**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals
yesthistime
Posts: 2,051 Member
I hope he doesn't mind! The "In place of a road map" thread that Helloitsdan started a few weeks ago has been EXTREMELY helpful to many of us. I still see other members asking questions that this thread could help the info presented in that thread can help them answer, so I wanted to start a new thread with the info.
I merely copied and pasted Helloitsdan's OP on the subject of figuring out calorie goals. Here it is:
This is the best I can do!
I'll hand you the tools for a successful and sustainable diet that you can use and manipulate to achieve your goals.
If you are looking to lose weight, you just eat the calories given by doing the simple math and following the directions on the page.
If you are looking to maintain weight, you add 20% to the number given and youll know approximately what your TDEE is.
The link is at the bottom of this grand post!
I've said it several times here on this forum and i'll say it again and again:
True dieting needs the knowledge of 3 very important numbers.
1) TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
This is the amount of calories you burn all day.
From before you wake up in the morning and pee to the time you lay your head down at night to sleep and into the night.
One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing a post on the forum or on someones Diary "Ugh! I feel sooo guilty because I went over calories today!" when the person went over a few cals over a 40% cut from TDEE.
Knowing TDEE allows you to understand that anything above TDEE is a surplus and you will "eventually" gain weight.
Anything at TDEE you maintain weight.
Anything below TDEE you lose weight to an extent. (see BMR)
2) BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate or RMR Resting Metabolic Rate.
If you were in a coma and in the hospital, the doctors would feed you your BMR in calories.
This ensures you have enough nutrients for vital organs to function.
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-homework-help/107443-ten-essential-organs-in-the-human-body/
This is just a small list of vital organs in the human body.
Eating at BMR and staying in bed should maintain things as long as you do nothing at all.
Most people who start using MFP dont really understand the importance of this BMR number.
They jump in with both feet thinking "I'm going to lose soooooo much weight and be fantastic!"
What they dont understand is by not eating back calories from working out, they are netting below BMR.
The only people who should be eating below BMR are folks who have had Gastric Bypass, 500-700 cals/day, or people who are morbidly obese and only for an extremely short time and only prescribed by their "Nutritionist".
Most people who eat at or below BMR will lose weight for a short time.
20-50% of most weight lost on a Very Low Calorie Diet is from Lean Mass.
This is the opposite of true dieting.
Most people who diet want to have better looking bodies and live a healthy life.
They want to reduce fat mass and raise lean mass.
Eating at BMR or lower actually maintains fat mass while dropping lean mass.
If the body does not get enough energy from calories in, it will seek ways to slow itself down.
Leptin levels drop, cortisol levels rise.
Anabolism stops and catabolism begins.
The body switches gears hormonally and tries to maintain fat, a non active tissue that stores energy, by burning lean mass, an active tissue that uses calories.
So in essence fat mass starts to stay the same while lean mass drops.
You can see how this can extend your dietary lifestyle right?
Eating at or below BMR with intentions to eat back calories from working out is a convoluted way of thinking.
We should be eating the proper amount of nutrients first, then creating a deficit with our workouts!
That way if you miss a workout, you still have the proper nutrients in your system.
Youll actually have more energy eating right and sleeping right than if you jumped into a VLCD.
This has been proven!
3) Body Fat%
So many people dont really know what their body fat% is.
I'm shocked every time I ask a member and they dont have a clue!
Some people dont even know what a safe BF% should be!
Athletes (6-13% for men, 16-20% for women)
Fitness (14-17% for men, 21-24% for women)
Acceptable (18-25% for men, 25-31% for women)
Obese (25%+ for men, 32%+ for women)
A good way to diet correctly is to set a body fat% goal as opposed to a weight goal.
The human body fluctuates up to 5lbs on average daily!
That would drive any person crazy who likes jumping on the scale every 30 mins!
Measuring body fat is a more sane approach to the diet.
Expecting a 2-5% change in a month is certainly acceptable in the lower ranges.
