Please help. I'm clueless

reicherfamily

What is the best way to work out how many calories I should practically be aiming to have in a day? And what is "TDEE" that you all talk about? Excuse my ignorance, but would really appreciate some guidance.

letmebangbro

Depends on your goals really,

200-300 cals below or above your maintenance.
Go find a calorie maintenance calculator to estimate how much your body is going to use up, add/subtract 200-300 from it.

Track progress.
If you're working out, aim 1 lb week increase/decrease according to goals.

Edit: and adjust amount if necessary.

Chaotisphere

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (I think.)

Google "TDEE Calculator". Go to the first link and calculate that. Don't mind the BMR data for now, just pay attention to the TDEE. And subtract however many calories you want to strive for each day from it, but go no lower than 1200 MINIMUM.

So for example, if your TDEE is 2000 even, and you want to lose 1 lb a week, since 1 lb is 3500 calories and there are 7 days in a week, you'd need to be in a deficit of 500 calories per day (3500/7 = 500). So take your TDEE and subtract 500. In this case, assuming a 2000 TDEE, that means 1500 left.

So 1500 daily would be what you'd shoot for to lose 1 lb per week.

If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, well if your TDEE is 2000 then too bad, because that'd be 1000, which without a doctor's reasoning seems too low. I won't tell you what to do though, but I'd check with your doctor first to be safe if you're aiming any lower than 1200.

But this is all assuming a 2K TDEE. Whatever yours is, and whatever you want to lose, subtract from it. If you wanted to lose 1.5 lbs per week, and your TDEE is 2000, then 500 x 1.5 = 750. 2000 - 750 = 1250. So you could eat 1250 calories a day and lose 1.5 lbs per week (assuming you're not overloading sodium so as to make your scale lie to you).

Hope that made sense for you. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

navyrigger46

TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's a system that takes into account your total calorie usage based on BMR combined with daily activity level. Basically what your body needs to sustain it's basic functions as well as the energy you burn from physical activity.

Rigger

Bonbonn62

When you set up your profile it will tell you how many calories you should be eating. That is based on your weight, your activity, and how much you want to lose per week. I just started this week, and knowing that I can only have 1325 a day, is very helpful