**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals

BamaBreezeNSaltAire

Bump! Thanks!!!

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?

hphm420

Awesome! Thanks!

Jade17694

Bumping to read later

fosnanna

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leannems

bump to find later

bluesky1234

Bump!

stephc0711

*bumping for later*

KandieLantz

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Murphy15

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fergie137

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markymarrkk

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2kidzlater

Thanks so much!

ladytxn

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Mom2M_and_O

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.

These numbers are similar to mine. I have understood this whole thing in theory but when it comes to figuring my actual numbers it always broke down because I didn't fully understand that the fat 2 fit column already included a deficit. Don't know how many times I've read that it does and it just didn't connect. So this means I don't need to do any math.

Yeah, I need to eat more.... Crap, I need to eat A LOT more. Holy smoke.

snowbab

So according to this my BMR is 1450 (bf% 14.7 woo)

Do I add 200 to that then?

The table below says 1699 at sedentary and 1947 at lightly active to get to my goal weight, is this wrong though as it seems a lot! I currenty eat about 1650 net when lightly active.

Thanks

cafred

Thanks for sharing....I have wanted to hear from people who have used these numbers with success. Would love to hear from some shorter women who have had success also.

I am 5'6.5" and have been following the F2F model, modified, for a little bit now. I decided to take the moderately active number and subtract 200 (because they say if you are close to your goal, you can, and I am only 10 lbs away). That was still an increase from where I was netting prior, by about 160 cals/day. My weight loss increased. In fact, I am losing too quickly for what I have left to lose, meaning I am losing muscle, so yesterday I bumped it all the way up to the 2200 they recommend for me, which is a 200/day increase. In mfp, just because I don't like to see red, I set my goals manually to a 2200 goal and then don't eat back my exercise cals. Even by changing my MFP to lightly active, it thinks I am set to gain 0.6 lbs/ week, but I just ignore that, as well as the what you'll weigh in 5 weeks numbers.

BTW, I use their original BF% calculator, not the military one. The military one seemed way off from the other results, which all seemed close to one another. When I went in and did the Bod Pod test 2 months ago, that reading was only 0.1% off from the F2F original BF% calculator, so I will continue to use that one.

See, I need some convincing and this is helping a lot! Love to hear this working. Just to be sure I got it, you are 5'6" and now eating 2200 calories a day and losing weight? Amazing!!

em9371

So according to this my BMR is 1450 (bf% 14.7 woo)

Do I add 200 to that then?

The table below says 1699 at sedentary and 1947 at lightly active to get to my goal weight, is this wrong though as it seems a lot! I currenty eat about 1650 net when lightly active.

Thanks

Eat the numbers in the table. They include exercise already, so once you add exercise to the 1650 net you currently eat they will probably be around the same

Verity1111

This doesn't seem accurate to me because there is one flaw I can see - bone structure. I don't see how body fat can be calculated based on your hips, neck and waist. I know the neck can show bone structure some because it doesn't carry as much fat, but that doesn't mean someone can't naturally have very large hips and a small neck. Just weird.

veromancha

Bump

lowpro1983

Thanks for sharing!!! Very good info!

em9371

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.

snowbab

So according to this my BMR is 1450 (bf% 14.7 woo)

Do I add 200 to that then?

The table below says 1699 at sedentary and 1947 at lightly active to get to my goal weight, is this wrong though as it seems a lot! I currenty eat about 1650 net when lightly active.

Thanks

Eat the numbers in the table. They include exercise already, so once you add exercise to the 1650 net you currently eat they will probably be around the same

So are you saying increase from 1650 to 1699 (sedentary in table) , or increase from 1650 to 1947 (lightly sedentary in table)?

I think I'm lightly active as I walk from college every weekday (30 mins brisk pace) and walk around college itself between classes and to and from town for lunch (about 10 mins each way maybe?)

shellykinder

Thanks so much for this!

yannethfr

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."

BUMP...yes, I've read certain replies on MFP of Dan's wisdom. I'll definitely be referring back to this one. Thank you for re-posting.

incfighters

Man, i'm concerned. MFP tells me to eat 1200 calories, and F2F tells me to eat 1710. That's quite a difference! Since I started MFP, I have never eatten over 1400 calories, so i'm afraid to mess anything up!

cafred

So according to this my BMR is 1450 (bf% 14.7 woo)

Do I add 200 to that then?

The table below says 1699 at sedentary and 1947 at lightly active to get to my goal weight, is this wrong though as it seems a lot! I currenty eat about 1650 net when lightly active.

Thanks

Yes, average at least 200 calories over your BMR (1650 for you)...notice that's really close to the 1699 given if you were sedentary! Don't go below that NET number of 'calories in' minus 'calories out'. If your NET goes below that number, eat back the calories you need to get back to that number. Example. Eat 1950 calories and burn 400 calories nets to 1550 which is 100 less than you should net (1650) so eat back at least those 100 calories.

cafred

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.

I still had the above question......does anyone know the right answer?

meryl135

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natini

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