cal changes for workout/rest days

caribougal

Hi MFP-world.

I love that post that circulated with this calculator: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

I'm wondering about cal settings for my workout days vs rest days.

Here are my stats...
It's fair to say... I'm short. Damned Russian peasant ancestors!

So unfortunately my TDEE is only 1770, my LBM is 93.4, TDEE-20% is 1416.

I have MFP set to 1400 cals/day, but really I target 1400-1500. So the above calculations make sense and are pretty similar to what I get from other calculators, although it would be nice to have a higher cal limit to lose weight. Lately I've been eating closer to TDEE and likewise, my weight hasn't changed much.

I'm basically at goal, give or take a couple of pounds depending on the weather. I've been fluctuating between 125 and 128 for the past couple of months.

The interesting thing is that I put in to lose 10 lbs (from 128). I was shocked (and yet, not shocked at all) to see that this calculator predicts it to take 25 WEEKS to lose those 10 lbs, working out 3x a week. If I work out less, it takes less time to lose but I lose LBM and my BF% goes up. If I work out more, it takes more time to lose the 10 lbs. So... assuming I stick to plan and eat 1400-1500 and workout 3x/week, I will be at 118 and 19% BF by end of August. I'll believe it when I see it.

Here's where I'm curious... It says I should eat at TDEE (1770 cals) on workout days and at TDEE-20% (1416) on rest days. I've been shooting to keep my cal goal steady at 1400-1500, and not eating back exercise calories. If I do, I don't stress.

So, what do you think? Eat TDEE-20% all the time, or increase to TDEE on workout days?

iorahkwano

I've also been wondering this. I'm eating a bit above my TDEE on workout days AND rest days (I'm trying to gain muscle). Would like to see if it really matters if one should eat less on work days!

NRBreit

My understanding is that TDEE calculations include your assumptions on exercise and activity levels. I think the benefit to using the TDEE approach is not having to worry about varying your calories every day. If you want to vary your calories based on exercise days, why not use the MFP calculator and add in your exercise? Total calories for the week using both methods should come out very close.

caribougal

That's what I thought, so I was surprised that this calculator upped calories for work days.

jaygreen55

I enter my activity level as sedentary and then manually add my exercise calories to get my TDEE. I try to eat 10-20 percent under that for gradual weight loss. I don't have too much to loose