advice please on possibly upping calorie intake?

seena511

so i'm 5'8" and currently around 161 lbs. i lost around 25 lbs last year eating probably between 1200-1500 net calories each day. over the holidays i set my MFP goal to "maintenance" which was just under 2000 and kind of stuck to it. i think i gained maybe 1-2 lbs over the holiday season (thanksgiving to right before NYE).

when i came back from the holidays i set my calorie goal at about 1450. i did some BMR calculations and found that my BMR is really about 1490-1560, depending on the formula. i increased my daily calorie intake to about 1560 to accomodate that. i haven't really lost any weight this month. i'm weighing myself tomorrow, so that will probably be a big indicator of whether or not this is working for me.

i recently calculated my body fat percentage at between 26-30%, depending on the formula. i'd like to get it to under 20, so i've had my ideal weight estimated at about 142-149. i workout probably 6 days a week, usually for an hour or more. weight training 2x a week along with a run, with cardio/yoga on the other days. on the weekends i do a long bike ride (3+hrs). i always eat back my exercise calories.

i've been reading a lot about the success people have with increasing their calories significantly to something like TDEE-20% and not eating back exercise calories. that would put me at eating about 2300/day if i use the scooby accurate calorie calculator and put my activity level at "7-21 hrs a week of strenuous exercise/work." i have a desk job so i don't move around much during the day unless i force myself to stand up and walk around.

i'm just having a really hard time wrapping my head around eating that many calories. i would really appreciate it if some of you with more experience in this area could help me out. my diary is open if you'd like to look at it.

Greenrun99

i've been reading a lot about the success people have with increasing their calories significantly to something like TDEE-20% and not eating back exercise calories. that would put me at eating about 2300/day if i use the scooby accurate calorie calculator and put my activity level at "7-21 hrs a week of strenuous exercise/work." i have a desk job so i don't move around much during the day unless i force myself to stand up and walk around.

Well with your workouts and that you have a desk job you would be more moderate for activity.. strenuous is probably for people that move all day then do cardio.. so I would recalculate your numbers and try eating at that.. 1-2 lbs over the holidays is pretty good, and was probably mostly water retention from all the big meals. Maybe a bit lesser of a cut as well.. but probably more around 1800-1900 calories kinda thing.

rtwinrn06

Awesome thread here called "In place of a roadmap"--sorry, don't know how to put in a link. 2 guys, Dan and Haybales have all the info and will double check your numbers and answer any questions. A LOT of people have had good results with them. Planning on starting myself soon!

jamimari777

This link may be helpful if you haven't seen it already.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I am your height, weigh around 153, have a desk job and work out 5-6 days a week for an hour to an hour and a half. I eat between 1700 and 2200 calories. When I eat on the high end of 2200 cals, or eat back all of my calories, I maintain my weight. When I stick to around 1800 - 1900 cals (depending on how hard the workout is) I lose weight.

Liatush

Give it a try for a month and see what happens... I am raising mine as of today as well (TDEE-20% puts me at 1600) and we'll see what happens in March

Good luck!!