Trying to figure this out once and for all

I am where you are at as well. I'm afraid of upping my calories due to the fact that my calorie allowance is already somewhat low. I too sit at a desk all day, at home and at work. But when I workout (which is about 5-6 days a week for at least 1 hour 30 minutes) it's fairly rigorous and intense.

What i'm wondering is, you said you came up with 1,600 calories for your TDEE. Is this the calorie level you are eating at? If so it sounds like your eating at maintenance level. Correct me if i'm wrong.

If your current caloric intake has plateud your fat loss / weight loss, than you could up/decrease your calories for a week or so and see where that gets you. Just minor changes, maybe 200 calories up or down. If your tracking your macro-nutrients, alter your carbs and keep about a 1-1.5g protein / lb of body fat and keep your fats pretty low. You could also shake up your workouts too, maybe your body has adjusted to your habits. Shake it up a bit, add some cardio or change your rep ranges. Just my two cents.

You can do all the sums and calculations you like, but really the prof of the pudding is in the eating, excuse the metaphor!


I'd stick with 1600 for another 4 weeks and then see what happens. Your exercise routine doesn't sound overly demanding ( don't know hat you're doing at the gym though)

I do some form of exercise every day, usually 30DS, but sometimes I switch it up with yoga or other Jillian programs. I net around 1400 cals a day, but I usually eat around 1700. My weight was stuck for a couple of weeks and hovering within 2 lbs, but I didn't want to up my calories immediately since I'm still eating above my BMR. I typically drink a fair amount of water (around 2 liters a day), but I've read several times on the forums that flushing your system with water can help. The past 3 days I've been drinking 3+ liters of water, and I'm noticing my weight starting to drop again. It could just be a coincidence, but it's worth a try!

If you're very sedentary most of the day, you should list yourself at that, not "active" in MFP. That will affect how many calories you're supposed to take in.

I wonder if you're recording your food intake accurately. Most people (even professional dieticians!) underestimate the amount of food they've portioned out. Do you weight/measure your food or just eyeball it?
You say by 10pm you've only hit 1300 calories, and this seems very low if you're working out daily and not necessarily eating whole foods. If you're not hungry, maybe you're actually consuming more than you think.

I always prefer simplicity, therefore, I favor this simple little calculator
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Your activity level is moderate to heavy.

Reset your activity level to "sedentary" and eat back most of your exercise cals (provided you have your MFP set to lose 1lb per week, which is the most sustainable and healthy way) and see what your calorie goal is then.

And for some ppl it's not just cals in and cals out but the quality of calories. If you're eating a lot of slop, whether or not your under your calorie goal doesn't matter...eating slop WILL slow progress!

Also, you're doing the same thing I did...your own little hodge-podge of workouts. While it's great you're moving, there's something to be said for getting a trainer or following a set program that delivers results. Once I started doing that, I saw results like I never have before!

If your activity and exercise is sporadic and varies from week to week wouldn't the MFP way of setting activity level to sedentary and eating back exercise fit you better?

That's what I've done - custom set my goal and eat back depending on how much exercise I fit in. You seem to be making things over-complicated if you don't mind me saying!