TDEE -15 20% no matter your physical activity?

Rubyayn

My BMR is 1448 and TDEE is 2245 according to Scooby. So, my TDEE -20% is 1796. This is set to moderate excersize. I do work a desk job, but work out 6 days per week at a minimum of an hour a day, intense.

Right now I have my cals manually set to NET 1500 per day and I ALWAYS eat my worksout cals. I do this because it is a reward system for me. I get to watch my calories go up throughout the day everytime I work out and I really enjoy eating every last one of them. Sometimes I am able to eat well over 2100 cals and still NET around 1500.

This has worked for a long time for me because I was previously working out 7 days per week and was never forced to eat as little as 1500. Well, I recently decided that I do indeed need a rest day and have made Sunday that day. Needless to say, it has been VERY hard for me to stay at 1500 for the day on Sunday after enjoying all that food the rest of the week. I know there are EMTWL people that eat at TDEE - 15-20% everyday no matter what day of the week it is. How do you have your goals set on MFP for this? Do you add your workouts and just ignore you calorie "balance". Like I said, I really enjoy watching my available balance go up and I would hate to lose that motivation, but Sundays are killing me.

Any suggestions? Should I leave it as is and not worry if I go over on Sundays? I decided when I started this 27 pounds ago, that I would not suffer and that this was a lifestyle change. Of course, when I got hungry today I totally let myself "fall of the wagon" and about 200 calories of it isnt even logged. I imagaine I actually ate around 1700 today, which isnt so bad. I don't feel guilty about it because tomorrow is another day, but I do still have some work to do, so I don't want to do too much consistant damage.

Also, I am less than 15 pounds from goal at this point and my diary is open if anyone has an suggestions. Not sure if I should try eating the same amount every day or just consider sundays a rest/cheat day. Of course, a cheat day for me is going slighly over calories in snacks in the evenings, nothing catastophic. I really enjoy my snacks!

lisakammwang

My BMR is 1448 and TDEE is 2245 according to Scooby. So, my TDEE -20% is 1796. This is set to moderate excersize. I do work a desk job, but work out 6 days per week at a minimum of an hour a day, intense.

Your TDEE -20% has your exercise calories figured in. Moderate exercise is 3-5 hours per week, so therefore you should probably up your exercise to the next level. Once you figure out your TDEE -20% based on that, I would shoot for that number daily. That has been what I am doing and I am consistently losing about 1 - 1.5 lbs per week.

Rubyayn

I really am thinking about giving this a try. I put in 5-6 hrs of strenuos workouts and my TDEE -20% is 1999!!!! Can this be right?!?! That is completely doable, but I will admit it does seem high for every day of the week, even rest days. I have NO problem eating more if I can, but could use the reassurance from others before I do...lol.

If I wanted to stick to setting a lower goal and eating my workout calories like I have been doing, does 1600 per day sounds more reasonable? I am really hesitiant to stop eating my workout calories back because it has been a HUGE reward system for me and really encourages me to workout since eating more is my reward. Though, eating a almost 2000 a day is reward enough all by itself!

I suppose I need to do the math here, which is def NOT my strong suit.

GoGoGadgetMum

If you have your activity level close to the right place you probably shouldn't go over unless it's a super heavy day. I used to always have to add 200 cals to the day that I had high burns which was just a pain so I just added an extra 200 to it everyday and all is good. I used to burn 600 every exercise day just at the gym so my net was always my bmr. Now my burn have gone down a bit with more heavy lifting and things look good. I use myself now as a month by month science experiment. I think now I have hit the sweet spot with my numbers with weight trending down which it hadn't for 18 months but I always lost cms and fat%. I don't log my exercise as such I just note it in my exercise notes. Some just put 1 cal down and the burn. Personally I like to see my graph at the end consistent with my cut amount.

I'm not sure if I've help you or maybe confused you more. -15% is what em2wl recommends .

R:)

Noor13

Depends on your stats if you got the right number. But 200cals would be my cut value as well and I do workout 6 times a week. However I do 3 times intense cardio and three times heavy lifting. My brun is still in the high activity level. We temd to underestimate how much we burn.
And yes, you eat those 2000cals every day of the week, even rest days. If you, however have very high burns, you have to eat back some clas so you don't net below your BMR.
I really am thinking about giving this a try. I put in 5-6 hrs of strenuos workouts and my TDEE -20% is 1999!!!! Can this be right?!?! That is completely doable, but I will admit it does seem high for every day of the week, even rest days. I have NO problem eating more if I can, but could use the reassurance from others before I do...lol.

If I wanted to stick to setting a lower goal and eating my workout calories like I have been doing, does 1600 per day sounds more reasonable? I am really hesitiant to stop eating my workout calories back because it has been a HUGE reward system for me and really encourages me to workout since eating more is my reward. Though, eating a almost 2000 a day is reward enough all by itself!

I suppose I need to do the math here, which is def NOT my strong suit.

jj3120

I add my exercise as 1 calorie so it doesn't throw my numbers out.

I found in the beginning that I was MORE hungry on rest days!! like you say you get used to eating that higher amount on workout days!

Think of it as fuelling your workouts for the week : )

Rubyayn

thank you guys so much!! I appreciate it soooo much!

I think I have come up with a good plan, so let me know what you think.

I am burning about 450-600 (HRM) calories per day, six days per week... sometimes more. So, I set my activity to 5-6 hrs per week strenuous on Scooby. I think I may have been under estimating going with moderate.

Because I LOVE eating back my workout calories and I tend to workout more when I can eat them all (nomnomnomnom) I am going to set my "goal" on MFP to be a little above my BMR (1448) , so I will keep it at 1500 for now. This is just so I NEVER NET below that number. I do NOT want to get too close to my BMR. I will continue to eat all of my workout calories every day. This will be putting me around TDEE -20% (1999) for most days, sometimes over. on a high burn day I may get closer to 2100. I will also go ahead and eat TDEE -20% on my rest day. This is basically a win-win for me because I still get the "reward" system of working out and pushing myself even harder, but I also dont have to STARVE on my rest day.

Greenrun99

hey,
I understand the whole workout goal reward system so if your comfortable recording that but still eating at a higher number on your rest days you can probably do that... I know that rest day can be killer but even if your eating at 20% cut, eating above that isn't going to make you gain weight just from one day, looking at your week averages maybe a better idea.

I was also looking at your diary and take it most of your exercise or gym time consists of cardio? If you are doing weights or any strength training I would really suggest getting that protein number over 100 at the minimum, its a tough adjustment but just a suggestion.

Rubyayn

Thanks for replying! I don't really see going over my -20% cut on the rest day since that number is already close to 2,000. I will be REALLY happy with 2000 on a rest day. It will feel more like a cheat day to be honest, espeically since I won't be moving much lol.

Thank you for the suggestions. I am very much into running, so I do a lot of that combined with the bike in the afternoons for 15 minutes on my work break. I did just start Jillian Michaels Body Revolution which has some strength tranining ( I am SORE) and I hope to continue lifting even more aftter I complete her 90 day program.

The protien is something I have been researching and am working on getting more of. I have been making small changes like adding in more nut butters, trading my cereal snack for almonds, adding lentils and beans and tuna. I am not a big meat eater and have a LOVE, LOVE relationship with carbs, so it has been a battle for me. It is actually a new personal goal for me to get closer to hitting that number because I know it will fuel my workouts and probably make me desire carbs a little less.