Calorie question..TDEE...BMR

MomTo3Lovez
MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I am trying to figure out what calories I should be eating a day.

I used the TDEE calulator on the fitgirls.com and my BMR says 1546 and my TDEE says 2397 (used moderate being that I workout 5 days a week 3 days cardio and 2 days resistance) and MFP recomended 1350 for a 1.5lb loss a week. I'm 37, 5'5.5" and 176 and my goal is about 140.

So what should my calorie intake actually be? So confused lol

Replies

  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    Your intake would depend on which method you choose.

    With the TDEE -X% method, you've figured your activity into a formula and received an estimated burn. For a 1.5 loss, you'd eat 750 calories below that. Note that weight loss is not linear and that math may not always be super consistent due to a number of possible variables. You do not eat back exercise calories with this method.

    With the MFP method, it kind of depends on what you put as your activity level when you were setting up your goals. The MFP model would have you eat back any calories for activity that you did not have in mind when selecting your activity. For example, even though I workout fairly frequently, I have a desk job. I would probably select sedentary in MFP and then eat back some of my calories from exercise that I've logged. MFP does have you eating back your exercise calories, but you just don't want to eat back exercise calories that may already be accounted for when you set up your goals.
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
    With only 36lb to lose I'd suggest setting MFP to "lose 0.5lb per week" that way you are not eating below your BMR, you should find it a lot easier to transition into maintenance if you lose at a slower, steady pace :flowerforyou:
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    If you want to eat your exercise calories back, change your goal to .5 lb/week instead of 1.5 lb/week. If you don't want to bother with exercise calories, eat 1900 calories per day gross. The lowest your goal should be is your BMR, so don't go below that.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    1700-1900 calories daily.. Dont add exercise calories or anything, and dont create a bigger deficit.

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