Adjust TDEE?

Gagaluvr

Ok I finally started losing weight! I only want to lose 5 more lbs. before I was only eating 1200 cal, then after months of not losing anything I came on here to ask for support and info. You all helped me!! Told me I wasn't eating enough, figure out BMR and TDEE, then I realized I needed to eat 1726 calories! Well since I started eating more the weight dropped off fast! So now I'm at 156. The weight won't budge again. Do I adjust my TDEE based on my new weight? Also when I work out do I eat back all of my calories? I did read the eat more to weigh less forum but I'm a bit confused with the whole exercising to adjust TDEE etc. help! Thanks again for all of your help! I owe it to all of u!!

Ok if I exercise, should I eat back enough calories to reach back to my TDEE or am I ok if I eat atleast enough to pass my BMR, as long as I'm not under the BMR right?? Then my body wont go into starvation mode?

dinosnopro

If your weight dropped that much, you may be eating at maintenance calories now. I would recalculate you numbers and see if that helps.

Gagaluvr

Before I only could do light exercise last month due to hernia surgery. Now I've been working out more and longer duration. So last month my light exercise that I selected to calculate my TDEE was 1726 calories. Now when I just tried to recalculate it, I'm thinking I should check off the moderate exercise option (3-5 hrs a week) and when I do, I get 1946 calories! I'm afraid to bump it higher obviously I need more calories if I'm exercising harder but I'm afraid that I'll gain this weight back.

dinosnopro

how long have you been stuck again? if it has not been that long, I say give it at least three more weeks and see what happens. it's only a 220 calorie difference.

wackyfunster

The moderate/light is your lifestyle, not your exercise. If you are eating back your workout calories, you should only consider activity level that you're not counting, which for most people should be sedentary or light. It's only if you are NOT eating back workout calories that you should include workouts in TDEE calculations (otherwise you will be double-eating workout calories). Even if you are not eating back workout calories, I caution using more than 'light' unless you are an extremely active person (I weight train 3x/week, very heavy, and walk probably 10-20 miles/week on average, and 'light' is accurate for me without eating back workout calories). Hope that's helpful... choosing the wrong activity multiplier and/or double-counting exercise calories by including them in multiplier AND eating them back are the most common mistakes I see here.

Re: recalculating TDEE, I'd definitely recommend doing it every 5-10 lbs.

You can always increase calorie intake if you are losing weight too fast (>0.5-1 lb/week for 'healthy' weight people, IMO). You can never not lose weight fast enough to get fit

Gagaluvr

So youre saying I should select light to calculate my TDEE and when I workout and let's say I burn 400 calories I ADD that to my TDEE for the day I burned those calories? So if my TDEE is 1726, I would add 400 to make it 2126 for daily calories for that day? Or shouid I not eat back those 400 cal or just enuf to be over my BMR? I'm just confused because when calculating the TDEE it says "moderate exercise 3-5 hrs" "light exercise 1-3 hrs" that doesn't mean your lifestyle/daily activities. I'm thinking it's what you exercise in a week?

wackyfunster

So youre saying I should select light to calculate my TDEE and when I workout and let's say I burn 400 calories I ADD that to my TDEE for the day I burned those calories? So if my TDEE is 1726, I would add 400 to make it 2126 for daily calories for that day? Or shouid I not eat back those 400 cal or just enuf to be over my BMR? I'm just confused because when calculating the TDEE it says "moderate exercise 3-5 hrs" "light exercise 1-3 hrs" that doesn't mean your lifestyle/daily activities. I'm thinking it's what you exercise in a week?

It sounds like you understand perfectly. Theoretically, if your normal activity level is 'light' (you walk a lot, have a job where you're on your feet, etc.), then you use 'light' to calculate your TDEE, then add any calories burned from exercise to get your real expenditure. The problem I see a lot here is people will say "I work out 6 days a week, so I need to use a 1.9x multiplier" (exaggeration, but you get the point) and then also eat back the calories they burn, which have already been accounted for in the 1.9 multiplier. Then they wonder why they aren't losing weight.

As far as eating back calories goes, I'd base that more on what you're comfortable with as far as appetite and results. As long as you are making progress and feel good, then stick with it. If you stall, reducing calories is effective. There is also nothing wrong with netting under BMR (I wouldn't recommend it every day, but it's fine for short term cuts). There is a huge amount of hype here around "starvation mode," but it is scientifically impossible to not lose body fat if you have a net caloric deficit. Eating under BMR for long periods WILL cause a lot of water retention, which can obscure weight loss, however. This can be mitigated by doing regular refeeds. I don't know how intricate a fitness strategy you are looking for, though, so when in doubt, keep it simple, and just make sure you continue to make progress towards your goals.

A good thread with a ton of info on various more advanced weight loss strategies can be found here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/562419-weight-loss-strategies-to-optimize-it

Gagaluvr

Thank u so much for all of your help!!