When inconsistent, what method is best for me?

7aneena

I keep going back and forth between TDEE and MFP method of eating back exercise calories. My stats are
Female
153.5 cm (5'.05)
72.8 kg
ultimate goal weight 57 kg (125lbs), I'd like to reach that by beginning of May for an upcoming surgery

I did several calculations on several sites including scooby and IIFYM and here's what I got
Avg BMR = 1474
TDEE= 2028

Avg TDEE -20% = 1622
The thought of eating 1600 calories to lose weight scares me

So here is what I am struggling with, I set my goal as 2lbs per week and MFP gave me 1200 allowance which is too little so I figured I'll do tdee but I am inconsistent in my workouts, some weeks I go 5 times and other weeks 3 times or twice. Other than my workout and going to school twice a week I am pretty sedentary spending most all of my day by the computer writing papers and dissertation for school.

That got me thinking, if TDEE will work for me when I don't always do the minimum workouts?

So do I do TDEE or do I stick with MFP and eat back calories (because 1200 is tough)? -getting HRM

P.S. When I did the TDEE calc on scooby it estimated my loss to be 1 lbs a week, so no matter what I do nothing gives me the 2 lbs/week that I want. Am I unrealistic to want to lose 2 lbs a week?

Thanks in advance

malibu927

Yes, 2 pounds per week at your size is unrealistic, and 1 pound would be better. If my conversion is correct, you only have 35 pounds to lose, and a 2 pound deficit is for people with twice that.

As for TDEE vs MFP, I'm also inconsistent with exercise, so I would say go with MFP.

7aneena

malibu927 wrote: »

Yes, 2 pounds per week at your size is unrealistic, and 1 pound would be better. If my conversion is correct, you only have 35 pounds to lose, and a 2 pound deficit is for people with twice that.

As for TDEE vs MFP, I'm also inconsistent with exercise, so I would say go with MFP.

Yes your coversion is correct that comes to 35 lbs. So should I change my MFP goal to reflect a 1 lbs a week then? Will that reflect in a higher calorie allowance?

Thank you

sympha01

The only downside of MFP really is getting an accurate estimate of what you're burning in your workouts if you plan on eating back your calories. If you're not consistent with the exercise, I'd say use MFP and eat back 50% of your calories "earned" from exercise. Follow that for at least one month (two is preferable for women, IMHO, to get through two full menstrual cycles and cancel out any hormonal fluctuations in your data) to give it a chance to work and see what happens. If you're losing too fast, eat 75% of your exercise calories.

Also, I'd agree with the above poster that 2 lbs per week is excessive for your current weight and goals. (A good rule of thumb is <1% of your bodyweight absolute maximum per week; lower than that: more like 0.5%-0.75% is better. Too fast and a lot of the "weight" you'll lose will not be fat, it'll be lean body mass). You should adjust your MFP goals to lower your desired loss per week. 1200 calories per day pre-exercise is pretty low and hard to stick with long enough to make real headway anyway. You'll be at this for a while: make it a dress rehearsal for how you'll live after you have achieved your goals.

Liftng4Lis

I would stick with the 1 pound a week (gives you a more sustainable goal), and eat back half the exercise calories (gives you room for overestimating).

7aneena

I changed my goals to 1lbs/week on MFP and I still get 1200 calories.
As a couch potato setting on scooby and IIFYM I get 1400 to lose 1lb/week

I agree MFP method is probably better with my inconsistency, question is, do I change my calorie daily goal to 1400 or leave it as 1200?

sympha01

Personally, I wouldn't eat anything less than 1400. Even 1400 makes me sad, and I couldn't stick to it long enough to make a difference.

ana3067

7aneena wrote: »

I changed my goals to 1lbs/week on MFP and I still get 1200 calories.
As a couch potato setting on scooby and IIFYM I get 1400 to lose 1lb/week

I agree MFP method is probably better with my inconsistency, question is, do I change my calorie daily goal to 1400 or leave it as 1200?

Sedentary options from a drop-down calculator for most people will be too low. If you are calculating net (no exercise) needs because you want to log and eat back exercise calories, then use a calculator such as the ones posted on my profile page. Average out your weekly walking/standing, sitting, light/moderate/intense activity, any NON-exercise activity, to represent an average day. So if you walk 6 hours on monday and every other day you're walking ~2 hours, then that's 2.5 hours every day, give or take. Subtract 20% from it to get a good starting estimate for weight loss, log and eat back exercise cals along with this net intake, and monitor results for a month or two. Lower cals if not seeing ~4lbs/month losses.

My recommendation would be to do what i am now doing: calculate your non-exercise maintenance needs, subtract 20% for ~4lbs/month loss, and make that your custom goal. Then log and eat back all exercise calories. Monitor for a month or two and if you are losing too slowly, either drop the net cals by 50-100 or lower exercise cals to 75% intake (so log 75% of the time you actually worked out instead of the full time, and then eat all of that back). I am also not consistent with exercise, so this method works better for me.

I just estimated your net (non-exercise) needs on health-calc.com and if assuming 8hrs sleep and 1.5 hours standing and walking, you could net (before exercise) 1650 calories. This is an estimate, so you'd need to adjust up or down based on your results.

7aneena

Thanks Ana, I really like that calculator as it takes into consideration what you do the entire day

ana3067

7aneena wrote: »

Thanks Ana, I really like that calculator as it takes into consideration what you do the entire day

No problem, this is why I prefer these types of calculators as well. It's just easier to get a slightly more custom estimation, especially for people who either don't exericse or don't exercise consistently.

7aneena

I have to admit, the idea of eating 1600 to lose weight scares me, I can hear my old 220 lbs self screaming at me " are you insane?!"