In the higher ranges it really depends on your BF%, macronutrients and workout routine.
An interesting paper written by Martin Berkhan, creator of www.LeanGains.com talks about the amount of fat the human body can burn in a day. After reading it I started working out 3 times a week and had better results than working out 5 days a week.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=160054937436250
Understanding body fat and how you lose it will certainly keep you from hopping on the scale every day and probably have you running up to GNC for a handy set of calipers $20.
So now that I have given you the 3 most important numbers to always know while dieting, i'll give you a good source to figure all this information out on your own.
This was the first source I used to help myself and countless others to lose weight.
Once you have this link you can keep using it as you drop weight and body fat to recalculate your numbers.
Remember that as lean mass rises and fat mass drops, youll have different nutritional needs!
To truly benefit from a FAT BURNING program you will need to have some type of resistance training.
If you are not lifting weights or doing body weight workouts, you will have a very hard time maintaining lean mass while in a caloric deficit.
I always suggest for gym goers, the Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength programs.
Both teach basic compound moves and can help catapult your strength.
I'm sure you can find many other lifting programs but do keep in mind, if you lift Minnie Mouse dumbbells youll have Minnie Mouse muscles. =D
Cardio is great for accelerated fat loss but if you are overweight or obese I would only recommend a brisk walk.
Every pound of fat on your stomach is 8 on the knees and 10 on the upper back.
Once you get down to an acceptable BF level then run to your hearts content.
So here is the link.
Use it in good health!
visit http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/
Do the Military Body Fat Calc first, then the BMR tool.
The Military BF calc is accurate up to about 2%.
The BMR tool will give EXACT calories to eat on a daily basis.
This number is static and I only recommend eating back so your NET is at least 200 above BMR.
Add 20% to suggested calories to know your TDEE.
Use the Katch McGardle BMR number to know your BMR.
Never eat at or below BMR.
For Fat loss plans set up macros at 30% Protein/Fat.
This % is only because MFP wont allow single %.
For more fine tuned macronutrients.....
1g Protein per lean body mass or total goal weight.
.35-.60g Fat per LBM or total goal weight.
Most of the time these numbers are close to 30% of total daily cals.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
If I missed something important please let me know.
Hugs!
=D
"Great bodies are built in the kitchen and while we sleep! Everything else is secondary."
I merely copied and pasted Helloitsdan's OP on the subject of figuring out calorie goals. Here it is:
This is the best I can do!
I'll hand you the tools for a successful and sustainable diet that you can use and manipulate to achieve your goals.
If you are looking to lose weight, you just eat the calories given by doing the simple math and following the directions on the page.
If you are looking to maintain weight, you add 20% to the number given and youll know approximately what your TDEE is.
The link is at the bottom of this grand post!
I've said it several times here on this forum and i'll say it again and again:
True dieting needs the knowledge of 3 very important numbers.
1) TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
This is the amount of calories you burn all day.
From before you wake up in the morning and pee to the time you lay your head down at night to sleep and into the night.
One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing a post on the forum or on someones Diary "Ugh! I feel sooo guilty because I went over calories today!" when the person went over a few cals over a 40% cut from TDEE.
Knowing TDEE allows you to understand that anything above TDEE is a surplus and you will "eventually" gain weight.
Anything at TDEE you maintain weight.
Anything below TDEE you lose weight to an extent. (see BMR)
2) BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate or RMR Resting Metabolic Rate.
If you were in a coma and in the hospital, the doctors would feed you your BMR in calories.
This ensures you have enough nutrients for vital organs to function.
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-homework-help/107443-ten-essential-organs-in-the-human-body/
This is just a small list of vital organs in the human body.
Eating at BMR and staying in bed should maintain things as long as you do nothing at all.
Most people who start using MFP dont really understand the importance of this BMR number.
They jump in with both feet thinking "I'm going to lose soooooo much weight and be fantastic!"
What they dont understand is by not eating back calories from working out, they are netting below BMR.
