Help me set my calorie intake please..

happystars82

Hello all...
ok ive tried and tried doing my own findings on what my TDEE is so i can work out what i should eat in order to drop weight but need your opinions...
I'm 31
5 ft 4
238lbs
i will try and excecise everyday for 40 mins
i am a stay at home mum but do Avon on the side for sanity reasons! lol

i am fairly active most of the day, running around after a 2 year old, clearing mess, usual daily chores... washing, cleaning, cooking etc etc....

so based on that and the fact i want to lose 2lbs a week what would your suggestions be what my TDEE is and what calories i should eat..

appreciate your expert help in advance
Amy from the UK!

happystars82

Anyone??

cmriverside

Just use MFP, "lightly active" "lose 2 pounds per week". Add in the exercise when you do it and eat back those calories.

At your weight it will just melt off if you stay in your calorie range, and if your exercise is likely to be sporadic, MFP's numbers will work better for you as it doesn't pre-calculate based on projected exercise.

The whole TDEE thing works great, too - but at your weight you don't need to be worrying about that. MFP makes it so much simpler.

michellekicks

I am a SAHM also, and my burn on a rest day is more than MFP suggests for "Very Active" like a construction worker haha!

If you set your goal on MFP to "Very Active" and then lose 1.5 lbs/week or so, I think you'll get an accurate target and then you would add exercise burn to that each day.

Your TDEE is somewhere around 2800-3000 calories daily on average is my guess based on looking at the 3-5 hours/week moderate and 5-6 hrs/week strenuous workout levels.

If you assume TDEE is about 2800/day on average, and you cut 800 from that and eat 2000 calories daily, I think that's a good place to start. That should give you just over 1.5 lbs/week. If you're tired, cranky or hungry at that level, increase to up to 2300... that still gives you about a pound a week loss.

EDIT TO ADD: The MFP system is awesome except on rest days you get comparatively little to eat. That can be tough to do and demotivating. If you eat the same every day of the week, you can set a routine. If, however, your workouts are super varied and/or sporadic, adding exercise calories is a great idea.

tennileb

set your activity level to sedentary, log exercise and then on the days you do exercise you can eat a bit more by earning a bit more. we are generally less active than we feel we are. only log exercise that makes you sweat, if you are not getting your heart rate up and sweating you are probably not burning much.

I had people tell me to log house work, and really every little thing....but honestly when I gained weight I was still doing house work and such. I don't consider activities of daily living or caring for children, housework etc exercise, but that is just my opinion. if it was exercise there would be a lot of super fit moms.

weight and measure all your food, it makes a big difference for me. I got a fitbit flex and I wear it 24/7 if you had asked me before I would of said I was lightly to moderately active most of the day, but in reality I am sedentary for a huge part of the day even thought I feel I've been running around like crazy cooking , cleanign etc.

just my thoughts.

cmriverside

I am a SAHM also, and my burn on a rest day is more than MFP suggests for "Very Active" like a construction worker haha!

I agree that the "activity" settings are stingy, I'm not working, not married, pretty inactive - and I use the "Active" setting. You would think sedentary. But then, I am in maintenance now.

happystars82

thanks guys.x x x