Trying to figure this out!

MrsG31

I am not a numbers person. Have always been horrible with numbers and usually when I try to read through all the TDEE info the words start swimming and jumbling and it starts looking like Chinese. I joined MFP last year (Jan 2013) and lost about 15lbs counting cals (trying to stay around 1200-1260 and doing pretty minimal exercising, but ate back exercise cals on days I did more)

I am also trying to manage my time better because I currently am inconsistent with my workouts. (Work full time, 2 kids, commuting, house work, homework, bath times, etc. I want to try to get up early to hit the gym, but first I need to start going to bed early and I am often still up packing lunches or folding laundry at 10pm)

According to BMI calculator on caloriescount.com, I am in a healthy range

Height: 5 feet 1 inches
Weight: 112 lbs.
Your BMI: 21.1

Then I went to a TDEE calculator at iifym.com and put in my stats: Female, 32, 5'1", 112lbs, and put exercise level at BMR and it gave me a calories per day of 1156. (which I could NEVER adhere too!)

Then I changed the exercise to "No exercise/couch potato" and it gave me 1338 for cals/day. Then I changed the exercise to "3 times a week" and it changed my cals/day to 1590. If I subtract 15% from that I should be eating 1350 cals/day? That is if I want to lose weight though. I am not unhappy with my weight, just my body shape. I tend to gain weight in my mid-section and a weight gain of 10lbs is extremely noticeable on my small frame. I want to get rid of my gut. When I do exercise, I do more strength training than cardio.

I did change my MFP settings recently to show my current weight, sedentary (desk job), and put in exercise as 3x a week to see what it would give me and it upped my cals to 1440. Which I am always over. Which wouldn't be so bad if I was actually exercising this week, but haven't had a chance to get to the gym.

I am trying to figure out if my schedule continues like this and I can't always fit in some exercise, how much should I be aiming for in cals/day to not gain back what I lost last year? But if I DO get in my exercise like I want, I want to make sure I am fueling my body with the right amount of cals.

Thanks in advance for the responses!

yarwell

eat to your weighing scale - eat less if you gain.

likitisplit

I don't have any luck with TDEE because every time I try, I suddenly find it difficult to fit in exercise. What it sounds like is that you want to do body recomp - which means AT LEAST maintaining your weight and possibly even adding a few pounds in muscle.

I would use the MFP method and eat at maintenance + any exercise you get in.

If you want to get a better shape at the weight you're at, you're going to have to find a way to get resistance training in. It can be hard, I know, but there are at-home options, etc.

SezxyStef

TDEE is better for those with a consistent workout or those who lift as calories are hard to estimate for the lifting.

If you are happy with your weight and just want body to change typically the suggestion is to eat almost at maintenance or TDEE-5% and lift weights...

You wont lose the fat fast but it will go.

...I plugged number into scooby as well with 5% weight loss at sedentary.

It gave me 1455 for you...if you consistently workout every week 3-5hours you get 1879

If I were you I would eat 1400-1500 a day and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories since you can't guarantee your exercise.

MrsG31

TDEE is better for those with a consistent workout or those who lift as calories are hard to estimate for the lifting.

If you are happy with your weight and just want body to change typically the suggestion is to eat almost at maintenance or TDEE-5% and lift weights...

You wont lose the fat fast but it will go.

...I plugged number into scooby as well with 5% weight loss at sedentary.

It gave me 1455 for you...if you consistently workout every week 3-5hours you get 1879

If I were you I would eat 1400-1500 a day and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories since you can't guarantee your exercise.

Thank you! That actually made sense! I have seen the scooby calulator mentioned here but my work computer software blocked me from that site.

It just hard from me to wrap my brain around 1455...I mean I can easily reach that and probably them some, but sometimes I feel like I eat too much cuz I will feel too full, or at the end of the day, when I am already over, I get hungry. I try to just eat a pickle and drink a large glass of water, but some nights I really just want a few cookies and milk.

MrsG31

I don't have any luck with TDEE because every time I try, I suddenly find it difficult to fit in exercise. What it sounds like is that you want to do body recomp - which means AT LEAST maintaining your weight and possibly even adding a few pounds in muscle.

I would use the MFP method and eat at maintenance + any exercise you get in.

If you want to get a better shape at the weight you're at, you're going to have to find a way to get resistance training in. It can be hard, I know, but there are at-home options, etc.

Thanks Varda- I know- I need to get back into doing body-weight stuff at home when I can't get to the gym. I don't have any safe place to bring in my own free weights and such in my cramped, small house and our garage is so full of stuff, mainly kids toys!

SezxyStef

TDEE is better for those with a consistent workout or those who lift as calories are hard to estimate for the lifting.

If you are happy with your weight and just want body to change typically the suggestion is to eat almost at maintenance or TDEE-5% and lift weights...

You wont lose the fat fast but it will go.

...I plugged number into scooby as well with 5% weight loss at sedentary.

It gave me 1455 for you...if you consistently workout every week 3-5hours you get 1879

If I were you I would eat 1400-1500 a day and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories since you can't guarantee your exercise.

Thank you! That actually made sense! I have seen the scooby calulator mentioned here but my work computer software blocked me from that site.

It just hard from me to wrap my brain around 1455...I mean I can easily reach that and probably them some, but sometimes I feel like I eat too much cuz I will feel too full, or at the end of the day, when I am already over, I get hungry. I try to just eat a pickle and drink a large glass of water, but some nights I really just want a few cookies and milk.

I eat 1600 and lose...1lb a week, if I eat 1700 I lose .66lbs a week...

It is a reasonable amount to eat as long as you are sure it's fact and by that I mean weighing your food on a kitchen scale.

