Scoobys calculator

tabi26

Hi all! I've been using scoobys calculator for all of my calculations (I did use a few sites and averaged them out, but scooby is pretty darn close to my diary setting) anyway, I recently did 28 days at 1700/calories a day (which is my "desk job TDEE). Now I did NOT maintain, I lost 7.4 pounds. Now knowing this, I could then use scooby's "worlds most accurate calorie counter" and here's what happened:

Desk job, little exercise: BMR of 2009, TDEE OF 2411, 15% cut is 2050
Moderate exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3115, 15% cut 2648 ( 3-5 hours week moderate exercise)
Strenuous exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3467, 15 % cut 2946 ( 5-6 hours/week strenuous exercise)

While I did my 28 days at 1700, I did NOT exercise at all not ever not once lol. I lost 7.4 pounds. Also, I averaged OVER 1700/day for those 28 days...I think the number was around 1850/day averaged.

So here's my question. This last week I started P90X (to minimize muscle loss) so that works out to about 7 hours a week of weights and HIIT (about 3 hours weights, 2 hours HIIT, and an hour and a half of hardcore yoga). I also live on a farm and have at least 30 minutes/day of chores ( not "hardcore", but I do have a bit of sweat on when I'm done). These are done everyday, so works out to at least 3.5 hours of "exercise" a week. So my "exercise" works out to about 10/hrs/week. Some strenuous (P90X) and some moderate (farm chores) (?).
So, should I use the "moderate exercise" or the "strenuous exercise"?? I'm not going to lie, BOTH of those intakes scare the living crud outta me! Haha!

KarenJanine

I think I'd go with strenuous, sounds like you're pretty active.

amonkey794

I think I'd go with strenuous, sounds like you're pretty active.

second this notion

heybales

Hi all! I've been using scoobys calculator for all of my calculations (I did use a few sites and averaged them out, but scooby is pretty darn close to my diary setting) anyway, I recently did 28 days at 1700/calories a day (which is my "desk job TDEE). Now I did NOT maintain, I lost 7.4 pounds. Now knowing this, I could then use scooby's "worlds most accurate calorie counter" and here's what happened:

Desk job, little exercise: BMR of 2009, TDEE OF 2411, 15% cut is 2050
Moderate exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3115, 15% cut 2648 ( 3-5 hours week moderate exercise)
Strenuous exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3467, 15 % cut 2946 ( 5-6 hours/week strenuous exercise)

While I did my 28 days at 1700, I did NOT exercise at all not ever not once lol. I lost 7.4 pounds. Also, I averaged OVER 1700/day for those 28 days...I think the number was around 1850/day averaged.

So here's my question. This last week I started P90X (to minimize muscle loss) so that works out to about 7 hours a week of weights and HIIT (about 3 hours weights, 2 hours HIIT, and an hour and a half of hardcore yoga). I also live on a farm and have at least 30 minutes/day of chores ( not "hardcore", but I do have a bit of sweat on when I'm done). These are done everyday, so works out to at least 3.5 hours of "exercise" a week. So my "exercise" works out to about 10/hrs/week. Some strenuous (P90X) and some moderate (farm chores) (?).
So, should I use the "moderate exercise" or the "strenuous exercise"?? I'm not going to lie, BOTH of those intakes scare the living crud outta me! Haha!

So, 28 days of 7.4 lbs lost.
Assuming fat that means 25900 cal deficit / 28 days = 925 daily avg deficit.
Avg eating 1850 + avg deficit 925 = 2775 TDEE for that level of daily activity with no exercise.

2775 TDEE / 2009 BMR = 1.38 personal Activity multiplier - for non-exercise. Not too bad. Above Lightly Active. Keep that in mind if you stop exercising again, that would apply to any new weight too.

But that also means the hrs you add on for exercise start there.

So 7 hrs exercise would normally put you at the top of Very Active (Scooby's strenuous). But you are starting a level higher already, so that moves you into Extremely Active (Scooby's strenuous exercise/work) with 1.9 multiplier. Perhaps rounded down since just barely entering it.

To your concern of eating a lot, look at it this way.

With just your daily activity with no exercise, your TDEE was 766 above BMR.

Now that 1.9 x BMR = 3817 TDEE - 2009 BMR = 1808 above BMR, or 1042 more than you have now.

Will you burn 1042 in exercise on P90X on avg daily? Not quite, but you want to be above BMR anyway, probably closer to 900.

