Need help please, TDEE and settings
bufger
Posts: 763 Member
Pals, i'm calling out for help please..
Goals: lose last 20lbs whilst maintaining/increasing lean mass.
Height: 6'1
Age: 34
Sex: M
Weight when started (1st May) 220lbs
Weight now 215lbs
BF% Start (27%). Now (25%) - using scales, im aware it may not be accurate.
I seem to have stalled and im not sure if its my TDEE or accuracy of logging (or any other factors like water retention?). I do 2.5 hours of cardio per week at the gym and also a yoga class, i've increased my TDEE to 'moderately active' as this excercise is without fail every week and I wanted to put my excercise calories as an average over the week rather than eat them the day I did them.
I've set my TDEE at 2300 calories. I want to lose 0.5-1lb per week.
I also lift weights using a 5/3/1 modified programme. I lift 5 times per week for an hour each session. I have not factored this effort into my TDEE as my aim is to lose weight. I have made 'newbie gains' and seen linear progression in my lifts but that is starting to stall also.
I try to make my protein intake 1g/1lb of body mass but in reality it is usually 0.75.
For the last 3 weeks i've been stalled at 215lbs. Weighing daily with only a minimal fluctuation from day to day (some days 214, some 216). I weight the same time of day in a controlled manner. I've tried IF over the last couple of weeks just fasting for a day per week but its making me more hungry and likely to overeat the next day so i've stopped that now. I drink at least 1.5l of water per day. More on my training days.
So the question: Can anyone see anything wrong with what i'm doing? are there any improvements I can make to my planning? I've made my diary public, please feel free to be open and honest, I want to reach 195lbs and i'm hoping some experience here can help me.
Kind Regards,
-buf
Goals: lose last 20lbs whilst maintaining/increasing lean mass.
Height: 6'1
Age: 34
Sex: M
Weight when started (1st May) 220lbs
Weight now 215lbs
BF% Start (27%). Now (25%) - using scales, im aware it may not be accurate.
I seem to have stalled and im not sure if its my TDEE or accuracy of logging (or any other factors like water retention?). I do 2.5 hours of cardio per week at the gym and also a yoga class, i've increased my TDEE to 'moderately active' as this excercise is without fail every week and I wanted to put my excercise calories as an average over the week rather than eat them the day I did them.
I've set my TDEE at 2300 calories. I want to lose 0.5-1lb per week.
I also lift weights using a 5/3/1 modified programme. I lift 5 times per week for an hour each session. I have not factored this effort into my TDEE as my aim is to lose weight. I have made 'newbie gains' and seen linear progression in my lifts but that is starting to stall also.
I try to make my protein intake 1g/1lb of body mass but in reality it is usually 0.75.
For the last 3 weeks i've been stalled at 215lbs. Weighing daily with only a minimal fluctuation from day to day (some days 214, some 216). I weight the same time of day in a controlled manner. I've tried IF over the last couple of weeks just fasting for a day per week but its making me more hungry and likely to overeat the next day so i've stopped that now. I drink at least 1.5l of water per day. More on my training days.
So the question: Can anyone see anything wrong with what i'm doing? are there any improvements I can make to my planning? I've made my diary public, please feel free to be open and honest, I want to reach 195lbs and i'm hoping some experience here can help me.
Kind Regards,
-buf
0
Replies
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Weigh everything on a food scale.3
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kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess
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Then eat at home, and weigh everything.kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess7 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
Then eat at home, and weigh everything.kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess
helpful, thanks.1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
Then eat at home, and weigh everything.kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess
helpful, thanks.
Well I think it kind of is. Maybe it is time to decide what you want more, eating out and lose slowly because of the unknowns about the calorie content or to lose the last 20 pounds relatively quickly by eating at home and having better control of your calories? Three weeks isn't too long to not lose weight anyway (and did this coincide with the fasting then over eating?).
If you haven't accounted for exercise in your TDEE then you are actually working off your NEAT, not your TDEE..not sure why you are mixing things up this way, are you over thinking this? Maybe you need to stress a little less also?5 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
Then eat at home, and weigh everything.kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess
helpful, thanks.
Well I think it kind of is. Maybe it is time to decide what you want more, eating out and lose slowly because of the unknowns about the calorie content or to lose the last 20 pounds relatively quickly by eating at home and having better control of your calories? Three weeks isn't too long to not lose weight anyway (and did this coincide with the fasting then over eating?).
If you haven't accounted for exercise in your TDEE then you are actually working off your NEAT, not your TDEE..not sure why you are mixing things up this way, are you over thinking this? Maybe you need to stress a little less also?
Thanks for the response. I couldn't accurately eat back excercise calories from MFP because it would over exadurate them. I went for eating back 50% of them but instead of doing that I decided to convert my weekly routine into my activity level. I'm very regular on excercise so I can guarantee I'll do exactly 2.5 hours per week of cycling at 8MET and a hatha yoga session I would estimate between 200-250 calories . I just thought it would be an easier way (but maybe not!
)
I know the other user was trying to be helpful but it came across as short and sharp, the kind of answer you'd give when you're tired of helping people. I didn't think it warranted an insightful or 'gee, amazing' response.1 -
I went back to the MFP calculator and changed back to lightly active and my current weight. It gave me a target of 2260 calories so I was only 40 out before. This means it must be my logging? If I was out by 10% though (underestimating) that would be the same as eating back 50% of my excercise calories on the MFP calculator so in theory I should still be losing weight.
