**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals

mahjohweeee

bump! Great info! It's working for me!!!

kasarin

anyone able to help a befuddled computer/math illiterate like me (see my previous post)

Craigggggggggg

First time posting here so bare with me. I have been following this thread and I think I have everything correct. just a few questions.

HB BMR: 1915 (This should not be important because I entered my body fat percentage using a tape measure. correct?)
KM BMR: 1656

So I need to multiply my KM BMR(1656) by 1.4 for something near moderately active to give me my suggested calorie intake? If thats correct I came up with 2318.

SUGGESTED CALORIE INTAKE: 2318

Then to get my TDEE I need to multiply my suggested calorie intake(2318) by 1.2 giving me 2782.

TDEE: 2782


So IF all the information I have entered is correct, then I need to eat about 2300 calories every day, even on days I work out and on my rest days? Or would it be better to eat around 2300-2500 calories on days I do work out and my rest days around 2000 calories?

Basically I need to eat under my TDEE(2782) and over my KM BMR(1656) and I think I read something about making sure your net calorie intake is at least 200 over your KM BMR making that 1856.

Is everything I listed above correct? Open to any corrections or helpful advice, thanks!

you got it spot on!!
using the fat2fit calcs, you would eat the same every day. That results in a 'zigzag' calorie pattern, with higher nets on rest days, lower on workout days.
Using MFP's eat back exercise, your net is the same every day.
Varying the net helps you avoid plateaus as your body cant adapt to the cal level as its always changing :-)

Thanks for the help em9371, I see you helping a lot of people on this thread and I can't explain how much I appreciate it!

em9371

First time posting here so bare with me. I have been following this thread and I think I have everything correct. just a few questions.

HB BMR: 1915 (This should not be important because I entered my body fat percentage using a tape measure. correct?)
KM BMR: 1656

So I need to multiply my KM BMR(1656) by 1.4 for something near moderately active to give me my suggested calorie intake? If thats correct I came up with 2318.

SUGGESTED CALORIE INTAKE: 2318

Then to get my TDEE I need to multiply my suggested calorie intake(2318) by 1.2 giving me 2782.

TDEE: 2782


So IF all the information I have entered is correct, then I need to eat about 2300 calories every day, even on days I work out and on my rest days? Or would it be better to eat around 2300-2500 calories on days I do work out and my rest days around 2000 calories?

Basically I need to eat under my TDEE(2782) and over my KM BMR(1656) and I think I read something about making sure your net calorie intake is at least 200 over your KM BMR making that 1856.

Is everything I listed above correct? Open to any corrections or helpful advice, thanks!

you got it spot on!!
using the fat2fit calcs, you would eat the same every day. That results in a 'zigzag' calorie pattern, with higher nets on rest days, lower on workout days.
Using MFP's eat back exercise, your net is the same every day.
Varying the net helps you avoid plateaus as your body cant adapt to the cal level as its always changing :-)

Thanks for the help em9371, I see you helping a lot of people on this thread and I can't explain how much I appreciate it!

no worries craig!
Someone helped me on dan's original thread, so now I get how it works i like to pass it on and help where i can :-)

em9371

Has anyone opted to set their calorie goals according to F2F and then just not log their exercise? I am thinking that if I do that, all I have to worry about is meeting my calorie goal every day, and not worry about doing the math involved with eating back exercise calories. ( I also don't have an hrm, so this seems the safest way around that).. The calories listed on F2F already has a deficit built in for regular exercise according to the level you choose, correct? Then, anything additional I do will be a bonus deficit on those days and will keep me balanced during the week if I indulge, or from plateauing hopefully.. I'm thinking I can track my exercise for myself in the exercise notes section without adding the calories burned to the diary...

Does this make sense, or has anyone done this already successfully?

I was never as hungry on exercise days so i just added up a weeks exercise cals and spread them over the week, turns out I was doing this all along without knowing it, then discovered dans 'in place of a roadmap' thread that explained the science behind it!
40lbs and 10% body fat down in 6 months so it definetly works :-)

jan5555

Bump

justkrissy

Okay, so my exercise varies, so would it work if I did this. My BMR is 1224, so what if I ate that much a day, and then ate back all the calories I burn during exercise in the day. Would that work? Or am I still eating too less? And how do you make your calorie goal without going over your "Fat" intake?

Just choose the one nearest to your overall activity level in the chart and eat that.
OR
Choose sedentary and eat back your exercise cals.
Not going over your fat intake is easy if you choose the right foods - lean meat, whole grains, fruit & veg, lower fat cheeses like mozzarella / feta / cottage cheese , skimmed milk etc.

