Which calorie numbers do I follow on rest days?

Hello,
Just calc'd my bmi, its 32.4

If I do nothing my min is 1776 calories but if I workout 3-5 days a week i'm to eat 2511

Years ago when I tried weight lifted for a little while my coach had me load up on calories on weight lifting days and lessen on rest days.

I don't recall the exact numbers and alots changed since then.

If I'm looking to workout 3-5 times a week do I eat 2511 every day or only the days I workout ? Which would mean eat 1776 on rest days.

thank you.

Replies

  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,816 Member
    Well first, something seems off there. The jump from 1776 to 2511 is too high for moderate exercise on a TDEE calculator (which is what I assumed you used). Are you sure your 1776 wasn't based off of your BMI, which would be the amount you would burn in a coma, not with sedentary daily activity? So the numbers give me pause. But as far as the method you chose, you would eat the number of calories it gives your for exercise every day, including your rest day.

    That way may work for some people, but it's not the MFP method. MFP uses NEAT, which does not include exercise. So in that case, you would have a daily calorie goal that just included your non-exercise activity. Then after that you would eat back any calories burned from exercise on the days you exercised. So you would get bonus calories for that.

    If you are new to this, the MFP method is probably the best to go with. I've had success on TDEE, but that was after experience with calorie counting. I wouldn't have started off there.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    Hello,
    Just calc'd my bmi, its 32.4

    If I do nothing my min is 1776 calories but if I workout 3-5 days a week i'm to eat 2511

    Years ago when I tried weight lifted for a little while my coach had me load up on calories on weight lifting days and lessen on rest days.

    I don't recall the exact numbers and alots changed since then.

    If I'm looking to workout 3-5 times a week do I eat 2511 every day or only the days I workout ? Which would mean eat 1776 on rest days.

    thank you.


    I agree with everything @MikePTY said above, but just to address the specific question of trying to replicate what your previous coach had you doing -- 2511 a day is 17,577 a week, so if you want to eat more on lifting days and less on rest days, just pick numbers that will work out to roughly 17,577 a week. (Personally, I often find exercise mildly depresses my hunger, and I save the calories for the rest day when I'm often much hungrier. Plus, your body needs fuel for rebuilding your muscles on rest day as much or more than it does to fuel your workouts.)
  • WehttamThims
    WehttamThims Posts: 57 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Well first, something seems off there. The jump from 1776 to 2511 is too high for moderate exercise on a TDEE calculator (which is what I assumed you used). Are you sure your 1776 wasn't based off of your BMI, which would be the amount you would burn in a coma, not with sedentary daily activity? So the numbers give me pause. But as far as the method you chose, you would eat the number of calories it gives your for exercise every day, including your rest day.

    Thank you for your reply, I used a BMR at http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/ but I can see now the TDEE is easier to comprehend especially at looking at it from the week overall.

    Heres the link that includes my stats
    https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=49&g=male&lbs=192&in=65&act=1.55&bf=&f=1

    If I choose moderate exercise then I'm at 2577 per day. What I wasn't understanding was if I ate 2577 on rest days as well. Now that I see how it adds up over the week I can see that in order for things to stay the same while doing moderate exercise then I should eat 2577 per day.

    If I want to lose then I go a bit under that and if I want to gain I go a bit higher.





  • WehttamThims
    WehttamThims Posts: 57 Member

    I agree with everything @MikePTY said above, but just to address the specific question of trying to replicate what your previous coach had you doing -- 2511 a day is 17,577 a week, so if you want to eat more on lifting days and less on rest days, just pick numbers that will work out to roughly 17,577 a week. (Personally, I often find exercise mildly depresses my hunger, and I save the calories for the rest day when I'm often much hungrier. Plus, your body needs fuel for rebuilding your muscles on rest day as much or more than it does to fuel your workouts.)

    Thanks for that perspective, I never thought about shifting some extra calories to rest day when I know I'll be more hungry.
    Thank you.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Well first, something seems off there. The jump from 1776 to 2511 is too high for moderate exercise on a TDEE calculator (which is what I assumed you used). Are you sure your 1776 wasn't based off of your BMI, which would be the amount you would burn in a coma, not with sedentary daily activity? So the numbers give me pause. But as far as the method you chose, you would eat the number of calories it gives your for exercise every day, including your rest day.

    Thank you for your reply, I used a BMR at http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/ but I can see now the TDEE is easier to comprehend especially at looking at it from the week overall.

    Heres the link that includes my stats
    https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=49&g=male&lbs=192&in=65&act=1.55&bf=&f=1

    If I choose moderate exercise then I'm at 2577 per day. What I wasn't understanding was if I ate 2577 on rest days as well. Now that I see how it adds up over the week I can see that in order for things to stay the same while doing moderate exercise then I should eat 2577 per day.

    If I want to lose then I go a bit under that and if I want to gain I go a bit higher.





    I just realized I don't see anywhere that you said what your goal is. With a BMI of 32.4, are you trying to lose weight? Did you select an option to lose weight when you used the TDEE calculator, or is 2577 your actual TDEE, in which case you would need a deficit (usually calculated in terms of % of TDEE, like 10% or 20%, when you're basing it on TDEE, but you can choose a number of calories to achieve a specific weight loss per week if you prefer).
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Well first, something seems off there. The jump from 1776 to 2511 is too high for moderate exercise on a TDEE calculator (which is what I assumed you used). Are you sure your 1776 wasn't based off of your BMI, which would be the amount you would burn in a coma, not with sedentary daily activity? So the numbers give me pause. But as far as the method you chose, you would eat the number of calories it gives your for exercise every day, including your rest day.

