being healthy is SO CONFUSING

kbrhelker23

i am realizing that there is so many factors in weight loss. im trying to do it the healthy lifestyle change way... working out 5-6 days a week, eating healthy homemade meals etc.. i never heard of BMR and TDEE till now. and now i just calculated my numbers and dont know what to do with them. MFP recommends i eat 1200 cal daily. but i am a 172 lb 23 year old 5ft 1.. that amount seems low.. when i weighed 130 that is what i was recommended, now since i weight more i thought it woulid be different. dont get me wrong i am completely full at about 1200 cal/day but usually end up either under not by much or over by 200 cal or so. so heres what im wondering... my BMR is 1488 and my TDEE is 2443. with those numbers what the heck do i do to lose weight? should i be eating 1488 a day as my goal but eat 500 less than that? or eat all 1488 and burn 500 cal with workouts each day? i am so lost. and where does 2443 TDEE come in to play? i read a very informative post that someone directed me to which explains it all. and i understand the reading but when i look at these two numbers im so lost. all i know is that with healthy eating and working out i have gained 6lbs in a little over a month and am getting really discouraged which is why i am now determined to get this info down so i can find out what is going on if its my body or i am not understanding what to do with this info. any advice would be so helpful. thank you !

lin7604

from what i get from this is your eating way to low... if you tdee is 2443 and you take off your 500 cals, you should be eating 1943 daily...

Shaynaelise

I'm no expert on this but from what I have read I believe you should be consuming calories in between the two numbers. Your BMR (the smaller number) is your calorie requirement to live if you didn't get out of bed and your TDEE (the larger number) is what you burn in a typical day through your typical activities. This is why the calculators tend to ask about your lifestyle, sedentary, moderatly active, active, etc. Eating too few calories will stall a weightloss effort just like eating too many will. I would start with a number between the two numbers and reevaluate after a couple of weeks to see if you think you need to lower the number of calories you are eating. Also it is a good idea to eat your exercise calories back when you are already restricting your diet for weightloss as long as you are eating healthy foods. I hope this made sense, it did in my head but sometimes when I type it out it gets confusing.

concordancia

TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is your BMR (what you burn to breath and circulate blood) plus your daily activity. If you eat that much, your weight should stay the same.

In order to lose weight, take 80%-90% of TDEE . In your case, the lower number is just over 1900. If you eat that much everyday, you will lose weight at a healthy rate, have plenty of energy and be satisfied. You do not eat your exercise calories with this method. You just eat 1900 every day.

You have to do the math again every time you lose 5-10 pounds.

kbrhelker23

both your posts make sense. thank you. i just read that you should calculate total cal consumed - (BMR + exercise cal burned) ? mine = a deficit of 300 a day so i should def be losing. grr .. but although i feel full at 1300 or so cal a day i feel it is too low for my current weight... so i will probably up it although it sounds so contradicting to "losing weight" but ill try it for a few weeks and see what happens .. hopefully good things!

Shaynaelise

I know it's hard to wrap your mind around eating more to lose weight but not eating enough causes your body to panic and store whatever it can, your metabolism will be slower, you will have less energy and your body will do whatever it can to hold on to fat stores.

kbrhelker23

ok so to be clear... eating more calories per day can help you lose weight sometimes? im understanding now that the BMR is the bare min u need to function. so obv u want to eat more than that to be "healthy" while being active.. so the 1900 or so you all are projecting sounds right.. just scary though lol because it sounds like so many. it will be hard to eat that many even lol

concordancia

Assuming you are already eating lots of veggies and such, most people who are starting a new diet can add lots of calories by eating regular foods (ie, not low fat versions) and adding healthy fats: cook with olive oil, snack on nuts, have some avocado...

holothuroidea

As long as you eat under your TDEE, you will loose weight.

For sustained weight loss you should never eat below your BMR unless you are extremely obese and do so under medical supervision.

The larger your calorie deficit is the faster you will loose the weight, but if it's too large you will loose muscle mass and risk running into plateaus due to metabolic changes.

The recommendation is to eat a 30-10% deficit. The higher your body fat percentage is, the higher your deficit can be. Have you calculated your BF% yet?

april0411

Weight loss is very confusing. I started a page on facebook to help get advice and support for others if any wanna join

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/Aprilislosingit

Barbellerella

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

kbrhelker23

if BMI and fat % are the same its 32.5...

darlilama

I don't see where you state what activity level you used in calculating your TDEE. I calculate mine using "sedentary" because I have a desk job where I sit most of the day. So, I eat TDEE plus any exercise calories I burn that day. I find this works well if your workout burn is not always consistent. However, if your activity and workout routine is very consistent, then you can set your activity level appropriately in the TDEE calculation and NOT eat back any exercise calories.

kbrhelker23

i was for the first month exercising 5-6 days a week for an hour a day. 30 min of cardio and 30 min of weight training aside from a 30-45 min walk ... but we only have one car and my husband joined an after work activity so the last week or so i have only made it to the gym 3-5 days a week and walking still everyday and just trying to do more yoga etc at home. i do not work . but i never watch tv. i have an 11 month old that keeps me up most the day aside from that i clean everyday for atleast 2 hours... so i put moderate to calculate my TDEE.

Francl27

MFP assumes that you exercise, that's the thing. If you're at 1200 (which seems low even for MFP... did you pick the 'lose 2 lb a week' option?), and burn 300 in exercise, you'll eat closer to TDEE - 20%.