The only people who should be eating below BMR are folks who have had Gastric Bypass, 500-700 cals/day, or people who are morbidly obese and only for an extremely short time and only prescribed by their "Nutritionist".
Most people who eat at or below BMR will lose weight for a short time.
20-50% of most weight lost on a Very Low Calorie Diet is from Lean Mass.
This is the opposite of true dieting.
Most people who diet want to have better looking bodies and live a healthy life.
They want to reduce fat mass and raise lean mass.
Eating at BMR or lower actually maintains fat mass while dropping lean mass.
If the body does not get enough energy from calories in, it will seek ways to slow itself down.
Leptin levels drop, cortisol levels rise.
Anabolism stops and catabolism begins.
The body switches gears hormonally and tries to maintain fat, a non active tissue that stores energy, by burning lean mass, an active tissue that uses calories.
So in essence fat mass starts to stay the same while lean mass drops.
You can see how this can extend your dietary lifestyle right?
Eating at or below BMR with intentions to eat back calories from working out is a convoluted way of thinking.
We should be eating the proper amount of nutrients first, then creating a deficit with our workouts!
That way if you miss a workout, you still have the proper nutrients in your system.
Youll actually have more energy eating right and sleeping right than if you jumped into a VLCD.
This has been proven!
3) Body Fat%
So many people dont really know what their body fat% is.
I'm shocked every time I ask a member and they dont have a clue!
Some people dont even know what a safe BF% should be!
Athletes (6-13% for men, 16-20% for women)
Fitness (14-17% for men, 21-24% for women)
Acceptable (18-25% for men, 25-31% for women)
Obese (25%+ for men, 32%+ for women)
A good way to diet correctly is to set a body fat% goal as opposed to a weight goal.
The human body fluctuates up to 5lbs on average daily!
That would drive any person crazy who likes jumping on the scale every 30 mins!
Measuring body fat is a more sane approach to the diet.
Expecting a 2-5% change in a month is certainly acceptable in the lower ranges.
In the higher ranges it really depends on your BF%, macronutrients and workout routine.
An interesting paper written by Martin Berkhan, creator of www.LeanGains.com talks about the amount of fat the human body can burn in a day. After reading it I started working out 3 times a week and had better results than working out 5 days a week.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=160054937436250
Understanding body fat and how you lose it will certainly keep you from hopping on the scale every day and probably have you running up to GNC for a handy set of calipers $20.
So now that I have given you the 3 most important numbers to always know while dieting, i'll give you a good source to figure all this information out on your own.
This was the first source I used to help myself and countless others to lose weight.
Once you have this link you can keep using it as you drop weight and body fat to recalculate your numbers.
Remember that as lean mass rises and fat mass drops, youll have different nutritional needs!
To truly benefit from a FAT BURNING program you will need to have some type of resistance training.
If you are not lifting weights or doing body weight workouts, you will have a very hard time maintaining lean mass while in a caloric deficit.
I always suggest for gym goers, the Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength programs.
Both teach basic compound moves and can help catapult your strength.
I'm sure you can find many other lifting programs but do keep in mind, if you lift Minnie Mouse dumbbells youll have Minnie Mouse muscles. =D
Cardio is great for accelerated fat loss but if you are overweight or obese I would only recommend a brisk walk.
Every pound of fat on your stomach is 8 on the knees and 10 on the upper back.
Once you get down to an acceptable BF level then run to your hearts content.
So here is the link.
Use it in good health!
visit http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/
Do the Military Body Fat Calc first, then the BMR tool.
The Military BF calc is accurate up to about 2%.
The BMR tool will give EXACT calories to eat on a daily basis.
This number is static and I only recommend eating back so your NET is at least 200 above BMR.
Add 20% to suggested calories to know your TDEE.
Use the Katch McGardle BMR number to know your BMR.
Never eat at or below BMR.
For Fat loss plans set up macros at 30% Protein/Fat.
This % is only because MFP wont allow single %.
For more fine tuned macronutrients.....
