Saturday, February 26, 2011

Skinny Fat - How much to eat?

My body stopped losing fat in the past month: I got sick twice, then right after I recovered, I had a change of workout. Last month I trained with my awesome personal trainer three times a week (cardio not included, I do that on my own, of course) but after 3 months of working with her, I decided to finally get on with boxing since I've always wanted to try it. So the shift of sched now reflects: boxing 2-3 times a week in the morning, weights 2-3 times a week in the afternoon, regular 2-hour Group Exercise classes on Tuesdays (can't miss those out, too much fun).

At 4'11'' and 101 lbs, I was eating 1300calories a day -- it's a very restricted diet, but it's better than my original 800-900calories a day before I finally learned about proper nutrition. Also, I was still in my paranoid state so I based that on my worst RMR.


Activity Factor   CategoryDefinitionBMR     RMR  
1.2SedentaryLittle or no exercise and desk job15161343
1.375Lightly ActiveLight exercise or sports 1-3 days a week17371539
1.55Moderately ActiveModerate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week19581734
1.725Very ActiveHard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week21791930
1.9Extremely ActiveHard daily exercise or sports and physical job24002126
1. Online BMR and RMR Calculator: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php
2. Special thanks to http://tableizer.journalistopia.com/tableizer.php for converting my Excel spreadsheet to HTML table.

Based on the table above, in order to maintain my weight, given that I am moderately active (?), I need to eat 1958calories. That's a big jump from 1300calories so
I'm restricting it to 1600calories and see what happens in a week. If I start losing fat again (and do not lose muscle), then I'll keep at it until I hit a plateau. I'll further increase my calories after that until I'm eating 1900-2000calories.

As far as I understand, RMR is the "never ever eat less than this". So basically, I'm still eating less than required. But given that I have a desk job and I'm fairly inactive 8-10 hours a day because of this, I think 1600 is pretty decent.

Amateur advice
If you're currently eating less than your RMR, I suggest first step is to increase your food intake (remember all your "what to eat"s and "what not to eat"s) until you meet that requirement. Increase it by 100-150calories a day. That's about an additional grilled chicken breast fillet, or 2 slices of bread, or 2-3 bananas, or 1-2 servings of protein shake, or a steamed tilapia, or half a cup of rice... you get the idea.

How much do you eat in a day?
Is it too much, too little?
What is your goal?

See Skinny Fat for all Skinny Fat rants, raves, and information.

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