Activity Level

elodea

I am trying to wrap my brain around this - don't know why it's still confusing. I have calculated my BMR at 1607, my TDEE at 1928, and -20% TDEE at 1542. I set my activity level at sedentary. My thought is this way I can eat back all my exercise calories without worrying about it - am I right? Should my MFP net then always aim for 1542 OR not lower than my BMR of 1607?

tangiesharp

When I first started this I set my activity to sedentary, but I found that my calorie requirements were all over the map. In order to be consistent, I changed to moderate activity which has helped. I think my body knows that it will get xx calories per day, so its becoming more efficient and losing weight. I would suggest you change your activity to something close to what you do. Then eat your revised TDEE-15% every day. If your Net calories (food - exercise) are below your BMR (1607), eat until at least your BMR.

Hope that helps.

elodea

Thanks! I have a desk job and until the past few weeks really did no exercise at all. Now I am trying to do a half hour on the elliptical at least four times a week, plus the occasional bike ride or dog walk. Since I am trying to commit to this I guess I will increase my activity level to moderate to start. I also had set it to TDEE-20% because I have would like to lose 60 pounds. I am 5'5, 204 pounds. Should I still set it to -15%? Thanks again for your help with this. I've been tracking since the beginning of May and really haven't budged much once I lost what I assume was my initial water weight of 5-6 pounds.

Zylayna

yes, start at tdee -15%. Often the 20% puts you at too much of a deficit and for some can even put them under bmr.

elodea

Thanks! So now the calculator has me at TDEE-15% eating 1827 calories. That's higher than I've ever had on MFP. I better make sure to keep up on my exercising then . A little nervous but will see how this goes...