Stronglifts and activity level for TDEE?

willrun4bagels

*Reposted this from the regular MFP forum under the Fitness & Exercise tab because I received no responses there yet.* Thank you in advance!

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?

SideSteel

*Reposted this from the regular MFP forum under the Fitness & Exercise tab because I received no responses there yet.* Thank you in advance!

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...

That's going to depend quite heavily on your day to day activity outside of the gym.

Ultimately, choose one and monitor your results, and track intake accurately. After a few weeks you can fine tune your intake based on results.

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).

Yes, if you start eating closer and closer to TDEE you would be potentially slowing fat loss. However, it's not necessarily correct (at least, I don't think we can say for certain) that your total calorie intake is what's driving hunger or performance issues. What I'm getting at is that there are multiple ways to address performance and hunger related problems that don't necessarily revolve around adding more calories in total. You could look at your macronutrient ratios, nutrient timing, supplementation, food selection, meal frequency/distribution, and other factors that all play a role in satiety and/or performance.

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?

I would look at some of the factors I mentioned above.

Ultimately it MAY come down to choosing between getting leaner or getting stronger but I really don't think that's going to be the case if things are done properly.