That's about where it should be.

Of course, 3817 TDEE - 15% = 3244

Measure a bunch of spots, because you will see more inches lost initially than weight probably. Though, you sound like your are in pretty good shape already, so perhaps not the big jump in improvement that some may see, which masks weight loss.

I'm voting up even a level to whatever Scooby calls the 2nd strenuous, what other TDEE ranges call Extremely Active.

One thing that could change all these figures.

Did you use Katch BMR option based on bodyfat% estimate? You could have BMR inflated by 200-400, which of course means everything else is really inflated.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtools.html

tabi26

Hi all! I've been using scoobys calculator for all of my calculations (I did use a few sites and averaged them out, but scooby is pretty darn close to my diary setting) anyway, I recently did 28 days at 1700/calories a day (which is my "desk job TDEE). Now I did NOT maintain, I lost 7.4 pounds. Now knowing this, I could then use scooby's "worlds most accurate calorie counter" and here's what happened:

Desk job, little exercise: BMR of 2009, TDEE OF 2411, 15% cut is 2050
Moderate exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3115, 15% cut 2648 ( 3-5 hours week moderate exercise)
Strenuous exercise: BMR 2009, TDEE 3467, 15 % cut 2946 ( 5-6 hours/week strenuous exercise)

While I did my 28 days at 1700, I did NOT exercise at all not ever not once lol. I lost 7.4 pounds. Also, I averaged OVER 1700/day for those 28 days...I think the number was around 1850/day averaged.

So here's my question. This last week I started P90X (to minimize muscle loss) so that works out to about 7 hours a week of weights and HIIT (about 3 hours weights, 2 hours HIIT, and an hour and a half of hardcore yoga). I also live on a farm and have at least 30 minutes/day of chores ( not "hardcore", but I do have a bit of sweat on when I'm done). These are done everyday, so works out to at least 3.5 hours of "exercise" a week. So my "exercise" works out to about 10/hrs/week. Some strenuous (P90X) and some moderate (farm chores) (?).
So, should I use the "moderate exercise" or the "strenuous exercise"?? I'm not going to lie, BOTH of those intakes scare the living crud outta me! Haha!

So, 28 days of 7.4 lbs lost.
Assuming fat that means 25900 cal deficit / 28 days = 925 daily avg deficit.
Avg eating 1850 + avg deficit 925 = 2775 TDEE for that level of daily activity with no exercise.

2775 TDEE / 2009 BMR = 1.38 personal Activity multiplier - for non-exercise. Not too bad. Above Lightly Active. Keep that in mind if you stop exercising again, that would apply to any new weight too.

But that also means the hrs you add on for exercise start there.

So 7 hrs exercise would normally put you at the top of Very Active (Scooby's strenuous). But you are starting a level higher already, so that moves you into Extremely Active (Scooby's strenuous exercise/work) with 1.9 multiplier. Perhaps rounded down since just barely entering it.

To your concern of eating a lot, look at it this way.

With just your daily activity with no exercise, your TDEE was 766 above BMR.

Now that 1.9 x BMR = 3817 TDEE - 2009 BMR = 1808 above BMR, or 1042 more than you have now.

Will you burn 1042 in exercise on P90X on avg daily? Not quite, but you want to be above BMR anyway, probably closer to 900.

That's about where it should be.

Of course, 3817 TDEE - 15% = 3244

Measure a bunch of spots, because you will see more inches lost initially than weight probably. Though, you sound like your are in pretty good shape already, so perhaps not the big jump in improvement that some may see, which masks weight loss.

I'm voting up even a level to whatever Scooby calls the 2nd strenuous, what other TDEE ranges call Extremely Active.

One thing that could change all these figures.

Did you use Katch BMR option based on bodyfat% estimate? You could have BMR inflated by 200-400, which of course means everything else is really inflated.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtools.html

Thank you! Everything makes total sense to me! It's just so VERY VERY scary to eat 3000/day and still lose a bit (or even maintain for that matter! Lol!) the body fat % I used is from my scale at home (I know, very inaccurate....but it's the only means I have to measure it) my scale said 28%, which I really don't think is far off. I'm not overweight, but I don't really have alot of muscle. I'm what people like to call "skinny fat" (which is fine, because I am lol).

What I'm going for right now is inch loss (weight would be cool too, but inches are even better!).

