That whole paragraph referred specifically to the model in my gym 
Thanks for all the feedback. I agree that 584 cals for just over an hour of weightlifting sounds high, but bear in mind I’m only 166cm tall and weigh ~106kg with ~46% body fat so it takes a lot of effort for me. It sounds like a massive overestimate but I am nearly 40kgs over weight so I guess if you imagine a normal weight person doing a normal workout but adding 40kgs in a weight vest then the extra effort makes sense and the extra calorie burn doesn’t sound so unrealistic. I am literally at the point of sweat running down my face and dripping off my chin and I can wring out my gym top when I’m done.
That said I’m still being very conservative with my calorie intake as my total intake was still a bit under my BMR.
Goals wise I’m looking to drop fat whilst preserving as much muscle mass as I can so the training is to protect and maintain rather than gain mass or strength. My last DEXA scan showed that I have more muscle mass than 95% of women my age and the PTs I’ve worked with have both said that I’m one of the strongest women they train which is encouraging as I’m relatively new to what I consider to be “proper” weightlifting focusing on the big compound lifts.
I agree with the concern about 800 calories a day but the recent research does seem to support it as a safe way to drop fat for people who are obese (like me) providing there are no underlying health conditions and it’s only done short term. Studies have been based on between 2-12 weeks which is why I’m aiming for 28 days. That said I’m also being realistic and being flexible on some days when I am exercising and eating a bit more whilst still maintaining a deficit.
My Fitbit claims I burnt 2695 calories yesterday which considering my TDEE based on Katch-McArdle is 1883 when sedentary and I did 40 minutes of walking and an hour of weightlifting seems not that far off.
Basically I think I could easy end up spiralling down the rabbit hole trying to crunch all the numbers so I think based on the reading I’ve done and feedback from you all I’ll up my calories on training days (twice a week weights, twice a week cycling or swimming) making sure I still have a deficit to my sedentary TDEE and see how I go. Who knows, I may find the 800 on other days too hard to stick to although with the flexibility above it should be doable.
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Sounds wise.
You’re not going to preserve muscle mass on 800 cals a day, I wouldn’t have thought. @JamesCollier probably knows better though.
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I agree I’m definitely going to lose some muscle mass going that low on calories. But I’m hoping continuing the training, focusing on strength training rather than cardio, sticking to 16:8 TRE and only doing the 800 cal for 28 days on non training days will minimise it as much as possible. As I’m starting with relatively high muscle mass I can afford for some of the loss to come from muscle.
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And this morning’s weigh in came in at 229.7lbs (16st 5lbs), exactly 4lbs down from my start weight on Wednesday. I know a chunk of that will be water but it’s still so nice to finally be under 16 and a half stone!
Today is a day off of deficits as it’s my niece’s 8th birthday and we are having a family party. Plan is to keep a rough track and try and stay under my TDEE of 1883.
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I agree. If you’re strength training, I would also go as far to say you’re at risk of injury on this calorie-deficit too, even in 28 days. High-rep training, is fine, but not strength training.
Also, a hard strength training workout could involve expending a few hundred additional calories. You’d make yourself ill.
I get that you’re desperate to loose weight, but several months of steady weight loss, will reap results.
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I call him dickhead but he went deaf around the same time he forgot my name
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My two cents on this.
I have a Garmin Fenix 3hr (another tracking device with optical heart rate monitoring). Garmin has “Strength” as one of the options for activities to track.
When I use this at the gym I notice two things:
- Probably overestimates the amount of calories I burn. Because it can only track heart rate. Heart rate is high even while I’m resting. This is but a theory.
- I do have a strap and if I want accurate HR measurements its a must. The days I go without the readings are night and day (even if the optical HR monitor in the watch is quite good). I can finish a sets of squats, be fully engaged and the HR can indicate 90bpm. Obs not accurate. So, I wouldn’t even consider this measurements.
[quote=“JamesCollier, post:47, topic:13525”]
I get that you’re desperate to loose weight, but several months of steady weight loss, will reap results
[/quote]\
Agree with the general trend here. 16 stones is not that heavy (morbidly obese heavy). Super low calorie diets are often used in extreme cases. I think you are much better of with the steady approach and making sure you don’t fall into the yoyo effect.
Most of us who want to lose weight want to lose it fast but steady is the best way and it has better chance of staying off. And it’s healthier for us, I lost 3 stones this year and feel better for it health wise and my clothes are baggier. We have to be patient and it will soon come off.
@Bee has been losing a pound a week for months now it soon adds up.
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Yes and now find I’m able to maintain without any problems 
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Not sure where you are getting the idea that I’m desperate to lose weight. If you look at the weight graph I posted you’ll see I’ve been losing weight gradually over the last two years (just under two stone since May 2017) and have kept it off. I also have no intention of sticking on a VLCD, instead I’m using it as a kick start for a very restricted period of time (28 days). Even then, I’ve said I will go for 1400-1500 calories on days where I’m training.
On the calorie burn topic, I’ve looked up estimated calorie burn during an hour of weightlifting for someone of my age, weight and height and estimates range from 324 (low weights, low effort) to 687 (high weights, high effort). The six separate calorie burn estimators I looked at are consistent within ~50 calories in their ranges. Given that, my reported burn of 584 in an hour doesn’t look unrealistic at all given the effort I’m expending to be drenched in sweat by the end.
I think the best plan is just to keep track of how I feel and if I feel I’m suffering any adverse effects during the 28 days then obviously I’ll change what I’m doing.
Back to the original intention behind this thread - to keep track of progress (or otherwise!). Yesterday was a big family party for my niece’s birthday so not a deficit day, but as far as I can estimate ~1950 calories so not too bad. Fitbit has that as about a 200 calorie deficit. I did have two glasses of wine as part of that which probably explains the blip back up to 16st 7lbs this morning.
Back on track today…
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Apologies, I maybe wrongly equated someone wanting to follow 800 calories per day with being desperate to lose weight.
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Unfortunately my weight of 16st 9lbs (start weight 1st May) gives me a BMI of 37.4 which is uncomfortably close to the severely obese threshold of 40. So substantially heavier than what would be healthy for my height. 
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What are your big 4 lifts out of interest? Top 5% has me curious - That’s quite a claim!
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I probably didn’t explain that stat very well. Bodyscan (where I have my DEXA scans done) have built up a database of the stats of all the people they’ve scanned. They’ve produced indices by weight and gender. In their data for women, average lean mass is 42.0kg. Lowest 1% of women scanned is 30.5kg of lean mass. Highest 1% of women scanned is 58.5kg lean mass. In my post scan consultation they explained to me my scan value of 55.7kg of lean mass puts me in the top 5%. As far as I remember their data is based on all the scans they did in 2015/2016.
Stats for men if you are interested - average 61.7kg, bottom 1% 45.4kg, top 1% 87.8kgs.
So not in any way related to my one rep max as I’m still very new to this. My previous PT was much more focused on dumbbells and stuff like leg press, lat pull downs, rows which is why I changed as I wanted to focus on learning the big compound lifts. My new PT is spending a lot of time doing reps with only the bar to build muscle memory and correct form so we haven’t really established what my 1RM is for any of the big four. Not sure if it’s a useful indicator but my starting deadlift is 60kgs and starting bench 40kgs. Had my first attempt at hip thrusts the other week and started those with 10 rep sets at 60kgs. I have no idea if that’s good or bad for an untrained 44 year old woman, my PT seemed to think I have the potential to go a lot heavier and he’s the one who told me I’m one of the two strongest women he trains.
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Awesome, really interesting! Thanks for taking the time to explain.
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Sorry didnt meant to be disrespectful. I assumed too much.
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