Okay.. but I don't quite get it.. Because to Lose weight you need to take your TDEE and minus 500, right? so my TDEE is 1574, so i minus 500 and it is 1074. But my BMR is 1224 and I'm not suppose to eat under that, but I can't eat over 1074?

lol! I'm so confused!

Try running your numbers again sounds like something's gone wrong. Unless you are sedentary and do no activity / exercise at all, tdee should be a lot higher than that.
What are the numbers you put into fat2fit?

If the deficit puts you below bmr you need to go with a smaller deficit to stay above bmr.

Yah put it at sedentary becaus I have a desk job and was just playing on adding my exercise as i do it and then eating those calories back. I always plan my days ahead so that works for me, and my numbers were

Age: 22
Height: 5'0
Weight: 164
Goal: 110 (I have a small frame)
Fat per: 47

ah i see now.
your TDEE isnt 1574 thats your activity level, it would be 1574 PLUS exercise cals + 20%
(the figures in the table are the TDEE for your GOAL weight, not current weight. To get current TDEE you need to add 20% to the chart numbers.
with the amount you have to lose you should be aiming for around 1lb week. you could go 1-200 below the numbers below which would give you around 1.25, 1.5 would be too much and put you below BMR.

Say you exercise an average of 300 a day.
1574 + 300 exercise + 20% = 2248 TDEE
500 from TDEE = 1748 (1448 net / 300 exercise)

if you exercised more (500 a day)
1574 + 500 exercise + 20% = 2488
500 from TDEE = 1988 (1488 net / 500 exercise)

Its the same whether you log as total cals or 1448/1488 plus exercise, all depends if you prefer to eat more on exercise days (use eat back cals), or the same every day (use f2f).

hope this helps!

I think so, but just to be sure, If I plan on just eating back my workout calories, I should eat around 1448 a day, no less than my BMR which is 1224. And make sure to eat any calories I burn?

em9371

This is such great information but I remain a bit confused.

According to F2F my BMR is 1441 and sedentary adds only a few calories where lightly active adds a couple hundred. Can I just set my net calorie goal on MFP to 1441 and eat back exercise? Or do I have to add 200 to BMR and eat to that regardless of what I do?

I do not "exercise" per se but do walk 2-4 hours a day at a slow pace while working (trek desk setup) so typically burn about 110-120 calories per hour walking. Since that equates to 200-500 each day, it is more than light and less than moderate and I really would like to lose a pound a week (emotionally I would like 1.5 but am trying to be realistic).

Does it make sense to set MFP to BMR and then eat back what you exercise?

If BMR & sedentary are pretty much the same, then it wont hurt to set as BMR and eat back exercise, however if your exercise is actually general work activity you wont have an exact time / calorie burn etc so it would be much simpler to just set to lightly active cals then you dont have to worry about logging exercise.

Sabrina8338

Bump

steadk

bump

em9371

So I tried to work this through but it actually showed lower calories than what MFP recommends and I was surprised:

Here are my stats Male 32y/o weight 174 hieght 69'' neck 14'' waist 36'' hips 35'' Sedentary with 6-7 days of activity (500cals burned 5 days a week 2K+cals burned on Sundays playing 5 hour of Ult. Frisbee per HRM)

I am curious if those who know this stuff could double check my entry, I think I may be misunderstanding sonmething because I got 1650 calories and that can't be accurate can it (MFP has me at 1970)

Thanks in advance!

hi,
if you do that much activity you arent sedentary. fat2fit includes activity in the calcs so you would be very active.
MFP expects you to log and eat back exercise cals in addition to the allowance it gives you so based on those burns you would eat 2470 weekdays, 3970 weekends.

i ran your numbers again for you.
BMR 1809 - this is what you would burn doing absolutely nothing apart from being alive so never NET below this.
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2095
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2401
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2706
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3012
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 3317
^^these numbers are based on TDEE for your goal weight. to get your current TDEE multiply by 1.2


Your cal level would be probably be very active / 3012 due to the large amount of exercise.
As you burn so many more cals on a weekend, it would be a good idea to use more of your allowance then so that you dont fall below bmr, along the lines of the MFP numbers when exercise cals are added.

hope this helps!

kasarin

Thanks em!

em9371

Okay. I am epically confused.

My stats:
BMI 38.7
168 cm tall
103.8 kg atm
goal weight is 55ks
body fat = 56.3%

I put all my stats in and got :

BMR = 1352 (1552 if you add the recommended 200cal over)
TDEE = 2270 (lightly active)

I understand that these are the min and the max of what I should be eating to lose weight. I need to be in the middle somewhere.