Are there any other women out there who eat that much and still lose/maintain?? (sorry boys, but 3000/day for a guy makes sense to me....but for a woman....it just totally freaks me out!).

I mean the math makes sense, and I'm a math/science kinda girl.....but I just can't my brain to accept that I can eat like a man and look like a woman! Lmao!

I think what I'll do is set my diary to 2000 (it is currently still set at 1700) and eat back exercise calories (I burn anywhere from around 300-600 with P90X, depending on the workout and if I "bring it" haha!) I'll try this out for a month, and see what that gets me. I guess the worst that could happen is I could gain a few pounds, but what's a few pounds if you're in it for the long haul? And maybe, just maybe some of it will be muscle.

In the meantime, it would be really great if some women who "eat like a man" could comment and let me know how things are going for them. Just for some support because this 3000/calories/day thing really scares me! Haha!

tabi26

Just adding that I also changed my macros to 45% carbs, 30% fat, and 25% protien. I know protien is VERY important, but from what I've read on many websites, and many forums here is that you need any where from .5g-1g of protien for lean body mass. If I left my goal at 30% it would have me eating a little over 1g for per pound of my TOTAL weight. At 25% it gives me 125g/day before exercise. Is that sufficient? When I workout the number will go up, and I'll be trying my hardest to meet that protien goal, but I see no reason for eating more than 1g per my total weight. Sound good? Or is the information I've gathered "out to lunch"? Lol.

Also, keep in mind that I'm not trying to build muscle, only maintain what I have and encourage fat loss. Maybe someday in the future I'll play around with a bulk and cut, but for now maintaining muscle is my goal, not building muscle.

KarenJanine

I have a high TDEE too - I'm currently maintaining on 2750 and have been there for nearly two months. I'm considering a bulk in the future but am happy at TDEE for now. I'm seeing strength gains week on week and losing body fat. I make sure I get at least 1g protein per gram LBM each day and outside that pretty much eat whatever I like - lots of it clean and healthy, but some not so much - with such a high daily goal there's room for a little cake

Alkirra

Age does not help the burn

What I have found personally is that protein contains the hunger so I actually eat less even though I record a ton of calories.

I believe that is why the emtwl philosophy works - you focus on your protein needs and all else falls into place.

So I believe focus on your ideal weight amount of protein and simply aim for that eat that and you will get there with a muscle build routine and a little bit of cardio if it floats your boat like it does mine

heybales

So, 28 days of 7.4 lbs lost.
Assuming fat that means 25900 cal deficit / 28 days = 925 daily avg deficit.
Avg eating 1850 + avg deficit 925 = 2775 TDEE for that level of daily activity with no exercise.

Thank you! Everything makes total sense to me! It's just so VERY VERY scary to eat 3000/day and still lose a bit (or even maintain for that matter! Lol!) the body fat % I used is from my scale at home (I know, very inaccurate....but it's the only means I have to measure it) my scale said 28%, which I really don't think is far off. I'm not overweight, but I don't really have alot of muscle. I'm what people like to call "skinny fat" (which is fine, because I am lol).

What I'm going for right now is inch loss (weight would be cool too, but inches are even better!).

I think what I'll do is set my diary to 2000 (it is currently still set at 1700) and eat back exercise calories (I burn anywhere from around 300-600 with P90X, depending on the workout and if I "bring it" haha!) I'll try this out for a month, and see what that gets me. I guess the worst that could happen is I could gain a few pounds, but what's a few pounds if you're in it for the long haul? And maybe, just maybe some of it will be muscle.

So think about this, because you are still missing the point of the program.
You know what your non-exercise TDEE is almost exactly based on the info you provided. 2775.

Your BMR is around 2009.

Now why would you want to set your daily eating goal to 2000, below your BMR and way below your TDEE? You are still causing the problem of a massive deficit when you don't need it and the potential negative effects from it.

Don't shoot yourself in the metabolism.

non-exercise TDEE 2775 - 20% (safe for now if over 75 lbs to lose, 15% otherwise) = 2220 daily goal without exercise.

Now, whatever exercise you create and eat back, subtract 20% too.

So it's good you don't want to burn up muscle by going lower, but don't prevent yourself from getting the full benefit from your exercise by still eating too little.
If you are going to do that, just skip the exercise and keep doing what you were doing until metabolism slows down more than weight loss would cause.

tabi26

So, 28 days of 7.4 lbs lost.
Assuming fat that means 25900 cal deficit / 28 days = 925 daily avg deficit.
Avg eating 1850 + avg deficit 925 = 2775 TDEE for that level of daily activity with no exercise.