If you are hungry on that much make sure you are getting in enough protien that keeps you feeling fuller longer..

As for your nights make room for the cookies and milk...I make room for milk chocolate a lot...or toaster strudle...

But do lift or some sort of resistence training..I personally along with a lot of women on this site have had wonderful results in their body look and feel with that then they ever did eating too little and doing lots of cardio.

tmet1990

Set you alarm clock 30 minutes earlier and try to get in some cardio. I have been doing this and it seems to help jump start my day. Plus my days seems to always get busier so making time in the morning has helped a ton.

WinoGelato

I am not a numbers person. Have always been horrible with numbers and usually when I try to read through all the TDEE info the words start swimming and jumbling and it starts looking like Chinese. I joined MFP last year (Jan 2013) and lost about 15lbs counting cals (trying to stay around 1200-1260 and doing pretty minimal exercising, but ate back exercise cals on days I did more)

I am also trying to manage my time better because I currently am inconsistent with my workouts. (Work full time, 2 kids, commuting, house work, homework, bath times, etc. I want to try to get up early to hit the gym, but first I need to start going to bed early and I am often still up packing lunches or folding laundry at 10pm)

According to BMI calculator on caloriescount.com, I am in a healthy range

Height: 5 feet 1 inches
Weight: 112 lbs.
Your BMI: 21.1

Then I went to a TDEE calculator at iifym.com and put in my stats: Female, 32, 5'1", 112lbs, and put exercise level at BMR and it gave me a calories per day of 1156. (which I could NEVER adhere too!)

Then I changed the exercise to "No exercise/couch potato" and it gave me 1338 for cals/day. Then I changed the exercise to "3 times a week" and it changed my cals/day to 1590. If I subtract 15% from that I should be eating 1350 cals/day? That is if I want to lose weight though. I am not unhappy with my weight, just my body shape. I tend to gain weight in my mid-section and a weight gain of 10lbs is extremely noticeable on my small frame. I want to get rid of my gut. When I do exercise, I do more strength training than cardio.

I did change my MFP settings recently to show my current weight, sedentary (desk job), and put in exercise as 3x a week to see what it would give me and it upped my cals to 1440. Which I am always over. Which wouldn't be so bad if I was actually exercising this week, but haven't had a chance to get to the gym.

I am trying to figure out if my schedule continues like this and I can't always fit in some exercise, how much should I be aiming for in cals/day to not gain back what I lost last year? But if I DO get in my exercise like I want, I want to make sure I am fueling my body with the right amount of cals.

Thanks in advance for the responses!

Hi Friend. Do you have a FitBit? I have a very similar profile to you, although I'm an inch taller and a good 10+ pounds more than you and even when I don't "exercise" my FitBit still says I burn 2000ish calories (like this week I'm sick and haven't done much and my average burn is 2011). Most of that is from running around after two little kids, getting them and myself ready in the morning, taking everyone to school, getting myself into work, minimal activity at work because I have a desk job, then in the evening picking everyone up, getting dinner on the table, baths, bedtime, putting away toys, etc. My point is, if you are a working mother you are far from sedentary even if you have a desk job - I learned that when I got my FitBit.

On weeks I do mimimal exercise, even if it is just walking on my lunch break at work and walking the kids up to the park in the evenings, my average burn is more like 2300, and when I actually hit the gym and try to exercise it is even higher.

I set my MFP activity level to Active and it calculates a maintenance TDEE at a little over 1900. I have my goal set at 0.5 lb/week and it gives me about 1675 calories. I've been losing at that rate fairly consistently with normal fluctuations. I eat back any FitBit calorie adjustments also. I'm going to continue at this goal for the rest of this month and then maybe up my calories a little as I think I'm ready to transition to maintenance.

Enjoy those extra calories!

MrsG31

I actually just got a FitBit Zip recently.(for free- SCORE) I remembered to actually wear it yesterday and it said I burned 1503. But I was sitting at the computer last night when I did my "sync" and couldn't get it to sync up to MFP. (which I have heard is an issue)

I went on a quick little walk during my break today and when I came back MFP made a FitBit adjustment and gave me negative calories of like 158?

WinoGelato

I actually just got a FitBit Zip recently.(for free- SCORE) I remembered to actually wear it yesterday and it said I burned 1503. But I was sitting at the computer last night when I did my "sync" and couldn't get it to sync up to MFP. (which I have heard is an issue)

I went on a quick little walk during my break today and when I came back MFP made a FitBit adjustment and gave me negative calories of like 158?

Ok I looked at your diary. You logged walking, which you don't need to do anymore with the FitBit. You only need to log non-step related activities (weights, bike, elliptical maybe). FitBit will adjust for it, so you aren't double counting, but that's probably partly why you have negative calories. Also, I usually have negative calories from FitBit for most of the day until I burn enough that it estimates I'm going to go over what MFP has calculated.

If you are using the phone app, and click on the FitBit adjustment, it will tell you why it is negative. Right now mine is -80 because MFP says I burn 1912 in a day (that's my maintenance for Active) and the full day projection for FitBit based on my activty level and calories burned so far is 1832. So -80 is my FitBit adjustment. As the day goes on and I move around more, and then definitely if I walk at lunch or exercise tonight (doubtful) I will get a positive adjustment.

With FitBit you kind of have to trust the two systems and just let them work for at least a couple of weeks and then you will start to get more comfortable with how it all works and be able to determine if something needs to be adjusted. Like I said before, I had my activity level set at Sedentary when I first got my FitBit and upped it to Lightly Active when I realized I average more than 10K steps a day, and then recently Active. That alignment really made the two systems work better, in my opinion.