Newbie with another BMR, TDEE, etc. etc. question

ashleyanh410
ashleyanh410 Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone :)

So, I've been using MFP for a couple weeks now and had just been using the amount of calories it pre-set for me. According to MFP, my BMR is 1,426 and it had me NETTING roughly 1400kcals (including my ~500-700 exercise kcals- so, totaling ~1,900-2,100kcals a day). I work out about 6 days a week for roughly an hour (or 2) a session (HIIT/vigorous circuit training or hiking) and noticed that I was feeling really tired and ravenously hungry, even with eating back my exercise calories. (Oh yeah, and my scale didn't budge... actually it went up!) After reading around on the boards, I found that very active people, like myself, find the Harris Benedict Equation more accurate for determining the amount of calories needed, as MFPs original estimate of my BMR could be too low.

According to the HB Equation: (BMR x Activity Factor)

1426kcals x 1.725 (very active)= 2495.5kcals (to maintain BW)

Based on this, if I create a 500kcal a day deficit (3500/week=1lb/week), that leaves me with ~1995kcals.

My question is should I be NETTING or totaling 1995kcals? (My boyfriend is convinced that I should be NETTING that much, but I feel like it should be total because the HB equation includes the activity/exercise factor).

Should I just up my calories on MFP by the difference? (1995kcals-500 kcals avg burned in exercise= 1495 NET) or should I really NET 1995? :noway:

Thanks!

(Feel free to add me, I promise I won't nag you with more BMR questions :wink: )

Replies

  • ashleyanh410
    ashleyanh410 Posts: 14 Member
    Also, thoughts on the Cunningham equation?
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    if you are choosing the "very active" activity factor you probably don't want to eat back calories.

    Which equation you use to estimate your BMR has no bearing on if you should eat back the calories. The activity factor you choose does. Personally, I prefer to set my activity level to sedentary and then log the exercises when I do them. Doing this, I eat back my calories.

    Based on your first post, it looks like you are not logging your exercise, but accounting for it in your activity factor. That is fine, too, just a different approach. In this case, you just eat your calories and don't worry about the exercise at all (logging or eating back).

    My preference comes from the fact that I don't do the same things all the time, so for me, setting it to sedentary and logging exercise and eating back calories is more accurate.
  • ashleyanh410
    ashleyanh410 Posts: 14 Member
    That's really helpful! Thank you!
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    by the way, I found this article that might help you decide on which equation:

    http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/which_equation_to_calculate_my_daily_maintenance_calories/

    However, realize that RMR and BMR are slightly different. Cunningham estimates RMR.
  • juicemoogan
    juicemoogan Posts: 994 Member
    TOTAL... not net.

    using TDEE Method you dont need to eat back exercise cals.
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
    that should be your total amount of cals. if you added in your exercise to the equation, you don't want to then eat back the cals

    Another calculator I like to use is http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ -- put in your activity level and eat what he tells you to and dont eat back exercise cals

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