need tdee help, ive read the posts but very confused.
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sweetkat75
Posts: 29
I am getting medical help to help me with weight loss. The scan thing they do at the hospital shows me my bmr is 1445. I am 5'6 214 lbs, female, 37 years old and i would consider my life sedentary even though i do workout four to five times a week for 30 minutes moderate to heated exercise because i am an esl teacher and while i am on my feet 2 hours and 40 minutes, the majority of the time i am at my desk. I use a heart rate monitor. I thought i was eating too little calories, eating below my bmr so i upped my calories but it hasn't helped my plateau. I think I eat fairly healthy. I am in South Korea, so few options for low fat items, but it seems my fat intake unless i eat bad is fairly low.
I know there have been many posts on here. I just feel lost and would like some support. I have noone around here to talk to about this stuff besides my doctor.
I have checked out the websites recommended on here as well and am getting different answers. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Going to try and recalculate my tdee again.
I know there have been many posts on here. I just feel lost and would like some support. I have noone around here to talk to about this stuff besides my doctor.
I have checked out the websites recommended on here as well and am getting different answers. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Going to try and recalculate my tdee again.
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Replies
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Ok, first mistake I noticed is you are not sedentary if you work out moderately for four to fives times a week. If you base your TDEE on a sedentary lifestyle, you will probably still not be eating enough.
Secondly, it is not about low fat. That's the trap many people seem to fall into. Fats are good for you.
It's fairly hard to judge what you should be eating as we don't know your stats, but if you go by MFP, you should be aiming to lose 1lb a week and with a HRM should eat back the majority of your exercise cals.0 -
Do you workout or just on your feet? They are not one in the same. If you are working out I'd set it for sedentary and log your exercise. If you are on your feet 2-3 hrs per day then I might set it for slightly active. You say you are plateau...how long have you been at this weight? Also, open your diary so we can see.0
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Thanks. I haven't been trying to avoid fats. I tried eating all the exercise calories back but then I gained weight. So even if i am not active at all during the day and do 4-5 workouts i should change my activity level for my tdee? I wasn't sure about this. I don't feel active.0
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I was same weight and height as you (a little younger, though - 29) in Jan this year, and have lost 60lbs so far following the MFP plan. I've done my research, and feel pretty well informed - I like to know my TDEE so that if i want to have a weeks break, I can retain some control and at least, hopefully, not put on weight. Last week I ate at just under my TDEE (by about 100cal or so per day) and lost 1/2lbs - this could easily go straight back on this week, but that doesn't matter, it will go eventually.
You dont need to panic about the precise numbers - all your calorie estimates for food and excecise will be just that - ESTIMATES! As long as you maintain a deficit below your TDEE, you'll lose. So just follow the MFP plan: eat your allowance calories and your excercise calories and you will be under your TDEE.
Also dont feel you need to be perfect every day, I find it much easier to balance out my calories over a week - over one day, under another - gives me the chance to make up for any mistakes, or plan ahead for future slip-ups!
Good luck, and please dont make this harder on yourself.
L x0 -
Ok, first mistake I noticed is you are not sedentary if you work out moderately for four to fives times a week. If you base your TDEE on a sedentary lifestyle, you will probably still not be eating enough.
Secondly, it is not about low fat. That's the trap many people seem to fall into. Fats are good for you.
It's fairly hard to judge what you should be eating as we don't know your stats, but if you go by MFP, you should be aiming to lose 1lb a week and with a HRM should eat back the majority of your exercise cals.
My dietitian and physician both say that under NO circumstances should you eat back exercise calories UNLESS you are a fitness buff and workout strenuously such as a professional athlete or Olympic competitor. Eating them back is a maintenance rule. MFP is crazy to suggest to all users. It's probably o.k. to eat back a small amount, but the purpose of exercise is to burn calories and lose weight. Eating them back halts weight loss. It's ridiculous to listen to people on here who have no idea what they are talking about. Listen to your dietitian and your doctor and follow what they tell you. I guarantee that there is NO dietitian who will recommend eating back the calories you burn during exercise if you are overweight and trying to shed those unwanted pounds!0 -
i am on my feet about 2 hours and 40 minutes a day teaching. I work out four to five times a week, with my average heart rate in 30 minutes between 138 and 148, which i think is moderate to intense. But other than that i am on my butt. My diary will be opened shortly.0
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Also. for over the last two weeks I tried experimenting eating 1583 calories a day no matter what and not recording my exercise. I was trying to nudge myself out of the plateau over the last month.0
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Both of the earlier responses are right. If you workout several days a week, then you are not sedentary, but if you set it at sedentary, then you need to eat back your exercise calories.
Scooby says your BMR is 1716 and at sedentary your TDEE is 2060, , 2360 at light activity, 2661 at moderately active. The IF calculator says BMR 1629, TDEE 1955 sedentary, 2240 at light activity (1-3 hours per week), 2525 at moderately active (3-5 hours per week). I know these are much higher than the hospital, so you might be afraid to go this high, but why not try eating at about 1750 for a bit? That way you are above any measurement of BMR, at least and well below any of these activity levels. And it's not a drastic increase from what you are doing.
