Help with my TDEE numbers please

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mwynia
mwynia Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm not sure how much I should be eating when exercising. I am 49 years old and approx 147 lbs and 5'2. One of the calculators says my TDEE is 2091 with moderate exercise and 1780 for lighter exercise. II am taking a weight training class at the gym 3 days a week but getting no other cardio in. That will change after the first of the year as i plan on adding 3 cardio days. With 3 cardio days and 3 weight days should I really eat 2091 per day? I think I eat that much now and I have not lost an ounce. can someone just help me out. Thanks
Maryann

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  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
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    TDEE calculators aren't always that accurate since not all exercise routines are made equal. What you might want to do is calculate your TDEE minus exercise, and then add in the week's exercise calories divided by 7.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
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    I'm not sure how much I should be eating when exercising. I am 49 years old and approx 147 lbs and 5'2. One of the calculators says my TDEE is 2091 with moderate exercise and 1780 for lighter exercise. II am taking a weight training class at the gym 3 days a week but getting no other cardio in. That will change after the first of the year as i plan on adding 3 cardio days. With 3 cardio days and 3 weight days should I really eat 2091 per day? I think I eat that much now and I have not lost an ounce. can someone just help me out. Thanks
    Maryann

    Pick a number stick to it every day for say 2 weeks before you weigh in.See if you lose, gain, or maintain, from there add or subtract calories until you find out how many calories you need to eat each day to know your TDEE. Online calculators are not normally correct , just a estimate.
  • uk_ja
    uk_ja Posts: 143 Member
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    I'm not sure how much I should be eating when exercising. I am 49 years old and approx 147 lbs and 5'2. One of the calculators says my TDEE is 2091 with moderate exercise and 1780 for lighter exercise. II am taking a weight training class at the gym 3 days a week but getting no other cardio in. That will change after the first of the year as i plan on adding 3 cardio days. With 3 cardio days and 3 weight days should I really eat 2091 per day? I think I eat that much now and I have not lost an ounce. can someone just help me out. Thanks
    Maryann

    The calculators are just a guide and because everyone is different the numbers can be adjusted. Also you have to take into account if you are new to working out you will be building muscle fast so any fat loss in lbs is outweighed by muscle gain from newbie gains.

    If you plan to increase your workouts to 6 days a week with 3 extra days of cardio I would carry on with the 2091 calories a day. It's not a good idea to drop calories AND workout more at the same time, just adjust one thing at a time and wait 4 weeks and measure the changes. If after 4 weeks of 3 x cardio and 3 x weights and eating 2091 calories you find that you are still not losing weight then you could try lowering your calories by 50-100
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    I'm not sure how much I should be eating when exercising. I am 49 years old and approx 147 lbs and 5'2. One of the calculators says my TDEE is 2091 with moderate exercise and 1780 for lighter exercise. II am taking a weight training class at the gym 3 days a week but getting no other cardio in. That will change after the first of the year as i plan on adding 3 cardio days. With 3 cardio days and 3 weight days should I really eat 2091 per day? I think I eat that much now and I have not lost an ounce. can someone just help me out. Thanks
    Maryann

    Pick a number stick to it every day for say 2 weeks before you weigh in.See if you lose, gain, or maintain, from there add or subtract calories until you find out how many calories you need to eat each day to know your TDEE. Online calculators are not normally correct , just a estimate.

    ^^this. Except I would give it 4 weeks to take into account water weight fluctuations due to monthly cycles. Don't forget you need to deduct a reasonable deficit from your TDEE to lose weight - 300 - 500 would be reasonable. I would pick the higher one due to the activity level so you would be on about 1,600 - 1,800 a day (and don't 'eat your exercise calories' back as they are already included in the base).
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I'm not sure how much I should be eating when exercising. I am 49 years old and approx 147 lbs and 5'2. One of the calculators says my TDEE is 2091 with moderate exercise and 1780 for lighter exercise. II am taking a weight training class at the gym 3 days a week but getting no other cardio in. That will change after the first of the year as i plan on adding 3 cardio days. With 3 cardio days and 3 weight days should I really eat 2091 per day? I think I eat that much now and I have not lost an ounce. can someone just help me out. Thanks
    Maryann

    True that an hr of cardio and lifting is far from equal.

    You can use an Activity Calculator that lets you nail the different activity better, plus start out with a foundation of a BMR based on better bodyfat % estimate.

    Keep the cardio gentle though, you do want to allow full recovery from the lifting days, since that will give the most impact to retaining or gaining LBM, possibly even muscle here at the start of your journey. If you make the cardio too hard, you don't get full repair/recovery, and just wasted some or most of the lifting effort.

    Spreadsheet linked in this topic. First part on BMR/TDEE you may know already, brief description of the sheet, then link.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones
  • veggieluver2
    veggieluver2 Posts: 70 Member
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    Hi MaryAnn,

    I'm almost 49. 5' 0" and I'm guessing around 110. I try not to weigh often. I prefer to let how my clothes feel on me and how I look in the mirror to be my guide.

    I calculated my TDEE to be 1900. If I subtract 20%, I come up with 1520 calories. I'm probaby hitting that most days if not more. I tend to cheat and not record every little bite I eat. I also do some form of exercise most days of the week. No more than 30 minutes cardio with some weights mixed in. I used to be a cardio freak. What a waste of my time.

    I agree with BackTatJim--pick a number, exercise and stick with it. Adjust if you need to in a month. Also, stay away from the scale for a bit. It can play mental tricks on you if you weigh yourself a lot. Lastly, exercise and eating well does amazing things for your metabolism.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    have you checked out this forum thread?http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    I found it pretty helpful....

    if you are going to be doing cardio three days a week and weight training your maintenance number will be higher which means that your deficit number will need to be higher than what it is now. So if you are at 2091 on three days a week working out, at six days a week working out it will be more like 2200 to 2300 ..assuming that the original 2091 calculation was correct :) That does seem a tad high to more for just working out three days a week...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    oh and remember it takes your body about 4-6 weeks to adjust to a new program...
  • omnisis
    omnisis Posts: 85 Member
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    Simple Algorithm:

    1) Stick to a generally consistent amount of calories for one week (perhaps using this site to estimate TDEE).
    2) At end of week measure your weight, waist circumference and hip circumference (or bf% if you know how)
    3) Perform this the following week as well
    4) If your numbers are going up, lower your calories by 200/day. If your numbers are going down, increase your calories by 200/day.
    5) Rinse-Repeat as necessary to achieve your goals.
  • mwynia
    mwynia Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks so much everyone. I'll will definitely pick a number and stick with it for a few weeks. I'm just nervous about gaining more since I've always eaten around 1400 calories or under and lost some weight but then it stops and I get frustrated an quit all together. it just seems weird eating that many calories.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Thanks so much everyone. I'll will definitely pick a number and stick with it for a few weeks. I'm just nervous about gaining more since I've always eaten around 1400 calories or under and lost some weight but then it stops and I get frustrated an quit all together. it just seems weird eating that many calories.

    If your BMR is higher than 1400, than eat at that level for a while, along with eating back exercise calories, until you don't gain any weight.

    Then increase again to that Deficit from TDEE goal amount, at which point if TDEE contains exercise estimate, don't eat back exercise calories now.

    If you you don't get any weight or measurement loss after 2-3 weeks, body may not be convinced it'll always get enough, so eat at estimated TDEE for 2-3 weeks and confirm no gain or loss by end of it.
    Then take deficit again.
  • Lrdoflamancha
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
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    Jump n bump for tomorrow

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