Advice please on TDEE

Firefly0606

Can someone give some advice on my TDEE?

I am 31, 172cm tall and 109kg, work a desk job and work out 3-5 hours per week. I have been doing 3 sessions of lifting in the gym for 3 hours per week, then cardio some cardio like walking the dog or swimming with the kids. I have been doing this for 2 weeks now, eating 2400 calories which is my 15% cut according to scoobys calculator.

I don't think I need to reset as I haven't really been dieting for a long time, just thinking I should eat 1300 a day but then I never lasted more than a day or two, then went back to eating to my hunger signals or over. In the 4 months leading up to when I started EM2WL I think my body was subconsciously stopping me from that craziness, I would think about it but never stuck to it.

My weight has stayed the same. Scooby gives me a TDEE of 2891 (which seems a fair bit higher than most examples I have read) but becuase my weight is hasn't moved....is 2400 my TDEE?

I am new to the gym and lifting so understand there could be a lot going on there. Not sure whether to stay right here at 2400, or up a little bit....pretty sure down a little bit at this stage is not the answer. Where to from here?

heybales

So that rough 5 level TDEE chart is based purely on exercise hours, with no consideration for more than sedentary lifestyle outside the gym.

With kids and dog, you are not going to be sedentary, even with a 40 hr desk job, if you even have that, which you don't comment on.

You don't mention how much time swimming or dog time, but that would be light cardio with either way, and the amount of time makes a difference. It's of course not equal calorie burn time to lifting, but there is a difference between 1 and 4 hrs weekly that would add up.

I show Mifflin BMR for stats at 1849.
TDEE with ONLY lifting 3 hrs weekly is 2516, sedentary otherwise.

But what is the 40 hr work week time composed of, and how much time with that light cardio for kids & dog weekly?

Now, one potential concern that would give inflated BMR and therefore inflated TDEE over a better estimate.

Your bodyfat %. That Mifflin BMR is assuming about 37% BF.
If actually about 41% though, it would be 100 cal lower, and TDEE is about 200 cal lower.

So you could be eating at not much of a deficit compared to using a better estimate.
And do you weigh all the foods that go in your mouth?

Firefly0606

Hi heybales,

Thanks for your reply...to answer your questions:
Desk job for 35 hours per week - 7 hours x 5 days sitting at a computer. Thrilling stuff really.
My 3 gym days has been an hour workout, which includes 20 minutes on a stationary bike then it takes me 40 minutes to lift, 3 sets of 10, 6 different exercises that have been set out by the trainer at the gym.
Time with the kids and dog - 1.5 hours per week walking the dog...and it is hard to guess the running after the kids, general house work etc. Another 1-2 hours per week?
Otherwise sedentary.

The scale at the gym measures 45% BF when I started 3 weeks ago. What is the TDEE estimate based on 45% BF?

Firefly0606

Oh, and yes, I weigh everything on a digital scale or measure liquids such as milk and dressings/sauces in milliliters.

If I am cooking for the family, I will measure everything before cooking the meal. If I eat one third of the meal, I will divide the dish into thirds by sight and then divide all the values by 3 to record in MFP. I find family cooking a bit tricky like that.

heybales

So that time with dogs and kids - you are not Sedentary. That does not refer to only your job time, but all non-exercise time. Which with meals and shopping that comes with kids and pets - you aren't sedentary.

So Lightly Active daily life gets added on to the exercise level of Moderately Active, or Very Active with both together I'd wager.

I'm using the spreadsheet on my profile page though instead of rough 5 level chart.
So 3 x 40 min lifting, 3 x 20 min high cardio, 90 min low cardio dog, probably easily hit 7 hrs weekly on feet for kids.
45% BF.
Katch BMR - 1665 (see, about 200 lower for better estimate).
TDEE - 2389

So that would explain exactly why eating 2400 is resulting in no weight loss.

Now, with good lifting workouts you may be dropping inches, you may slowly be losing fat and gaining muscle (rate about 1 lb 8-10 weeks) - but only at the beginning of this can you actually do both at the same time. Later you won't be able to.
Might as well try to lose the weight now - save the joints, give better mobility, lesson health issues from carrying around extra.
While extra strength can make it easier to carry around more, doesn't remove the health issues associated with it at all.

If you use the spreadsheet there is a Progress tab to log inches and weight, and stay on the Simple Setup tab, delete example stats in yellow cells first. If that BF% was from decently accurate source, there's a place to put it. Otherwise use the measurement calc's along with it.

TDEE will be given, take the 15% off.

Firefly0606

Thanks again. That is one comprehensive spreadsheet you have there! Most helpful as it has come up with quite different figures than the Scooby calculator.

BF% is the number I'm concerned with now rather than scale weight. So yes, I want to work on reducing that % while not losing muscle mass - perhaps building some at the same time.

I have measured now and have come up with average BF% as 39.46. TDEE 2576, 15% cut is therefore 2189. I will drop my intake back to that and see how I go. I want to lose some body fat, than maybe have periods of time where stop to I build some muscle, then revert to losing fat again - one step at a time.

heybales

Good plan, just encourage you at the beginning of being a newbie lifter (anything under a year of doing it seriously), you can lose weight, gain strength, and gain muscle, all at once.
Depending on deficit (and 15% is very reasonable for you), that can last for 6-9 months.
Eventually you'll notice progress on increasing weight on the bar slows way down or stops.

That's when it's time to re-examine goal priorities. Now, just from doing lifting for a long time, that part slows down anyway, so it's a big change in performance as indicator, not what was going to happen to anyone.