Try it for a couple of weeks--don't give up after a day or two if the scale doesn't budge or moves the wrong way. You should also eat back at least some of your exercise calories if you feel any drop in energy. You need to fuel your workouts and need energy to keep up with your students.0 -
My doctor says I should eat 1700. And i thought about doing that again. But it terrifies me because in the past year my body has become a stranger to me. I'm afraid to feed it that much because i am scared i will gain and it won't come off. From Jan to Feb last year I gained 9 lbs and just have finally gotten it off. Really afraid to risk it. I haven't adapted to it yet. I know its my slowing metabolism because i am approaching 40 but i still haven't figured out how to live with it. Years ago I lost 60 lbs, but everythign I did to lose that weight doesn't work any more. I kept most of it off for almost ten years unti about three years ago and now i am 20 lbs short of where i used to weigh back in 2000. I have been on a diet since I came to Korea in 2007 and I weigh more now than I did then.0
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How do i calculate my BMR and TDEE?0
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My doctor says I should eat 1700. And i thought about doing that again. But it terrifies me because in the past year my body has become a stranger to me. I'm afraid to feed it that much because i am scared i will gain and it won't come off. From Jan to Feb last year I gained 9 lbs and just have finally gotten it off. Really afraid to risk it. I haven't adapted to it yet. I know its my slowing metabolism because i am approaching 40 but i still haven't figured out how to live with it. Years ago I lost 60 lbs, but everythign I did to lose that weight doesn't work any more. I kept most of it off for almost ten years unti about three years ago and now i am 20 lbs short of where i used to weigh back in 2000. I have been on a diet since I came to Korea in 2007 and I weigh more now than I did then.
For a 5'6 214lb woman, 1700 calories is not that much to be afraid of and you won't starve yourself. I lose weight eating 1700 cals.0 -
so would i be lightly or moderately active. Right now I am at sedentary but like i said five days a week i am on my feet for 2 hours and 40 minutes a day and four to five times a week i work out 30 minutes with average heart rate of 138 to 148.0
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Aloha,
I worked out your numbers with the spreadsheet,
Weight: 214
Height: 5’6”
Activity Level: 1.4
Male or Female: F
Age: 37
Mifflin-St Jeor
(FOR WOMEN) BMR 1,674
Maintenance 2,344
Cut (@ 15%) 1,993
Build (@ 15%) 2,696
Go to this google docs folder and download the spreadsheet and do it yourself. Anything in this folder is for the taking, so please use it and SHARE it!
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B3kFzsaVmRjmd1k4YjA1SlVWaFU/edit
There is a page that is In Place Of A Road Map that will walk you through the process of getting these numbers
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
If you have any difficulty with the spreadsheets let me know and I will give you a hand!
My email is: mikeschratz@gmail.com0 -
Ok, first mistake I noticed is you are not sedentary if you work out moderately for four to fives times a week. If you base your TDEE on a sedentary lifestyle, you will probably still not be eating enough.
Secondly, it is not about low fat. That's the trap many people seem to fall into. Fats are good for you.
It's fairly hard to judge what you should be eating as we don't know your stats, but if you go by MFP, you should be aiming to lose 1lb a week and with a HRM should eat back the majority of your exercise cals.
My dietitian and physician both say that under NO circumstances should you eat back exercise calories UNLESS you are a fitness buff and workout strenuously such as a professional athlete or Olympic competitor. Eating them back is a maintenance rule. MFP is crazy to suggest to all users. It's probably o.k. to eat back a small amount, but the purpose of exercise is to burn calories and lose weight. Eating them back halts weight loss. It's ridiculous to listen to people on here who have no idea what they are talking about. Listen to your dietitian and your doctor and follow what they tell you. I guarantee that there is NO dietitian who will recommend eating back the calories you burn during exercise if you are overweight and trying to shed those unwanted pounds!
No, the purpose of exercise is to get fit. The purpose of eating at a deficit is to lose weight.
You listen to your dietitian, and I'll listen to the hundreds of people on here that ate back their exercise calories and lost weight just fine (me being one of them). In fact, the only time when I stopped eating back my exercise cals, I stalled.0 -
Aloha,
I worked out your numbers with the spreadsheet,
Weight: 214
Height: 5’6”
Activity Level: 1.4
Male or Female: F
Age: 37
Mifflin-St Jeor
(FOR WOMEN) BMR 1,674
Maintenance 2,344
Cut (@ 15%) 1,993
Build (@ 15%) 2,696
Go to this google docs folder and download the spreadsheet and do it yourself. Anything in this folder is for the taking, so please use it and SHARE it!
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B3kFzsaVmRjmd1k4YjA1SlVWaFU/edit
There is a page that is In Place Of A Road Map that will walk you through the process of getting these numbers
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
If you have any difficulty with the spreadsheets let me know and I will give you a hand!
