Daily burn estimate outside of exercise

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powered85
powered85 Posts: 297 Member
edited October 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Been having a tough time sticking to my deficit as of late which I think is around -250 off maintenance.

6'2M 170lbs 36y and around 11%bf desk job. Figure my daily burn is around 2300-2400 calories outside of exercise but again not sure if I'm hovering somewhere closer to "lightly active" vs "sedentary" outside of exercise.

I use the NEAT method so eat back all my exercise calories each day. Macros typically at 50C 30F 20P

I don't log strength exercise calories which are typically 3 different exercises with 4 sets of 8-12 reps 5 days a week. Also use a HRM to track exercise calories for running and high cardio workouts. For brisk walks i use METs calculations.

Am I in the ballpark in terms of aiming for a 2050-2150 net deficit based on above if I eat back all exercise calories? Or should i be bumping things up a bit to see if that helps?

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I'd use TDEE for sedentary, as their formula includes exercise, and not just every day activity, in their activity level.

    Or really just use MFP numbers...
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'd use TDEE for sedentary, as their formula includes exercise, and not just every day activity, in their activity level.

    Or really just use MFP numbers...

    I'm really trying to figure out how much I burn outside of exercise. So maybe TDEE isn't the term I want to use here. I'm also going on the assumption that my HRM is tracking my running and high cardio accurately and not underestimating. I don't figure my strength training is adding to the deficit a whole lot would it?

    Thanks
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    If you're adding your calories for exercise and you have a desk job, I'd use sedentary.

    My sedentary MFP number + exercise = my TDEE when calculated with an online TDEE calculator including exercise, so it works out either way.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    Yeah, that is the way I do it. Set your TDEE somewhere between BMR and sedentary and just log your exercise.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Your real world numbers are determined by your rate off loss (based off calories consumed and your added exercise EAT).. the factor for activity level in MFP is just a factor and there is no way to determine how much neat you do burn in a day or any day.

    eta: you do burn calories for strength training and this can be added as part of your exercise/cardio. It varies what people use for 1 hour, but for calorie balance you can always log it and eat back what you need, like around 100 or so for an hours worth of strength training (this will probably be higher for men)..

    I can burn about 150 calories of NEAT a day when completely sedentary (per my activity tracker, how close this is to my real world burn, do not know).. but on higher active days, this will be much higher.. there is no way to tell really.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Your real world numbers are determined by your rate off loss (based off calories consumed and your added exercise EAT).. the factor for activity level in MFP is just a factor and there is no way to determine how much neat you do burn in a day or any day.

    eta: you do burn calories for strength training and this can be added as part of your exercise/cardio. It varies what people use for 1 hour, but for calorie balance you can always log it and eat back what you need, like around 100 or so for an hours worth of strength training (this will probably be higher for men)..

    I can burn about 150 calories of NEAT a day when completely sedentary (per my activity tracker, how close this is to my real world burn, do not know).. but on higher active days, this will be much higher.. there is no way to tell really.

    That's where I'm a bit stuck. I calculate my BMR via the Katch-McArdle formula but it's the activity multiplier on top of that that is tricky. I don't think I'm a 1.2 sedentary. Likely somewhere closer to 1.4 before hard exercise. I'll have to play with bumping up the cals and see if I continue to lose weight.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Sounds 5o me like you know what you are doing. Only way to answer your question though is for you to meticulous log and give it something like 6 weeks and see where you are at. With a small deficit it can be hard to determine how close you are to your goal.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
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    powered85 wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Your real world numbers are determined by your rate off loss (based off calories consumed and your added exercise EAT).. the factor for activity level in MFP is just a factor and there is no way to determine how much neat you do burn in a day or any day.

    eta: you do burn calories for strength training and this can be added as part of your exercise/cardio. It varies what people use for 1 hour, but for calorie balance you can always log it and eat back what you need, like around 100 or so for an hours worth of strength training (this will probably be higher for men)..

    I can burn about 150 calories of NEAT a day when completely sedentary (per my activity tracker, how close this is to my real world burn, do not know).. but on higher active days, this will be much higher.. there is no way to tell really.

    That's where I'm a bit stuck. I calculate my BMR via the Katch-McArdle formula but it's the activity multiplier on top of that that is tricky. I don't think I'm a 1.2 sedentary. Likely somewhere closer to 1.4 before hard exercise. I'll have to play with bumping up the cals and see if I continue to lose weight.

    Start off with 1.4 and track your weight for 4 weeks, then add/subtract calories so you're losing at the rate you want.
  • jimshine
    jimshine Posts: 199 Member
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    The calculators are very generalized and will not zero in a number accurately. What you need to do it live a normal life and manually adjust calories weekly and try and dial it in that way. It isn't just your movements, your body burns it a unique pace. You have to find your particular number through trial and error.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
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    nosebag1212 wrote: »

    Start off with 1.4 and track your weight for 4 weeks, then add/subtract calories so you're losing at the rate you want.

    I'll give that a shot and see how the weight trends. Thanks
  • siraphine
    siraphine Posts: 185 Member
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    I would just stick your activity level on MFP to sedentary and make sure to add in exercise activities when you do them. Their recommendations for calories are pretty spot on. I am at a sedentary level with ~1400 calories daily on the more aggressive weight loss track. Losing weight is really as simple as the site makes it out to be -- it's just math. Trust it.

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