What I dont understand is MFP has put me on 1510 daily max. Any exercise I do I should eat back the calories of -according to this site-? Or should I only eat back only enough calories to bring me up to the 1500 ish total?

Basically If I trust this site to know what I should eat, its not going to screw me up, is it?

I've only been here a couple of days and while It's brilliant, its confusing at the same time.

MFP doesnt include exercise cals, you have to log exercise and eat back the extra cals.
F2F they are already included, you just eat the total cals, same every day.

As an example:
MFP is 1500. say you exercise an average of 300 a day. that would put you at 1800 eaten, which is pretty much in the middle of your range.

your stats are pretty similar to mine, apart from your BF is a bit higher therefore BMR is lower. I eat 1950-2000 total (1650 net) and lose 1.5 most weeks, so around 1800/1500net should work for you x

OKay, so the fitness website ASSUMES you excercise while MFP doesnt.
Thats great, cause I like the additional flexibility, esp with a hectic lifestyle

i still dont get what NET means, but i got the excecise bit. Thanks! )

Net is the amount of calories left after exercise has been deducted.
say you eat 1800
exercise 300
1800 - 300 = 1500. This is your NET.

kasarin

real quick question for you Em. Are these my numbers at maintaince? I want to lose that last stubborn 15lbs..should I knock 200cals off of those weekday and weekend numbers to achieve a .5 a week loss?

kborton1122

Good information! Thanks!

skmolove

bump

Mindmovesbody

Bump

em9371

OMG!!! I am so confused!!!
So I have been losing lbs by sticking to around 1200, not eating back my workout calories, working out on average about 1hr/day, eating healthier, and still having a piece of chocolate once in a while.

My daily workouts consist of 30min walk with the dogs @ around 3mph, and 25 mins of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 (during which I am drenched in sweat!!)

So I went to the Fat2Fit website and it shows my
body fat at 27.3%
BMR= 1446/1440/2221 (mod active-1hr at least 4 days a week)

According to this, I should then be eating somewhere around 1800cals/day!!! I can't even phantom eating that much.

Is this correct??
Anyone with logical and "dumb down" advice please chime in!

i had a look at your diary, you are netting well below 1000 which is seriously unhealthy, you are pretty much starving yourself. At the very least you should NET your BMR, so based on the amount of exercise have logged, you need to eat around 1900-2000 to get this NET.
The goal MFP gives you doesnt allow for exercise, so you should be eating this PLUS exercise cals, which will actually put you up around the numbers fat2fit gave you.

You will lose WEIGHT by eating so little, but you will lose muscle and end up thin but flabby. Also your heart is a muscle, and by not giving it enough fuel you can seriously damage yourself. The less muscle you have, the less calories you burn, then the less you have to eat to maintain your weight....see where this is going??? you eat less and less and find it very easy to regain weight.
By eating at a sensible level, you will retain muscle, lose fat, lose more inches, burn more calories even when resting and end up looking fit and healthy :-)

If you have trouble with actually eating so many calories, try choosing more calorie dense foods like nuts, nut butters, avocado, olive oil, full fat dressings, whole milk, cheese etc.

kaylapicha

Thanks for the information. Saving it for later reference.

rachmass1

This is such great information but I remain a bit confused.

According to F2F my BMR is 1441 and sedentary adds only a few calories where lightly active adds a couple hundred. Can I just set my net calorie goal on MFP to 1441 and eat back exercise? Or do I have to add 200 to BMR and eat to that regardless of what I do?

I do not "exercise" per se but do walk 2-4 hours a day at a slow pace while working (trek desk setup) so typically burn about 110-120 calories per hour walking. Since that equates to 200-500 each day, it is more than light and less than moderate and I really would like to lose a pound a week (emotionally I would like 1.5 but am trying to be realistic).

Does it make sense to set MFP to BMR and then eat back what you exercise?

If BMR & sedentary are pretty much the same, then it wont hurt to set as BMR and eat back exercise, however if your exercise is actually general work activity you wont have an exact time / calorie burn etc so it would be much simpler to just set to lightly active cals then you dont have to worry about logging exercise.

Thanks Em. Some days I don't walk at work. I wear a FT7 so I believe I accurately track what I burn when I do use the treadmill. I don't want to double count it so it seems BMR as base might be the best place to be. Seriously thinking of getting one of those Body Bugg things to see what I really use during the day.

Appreciate your response and advice to all.