Thank you! Everything makes total sense to me! It's just so VERY VERY scary to eat 3000/day and still lose a bit (or even maintain for that matter! Lol!) the body fat % I used is from my scale at home (I know, very inaccurate....but it's the only means I have to measure it) my scale said 28%, which I really don't think is far off. I'm not overweight, but I don't really have alot of muscle. I'm what people like to call "skinny fat" (which is fine, because I am lol).

What I'm going for right now is inch loss (weight would be cool too, but inches are even better!).

I think what I'll do is set my diary to 2000 (it is currently still set at 1700) and eat back exercise calories (I burn anywhere from around 300-600 with P90X, depending on the workout and if I "bring it" haha!) I'll try this out for a month, and see what that gets me. I guess the worst that could happen is I could gain a few pounds, but what's a few pounds if you're in it for the long haul? And maybe, just maybe some of it will be muscle.

So think about this, because you are still missing the point of the program.
You know what your non-exercise TDEE is almost exactly based on the info you provided. 2775.

Your BMR is around 2009.

Now why would you want to set your daily eating goal to 2000, below your BMR and way below your TDEE? You are still causing the problem of a massive deficit when you don't need it and the potential negative effects from it.

Don't shoot yourself in the metabolism.

non-exercise TDEE 2775 - 20% (safe for now if over 75 lbs to lose, 15% otherwise) = 2220 daily goal without exercise.

Now, whatever exercise you create and eat back, subtract 20% too.

So it's good you don't want to burn up muscle by going lower, but don't prevent yourself from getting the full benefit from your exercise by still eating too little.
If you are going to do that, just skip the exercise and keep doing what you were doing until metabolism slows down more than weight loss would cause.

Now I'm just getting confused haha! I only have about ten pounds that I want to lose so I should be eating a 15% deficit?? Which would be about 2300/day.
Yesterday I did my workout, and I ate a little over 2300 (NET a little over 1700). I very truly and honestly was not hungry all day long. But the day before I ate over 3000 calories....I feel I may be "accidentally" calorie cycling?? Maybe? Lol. I think I wasn't hungry because I ate sooo much the day before.
I know I could just set my diary to my TDEE -15%, but I REALLY like eating my exercise calories(it really a big motivator for me), so I set it to 2000 and eat back most (if not all and then some haha) of my "earned" calories. So most days, I'll be eating around 2300-2500...will this be ok?

I DO NOT want to "shoot myself in the metabolism" (which is an awesome way to put it, and made me LOL). So will eating 2300-2500 a day work? Or should I increase again?

Sorry if I sound a little stupid when it comes to this.....I'm just absolutely terrified to bump my calories up sooooo far. Lol. As it is, I was eating 1700 and I now eat around 600 more than that. Quite the jump if you ask me....but maybe not enough??

I also just wanted to add that I know it's only been two days, but my workouts both days were AWESOME! I really had the energy to bang out all of the moves to the absolute best of my current ability!

tabi26

Ok! So I've just had a little chat with the people on my friends list, and some suggested that I pm you and see what you think! Hahaha!
According to them, you're the "go to guy" around here!

So I just want to make sure that I'm fully understanding what you're saying:
My non workout TDEE is 2775. This should maintain my current weight.
I only have about 10 pounds to lose so a 15% cut is ideal. So now my calories are 2359 on non workout days....and I should lose weight eating that (?).
So if I set my diary to 2300 (just slightly under that) and add my exercise calories (I use a HRM) I can eat those back at a 20% cut.

So, for example, yesterday I burned 591 calories with my workout. On the plan you give me, I then should eat a total of 2773....and still be able to lose?? That would be my "original 2300" plus 473 (591-20%)??

Am I getting this right? Lol.

Greenrun99

I am with heybales, you are doing a ton of activity a day, and you should probably eat more. Your doing P90X and I am pretty sure it probably has you eating 2k calories or more just with the program, then you add all the stuff your doing you should up it and see what happens. Remember the bigger the deficit the harder it will be for you to retain your muscle you have.