My email is: mikeschratz@gmail.com
OP, he spelled it out clearly for you and is spot on. Hope this helps you!0 -
this is why i am confused. THe hospital body scan says my bmr is 1445. Other calculators say its 1600-1700. and then the tdee difference is over 200 so i really have no clue where i am at. i've tried 1900 1700 1300 1500 and i can't find the perfect place yet. and i have tried eating all my exercise calories, eating only some and eating none, and i seem to get the same result, initial loss and then stagnant. it's just so frustrating really. and then some people say eat all your calories, my doctor says eat a straight 1700 and up to 1800 if i work out. and then some say eat only some calories.
ONe doctor told me i should only eat 800 calories a day. This was unsolicited advice when i did my health check a year ago. He had me in tears. He treated me as if i didn't know how to lose weight. i said to him eating 800 calories a day is not a great way to lose weight and i couldn't do it.0 -
Bump0
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You are not sedentary, there are criteria for each group you would class as at least lightly active. There are numerous naturally low fat wholefoods, the vast majority of vegetables and fruit, beans and lentils, many fish and seafood (oily fish contain healthy fats), any lean meat (skin off chicken, visible fat off meat), rice, noodles. - surely you can get these in South Korea? Cook your own meals from scratch so you know what's in them, don't try to source 'diet' processed/ ready made/ junk food.
Looking at your food diary I see a lot of processed foods and a lot of sugar in your breakfast cereal, yoghurts, snacks and likely not enough fibre, you can change the settings on MFP to track sugars or fibre. Don't see enough vegetables, even the fruits you choose are the most sugary. Aim for nine or ten servings of non starchy vegetables a day or low sugar fruits in the full rainbow of colours (red, green, yellow/orange, blue/ purple). Add in protein at every meal and snack, this keeps you feeling full and your blood sugar stable. Your breakfast particularly is wall to wall carbs.
Healthy fats little and often (oily fish, avocado, coconut, unsweetened cocoa, olives, nuts, seeds) at present you don't eat enough fat for basic health given that you work out. It is not fat alone that causes weight gain, the wrong types of carbs play a huge role. Keep anything which is processed/ junk/ contains sugar or white refined carbs to maximum of 10% of daily calories, that is one small snack not several. Be sure you eat several servings daily of wholegrains, beans and lentils, nuts or seeds for minerals.
Nothing here should be confusing or controversial, eating real wholefoods and the right number of servings is simple medical nutrition/ dietetics for basic health and wellbeing. You can manipulate the macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs) if you wish as long as you get plenty of foods from each family. This should fit in with almost any weight loss plan, any that has you avoiding vegetables or avoiding all mineral rich foods is not a healthy ay to lose weight.0 -
Ok, first mistake I noticed is you are not sedentary if you work out moderately for four to fives times a week. If you base your TDEE on a sedentary lifestyle, you will probably still not be eating enough.
Secondly, it is not about low fat. That's the trap many people seem to fall into. Fats are good for you.
It's fairly hard to judge what you should be eating as we don't know your stats, but if you go by MFP, you should be aiming to lose 1lb a week and with a HRM should eat back the majority of your exercise cals.
My dietitian and physician both say that under NO circumstances should you eat back exercise calories UNLESS you are a fitness buff and workout strenuously such as a professional athlete or Olympic competitor. Eating them back is a maintenance rule. MFP is crazy to suggest to all users. It's probably o.k. to eat back a small amount, but the purpose of exercise is to burn calories and lose weight. Eating them back halts weight loss. It's ridiculous to listen to people on here who have no idea what they are talking about. Listen to your dietitian and your doctor and follow what they tell you. I guarantee that there is NO dietitian who will recommend eating back the calories you burn during exercise if you are overweight and trying to shed those unwanted pounds!
MFP already has the deficit built in unless you have it set to maintain or gain so if you don't eat back your exercise calories you will be under eating.
When you ate them back, how long did you give it? You may initially gain but once your body realizing you are giving it enough to do it's basic necessary stuff (live), it'll start letting go of the fat. It may take a month or longer from what I've read. It took me about 2 weeks, and I did go up a few days in weight (probably water) before it started going the right direction.
Also fat is not the enemy. Have you tried low carb? No bread, pasta, processed crap, instead eat fruit, veggies, meat, good fats. Have you tried cutting out wheat gluten? Also watch the sodium.0 -
You eat a huge amount of dairy and also more sweets than I would expect for someone trying to lose weight - especially in Korea, where dairy is rarer than in the US. Is there a reason for that?
Are you somewhat insulin resistant? That would not be unusual for someone who has been overweight for a while. I would recommend going for lower glycemic foods. Those are foods that have lower levels of unprocessed carbohydrates. Some people talk about this as avoiding 'white' foods - white bread, sugar, white rice, potatoes, bread, etc.
Even sugar free sweets give you an insulin spike as it is a learned behavior of your body as well as a response to unprocessed carborydrates.
This is important because when you have an insulin spike your body sequesters sugars from the bloodstream and stores it temporarily as fat. It also suppresses fat burning. This makes you very hungry, which makes you eat more, and also makes your body burn the available calories more efficiently.
It looks to me like your diet may really be playing into this cycle. Try lowering your carbohydrates to 40% of your calories and eating less processed food - vegetables, brown rice and wheat, barley, etc. Drop the artificial sweeteners (no carbs but they produce a similar response in your body).0
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