Eating at + or - TDEE?

nzfoxz

Hi ladies,

Would love some advice on nutrition.

I do SL 3 x a week, and 2-3 times a week I play sport for 2 hours (mix of cardio and endurance), so I do either 5 or 6 days per week of exercise total.

My BMR = 1342
TDEE for Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) puts me at 2162.

I am around 130lb and don't care about my weight, my goal is to get stronger, put on some muscle while getting rid of some fat (so ideally staying about the same size but looking and feeling stronger).

Should I be eating at 20% - TDEE, or at TDEE, or above TDEE???

tameko2

I would eat at TDEE for your goal, but I think you've underestimated your TDEE, unless you are VERY sedentary the rest of the time? And by very I mean you sit or lie down almost the entire rest of your hours?

I'd call you very active and use the Very active = BMR X 1.725 modifier, for 2314/day.

Are you new to logging? And how long have you been doing sl? What I'd suggest is that you log very closely, including how many tablespoons of milk in your coffee and any condiments you use a fair bit of or that have a fair bit of calories (ketchup is one that people tend to forget, some mustards actually have a bit of calories, etc).

You don't have to be super restrictive, don't worry about going a few hundred above or below if your eating patterns naturally fall out that way, but just make sure you keep good careful track of everything for now and that it all averages to more or less 2300/day.

Then, just see what happens. Keep track of your weight on any schedule you like, provided it won't freak you out. (daily/weekly/whatever).

If you lose/gain over 8 weeks, I'd adjust cals by an appropriate amount in the appropriate direction.

Also, all the above assumes you are not at a very low weight for your height - if you're in the low end of the BMI scale, I'd think about a very small bulk later, plan to gain a few pounds of muscle, but either way its hard to develop a plan to slow bulk unless you're very confident of what you maintain at.

nzfoxz

Thanks for your answer! I have a two year old, so I'm definitely not sitting down that much. I work part time at a desk job though, so very little activity during those hours.

I've been logging for a while, and I log everything except for instant coffees (2 per day max). Everything else, including sauces etc gets logged. I'm pretty much in the middle of BMI I think, definitely not 'underweight' or anything.

2300 is a scary number to aim for, as I've been on the "no more than 1500 cals per day" wagon for quite a few years, but I asked for advice so that I could have impartial feedback without my own silly worries, so I will aim to slowly start upping from my current 1800 per day, thanks

nzfoxz

Sorry forgot to answer part of your post! I've only been doing SL for one week! But prior to that was doing BodyPump, playing sport etc. Prior to that I was training for marathons, so I'm quite an active person and have been for the last 10 years.

Martucha123

Just want to let you know that Im 140lbs and way less active and my TDEE is 2350. If you want to gain muscle I would put you on 2400 and just monitor your weight. Remember that you will gain a lot of water if you were eating at deficit before. My weight gain was 3 lbs over 4 months. It dissapeared in 2 weeks once I went back to deficit. Good luck!

nexangelus

as I've been on the "no more than 1500 cals per day" wagon for quite a few years

Oh dear!

Yes, 1800 cals plus for heavy lifting, you won't gain any muscle or even strength otherwise (you will plateau strengthwise more rapidly on less cals for certain) and also you will feel very fatigued on less calories.

nzfoxz

Okay, thanks ladies!!! I guess I am pretty worried about putting on fat, because in my brain more food = I get bigger. Dumb huh!