As for your macro's, if your doing P90X I would do their suggested macro's and see how that goes.. the first month it would be 50% protein, 30% Carbs, 20% Fat.. if you feel drained or tired add a few more carbs but changing a diet from higher carbs to a more even balance can help your diet as well.. I know they say 1lb of protein per LM but eating more isn't going to hurt you especially at the rate your body's metabolism is going.

And if possible, I would eat 1 number everyday instead of trying to figure out your calorie burns might be less of a headache.

heybales

So I just want to make sure that I'm fully understanding what you're saying:
My non workout TDEE is 2775. This should maintain my current weight.
I only have about 10 pounds to lose so a 15% cut is ideal. So now my calories are 2359 on non workout days....and I should lose weight eating that (?).
So if I set my diary to 2300 (just slightly under that) and add my exercise calories (I use a HRM) I can eat those back at a 20% cut.

So, for example, yesterday I burned 591 calories with my workout. On the plan you give me, I then should eat a total of 2773....and still be able to lose?? That would be my "original 2300" plus 473 (591-20%)??

Am I getting this right? Lol.

You got it exactly.

Just keep in mind regarding the fact you lost weight eating even less, perhaps making it easier to eat more.

What was that weight you lost? Fat, or muscle? Did you have at the least a BF% estimate before and after?

The only way the math in previous post to calculate your TDEE is off, and it could be, is the fact some weight lost was not fat but muscle. In which case instead of 3500 calories per lb, it's only 600. Yes, very easy to lose a lb of weight by burning off muscle.
But since it was nice gentle activity, I'm guessing not.

You want to exercise for it sounds like body improvement, so why risk tearing it down for what you really want to gain?

So look at that deficit merely for non-exercise days. 416, almost 1 lb weekly still. That actually sounds like a tad much for so little to loose.
Add to that the exercise calories deficit. Only 90 calories, but that makes 500 total deficit on workout days, 1 lb weekly on avg.

Now, you'll want to make sure that HRM calorie burn is correct as can be, since it can be inaccurate for women up to 33% with default stats.

What HRM are you using?
You might find the avgHR on that workout of 591 calories burned, and what amount of time. Got a check for ya.

There is actually a final tweak to this too. While the HRM said you burned 591 calories in 1 hr if that was the time, and even if totally true, your TDEE estimate that you are eating to planned on you burning 116 calories during that hr anyway (2775 / 24 hrs). So really, you burned 475 calories (591-116) above and beyond what you were planned to burn anyway based on normal TDEE.

Yep, confusing potentially, but got a way to not only confirm your HRM is right, but account for that correctly.

Use the spreadsheet linked in this topic. You only need to do most of this stuff once, except for changing weight, and other fun stats you want to see get smaller.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/750920-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

Fill in your stats on the Simple Setup tab.
In the Activity Calculator, leave out exercise like you said you want to do, but enter in the other stuff where it goes for your active life. Mess with the time until the TDEE in the Results section says 2775, since that is most accurate. You won't need to change that even if weight goes down, because your TDEE will go down with less weight. Actually, we hope it goes up because you have more LBM!

Now go to the HRM tab, fill in stats there too, use the sections on VO2max and HRmax to estimate those values and fill those stats in.

Now go to the MFP Tweak tab.
Use the Katch BMR shown, and the Activity Multiplier shown.
It may be showing 10% deficit if really on last 10 lbs, because that isn't much left to lose.
But section below.
You can put in your avgHR and the time of the workout - there's your most accurate calories burned, based on Polar formula but tweaked for all your stats.
Now enter that info in the next section, and the extra TDEE calories are removed, and the same deficit is taken automatically, showing you what to log and eat back for your workout. Also shows you what your real deficit was in total for the day.

tabi26

I use a polar FT60 HRM. And thank you very much for the spreadsheet! As it turns out....I may be spreadsheet illiterate! Haha! But I'll spend the next few days doing my best to figure it out! And playing with the numbers to figure things out....turns out, I may be WAY more active Thani thought I was .

heybales

I use a polar FT60 HRM. And thank you very much for the spreadsheet! As it turns out....I may be spreadsheet illiterate! Haha! But I'll spend the next few days doing my best to figure it out! And playing with the numbers to figure things out....turns out, I may be WAY more active Thani thought I was .

So I believe you have a fitness self test on there, that should be done first thing in the morning before getting out of bed, because it's based on resting HR, and then answering the question correctly about your fitness level.
That will set your VO2max just as the spreadsheet does.
HRmax is the only thing lacking.