My situation

toronto80

I've read these forums for quite a bit and got some useful information from it but I thought it best to post up my own situation and see what you guys think (these threads are probably done to death but I'll try and include as much info as possible).

Female, weight is 62kg, 5"8. Intense exercise for two hours a week, no weightlifting, on my feet all day with work, go for the odd walk during the week too. Would consider my diet to be in decent enough shape although I can go for long periods without eating any food (could be a gap of 6 hours because of work). I'm planning to eat around five small meals per day as my goal is to lose a few pounds and get down to 57kg.

I looked at the main thread at the top and came up with the following

1) So.. first off you need to figure out your resting metabolic rate (RMR) or the calories your body requires just to exist if you were lying down for 24 hours:

Age Women
19-30 (bw (kg) * 14.7) + 496

e.g for me, a 62kg (50kg lean I think) 26yo female its (50*14.7) +496 = 1231

2) Then calculate your lifestyle daily energy needs:

Activity level
regular walking or equivalent RMR * 1.7

again for me its 1231* 1.4 = 2093

3) Then estimate your daily exercise expenditure by working out how much exercise you do a week and divide by seven for an average daily value:

2 hours high intensity cario = 1200 cals
Total = 1200 / 7 = 171 cals

So add that to my daily energy needs.. 2093 + 171 = 2264

My maintenance calorie needs every day are 2264 cals/ day.

For weight loss: I need to reduce my calories by about 15% a day:
2264 * 0.85 = 1924 cals/ day

Does that look all okay? I then divded the total over five meals giving me roughly 385kcals per meal. What sort of time period would I be looking at to get to around 57kg? Should I incorporate some weightlifting in to my routine (don't really fancy it though to be honest!)? How do you suggest I tackle the problem of not being able to eat at work?

Thank you for reading

eclectichoney

hey there

I don't know how to quote a quote (forgive the boards ineptitude!) but you calculated:
again for me its 1231* 1.4 = 2093
Which is actually 1723 - not sure if it is a typo or whatever, you might want to doublecheck!

I'm a very similar size / weight (5 7" and 57ish kgs - prob 25% BF at a guess) and don't really go too closely by formulas tbh. They are a good starting point but if you find you are not losing or gaining etc. then adjust accordingly as everybody is different to some degree. Really trial and error is often the best way - start at a level for two weeks and increase/decrease by 100/200 kcals a day the next two weeks if there is no change and so on.

I find my maintenance (sitting on the couch all day level!) is around 1400 if that helps at all.

Oh and absolutely introduce some resistance work - you will probably get to your goal much faster and i will help to ensure that most of your weight loss is fat loss rather than muscle loss (some loss is probably inevitable but at least you can try and minimise it!)

cardio,shoot me

electic honey , look under peoples posts, theres a button called quote. and in quick reply look at the very right button above the box.

eclectichoney

cardio,shoot me wrote: »

electic honey , look under peoples posts, theres a button called quote. and in quick reply look at the very right button above the box.

Thanks Yeah I know how to do a normal quote, but quoting a quote (secondary quoting??) doesn't seem to work for me. Thanks though.

toronto80

eclectichoney wrote: »

hey there

I don't know how to quote a quote (forgive the boards ineptitude!) but you calculated:
again for me its 1231* 1.4 = 2093
Which is actually 1723 - not sure if it is a typo or whatever, you might want to doublecheck!

I'm a very similar size / weight (5 7" and 57ish kgs - prob 25% BF at a guess) and don't really go too closely by formulas tbh. They are a good starting point but if you find you are not losing or gaining etc. then adjust accordingly as everybody is different to some degree. Really trial and error is often the best way - start at a level for two weeks and increase/decrease by 100/200 kcals a day the next two weeks if there is no change and so on.

I find my maintenance (sitting on the couch all day level!) is around 1400 if that helps at all.

Oh and absolutely introduce some resistance work - you will probably get to your goal much faster and i will help to ensure that most of your weight loss is fat loss rather than muscle loss (some loss is probably inevitable but at least you can try and minimise it!)

Hey

woops, was meant to type again for me its 1231* 1.7 = 2093

Thanks for the reply. What sort of resistance work would you recommend? I'm not a member of a gym so any work I do will have to be at home. I have done tabata squats before and can do press ups and dips (using two chairs), what else would you recommend?

Any tips for eating while working? Is the six hour gap a big negative?