1g Protein per lean body mass or total goal weight.
.35-.60g Fat per LBM or total goal weight.
Most of the time these numbers are close to 30% of total daily cals.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
If I missed something important please let me know.
Hugs!
=D
"Great bodies are built in the kitchen and while we sleep! Everything else is secondary."
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Replies
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bump for good info
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This has always confused me. My BMR is 1552 so I should have this as my daily goal and work out to decrease this? So if I went for a bike ride somedays I would knock 800 off that easy. Do I have to eat the extra 800 cals...else I am going to get ill from eating way over my norm..x0
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This has always confused me. My BMR is 1552 so I should have this as my daily goal and work out to decrease this? So if I went for a bike ride somedays I would knock 800 off that easy. Do I have to eat the extra 800 cals...else I am going to get ill from eating way over my norm..x
Yes eat them, as you should not net below BMR. doing what you suggest would be like eating 752 (1552-800) and not exercising, which is missing the point of eating at least BMR.
If you regularly burn 800 cals say 5 days/week your average daily TDEE would be 1552*1.2 + 571 (800*5/7) = 2433. the calc is a little different but I am showing how regular acivity *1.2 and exercise would fit in.
So do lose weight you should eat between 10 and 20% below TDEE which would be 1946 (2433*.8) to 2190, but would not eat back exercise cals. So if you eat 1950 and burn 800, you would net below your BMR that day, but the average for the week you would be at your above BMR as on days you don't workout you would be eating above BMR by 400 to 540 but on workout days eating under BMR by . 250-400 cals.
Essentially your TDEE includes exercise cals and if you are active the multiplier would be 1.55 on your BMR to give you 2405, close to the 2433 I calculated above using sedentary and exercise cals.0 -
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What is the best macro nutrient ratio to be at to loose weight and fat and maintain lean body mass?0
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What is the best macro nutrient ratio to be at to loose weight and fat and maintain lean body mass?
I would also like to know more about this??0 -
amazing info ! thanks so much0
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Saving, thanks0
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bump0
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Thank you!0
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Bump, very interesting, I had mine calculated out for me because it was so confusing but this made it pretty easy0
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What is the best macro nutrient ratio to be at to loose weight and fat and maintain lean body mass?
I would also like to know more about this??
This will differ with everyone slightly but a rough goal is 0.8 to 1.0 gram of protein per lb of goal weight or 1 gram per lb of lean body mass, if you know your bf%. and 0.35 grams of fat per lb of body weight, the remainder of cals can be any combination of macros (carbs, fat or protein).
so if you weigh 150 lbs and have a bf% of 20% your lean mass is 120lbs and you should aim for at least 120 grams of protein (480 cals from protein), 52.5 grams of fat (0.35*150) which is 472 cals from fat, that covers 952 cals, the remainder of your cals can be divided how you like. if you were on a 1500 cal/day diet and chose all carbs that would give you 547 cals from carbs which is 137 grams. this would be 32% protein, 31% fat, 37% carbs. If you are on a higher food intake your carbs can be higher, or you can choose more fat or protein. A lot of people push the 40/30/30 ratio, C/F/P.
But if you like you don't have to eat 137 grams carbs you can eat 80 grams of carbs and get even more fat and/or protein0 -
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Thanks erickirb0
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This number is static and I only recommend eating back so your NET is at least 200 above BMR.
This is not only very interesting but also slightly depressing - my body fat % is more than half of my weight!! Ugh. Okay, I'm working to change that. My question has to do with the sentence I quoted above. According to my BMR I should eat 1624 calories or with the KMF BMR I should have 1352 calories. But! (Isn't there always a but?), I'm counting myself as moderately active, so that bumps my calories back up to 2179. And then I read that I should eat back to at least 200 above BMR.
So which BMR do I choose from?? I'm thinking the higher of the three numbers (which gives me 2379 calories/day) but want someone else to say that I've got this figured out correctly.0 -
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Thanks for the info0 -
I'm counting myself as moderately active, so that bumps my calories back up to 2179.
