advice please on possibly upping calorie intake?

seena511
seena511 Posts: 685 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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.

Replies

  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    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
    rtwinrn06 Posts: 51 Member
    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
    jamimari777 Posts: 101 Member
    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
    Liatush Posts: 627 Member
    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!!

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