New here - Need some advice - Please help

Slappydap

Hi All, signed in to MFP approx 8 or 9 days ago & have been logging food/exercise just as it is (not trying to do anything special). I thought this would be a good idea to see where I am starting from.... WELL, it appears that I am grossly under my calories (net value) most days in fact usually net between 800-1200 ish.

Have dieted all my life & lost my last 3st over the last couple of years following a fairly low calorie diet (which accounts for my current eating habits). I would like to change that & have been reading & reading & reading some more of the philosophy behind EM2LW & I think I would like to try this. At the moment I run 30 mins (4 x per week) , wish I could run longer but my body just shuts down (think this may be due to lack of energy), also walk 60mins (brisk 3 x per week) & recently added some kettlebell (at home workouts twice a week - in an effort to try & build some muscle/strength)

Most evenings (whether I have been active or not, I am soooo tired & generally can fall asleep from 8pm onwards (no fun & not very sociable for my poor husband) - Now I am beginning to think that this may also be linked to my lack of energy/calorie intake.(I have previously been tested for thyroid issues, anemia, low iron etc - all results show normal)

I would like to start increasing my cals & read a post earlier that suggested the following plan to increase gradually (details shown below are with my data)

Week 1 - eat BMR = 1394
Week 2/3 eat TDEE- 30% = 1557
Week 4/5 eat TDEE - 20% = 1720
Week 6/7 eat TDEE - 10% = 1935
Week 8 > eat TDEE - 20% = 1720

Am I right in thinking the above calorie value should be NET ? My BMR is 1394, my TDEE is 2150, I would like to lose approx a further 10-14lbs, I am 43, 5ft 6 & CW = 145

I would be so so grateful if somebody could tell me if I have got this right, not sure how on earth I am going to add those extra calories to my day, I'm still full from breakfast & haven't even managed to eat my planned morning snack yet (todays plan currently has me at a net of approx 900) - I definitely need help !

Thank you so much in advance

Jan xx

seekingstrengthX2

Week 1 - BMR would be a NET goal, eating back exercise calories.

For the rest, if using the TDEE calculatiions, that would be Total/Gross...as it assumes you calculated your exercise into that figure. MFP is not designed for this method, so you wilk either need to not log your exercise or log it and change the calories burned to zero.

All of your energy issues are very likely to not eating enough and it saddens me that you have been doing that to your body for so long. Happy you are trying to change it.

seekingstrengthX2

Bump...seems you posted the same queztion again.....not sure if you saw my response.

Slappydap

Hi, & thanks, yes just seen your response. I'm still confused, as if I am to net my BMR for the first week = 1394, then use the TDEE (Gross/total) from week 2 onwards, with the activity i do, I will then still be well below my BMR (example - I eat 1720 (TDEE-20%) and I do 600 cals worth of activity my NET calories will only be 1120 (below my BMR) - Is this right ?

So sorry to be a pain and sound so stupid, but i am finding it quite confusing & if the above is correct then that's not too far away from what I am doing now.

Thanks

J x

seekingstrengthX2

You are correct. You should not net under your BMR (not as a general rule anyway....everyone has low days now and then). If you really burn 600 calories every time you workout then I would aim more towards 1900 or so gross. It is the same either way.

Option 1- Set calorie goal to...say 1400 then log and eat back your exercise calories.
Optikn 2- Set calorie goal around 2000 and dont log what you burn.

I prefer option 1 because I dont exercise 7 days/ week. If you eat 2000 every day but only exercise 4 days (example) you will be way over on your rest days.
Doing it the way MFP is designed allows each day to be specifically tailored to whether or not you worked out, how intensely, etc..

Slappydap

Fabulous - Thank you once again for your help. Now I've just got to figure out how to eat the extra calories, looks like I may have to set my alarm especially as currently there just aren't enough hours in the day :-)

Think I might try to change the LF things i eat to full fat etc and include some peanut butter (which I have been avoiding) :-) yum !

I think I will give it a full 6-8 weeks to see if this works

Thanks again

j x

seekingstrengthX2

Avoiding Peanut Butter?? Gooodness... yeah, load up! :-)