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New to TDEE - Guidance please?

sunshineallthetime4
sunshineallthetime4 Posts: 21 Member
edited January 11 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I posted about my latest plateau and had a lot of people pointing me in the direction of the TDEE-20% plan, so I'm ready to try it out. The calorie increase is a little scary though, so I wanted to get some advice and make sure I'm getting my numbers right. I'm especially confused on what I should set as my MFP goal, due to unusual exercise patterns.

Female, 23 yo
Weight: 146 lb
Neck: 12"
Waist: 26"
Hips: 41"

Goal weight: 130 (eventually would love to reach 128)

Based on calculations...

Lean body mass: 103.3 lb
Fat: 42.7 lb
29.2% BF

Sedentary TDEE 1780
Light TDEE 2039
Moderate TDEE 2299
BMR 1381

As for exercise, I almost always do 30-40 min cardio in the afternoon on weekdays, burning about 400 calories. One or two days a week I tend to take advanced level dance/fitness classes, which are extremely aerobic and are averaged to burn 400-500 additional calories. Sometimes I'll do a single weekend run or class, but often I rest.

So, somedays I burn 1000+ calories. Other days, I'll burn "none". (I work a sedentary desk job)

Should I be setting my MFP to Sedentary-20% and then eating back exercise calories on the days when applicable?
Or should I be setting at a light/moderate TDEE - 20% and not eat back the exercise calories, even on days when I burn a lot?

Thank you SO MUCH for your help!
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