    Thank you for your reply, I used a BMR at http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/ but I can see now the TDEE is easier to comprehend especially at looking at it from the week overall.

    Heres the link that includes my stats
    https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=49&g=male&lbs=192&in=65&act=1.55&bf=&f=1

    If I choose moderate exercise then I'm at 2577 per day. What I wasn't understanding was if I ate 2577 on rest days as well. Now that I see how it adds up over the week I can see that in order for things to stay the same while doing moderate exercise then I should eat 2577 per day.

    If I want to lose then I go a bit under that and if I want to gain I go a bit higher.





    Looking at your link, it is saying 2577 to maintain if working out moderately, and 1995 if sedentary. That seems reasonable (moderate activity is working out 3-5 days per week, but it's a multiplier and likely assumes more day to day activity as well).

    This is the amount for every day, and is without a loss goal.

    Assuming your loss goal is 1 lb/week, you would subtract 500 cals per day from the goal, so if you are moderately active over the course of a week, you would eat 2077, which seems potentially reasonable.

    Or, as kshama suggested, use MFP to get your loss goal, ask for 1 lb/week, and then log back exercise on the days you exercise. Using the MFP way you will eat less on days you do not exercise. Using the TDEE way (the 2077), you would eat the same every day.
  • WehttamThims
    WehttamThims Posts: 57 Member
    edited February 2020
    I just realized I don't see anywhere that you said what your goal is. With a BMI of 32.4, are you trying to lose weight? Did you select an option to lose weight when you used the TDEE calculator, or is 2577 your actual TDEE, in which case you would need a deficit (usually calculated in terms of % of TDEE, like 10% or 20%, when you're basing it on TDEE, but you can choose a number of calories to achieve a specific weight loss per week if you prefer).

    Yes, I'd like to get into the 170's.

    Here's the results for the first week

    - I counted calories and was mostly protein based
    - My calorie counts were 16,185 with a deficit of 1,856.
    - For exercise, I lifted weights 3x and ski'd 3 days




  • WehttamThims
    WehttamThims Posts: 57 Member
    edited February 2020
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Well first, something seems off there. The jump from 1776 to 2511 is too high for moderate exercise on a TDEE calculator (which is what I assumed you used). Are you sure your 1776 wasn't based off of your BMI, which would be the amount you would burn in a coma, not with sedentary daily activity? So the numbers give me pause. But as far as the method you chose, you would eat the number of calories it gives your for exercise every day, including your rest day.

    Thank you for your reply, I used a BMR at http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/ but I can see now the TDEE is easier to comprehend especially at looking at it from the week overall.

    Heres the link that includes my stats
    https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=49&g=male&lbs=192&in=65&act=1.55&bf=&f=1

    If I choose moderate exercise then I'm at 2577 per day. What I wasn't understanding was if I ate 2577 on rest days as well. Now that I see how it adds up over the week I can see that in order for things to stay the same while doing moderate exercise then I should eat 2577 per day.

    If I want to lose then I go a bit under that and if I want to gain I go a bit higher.





    Looking at your link, it is saying 2577 to maintain if working out moderately, and 1995 if sedentary. That seems reasonable (moderate activity is working out 3-5 days per week, but it's a multiplier and likely assumes more day to day activity as well).

    This is the amount for every day, and is without a loss goal.

    Assuming your loss goal is 1 lb/week, you would subtract 500 cals per day from the goal, so if you are moderately active over the course of a week, you would eat 2077, which seems potentially reasonable.

    Or, as kshama suggested, use MFP to get your loss goal, ask for 1 lb/week, and then log back exercise on the days you exercise. Using the MFP way you will eat less on days you do not exercise. Using the TDEE way (the 2077), you would eat the same every day.


    Thank you. Here's the results for the first week, I have to adjust down some but am happy with the results.

    - I counted calories and was mostly protein based
    - My calorie counts were 16,185 with a deficit of 1,856.
    - For exercise, I lifted weights 3x and ski'd 3 days

    I struggle mentally with lifting weights, I like getting strong but know that with a deficit I'm not going to be growing and basically struggling (while getting stronger).


  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,393 Member
    edited February 2020
    I struggle mentally with lifting weights, I like getting strong but know that with a deficit I'm not going to be growing and basically struggling (while getting stronger).

    I would be over-joyed that I was convincing myself to do it!

    With a sane/relatively small deficit (which you seem to have since you're targeting a loss of 1lb or less per week), with sufficient energy reserves (which you also seem to have that since you're starting at a BMI above 30, and generally speaking this would apply for **most** people starting at a BMI above 27), and especially if strength training is a new thing for you... there is no reason why you won't be able to achieve some muscle growth! Even if such growth will be less optimal than if you were in a surplus.

    The grow/don't grow thing is a continuum of most optimal to least optimal--not an on/off switch. And doing the best we can in each situation sure beats not doing the best we can! :smiley: So yeah! and Go you! :sunglasses: