TDEE and hunger help!

alltacht

Hi everybody,
Ive lost about 20 pounds the past 6 months and now im on the last 10-15 pounds. Ive only been on mfp about 3 months and find it really great to make sure Im getting the nutrition I need. I basically ate sensibly, moved around more and cut out the crap I was eating (not that I dont still treat myself). But the past month my apetitite has gone through the roof. MFP always had me eating around 1400 calories and I was generally satisfied with that. But after reading up on the whole thing a bit more, I think this must be too low for me. I am 5'2, 24 y.o female and 123lbs. So my bmr is around 1350. Now my excercise/,movement consists of 50min 5km to work each day where Im on my feet for 8 hours walking about and going up and down stairs a good bit. Besides that Im basically sitting or sleeping. I do a 30 minute 5km run once a week (sometimes twice). Its not very intense excercise so I dont know what I should do to get my TDEE. Is it more than lightly active? Do you think thats moderately active? Because if it is moderately active my TDEE is about 2100... so I could be eating like 1800 cals? Since Ive been hungry the past month Ive been eating larger portions and netting about 1800.. which MFP tends to freak out about because even at .5 loss setting and 'very active' on mfp it gives me a net of 1700. Which I could do but I dont know why the TDEE moderately active calculation gives me more cals than mfps very active. Im happy to lose the weight slowly but if anyone has some knowledge to share about my tdee? Or similar experience? Because I see a lot of girls around 5'2 who are eating quite a bit less than me. Ive only lost 1/4 pound the last month so Im not sure which direction I should go. Thanks for reading

yarwell

if you do something every day then that's part of your lifestyle and put it into your activity level.

if you do specific exercise activity and enter that under "Exercise" then don't consider that when setting your activity level.

melissam226

I ran into the same issues last month. I've lost over 80 lbs over a few years but got used to eating 1200-1300 calories a day, burning about a fourth of that easily through exercise, and netting about 800 a day. MFP made me look at everything from my BMR to my TDEE and I realized that even though I eat so little, I wasn't losing weight anymore because it's way too low.

The first thing I did is start eating more--not terrible food, just a lot more good food. I noticed a HUGE difference in my energy and how I functioned. Before I even calculated anything, I ate at about 2000 cal/day for 2 weeks. And you know what? I didn't gain an ounce. It was a way for my body to rebuild its metabolism, apparently. This was from talking to a lot of people on MFP and reading all the message boards. Then I did the calculations.

My BMR is about 1400 so I eat that much everyday no matter what. My TDEE on days I sit at the office all day is about 1800. When I work out, that number is closer to 2000. I started eating 25% less than my TDEE (if I don't run/lift I eat about 1450, if I work out I NET about 1500--I always eat back what I burn).

I'm 5'5 (not quite your height) but I too hadn't lost anything in a while. You're smaller and have a lower BMR but you're probably burning more than you think every day and eating too little for your body to burn that weight off. I would suggest putting in that 30 minute walk into your activity level and have a number in your head that is your goal the days you're not working. Also make sure to put those 5k's in and eat those cals back!

MFP's calculations aren't always accurate--my food diary always freaks out too when I eat over what amounts I put in. You have to work with your own numbers and experiment until you find a good excercise/calorie combo. The numbers these sites give you are a great place to start though!

Hope that helps/inspires a little!

alltacht

I ran into the same issues last month. I've lost over 80 lbs over a few years but got used to eating 1200-1300 calories a day, burning about a fourth of that easily through exercise, and netting about 800 a day. MFP made me look at everything from my BMR to my TDEE and I realized that even though I eat so little, I wasn't losing weight anymore because it's way too low.

The first thing I did is start eating more--not terrible food, just a lot more good food. I noticed a HUGE difference in my energy and how I functioned. Before I even calculated anything, I ate at about 2000 cal/day for 2 weeks. And you know what? I didn't gain an ounce. It was a way for my body to rebuild its metabolism, apparently. This was from talking to a lot of people on MFP and reading all the message boards. Then I did the calculations.

My BMR is about 1400 so I eat that much everyday no matter what. My TDEE on days I sit at the office all day is about 1800. When I work out, that number is closer to 2000. I started eating 25% less than my TDEE (if I don't run/lift I eat about 1450, if I work out I NET about 1500--I always eat back what I burn).

I'm 5'5 (not quite your height) but I too hadn't lost anything in a while. You're smaller and have a lower BMR but you're probably burning more than you think every day and eating too little for your body to burn that weight off. I would suggest putting in that 30 minute walk into your activity level and have a number in your head that is your goal the days you're not working. Also make sure to put those 5k's in and eat those cals back!

MFP's calculations aren't always accurate--my food diary always freaks out too when I eat over what amounts I put in. You have to work with your own numbers and experiment until you find a good excercise/calorie combo. The numbers these sites give you are a great place to start though!

Hope that helps/inspires a little!

Thank you that really does help Now that you mention it, I noticed I have a better colour in my cheeks and less tired the past month. Ive been eating larger portions of good foods so I didnt think it was any harm.. but then calories are calories. The main thing is despite eating 1800-2000 cals the past 2 weeks in particular Ive lost 1/4 pound, I was surprised too that I hadnt gained. I kind of thought though if Im getting my TDEE at a moderately active calculation I shouldnt be adding in excercise cals on top. I figure Ill just see how it goes. Thanks!

alltacht

if you do something every day then that's part of your lifestyle and put it into your activity level.

if you do specific exercise activity and enter that under "Exercise" then don't consider that when setting your activity level.

Thanks, I do that 5km walk and walking around for 8 hours at least 5 days a week so thats what I was wondering, what activity level that would be. Im guessing moderately active?