Starting soon but need help with calorie intake

karri82

Ill be starting the 5x5 at home shortly at the minute I'm just getting all equipment needed, the part I'm stuck on is calories im 31 5ft 5 I currently weigh 175lbs bathroom scales say 37% of my weight is fat :-(. Should I still hav still have MFP calories set to lose 0.5 lbs a week and log workout and eat back my calories , or the other calculator I've read people mention is the scooby one but I'm stuck on what to put In step 6 the select your goal. Obviously I don't want to be eating to little so I struggle with the weights but I have a lot of fat to get rid of

jstout365

I think most of the ladies here use the TDEE -% method. Strength training is a tricky one to determine calorie burn since heart rate monitors don't track it well and level of effort can vary from session to session. I would recommend you use the TDEE -20% for step 6. This is usually about the .5-1 lb per week loss rate. I ran the numbers and it says your goal should be around 1700 for light activity. Moderate activity bumps it up to 1900. If you are doing other activity (cardio) on other days, pick the right activity level for you. If the calorie target number is more than 300 calories off (either higher or lower than your current level) then I would ease into a higher level by adding 100 calories per week until you are up to it and if it is less, give your current amount a month on this plan and see where you are at. Adjust up or down as necessary.

A few points to consider, you will most likely see the scale stay level or even go up the first month. THIS IS NORMAL!!! Don't worry about your weight unless you see a significant (more than 2 lbs a week) gain. When people start a strength training program, the body will hold onto water and glycogen to help the muscles repair after a workout. Those increases make the scale turn into a huge lying POS. Do yourself a favor and start taking measurements and a set of "before" photos. Doing this will help you see body composition changes that the scale won't show. Another trick is to pick a weigh in day that follows one or two rest days. This gives the body a chance to balance out the water weight.

karri82

Thank you if I use the TDEE-20% do I log workouts on MFP and eat back the calories back and on the scooby calculator it has different macros to whats on here so should I change them

hananah89

TDEE is meant to include your workouts so you wouldn't log your workouts here. If you still want to keep track of them, you could list them under "strength" which won't affect your calories or I just change the calorie amts to "1" so it doesn't really change my calorie goal.

SezxyStef

Thank you if I use the TDEE-20% do I log workouts on MFP and eat back the calories back and on the scooby calculator it has different macros to whats on here so should I change them

I do TDEE-15% but I didn't go to scooby I got a calculation from Sara and SS from ETP group and it works wonderfully.

If you are sure of your calorie intake (weigh your food) the calculation goes like this...

take 3 weeks worth of your intake (you can get it from the app on your phone if you have it on your phone or total up the days)

Total calories consumed+(pounds lost x 3500)/21=TDEE

Choose the 3 consecutive weeks that most resemble your schedule for working out

Mine worked like this

29,642+(3.5 x 3500)/21=1995

So now I eat between 1600-1700 a day for TDEE -15%

Neonbeige

Oh, okay, so if you use the TDEE method, you don’t eat your calories back?

Dayum, I just had icecream, cause I thought I could, since I trained today. Guess I kinda mixed that up...good I realized that very early in my way :-)

jstout365

Oh, okay, so if you use the TDEE method, you don’t eat your calories back?

Dayum, I just had icecream, cause I thought I could, since I trained today. Guess I kinda mixed that up...good I realized that very early in my way :-)

Nope, TDEE method takes into account activity so you don't eat it back. Take the ice cream in stride and lift on!:drinker:

Neonbeige

:-) I should have known it was too good to be true

Thanks anyway for the confirmation of this sad truth :-D