TDEE -20% help

joleenl
joleenl Posts: 739 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So when I first started back in January I was eating 1200 calories (what MFP recommended) with no exercise and I was losing weight. Then I started to read forums about 1200 being to low and I should calculate my TDEE and eat 20% less. I ran past one of the notorious "in place of a road map versions". So calculated my TDEE manually based on my current weight loss (with no exercise) and eating 1200/daily. Out of the calculation my TDEE was about 1700 so I upped my calories to just under 1400 calories and continued to lose weight. I added in my exercise and ate back at least half usually of my exercise calories. Now I wasn't aware until now that I should've keep recalculating. I used the scooby-doo calculator, as it would be challenging to figure it all out now with exercise and all.

So, my question is if I follow the scooby-doo calculator on my current weight (TDEE 1900 & BMR 1585) I should be eating 1522 calories, but this is below my BMR? So should I follow it? I was also hoping for 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. The calculator estimates my loss at 0.8 pounds? I'm so confused.

I'm 5'7" tall, 180.8 pounds, 35 year old female. I work a desk job with light activity. I prefer to eat exercise calories instead of factoring them in. My diary is open however ignore the last week of logs. I was in the hospital and on bed rest at home. My spouse isn't a cooker he is a pizza orderer so I fell off the wagon. I'm back on and ready to go once I figure this calorie thing out.

Replies

  • joleenl
    joleenl Posts: 739 Member
    Bump
  • joleenl
    joleenl Posts: 739 Member
    Bump! come on someone help me!
  • Alta2000
    Alta2000 Posts: 655 Member
    Eat just above your BMR like 1590 and then eat your exercise calories if you do not want to factor them in.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    If you have a desk job and aren't factoring in exercise then you are sedentary not lightly active to start with. If you want to count exercise separately I'd recommend not eating back all of the calories that you estimate. Most of us are not that great at calculations for food in and exercise out so it's best to leave some room.

    You don't have to use 20% as your deficit. That's just a number recommended if you have quite a bit to lose. You should stay over BMR so you may need to use 15% or even 10%. Losing weight isn't a race so do what you need to in order to be healthy.
  • joleenl
    joleenl Posts: 739 Member
    I made a measure update to IPOARM, there is now ver 3.

    20% cut isn't for everyone, that's what is different in the new IPOARM. I made it so you determine your cut based on your body fat %. The heavier you are the bigger deficit you an get away with. Maybe you lost enough weight that the 20% cut isn't for you anymore.

    Here is the summary of IPOARM ver 3
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm

    if you want to read the full one
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

    See I don't know my % body fat but I do have more then 30 pounds to lose. (23 pounds until I hit the normal BMI range). I was only eating 1390 calories which any wonder why I hit a plateau then I binged for a couple days and lost weight. So I guess I'll eat pretty much right at my BMR and continue eating only about half of my exercise calories. This way hopefully I can continue to hit a pound a week from less TDEE and additional 0.5 to 1 pound from exercise.

    Thank you all for your answers it's greatly appreciated!

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