**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals

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  • Somerj
    Somerj Posts: 5 Member
    bump
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
    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.

    @erickirb - I get the math and how you are calculating it. What is tripping me up is my exercise is very varied and I'm not sure how I would account for it. As of now I go to CrossFit twice a week and am training for a sprint tri with longer bike rides on the weekend. Any advice would be helpful!

    From my calculations:
    KM BMR - 1530
    TDEE Sedentary - (1530*1.2)=1836
    TDEE Active - (1530*1.55)=2372

    Here is where I get confused, I am very active but varies throughout the week from a light swim (200cal or so) to 3hrs on a bike (1200+calories). Would it be better for me to use the Sedentary TDEE to make my NET calorie goal the make sure I eat enough to compensate for the activity?

    I think the whole eating back the calories is completely counter-intuitive and it has been tripping me up as to how I should set my NET calorie goal without eating below my BMR.

    Thanks in advance for the help.

    With that amount of exercise there is no way you are sedentary whether you use mfp or bmr/tdee. I would go with the activity level that best suits your average workouts, and maybe eat a bit extra on the bike ride days to make sure you don't drop too much below bmr.
    If you use bmr / tdee, don't worry about net cals as long as you don't go below bmr.You will be higher some days and lower others depending on the amount of exercise, but that's not a bad thing. I eat around 2000 most days, so my rest days are higher cal than my gym days and I've lost 40lbs and 10% bf so it doesn't affect loss.
  • SoySalva
    SoySalva Posts: 136 Member
    Saved for future reference
  • momto1g1b
    momto1g1b Posts: 118 Member
    thank you for the info, it's been very helpful!
  • SoySalva
    SoySalva Posts: 136 Member
    Ok read the info and please somebody tell me if I got this right!

    5ft 3in
    152.2 lbs
    BMR 1322
    TDEE 2046 (moderate)

    Is 2046 what I'm suppose to eat daily or should I subtract 20% from this number?

    I will appreciate greatly any reply:flowerforyou:
  • LCrowley83
    LCrowley83 Posts: 14
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  • skusky01
    skusky01 Posts: 16
    Bump
  • charlotte3176
    charlotte3176 Posts: 115 Member
    Great info!!
  • Kimmy2676
    Kimmy2676 Posts: 11 Member
    Thanks for reposting.
  • nas30
    nas30 Posts: 9 Member
    bump :smile:
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
    Ok read the info and please somebody tell me if I got this right!

    5ft 3in
    152.2 lbs
    BMR 1322
    TDEE 2046 (moderate)

    Is 2046 what I'm suppose to eat daily or should I subtract 20% from this number?

    I will appreciate greatly any reply:flowerforyou:

    If you got that tdee figure from the chart on fat 2 fit it already has a deficit and is the number you should eat. You need to ADD 20% to the chart figure to get your actual tdee.
  • lisa46219
    lisa46219 Posts: 99 Member
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  • solarpower03
    solarpower03 Posts: 12,161 Member
    What is the best macro nutrient ratio to be at to loose weight and fat and maintain lean body mass?

    Excellent article from BB.com.
    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/randy46.htm

    Essentially, it is done accurately on macro per unit of body mass rather than crude ratio. Clearly, you can convert that mass directed macros to ratio

    For simplified diet plan. TDEE, BMR, deficit, go here:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    Scooby has simplified this a lot!
  • SoySalva
    SoySalva Posts: 136 Member
    em937....thank you soooooo much, I did get figures from link posted but oh my when I add the 20% it totals 2455 wow!
    Again thanks for responding!
  • sconnygrl
    sconnygrl Posts: 1 Member
    woah! no wonder i've stalled. I've been eating way below my BMR. Thanks for the post. I'll increase my calories and see what happens!
  • SoCalWoman
    SoCalWoman Posts: 2,384 Member
    bump
  • Fay84Vegan
    Fay84Vegan Posts: 225 Member
    Bump :smile:
  • amandalfraser
    amandalfraser Posts: 40 Member
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  • justinamay0535
    justinamay0535 Posts: 132 Member
    Ok so I input all my numbers and this is what I got...

    Harris-Benedict Formula- BMR is 1975
    Katch-McArdle BMR is 1362

    Height: 5'7
    My CW: 258
    My GW: 165
    BF%: Roughly 61%(yikes I know.)

    I workout 5-6 days a week for 30-45 minutes a day. So I chose moderately active which according to that website I should be eating 3108 calories. MFP has me eating roughly 1800 calories to lose 2 lbs a week. I figured since I have more than 75 lbs to lose 2 lbs is safe for now. 3000 calories seems like an awful lot. So which number do I go with? MFP or the calculations I got from the fat 2 fit website? Thanks for any help you can give me!
  • SlimBananas
    SlimBananas Posts: 124 Member
    bump!
  • dianacrum
    dianacrum Posts: 67
    bump ;)
  • jenniejengin
    jenniejengin Posts: 784 Member
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  • ahart78
    ahart78 Posts: 28
    So if I shouldn't eat below my BMR, why is this site telling me to eat 400 cal less than my BMR?
  • sazroy
    sazroy Posts: 262 Member
    Please help me as I'm a little confused..

    Just done the calculations. My BF% is 45.1% (chubba chubba) my BMR is 1313. So if I'm on a 1200 cal plan.. this is definitely bad yes?
    So how many calories should I consume? How do I know if I'm netting below when I don't know how many calories I burn at work etc?
    Help me out a little please!
  • lja20
    lja20 Posts: 54 Member
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  • groovyfirechick
    groovyfirechick Posts: 188
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  • bzmommy34
    bzmommy34 Posts: 229 Member
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  • reddi2roll
    reddi2roll Posts: 356 Member
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  • wheezybreezy
    wheezybreezy Posts: 313 Member
    This is a must read!
  • Clarimusic00
    Clarimusic00 Posts: 96 Member
    So I'm wondering if anyone is in the same boat I'm in. I've been struggling with determining a correct daily calorie goal; one that is enough to lose weight but still eating enough to have my body burning energy normally. I looked at the numbers the calculators (TDEE, BMR) were giving me and I couldn't believe that I could eat that much food and still lose weight. So I started wearing my heart rate monitor 24 hours a day. Now I'm into day 4 and I find the calculations are off. I am actually burning about 300 calories less than my calculated TDEE. SO this has to mean also that my BMR is at least 200-300 calories less. AHH! Anyway. I mostly wanted know if anyone else has discovered errors through actually recording how many calories you burn everyday. I hope I'm not the only one.
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