound a week for almost a year now.

I reckoned I needed about 500 calories a day deficit to do that, but I was also worried about a reduction in my metabolism, basically that my body would think a famine had arrived and shut down to compensate. So my alternative plan was to run a 750 calorie a day deficit Monday to Friday and try to achieve a balance at the weekend.

I also thought a slow reduction like that might have less chance of burning muscle and could be easier to keep off than doing a quick hit.

meanredspider

The trouble with a 500kcal deficit is that there's so much variability in the numbers. Even my commute has numbers varying from 1200kcal (what I work on) to Garmin's highly optimistic 2400kcals. My lunch was a lemon chicken multigrain roll from the canteen at work - food database figures for a chicken mayo roll (can't find the exact match) vary by about 300kcals. It's easy to be 500kcals out in a day. I'm not too worried about that because I'm sure I'm in a net deficit situation - just want to be sure it's not counterproductive.

amaferanga

meanredspider wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

What's your BMR?

Well that's what I'm assuming Livestrong has calculated to give me a target of 2000kcals a day to achieve my weight loss - so somewhere north of that (2500kcals??).

I do tend to ride pretty hard - averaged 165bpm (57RHR 183MHR 46yo) for the 15 miles this morning though I'm trying some slower (<70%) rides mixed in.

I've lost a couple of kilos in the last 3 weeks but I want to be sure that what I'm doing isn't counterproductive. A couple of years ago I lost a kilo a week for 15 weeks but that was mostly relatively light exercise (<30 mins a day) and sensible eating - but I was very unfit and (obviously) pretty overweight. That weight has stayed off.

Did you choose highly active (or whatever they call it) in Livestrong? If you did then that includes your daily exercise. So if you want to add calories burned for your commute on top then select the activity level that matches your day excluding the commute.

I'm just surprised that Livestrong seems to be telling you that you can loose over 1.5 lbs a week on 2000 calories not including your commute.

Or have I misunderstood completely?

amaferanga

meanredspider wrote:

The trouble with a 500kcal deficit is that there's so much variability in the numbers. Even my commute has numbers varying from 1200kcal (what I work on) to Garmin's highly optimistic 2400kcals. My lunch was a lemon chicken multigrain roll from the canteen at work - food database figures for a chicken mayo roll (can't find the exact match) vary by about 300kcals. It's easy to be 500kcals out in a day. I'm not too worried about that because I'm sure I'm in a net deficit situation - just want to be sure it's not counterproductive.

Its all the stuff like full fat mayo that make the difference. Only way to keep track accurately is to prepare all your own food so you know exactly what's going into it.

meanredspider

amaferanga wrote:

Did you choose highly active (or whatever they call it) in Livestrong? If you did then that includes your daily exercise. So if you want to add calories burned for your commute on top then select the activity level that matches your day excluding the commute.

I'm just surprised that Livestrong seems to be telling you that you can loose over 1.5 lbs a week on 2000 calories not including your commute.

Or have I misunderstood completely?

Nope - I worked on the basis of what a non-cycling day looked like. Given that the recommended intake for a male is around 2500kcals, I'm assuming that Livestrong takes that sort of figure and applies a calorie reduction based upon the target loss. So I chose "light activity" I'm male, 46, 212lbs, 6.0' - gives 1989kcals a day to achieve 1.5lb weight loss a week.

To that goal, I apply food calories consumed and exercise calories burned.

I'd love to prepare all my own food and do for breakfast (porridge/banana combo) and tea (well Mrs MRS does - she's far more skilled at it) but lunch is just a step too far. I need to find an approach that fits my life not a life to fit my approach.

SBezza

I always think 2,500kcals a day is a wee bit high for your average Joe, your daily needs needs to be based on you weight and how active you are, even this is just a pure guess though, as we are all different.

meanredspider

amaferanga wrote:

Its all the stuff like full fat mayo that make the difference. Only way to keep track accurately is to prepare all your own food so you know exactly what's going into it.

As above - except that the calories burned thing is still pretty inaccurate. Short of strapping on a power meter, it's going to be a guess. Strong headwind and detour around the murder scene will have added to the uncertainty today.

mattshrops

although the livestrong estimates are pretty high, if youve got biking and non biking days then dont sweat the exact figures too much. if youve got a big deficit on the biking day it doesnt matter too much if youre a bit high on the non biking day - it balances itself. livestrong did work very well for me ive lost a couple of stone in 6 months which is fast enough for me.what i like is it makes you examine what you are eating and decide if you are actually doing the right thing with your food intake.

meanredspider

I'm 3kg down since mid-Jan so I'm making progress - especially as I'm sure I've put on some muscle too.

mattshrops

cant think of the correct term just now (too early) but its one of those things that as you make progress it becomes easier to make progress. too many people are looking for a magic pill or something, youre doing it so keep going

meanredspider

mattshrops wrote:

cant think of the correct term just now (too early) but its one of those things that as you make progress it becomes easier to make progress. too many people are looking for a magic pill or something, youre doing it so keep going

Virtuous circle?

Yup - I'm comfortable with doing what I'm doing just looking for reassurance.

dgstewart

meanredspider wrote:

... and detour around the murder scene will have added to the uncertainty today.

Thought you weren't down in Glasgow until next week?!

meanredspider

dgstewart wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

... and detour around the murder scene will have added to the uncertainty today.

Thought you weren't down in Glasgow until next week?!

We, unfortunately, have our own murder scene which is a bit of a shock for sleepy Inverness. More shocking is that it's a 4 year old girl and it seems as though her mother is under arrest for the murder. Anyhow, it's on my bike route which meant I had to detour via the hospital which adds a mile (and I got abused by a fellow cyclist for having my knees showing in February! :oops: )