I need some advice with TDEE and Exercising!

gettingontrack126

Hello all! before i start mouthing away, here are my stats:
18yrs, female
5'9
BF: 26.7%
SW: 190
CW:168
GW:140ish

So i've been on my weightloss journey since january, and since then i've lost 22 pounds, i lost the bulk of it in the first 2-3 months on a 1200 limit (i am sedentary, no exercise) , and then it paused around april-may.
When i realized i was at a plateau, i broke out of it (i was 171-172 then) by increasing my calorie intake to 1600 for a month (i got to 170 then). When it slowed, i brought it down to 1300. However, the 1300 calorie intake stopped being effective after about 2 weeks, and here i am at 168lb trying to figure out what the heck to do. After lurking on the forums, i've managed to find my BMR which is 1962 (for sedentary), and my TDEE which is 2248 (or so i believe as i calculated it using the roadmap post, also i discovered using "lightly active"might better suit me). i cut it by %20, landing me at 1,798 calories. That seem's like alot!
I guess I'm a bit impatient, like at the beginning of my journey i was losing like 2-3 pounds a week, and now i'm playing hopscotch with my calories hoping i can somehow get back to a noticable rate. Honestly it's hard to keep at something if you don't see the fruit of your labor, which is why you could say my diet right now consists of crap,lol.

But anyways, i plan to get myself back on the path to losing, firstly by adjusting my diet, and when i know thats set, exercise.
The exercise bit is definately debatable, i have always had trouble committing and keeping to exercising, no matter how many times i try to (i've been at this for years, you know) I think it's more of cardio, its harder for me to stick to it than resistance, but i know i need it to lose the weight. I favor strength actually, i kinda like it because i actually feel my body working, and see it too.

But in order to even see real definition i have some fat to shed. I guess my question is does my calorie adjustment (1,798) seem correct? it sounds alot, i dunno, after having been down the 1200 road everything sort of seems like alot......
Also please give me some advice on exercise! any suggestions? if you've read all this thanks for being patient with me i just need a bit of help!

mkocol

Hi there

No worries, many people hit a plateau at a certain point but there is a way out, you just have to find it.

well, after I ran your numbers I found that your BMR is 1634 and now we multiply by the activity factor. Since you are currently not working out than you are at secondary level so 1634 * 1.2 = 1960
Now since you want to loose weight you have to make a calorie deficit. Most people usually do 500 calories because thats a safe number. So 1960 - 500 = 1460 is what you should be consuming in order to loose weight.

Now just set your macros correctly. I myself lost 40lbs being on a low carb diet and I set my macros as 50% protein, 30%carbs, and 20% fat. You can change that in the GOALS menu. If you get lost let me know and I will help you.

Best of luck hun

-Marta

gettingontrack126

Oh good,I had a feeling something was amiss. That calorie goal sounds more realistic too me! So if I started exercising would I eat back the calories? in the case of cardio wouldn't that defeat the purpose if exercise, considering that my calories would still level out?

Paleo_wolf

There's a divide about whether one should eat back excersise calories or not. What I do is just listen to my body. Somedays I won't feel very hungry despite working out so I won't eat them back and then other days I feel soo tired and hungry that I end up eating them back.

Francl27

I would go by TDEE, personally. Maybe eat a bit less if you think it's too much, but 1460 a day for someone who is pretty active (at least I'm assuming you are if you follow your 1yo everywhere) doesn't seem like much at all, especially once you factor in exercising.

AmIhealthyyet

There's a divide about whether one should eat back excersise calories or not. What I do is just listen to my body. Somedays I won't feel very hungry despite working out so I won't eat them back and then other days I feel soo tired and hungry that I end up eating them back.

I agree with this. I wouldn't suggest eating them back because you 'have to' but I would have healthy protein snack on hand if hunger does hit or you feel drained. I always have hard boiled eggs, left over steak and chicken on hand. I personally feel (for ME, totally my thoughts) that if I am more hungry or sluggish from a work out it is my body screaming for protein! So to answer again as I rambled: don't eat them back!

gettingontrack126

Yeah th that would make sense, I really have to work on the high protein thing ai changed my macros today and so far i'm not doing so well....
Any advice on the exercise thing though? I think I'd rather just wait till I shed some pounds and then start weight training..

AmIhealthyyet

Yeah th that would make sense, I really have to work on the high protein thing ai changed my macros today and so far i'm not doing so well....
Any advice on the exercise thing though? I think I'd rather just wait till I shed some pounds and then start weight training..

PLEASE start now!!!! You will be glad you did!your body will shape up so much better and as you lose. Also your body contiues to burn fat at a higher rate when you have muscle. One work out tape I loved (NO I am not a Beachbody coach) was Chalean Extreme. Uses the minimum equipment and teaches you to lift heavy. Which IS a good thing. Other tapes I love our Jillian's 'no more trouble zones' and 'gym style legs'. I like the tapes because it keeps you moving along and keeps you from dogging it.
I eat fairly low carb. I try to get at least 120 grams of protein, 100 of fat and keep carbs below 50 grams. I do use protein drinks asi get tired of eating sometimes. Friend me if you want!

gettingontrack126

Does anyone have trouble with eating enough protein? How important is it? no matter what I ear as long add its under my calories it should allow me to lose, right?