That's your total daily energy TDEE not your BMR. Knock off your intended deficit from that for example 2179 - 500 = 1679
that's above both BMRs, if that concerns you.0 -
bump ive seen a lot of people on here this week who could do with reading this!0
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Thank you for the correction. 1600+ calories a day... I guess that I get to eat a second helping of lunch! ;-)0
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20-50% of most weight lost on a Very Low Calorie Diet is from Lean Mass
I think 15 to 30% of VLCD weight loss is fat free mass would be more accurate. FFM = lean muscle & water.0 -
bump- fantastic information. thank you0
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I've tried to get to Helloitsdan via a personal message but maybe you guys can help me out. Here are my thoughts and questions.......
A little background on me......I am fairly new to all of this fitness and weight loss stuff and have only been on MFP for a few weeks. I have been dieting using the PINK Method by Cynthia Pasquela since the end of January and have lost 15 pounds so far. I am getting to these last 5-10 pounds and things have come to a halt which is why I am snooping around for what to do!
First question, at one point in the original post, Dan said to measure your waist 1" below the belly button but the Fat2 calculator states "Note: Women should measure the natural waist circumference at the point of minimal abdominal circumference, usually located about halfway between the navel and the lower end of the sternum (breast bone)." That's above the belly button at the smallest point. There is a a couple of inches difference between these two locations for me so I think it matters which one to use.
Second, I think I ran my numbers right and was hoping you could verify that for me.
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 127
Age: 42
Goal: 115-120 ---> not sure what would be best.
Work outs: Moderate 3-5days/week
I got these numbers:
Military Body Fat: 25.9% given 12" neck, 28" smallest circumference above belly button (1inch below is 30"), 35" hip
BMR via Katch McArdle: 1293 Based on Moderate exercise.....1930
TDEE = 1930 x 1.20 = 2316
With this, my calorie intake should stay between 1930 and 2316 to lose weight and I would never eat back calories from a workout unless my workouts burnt more than 437 calories (1930-1293+200). Given that, I would eat whatever I burnt over and beyond 437 calories. Example, if I burnt 600 calories via a workout, I would eat back 163 calories (600-437). Do I have all this correct?
Being so short, I have always been told I need to eat so much less than the average Jane Doe. I have been currently trying to stay around 1200 calories with a diet rich in protein and veggies along with some good carbs like CousCous or brown rice and fruits. It's been a lot of hard work and sweat to get 15 pounds off of me. Adding 700 calories to my diet is scary. Any other advice or recommendations for me in my specific situation?
One more thing.....lots of talk about macros and setting them. I have no idea how to do that. I can't even figure out how to set my calories specifically. Under Settings/Update your Diet Profile there are just options to fill in and MFP automatically sets your calorie intake based on those options. From the post, it seems like somehow you can bypass these options and tell MFP how many calories you want to consume. Any direction for setting macros and calorie intake would be greatly appreciated.
If you can help me on any of these points, I would greatly appreciate it!!!0 -
Great thread, thanks, - I agree with everything you said exept this:
Cardio is great for accelerated fat loss but if you are overweight or obese I would only recommend a brisk walk.
Every pound of fat on your stomach is 8 on the knees and 10 on the upper back.
Once you get down to an acceptable BF level then run to your hearts content.
It is quite possible to run, bike, and do other forms of cardio while you are obese or overweight....Without doing yourself any harm...Just be sensible about it, wear good shoes and don't start off trying to do a marathon a day ....
I started running at 227lbs with sore knees and shin splints - 55lbs later and no shin splints and my knees are stronger than ever before....0 -
I have been using this model for the past three weeks, and so far so good. These calculations added roughly 1000 calories to my daily consumption, and I have far more energy now than I did a few weeks ago. I am no longer constantly tired, and I am eating enough to be able to really enjoy good meals.
If you are stuck in a plateau and are eating less than this method recommends, then you may want to give this a good look.0
This discussion has been closed.
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