I'm just gunna look at my averages and take off 200 calories per day. If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know!1 -
What do you mean when you say you “set your TDEE to 2300 calories”. Your TDEE is the total amount of cals you burn in a day, including all exercise and activity. It isn’t something you “set” here. To lose weight you need a calorie deficit, from your TDEE. Some people estimate TDEE and then subtract 250 -500 cals or a percentage reduction in order to set their calorie target. MFP provides this by estimating a NEAT calorie goal, which excludes exercise, and then when you do exercise, you should enter and eat back a portion of the calories. It’s two different ways of arriving at the same basic principle - but it sounds like you are confused about the original terminology and it may be impacting your ability to set the right goal.5
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WinoGelato wrote: »What do you mean when you say you “set your TDEE to 2300 calories”. Your TDEE is the total amount of cals you burn in a day, including all exercise and activity. It isn’t something you “set” here. To lose weight you need a calorie deficit, from your TDEE. Some people estimate TDEE and then subtract 250 -500 cals or a percentage reduction in order to set their calorie target. MFP provides this by estimating a NEAT calorie goal, which excludes exercise, and then when you do exercise, you should enter and eat back a portion of the calories. It’s two different ways of arriving at the same basic principle - but it sounds like you are confused about the original terminology and it may be impacting your ability to set the right goal.
That makes sense! Thanks.
So my TDEE is apparently 2650.0 -
Good. Now that you have picked a number, stick with that small deficit you mentioned (200-300) and buckle down on the home-prepared meals.
The last 15 pounds for me took nearly nine months, and I was weighing out 90% of my meals. I only ate out one time per week. I had more of a hard time sticking with my goals, as that small amount of body fat combined with long-term deficit tends to be pretty hard. For me, at least. It comes off v e r y slowly.1 -
If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. Maybe try dropping your calorie allotment by a couple hundred a day and tighten up your logging. Wishing you all the best in achieving your goals 1
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I think your thank you was short and honest, and I liked that, I also wanted to give you a short and honest answer. I think a lot of the struggle that exists around nutrition and weight is about unrealistic expectations. From all we read and hear, we expect it to be mysterious and difficult and complicated and only one way to do it right, but in reality it's straightforward and simple and complex and really hard to screw up. Nobody has an amazing solution that can circumvent this fact: If you want to lose weight, you have to make certain priorities. In your case, eating more at home and tightening up your logging, stared me in the face.kommodevaran wrote: »
Then eat at home, and weigh everything.kommodevaran wrote: »Weigh everything on a food scale.
I weigh the majority of things. I struggle when eating out to accurately guess
helpful, thanks.
Well I think it kind of is. Maybe it is time to decide what you want more, eating out and lose slowly because of the unknowns about the calorie content or to lose the last 20 pounds relatively quickly by eating at home and having better control of your calories? Three weeks isn't too long to not lose weight anyway (and did this coincide with the fasting then over eating?).
If you haven't accounted for exercise in your TDEE then you are actually working off your NEAT, not your TDEE..not sure why you are mixing things up this way, are you over thinking this? Maybe you need to stress a little less also?
Thanks for the response. I couldn't accurately eat back excercise calories from MFP because it would over exadurate them. I went for eating back 50% of them but instead of doing that I decided to convert my weekly routine into my activity level. I'm very regular on excercise so I can guarantee I'll do exactly 2.5 hours per week of cycling at 8MET and a hatha yoga session I would estimate between 200-250 calories . I just thought it would be an easier way (but maybe not! )
I know the other user was trying to be helpful but it came across as short and sharp, the kind of answer you'd give when you're tired of helping people. I didn't think it warranted an insightful or 'gee, amazing' response.8 -
You have lost 5 lbs in 11 weeks, or just barely shy of a half pound a week, when you're only looking to lose a total of 20 lbs, and say yourself your goal is 1/2 lb to 1 lb a week. I don't see what the problem is, other than impatience?5
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Lets assume your logging has been consistent if not entirely accurate (mine was out by about 200cals/day).....
To work out your TDEE target corrected for your personal logging inaccuracy then add up all your calories eaten in last four weeks, add 3500 for each pound lost in that time. Divide that total by 28 and that's your effective TDEE.
Take 375 cals off that number and manually set that as your goal to aim for your desired 0.5-1lb per week loss.
Another feedback loop to take into account would be if your weight lifting and cycling performance plateaus and you are feeling lethargic then you could be subconsciously reducing your NEAT - moving less and therefore burning less on your regular daily activities. That could be a sign you may need to aim for a very low deficit.
PS - three weeks isn't a great amount of time to get concerned about, it might just be that you tend to lose your weight in an irregular/inconsistent way.1 -
Lets assume your logging has been consistent if not entirely accurate (mine was out by about 200cals/day).....
To work out your TDEE target corrected for your personal logging inaccuracy then add up all your calories eaten in last four weeks, add 3500 for each pound lost in that time. Divide that total by 28 and that's your effective TDEE.
Take 375 cals off that number and manually set that as your goal to aim for your desired 0.5-1lb per week loss.
Another feedback loop to take into account would be if your weight lifting and cycling performance plateaus and you are feeling lethargic then you could be subconsciously reducing your NEAT - moving less and therefore burning less on your regular daily activities. That could be a sign you may need to aim for a very low deficit.
PS - three weeks isn't a great amount of time to get concerned about, it might just be that you tend to lose your weight in an irregular/inconsistent way.
That's really useful! I'll keep an eye out for both feedback loops. Thanks0
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