Does this add up?

_lyndseybrooke_

Age: 24
Sex: Female
Height: 5'5"
CW: 137.8
GW: 130

Activity: SL 5x5 MWF @ 1 hour/workout; 30 min cardio/core TTh (200-250 calories burned per workout Monday-Friday, estimated)
Total Exercise Time: 4 hours/week [I put in lightly active 1-3 hours exercise per week since a lot of this is strength.]

From Scooby's Site:
BMR:1440
TDEE: 1980
TDEE - 15%: 1683

MFP Daily Calorie Recommendation: 1450/day for .5 lb/week loss
Macros: 163 g carbs, 40 g fat, 109 g protein (45/25/30)
Explanation: I keep my goal at 1450 because I burn about 220 calories per workout M-F, which adds up to 1670 calories, which is basically my TDEE - 15%.

The Math:
I burn an average of 1138 calories per week by exercising. My goal, 1450 calories X 7 days = 10,150. Combined, that's 11,288 calories I ultimately eat (give or take) come Sunday night. 11,288 divided by 7 days give me an average of 1613.

Progress: I started the 5x5 last week, so of course I haven't seen results there. My weight loss has been VERY slow. No loss this week, but I'm not all that worried about it. I'm more concerned with how my body looks versus some number on a scale. However, my loss is so slow that I'm wondering if I'm eating at maintenance. I do weigh/measure all of my food and I eat back my exercise calories on weekends, but stay under my weekly goal.

THE QUESTION!
I know the calories I'm logging are pretty darn close to accurate. I do not have an HRM and can't currently afford one, nor am I sure it's absolutely necessary. My cardio workouts are through FitnessBlender and I always use their low-end estimate of calories burned to be safe. During my strength routines, I took MFP's estimation and compared it with those on multiple websites and basically picked a middle number as a rough estimation of what I burn. I log 45 minutes of strength training as 141 calories burned, while my cardio warm up and cool down (a combined 15 minutes) is estimated at 78 calories, using the aerobic, low impact exercise option even though my warm-up is not low impact at all (very mild stretching, but also boxer shuffle, jumping jacks, high knees, butt kickers, lateral jumps, and even burpees). I can't possibly be overestimating my exercise so much that I'm unknowingly eating at maintenance, because that would mean I'm taking in calories during exercise and not burning any.

I know it's confusing that I'm using both TDEE and MFP (sort of), but according to my math, it all evens out to be the same thing. I'd rather log my exercise calories than not. I'm fine with slow weight loss, I just have this nagging fear that I'll have to eat an average of 1613 calories per week just to maintain my weight for life. Any insight on this?

SezxyStef

It's a bit complicated yes...

Typically TDEE-20% = calories given by MFP + exercise calories...

If you are lifting consistently I would go with TDEE as the calories for weight lifting are under estimated here.

What I see tho is it doesn't look like you use a kitchen scale...there are a lot of entries that make it appear so. Such as protien powder, bananas and other entries like Generic homemade hamburger...

If you aren't losing weight I would check your log first...then move to exercise calories....

jwdieter

Need to give the effort more time. But yes, lots of volume measurements in the diary. If no scale, use scale.

josh_reed2001

Edited

_lyndseybrooke_

I have and use a scale. I don't weigh my bananas, but I do weigh out my protein powder, meat, and even my coffee creamer. The reason it is in cups or tbsp is because I use the g listed on the food packaging for an even number of servings. For example, I put 1/4 cup refried beans in my diary, but I actually weighed out the grams in half the 1/2 cup serving on the can (34 g I believe). I COULD weigh even more foods, but things like individually packaged string cheese, boiled eggs, etc. - I just don't think any small differences would make a huge difference in the long run. I do use the scale daily though.

I use generic entries only when eating out at a restaurant that does not have nutritional information on their website - once every few weekends. Local restaurants, for instance.