Going bonkers over numbers...help!

chelllez

Okay... So, I probably am reading far too much into this whole number game of TDEE and BMR etc. And frankly, it is starting to drive me a little bonkers because I am over-analyzing things too much. I hope I can get my points across as clear as possible without confusing anyone, or myself either. Ha! Okay...I have 2 dilemmas.

1) I recently just started trying to lose weight last week. What I have been thinking is.... Should I be eating my Goal Weight TDEE to lose weight, and exercising 3 times a week as I plan to do as a lifetime plan? (I am not exercise crazed and don't enjoy it) Or, should I be eating the recommended TDEE number for my current weight, which is not far off from the Goal TDEE number? I have been using iifym calculator to do all the math. For example...

This is my current numbers

40 y/o
female
5'3''
175 lbs
Exercise level 3 x week
BMR 1435
TDEE 1973
**** TDEE - 20% = 1578 k/cal ****


My Goal weight and TDEE:

40 y/o
female
5'3"
115 lbs
Exercise level 3 x week
BMR 1162
TDEE 1598
**** Maintenance TDEE = 1598 k/cal ****

See? The numbers are not that far off between weight loss TDEE and goal weight TDEE. Is it acceptable to do this and has anyone tried eating at their goal TDEE? My thought process on this, is that I won't have to change my numbers because I will be already eating at the desired weight to maintain the weight I want. Does this work? Has anyone lost weight doing it this way? What happens if I plateau?


2) My second question is about activity level. I am sedentary, or I think I am sedentary. I am not currently employed, and I am sitting most of the day, besides doing house work or an occasional errand. Most of the time, I am sitting. Bad, I know. Don't judge me. LOL Should I be using (no exercise - desk job/couch potato) as my activity level to LOSE weight or should I make it 3 x week, because I PLAN on working out 3 x week, forever. This confuses me. The numbers above are set to 3 x week, because my plan IS to workout 3 x week, at my current weight and goal weight. Please clarify this for me. Because, the activity level changes both sets of numbers, either up or down, depending on the activity level.

Booda101

For the moment, you should be going with the first set of numbers to help lose weight. And you can leave your activity level as is until you actually start doing some exercise. You definitely want to have a daily calorie goal that you can sustain and that first number looks reasonable. Give it a try for 4-6 weaks and adjust as needed. It's also recommended that you recalculate your numbers every 10 pounds you lose.

If you haven't done so, you may want to invest in a digital food scale. Weigh and measure everything and log consistently.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Good luck!

diannethegeek

They're so close together, honestly any difference between the two plans will be a wash when you consider the margin of error for TDEE and the added margin of error with logging inaccuracies. Pick one, stick with it for a few weeks (always give any change in your routine a few weeks to work) and adjust if you don't see the results you expect.

I have a desk job and a small apartment, so I'm not on my feet a ton throughout the day. But I consider myself lightly active and my results agree.

TDEE includes your exercise by definition. If you're not including your exercise into your calculation then you're really getting your NEAT (the terms don't matter much, but there's always some confusion on this).

MFP is a NEAT calculator. It doesn't take your planned exercise into consideration and that's why it wants you to eat back more calories after you exercise. You can choose to not include exercise in your calculations if you want and eat the extra calories after you burn them or you can include them into your TDEE and not have to add more calories after your exercise. Either way should get you to approximately the same number.