Help on TDEE and BMR choices

Paulbp4

Hey everyone,

I am back on MFP - it has been a while! I found maintenance was pretty easy for me without the program, but slowly and surely I found an accumulation of fat and small depletion of muscle. I recently started exercising frequently again (5x a week in the gym) and even more recently started tracking calories again.

Long story short, I am 5' 9.75" and 203 lbs. I have two body fat measurement devices and over the past three days I have taken consistent measurements of 15.3% on my bioimped scale and 16 - 16.5% on my handheld omiron. I have peaking upper abs when I am low on water and estimate that between 15.5-16 is probably accurate. My goal is sub 180 - I want to shoot low and stay steady at 185 afterwards (I find sustained weight loss easier if you go to a lower weight, and go to maintenance expecting to gain some back and keeping at that weight for a year +).

When I use Katch-McCardle I find a BMR of 2032 - and TDEEs of (up to) 3500. The other one (Mifflin? St. Jorge-mifflin? I can't remember) says ~1880 and changes depending on if you enter 5' 9" or 5' 10".

These two formulas are supposed to be close - the only way I got them to be close at my body fat estimate was to be around 160lbs! Which coincidentally corresponds to a "normal" BMI index. Any suggestions or experience with similar situations?

MeganAnne89

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ is a good site to see what both your BMR and TDEE is. When I inputted your info I got a BMR of 1888 and TDEE of 2596 (but this was with me putting that you go to the gym 3X a week - obviously it can vary depending on if you make it there three times or five times. If it's five times the amount of cals you can eat to maintain your current weight will change). What I'd suggest is finding a number that's in between what your BMR and TDEE (so it's still a deficit in order to lose weight) and go with that for what you should be netting in a day.

I've seen a lot of other people recommend this particular site to go off of so I'd say it's a good one to follow.

Paulbp4

Thanks for the reply!

I have actually used that one before - and if I switch the formula to Katch-McCardle I get 2044ish. The net result is between 200-300 calories difference on my TDEE (depending on workouts per week - which is almost always 5+).

Using this: http://exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

I get higher results - but put in (what I consider) more accurate breakdowns of my time.


Long story short - I am wondering if I should go with the higher Katch-McCardle since it gives me a higher result based on my body fat. Technically Katch and Mifflin-St. Jeor should be nearly the same, but in my case (high BMI) they are not.

MeganAnne89

Well the thing with body fat is that it's quite hard to get an accurate reading on it. A lot of the tests aren't very accurate so I always go with physically measuring my arms, waist, legs, etc. and then inputting that online to figure it out. Have you done that to figure out what your body fat % is (give or take)? If you have and you're confident in the accuracy, then I don't really see why going with Katch -McCardle would be an issue.

But to be honest I think averaging out the results might be best for you. So figure out what you BMR is on Katch and on Mifflin St-Jeor and then assume it's in the middle of those two numbers, and then do the same for your TDEE.

It's hard to be 100% accurate, but I don't see how you could go wrong with averaging, just to be sure you're not going over.

IGbnat24

IMO, you should try to find the highest amount of calories that still allows you to lose weight. Start with the higher number, reevaluate your progress in a month, and adjust accordingly.