TDEE, Weightlifting, Fitbit Calorie burn :)

nellyett

Hi All,

I'm hoping that someone can help me pinpoint my numbers for me. I've been using a fitbit for the last 2 months or so (love it!), but my calculations are all over the place!

First a bit of background.....over a year ago I used to set my intake to net just over my BMR and eating back all of my exercise cals. I was losing steady 0.5 - 1 lb per week with only a couple lbs left to lose. THEN...I quit smoking cold turkey Jan/13. Gained about 18 lbs (totally due to overeating sugar, less exercise, winter hibernation, bad attitude, etc.) lol

Once I felt that I had control over everything, got back into a regular exercise program, eating back at TDEE - 20%, tweaking protein intake, tried the Primal Blueprint diet with my husband, etc. etc. Long story short....I believe that I was burning the extra couple hundred cals per day as a smoker as the myth goes, but lowering my intake puts me under my BMR. Doing what I was doing before I quit wasn't working anymore and I've tried multiple numbers for intake with limited success.

Anyway....fast forward to today. Online calculators are giving me a TDEE of around 2200-2400 depending on what my activity level is entered as. Fitbit gives me an average of 1900. Perhaps someone could first clarify my activity level for me based on the following:

I have a desk job and sit all day unless doing intentional exercise.

4 days per week - Heavy (progressive) weights Push/Pull routine.

40 minutes of actual work via Upper / Lower Body supersetting. Very little break in between. 20 minutes total of warm up and cool down stretching. Total 60 minutes. I will also try and get to my 10k steps per day in the afternoon so that usually equals another half hour of intentional walking or so most days, but not all.

1 day per week - 5 km run or HIIT sprints plus jogging / walking intervals - 60 minutes (minimum of 10k steps for the day)

1 day per week - easy walking for minimum of 60 minutes (minimum of 10K steps)

1 day per week - total rest day.

Would this put me at Moderate or Active level in your opinions?

I suppose that if I were to manually enter a weight day calorie burn that would give me an extra 200 cals or so? Thus putting me around the moderate level for TDEE at the 2200 total. Does that sound right?

I've been set at between 1700 and 1900 (no loss in either weight or BF%)

Am currently set at between 1500 and 1700 but that's too low for me and I end up overdoing it on the weekend, and mostly because I mentally hope that it's too low for me. If that's where I need to be then I'm sure that I can knuckle down and just do it consistently. However...I want to be one of these lucky ladies who can CUT at 2200 cals per day!! haha

I'm female - 42 - 5'5" - 148 lbs - 26% BF up from 131 lbs and 20.5%bf

On a super positive note, I am stronger than I have ever been and have been able to progressively up my lifts regularily. My main goal is to lower bodyfat %.


Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Many thanks in advance!

Nikki

heybales

First - don't try to guess from a mere 5 levels of TDEE when you have a tool that is personalized for you with infinite TDEE levels.

But you must correct that tool for activity it underestimates on, any non-step based exercise, like lifting. As their FAQ says, manually log lifting, rowing, biking, ect.

And if syncing MFP and Fitbit, then use MFP Strength Training, if not synced, then Fitbit weight lifting power lifting (meaning not easy for you like other option is).
That may seem small compared to cardio, but it is very true.

You can go back to a couple average weeks and manually correct that on their site, and then see what your better estimated TDEE is.
That estimate is going to be a whole lot better than someone guessing from 5 rough levels.

So while that will raise your TDEE.

But it's still going to be lower than your inflated guess. So a deficit off an inflated TDEE is probably left you actually eating at TDEE - hence no change in weight.
Also explains your ease in increasing the weight on the bar.
Deficit will affect performance gains, why you need to decide weight loss or performance gains? Very hard to have both except at the beginning.
And also why hungry probably - doing strong enough workouts, body really wants to be in surplus, not even maintenance.

It will get harder at first with real deficit.

Where are you getting BF% from?
And is your estimated BMR based on BF% using Katch, or the inflated when overweight age, weight, height BMR?

nellyett

Thanks for your quick reply heybales! Much appreciated!

BF% is based on a scale we have and was confirmed with calipers. Still a rough estimate but is consistent.

When eating in deficit, I had to deload/lower reps a few times for sure! While I'm excited by LBM gains and haven't really worried about my calorie intake until now as I've just considered it a bulk, but summer is just around the corner and I would really like to cut the fluff and see what all of my hard work has awarded me

I'd really like to cut at a quick pace without losing much LBM.....would you suggest I stay around 1700? Or would that be too low?

If I enter an additional 200 cals for weight training, that's approx. 400 cal per day deficit.....sound about right to you?

Thanks again for your time and input!

heybales

No idea on calorie increase to TDEE when you log lifting, I see no time mentioned for the length of the workouts.

Go over to your exercise database and enter strength training for however long and see what it would give you.

Problem though, your TDEE from Fitbit already has some workout calories for that time included - they are just vastly under-estimated.
Ever look at your steps during a lifting workout - minimal, and the calorie burn, almost BMR. Obviously not true.

That's why if you want a decent estimate, and I'm guessing that was the whole reason for buying the Fitbit and using it still, then you need to go correct a typical week on the Fitbit site.

That corrected TDEE will indicate where a good deficit eating goal is.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right, if you want good estimate. Doesn't sound like you want to take a month experiment to see where real TDEE could be anyway, time is of the essence.

Consider that BF% within 5% accuracy then, both methods can be consistent, though off.
Be great at indicating direction though as you've found.

You can easily maintain muscle mass with reasonable deficit from best estimated TDEE. Adequate protein and lifting just assures it will be.
Just be aware that LBM is muscle mass and everything else not fat, like water. You can easily lose LBM and not muscle mass.

nellyett

While patience isn't my strong suit, I prefer to do things right. I superset my workouts so I'm not taking too many breaks, and if I need another minute to catch my breath I will walk over to the water fountain. I am rarely sitting still. my actual working time is usually around 40 minutes or so and doesn't include warm up or cool down stretching or Ab work.

I guess it really is trial and error when you are working with a moderate deficit. I don't mind doing the trials, just hate making the errors will keep working on it! lol

Thank you so much for your help!

sarahorange55

My thoughts - short answer why don't you up your cals to around that 2000/1900 level and see what happens - just for one week and see what it does

At the end of the date numbers are just number - your body doesn't always want to play with numbers it just know how it wants to work - sounds like you are saying 1700 is too low - then I would listen to you and your body and say its too low - up them and see

Good luck!