Use BMR or TDEE when eating back exercise cals?

gale1089
gale1089 Posts: 67
in Health and Weight Loss
I always set my activity level at sedentary and then log my exercise calories and eat the majority of them back.
My question... do I want my net calories to be at my BMR or my TDEE (set at sedentary)?

Right now I'm netting around 1400 cals (my BMR) but I burn 400-600 calories a day, which means i'm really eating around 1700-1800 calories. Is that too much for me?! I don't have much to lose, I'm just looking to lean out and lower my body fat %. Any suggestions would be awesome!

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    If it were me, I'd figure out my average actual TDEE and eat about 250 calories less than that every day while lifting weights 3-4x per week. MFP makes it pretty easy to do this. If you change your settings to "lose 0.5 lbs per week" and then set your activity to lightly active, but then log your exercise calories, you will be eating about 250 calories less than your TDEE if you eat what MFP tells you to.
  • gale1089
    gale1089 Posts: 67
    If it were me, I'd figure out my average actual TDEE and eat about 250 calories less than that every day while lifting weights 3-4x per week.

    That works out to about 1400 calories as well, so i guess i'm in the right area.
    Thanks.

    Anyone else?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I eat about the same everyday and lose 3/4lb a week..that is my TDEE-15%.

    The only caveat to this is that is you are going by MFP exercise calories with 10lbs to lose...try only eating back 50% of them as they are over estimated.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    No, you're not eating too much. If anything, you're eating too little. Your BMR shouldn't be your calorie goal, and you should definitely not go any lower.

    As for eating back exercise calories - if you're using MFP settings set to sedentary, yes, eat all of your exercise calories back (provided they're accurate). If you're using TDEE set to sedentary, you should eat back at least half of them, but TDEE is designed to take your activity into consideration, so I'd put the number of days you workout into the calculator to get a more accurate number. That way, you know what you need to eat each day and you don't eat back exercise calories.

    But like I said, you shouldn't go below your BMR.
  • gale1089
    gale1089 Posts: 67
    ...try only eating back 50% of them as they are over estimated.

    I use a heart rate monitor, so hopefully they're not too far off.

    THANKS!

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