How should I calculate my Caloric needs?

Sapino
Sapino Posts: 3
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi everybody,

A simple question right? Nonetheless, I tried on 4 different platforms/Websites and I got 4 different amounts of Caloric needs…

Basically, I am a male gender of 27 years old. I do sedentary activity as they call:
- 7 hours sleep
- 2 hours of walk (very small pace rate, i.e. to go to work)
- 1,5 hour of sport (Fitness Studio, no Cardio) (5x a week)
- 13,5 hours sit on a desk (Work office / Home office)

If anybody could help me, that would be very cool. I lift everyday and I can´t figure out my "exact" caloric need -_-´…

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    No calculator is really going to give you an exact number. Pick one that's in the middle, start with that, and observe weight change over time to tweak it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Just start somewhere and make adjustments as necessary. None of these calculators are going to be exact...they are just reasonably good starting points.

    Keep in mind that MFP's numbers will be substantially different because MFP assumes your activity without exercise and you're supposed to log that and "eat back" those calories.

    Example...my MFP goal to maintain is roughly 2350...but with exercise I'm usually around 2700 - 2800 and sometimes more. On the scooby workshop TDEE calculator that puts me somewhere between light and moderate...to get the same number on MFP I would have to put very active.

    Most platforms are going to utilize the TDEE method (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) where you include some estimate of your exercise in your activity level...MFP is the exception and is a NEAT method calculator (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). Like I said...either way you're likely going to have to make changes up or down per real world results.
  • Sapino
    Sapino Posts: 3
    Thanks very much guys!
    It is already very helpful.

    @Cwolfman: I totally got your point. Thanks! I am more aiming to get a "net" daily caloric need as I would add myself (or remove, depends how you look at it :)) or adjust the caloric spends on Fitness/gym day or Cardio day…I am trying to make it as personalized as possible, I have time !

    So I will accurately weight myself tomorrow and aim a goal of a daily 2500 calories (Net - no counting exercising) intake (on a 40-30-30 basis). I will see how it goes and weight myself again each week in order to adjust it if needed.

    Thank you again

Categories