Heavy lifting 3x/wk - Appropriate TDEE activity level?

willrun4bagels

If you follow a full body progressive lifting program (SL 5x5, NROL, Wendler's 5/3/1, etc.), and you use the TDEE method for calculating calories - would you say that you are lightly active, or moderately active on a TDEE calculator? I was never sure and kind of took the average between both of those numbers to figure out mine when I started lifting...

I follow Stronglifts 5x5 three times a week. I don't do any other workouts aside from light walking with my dogs, and occasionally will do HIIT/fartlek sprints around the neighborhood with them when i feel like it (maybe once a week for a few minutes). I work a sedentary desk job full time.

I just started my 10th week of SL5x5 - started early May and took 1 week off for vacation. I've been eating at TDEE minus between 15 and 20 percent since mid-March - currently -15%.

I've lost weight slowly and consistently - down from 224 when starting SL to 219/220 presently, and I hope that was pretty much just fat lost, so that's good!). I eat ~2300 calories a day, use a food scale for everything except liquids. I was so hungry yesterday after dinner that I was light headed and almost fainted - and I'd consumed 2200+ cals by that point. No other illness or dehydration causing it as far as I am aware, I genuinely felt starving and foggy - didn't even lift yesterday. So I had another snack, and ended up over my calories. I feel like as the weights progress every workout, I need to eat more to fuel the lifts - but by eating at or very close to my TDEE, am I sacrificing weight loss efforts in order to achieve heavier lifts 3x a week? I am still 30 pounds overweight, and about 40 pounds from my goal weight (not going so much for a number on the scale, but I do want to at least out of the overweight range for my height).

Wondering what others following a heavy lifting program do - feedback appreciated. I wouldn't be as concerned with eating a lot closer to maintenance if I only had a few pounds left to lose, but I still have a ways to go. I want to excel at heavier lifts, but also lose fat. Seems like I can't have it both ways?

meshashesha2012

congrats on the weight loss!!

the calculator i used asked for both my general activity level (which i set as sedentary since i work a desk job and only really get exercise when i exercise) AND asked me to provide a range of how many days a week i work out and the type of workout intensity. i chose 3-5 days a week of moderate exercise.

it's no surprise that you are craving more food as you progress in weight because by overloading the muscles you are telling your body that the muscles need to grow back stronger and bigger and that can't be done on a deficit after you pass the noob stage. so you're basically going to have a find a balance between eating at a deficit AND continuing to work out 3 days a week.

for myself, i decided that i'd rather stick with the weight loss and have reduced my progressive overload sessions to once a week. i'm sort of at the stage where i either need to eat more or allow more time between sessions to rest. my other 2 strength training sessions are bodyweight exercises and lower weight/higher rep exercises.

Walter__

Once you're past your noob stage, lifts tend to go down when you're cutting. That's just usually what happens.

mymodernbabylon

I use the Scoobyworkshop calculator. I do walk the dog and I'm up and around (play softball) etc. as well as do the 5x5. I decided to use a number between lightly and moderately active and that seems to be working for me (minus 10% for a slow loss).