Maintenance, TDEE + activity level?

29_adjacent

Hi

I have just moved into maintenance and will shortly be attempting a body recomp. I intend to do strength/resistance training 3x per week (30 mins), cardio 1x per week (60 mins of zumba) plus will be walking at a moderate pace at least 1-2 hours per day (more when the weather's good). I will also be doing the occasional longer walk/hike (4+ hours).

As I will now have a regular workout routine (which I never had whilst at a deficit) I am thinking about moving to TDEE method instead of logging exercise calories.

The question I have is what activity level would you consider the above routine to be? Outside of this I have a desk job and try to move about as much as I can during the day but generally I am sitting down for 6-7 hours a day.

Should I just set it as 'light exercise' and assess after a while (4 weeks maybe?) depending on if I'm losing or maintaining etc?

LisaTcan

Hi there,

I'm not sure what the right answer is but I can tell you what I do - Im about 8-10 pounds from my goal weight so still trying to eat at a deficit.

I have a desk job but no car so I cycle to work and walk if Im going somewhere close. I probably do 1 hour of walking and 1 hour of cycling everyday and then also do a long ride (3 hours) on the weekend. On top of that I weight train 3x a week. I set my TDEE to moderately active and I if I stick to it I do lose weight.

tibby531

figuring out what YOUR actual TDEE is is going to be tricky, but worth it.

start here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

based off of your results, you'll have to adjust it, according to what happens when your body adjusts to the changes.

since you'll be new to working out, expect some water weight gain in your muscles at first. it'll go away, again, just stick with what you're doing.

best of luck!

29_adjacent

tibby531 wrote: »

figuring out what YOUR actual TDEE is is going to be tricky, but worth it.

start here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

based off of your results, you'll have to adjust it, according to what happens when your body adjusts to the changes.

since you'll be new to working out, expect some water weight gain in your muscles at first. it'll go away, again, just stick with what you're doing.

best of luck!

Thanks! Yeah I think a bit of trial and error is probably what's needed to find my actual TDEE. I was just unsure where to start and what level that sort of activity would normally be considered. But now that I think about it I probably will just start at 'lightly active' and review/adjust after a while if I continue to lose.

AsISmile

29_adjacent wrote: »

tibby531 wrote: »

figuring out what YOUR actual TDEE is is going to be tricky, but worth it.

start here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

based off of your results, you'll have to adjust it, according to what happens when your body adjusts to the changes.

since you'll be new to working out, expect some water weight gain in your muscles at first. it'll go away, again, just stick with what you're doing.

best of luck!

Thanks! Yeah I think a bit of trial and error is probably what's needed to find my actual TDEE. I was just unsure where to start and what level that sort of activity would normally be considered. But now that I think about it I probably will just start at 'lightly active' and review/adjust after a while if I continue to lose.

Looking at what you wrote lightly active seems like a good start. Just reverse diet your way up to the TDEE you calculate, and adjust (after a month or so) if you see that you are losing weight. Don't adjust too soon, because increasing your calories will lead to some natural fluctuations in the beginning.

bioklutz

What TDEE calculator are you using? Scooby's doesn't ask for an activity level - just how many hours a week you exercise.

maxit

Figuring out your actual TDEE level will require your keeping data over a couple of months. The calculators are a starting point only -

29_adjacent

bioklutz wrote: »

What TDEE calculator are you using? Scooby's doesn't ask for an activity level - just how many hours a week you exercise.

No but it says "1-3 hours of light exercise" and "3-5 hours of moderate exercise". I will be averaging more than 3 hours per week but not sure if the type of exercise would be considered moderate or not? So I was unsure which one to pick.

But I think I've just decided to err on the side of caution and go with "1-3 hours light exercise" and review in a month or so based on whether I'm maintaining or continuing to lose.

CrystalFlury

What I did is I first calculated my BMR with this calculation for women (the numbers change a little for guys):
BMR=655+ (9.6 x weight in Kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)

My BMR turned out to be 1,448

I then chose from an activity level chart that seemed reasonable as far as how they classified activity:

Sedentary-- little to no exercise/desk job TDEE=1.2 x BMR

Lightly Active-- light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week TDEE= 1.375 x BMR

Moderately Active (that's what I chose)-- moderate exercise, sports 3-5 days/week TDEE=1.55 x BMR

Very Active--heavy exercise/sports 6-7 days/week TDEE=1.725 x BMR

Extremely Active-- very heavy exercise/physical job/training 2x/day TDEE=1.9 x BMR

I then got a TDEE of 2,244 cal/day to maintain my weight... I felt a little if-y about that so I went ahead and calculated it for 20% lower than that which gave me 1,795 calories.

I'm working with that 20% deficit for now because;

A. I felt that was a challenge to get to that amount of calories actually being careful about my food choices (i.e. not eating out not going overboard on desserts)

B. I wanted to account for maybe times that I might not be as active.

My activity on a regular basis is as follows...
I usually go to the gym 5-6 times a week, however, I don't hit it hard on cardio because I'm wanting to start focusing on strength training/lifting more because I'm tired of not seeing the fruits of my labor. I wear a HRM and usually stick around 140-ish bpm to insure I am active for 25-30 minutes, but not fall over and die active. I'm working weights into my week 3 days a week (every other day).

As for every day life (without the gym) I'm a housewife so I run around doing chores. Some days I'm on my feet all day and other days I have little activity, hence why I say 20% below my TDEE might be a better option for me . I might raise that in the near future if I see my weight drop bit much. Really, I'm just trying to monitor my activity and eat accordingly. The TDEE is a starting point and from there you adjust to what your body is telling you.

RaspberryTickleChicken

Congrats!

I always just blanket categorize my activity as moderate because some days I hit it extra hard some days not so much. I figure it all evens out in the end. lol

Good luck!

BigGuy47

I would set it to lightly active and re evaluate after eight weeks.