MFP takes your TDEE and takes 500 out, so it shouldn't be that far off.

kbrhelker23

idk its all confusing. according to MPF set at 1200 ill lose like one pound a week. which hasnt been happeneing at all. so im going to try upping my calories and see where that leads hopefully not to more weight gain!

NRSPAM

both your posts make sense. thank you. i just read that you should calculate total cal consumed - (BMR + exercise cal burned) ? mine = a deficit of 300 a day so i should def be losing. grr .. but although i feel full at 1300 or so cal a day i feel it is too low for my current weight... so i will probably up it although it sounds so contradicting to "losing weight" but ill try it for a few weeks and see what happens .. hopefully good things!

Add healthy calories by eating more cal dense foods like peanut butter, fatty fish like salmon, hummus...etc. I've been hearing that steal cut oats are cal dense, and very good, but haven't tried them. I'll be on the look out for them next time I go shopping. Good luck OP! Def need to be eating around 1900 cal's/day though with that TDEE. :happy:

jezama77

both your posts make sense. thank you. i just read that you should calculate total cal consumed - (BMR + exercise cal burned) ? mine = a deficit of 300 a day so i should def be losing. grr .. but although i feel full at 1300 or so cal a day i feel it is too low for my current weight... so i will probably up it although it sounds so contradicting to "losing weight" but ill try it for a few weeks and see what happens .. hopefully good things!

Add healthy calories by eating more cal dense foods like peanut butter, fatty fish like salmon, hummus...etc. I've been hearing that steal cut oats are cal dense, and very good, but haven't tried them. I'll be on the look out for them next time I go shopping. Good luck OP! Def need to be eating around 1900 cal's/day though with that TDEE. :happy:

Steel cut oats are amazing!!! I eat them several mornings a week. I add about a teaspoon of natural peanut butter, 1/2 banana (other 1/2 goes into a smoothie), and 1/2 c. of almond milk (unsweetened vanilla). Total yum! My husband likes his with agave nectar (low glycemic index sweetener that is natural), but I find that if I add peanut butter it works good for me. The oats make a good dinner too. They take awhile though, so it is best to plan for them. Sometimes I get them cooking then go work out for 1/2 hour, by that time, they are almost done. It's rough when they boil over, so they have to monitored closely at first (like when you cook rice).

holothuroidea

if BMI and fat % are the same its 32.5...

No, they are not the same! Here are some calculators, you will need a measuring tape.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

The accuracy of these calculators depends on how you carry your weight. I suggest taking an average of the two. You can also estimate it based on pictures and descriptions here:

http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/

Once you know your BF%, you can decide which deficit would be best for you. These are the guidlines givin in IPOARM:

Less than 24% body fat. 
= TDEE-10%
25-35% body fat 
 = TDEE-15%
Greater than 35% body fat. = TDEE-20%

jenilla1

No, they are not the same! Here are some calculators, you will need a measuring tape.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

The accuracy of these calculators depends on how you carry your weight. I suggest taking an average of the two.

Those are some pretty good calculators. They had me at 23.5% BF and I was just measured at 24% by my nurse. Definately a better measure than BMI for my husband, too. Standard BMI calculators always put him at obese, but he's got a lot of muscle and he wears size 34 pants. How the heck can that be obese? These links calculated him at the very top edge of the healthy range instead of obese, so that's good! Thanks for the links.

holothuroidea

No, they are not the same! Here are some calculators, you will need a measuring tape.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

The accuracy of these calculators depends on how you carry your weight. I suggest taking an average of the two.

Those are some pretty good calculators. They had me at 23.5% BF and I was just measured at 24% by my nurse. Definately a better measure than BMI for my husband, too. Standard BMI calculators always put him at obese, but he's got a lot of muscle and he wears size 34 pants. How the heck can that be obese? These links calculated him at the very top edge of the healthy range instead of obese, so that's good! Thanks for the links.

I am happy to have helped!

I dislike the BMI scale. My DH has 19% BF and is considered "overweight," while I managed a "healthy" bmi when I had 31% BF. It makes no sense.

kbrhelker23

33.4% body fat according to military calculator..aka 57 lbs.. sigh lol sooo TDEE is 2443 X .15=366.. so 2443-366= 2077 so ... 1900 should be ok. im so nervous this sounds crazy i dont think ive ever eaten that many calories in a day aside from like the occassional fast food which i havent had in months... what happens if i eat 1500? its still above my BMR.. why wouldnt that be ok? why is 1900 better, just curious. sorry to be annoyingly uninformed.

holothuroidea

33.4% body fat according to military calculator..aka 57 lbs.. sigh lol sooo TDEE is 2443 X .15=366.. so 2443-366= 2077 so ... 1900 should be ok. im so nervous this sounds crazy i dont think ive ever eaten that many calories in a day aside from like the occassional fast food which i havent had in months... what happens if i eat 1500? its still above my BMR.. why wouldnt that be ok? why is 1900 better, just curious. sorry to be annoyingly uninformed.

If you're hungry enough to eat the extra calories right away, then go for it. If not, slowly introduce more calorie dense foods (nuts and nut butters, legumes, whole grains, starchy veggies), as much as your hunger will allow until you reach your calorie goal.

1900 is better for a lot of reasons.

1) Weight loss will be slower. This might not sound good for your swim suit, but it's good for your body.
2) You will preserve more lean body mass. Muscle is expensive for your body to maintain. If you consistently eat a large deficit, it will consume muscle first to conserve energy.
3) It gives you somewhere to go if you hit a plateau.
4) There will be an easier transition to maintenance once you reach your goal weight.
5) More calories = more food = more nutrients = healthy body and happy tummy.