TDEE calculators- PLEASE help I'm so desperate!

Synthemesc94

Hello y'all,

I'm female, 20 yrs old, 162cm and 53kgs, bodyfat around 25% maybe slightly higher. I want it to be down to about 18%.
I was anorexic when I was young, hence my metabolism is not the fastest and my muscle mass has decreased a lot.

For two months, I have been lifting weights, 4 days a week, 30 minutes each. So the exercise I do is rather light. I am a student, so I do walk sometimes, go shopping or take a walk outside et cetera.

I really want to lose some of my bodyfat, but that is not my main goal. My main goal is to increase muscle mass. Tbh, I'd really like to lose the excess fat but it's hard for me to eat very little. I even struggle with 1450cals daily (which was my goal for the last days). I get binges when I eat 1450 and I don't know why, because during the last years, I never ate more than 1300 cals (and did not lose weight!!).
My explanation is that maybe my body just needs more because I finally started exercising? I have been a REAL couch potato during my anorexia and all the years after. I NEVER exercised, NEVER took a long walk. Now I am trying to be more active and I do exercise 4 times a week.
It would be okay if I did not lose weight at all or not very fast, I just don't really want to gain fat.

I first thought about reverse dieting, because I am in a lifting forum where all the guys told me that I should be able to eat 2000cals a day if I lift that often and because I am so young.
But all the calculators give me different numbers. According to MFP, I should only be able to eat 1500 cals. IIFYM tells me I should be able to eat 1680 cals (but I think they mean serious workouts in their calculation, and my workouts are short, so that number might be too high? i don't know?) German calculators tell me I should be able to eat around 1800 (!)
I just don't know what do to, I wanted to set my goals to 1600 for a start and look what happens but MFP says that's too much. I don't want to be on diet forever, this is why I started lifting and go to therapy! and now they're telling me 1600 is over my TDEE…

There are so many women that lift here, and I think there are even some which struggled with eating disorders before - do you, or any other one, have a suggestion for me as to how much calories to consume?
Do you think the calculators are close to reality, or have you experienced that you are able to eat more calories than the calculators suggest? Can anyone help me please?

Thank you very very much!

kaymelt

Don't be afraid of eating more than MFP recommends! I've heard (and have experienced) IIFYM's calculator is very accurate and helpful for most people, and is considered one of the best tools on the net for estimating caloric / macro intake. I was also having a hard time not going over the number of daily calories MFP told me I should get, and after manually switching to what IIFYM recommended (for aggressive fat loss) and changing my macros to also match what it suggested in the Goals area of MFP, I could tell a difference in my body and energy level within a week.

Personally, I find eating a small-ish meal every 2-3 hours keeps me feeling full and energized without feeling bloated or gross. I don't feel guilty any more, and I find it easy to hit my target goals each day. The most important thing is to pay attention to portion size and to eat things that aren't terrible for you.

Keep at it, don't get frustrated and stop! This is a process, something that you should take throughout the rest of your life, so don't be afraid to experiment and make a few mistakes.

PercivalHackworth

I made a sheet:
http://www.gainsandguns.com/nutrition-en/calories-tracker-spreadsheet/

Synthemesc94

Nice sheet! Thank you
I just thought that maybe IIFYM is not accurate for me because when I calculate with " exercise 4 times a week", maybe it means more serious exercise than the workouts I do, you know? because they are not that heavy. they are heavy for me but they are short.