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I'm a Calorie Counting Newbie with a few questions

shadow2soul
shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
edited January 18 in Health and Weight Loss
From what I've read on hear getting the TD, ect, is the most accurate/healthy way to lose weight. I want to make sure I've got this right.

Me:
Female
23 years old
214.2lbs
5'4"

So I used this site to come up with body fat % (not sure how accurate it is):
http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/

According to the site:
Lean Body Mass - 115.6lbs
Body Fat % - 46.1%

I then used this site to get my BMR:
http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

I entered information to maintain my current weight and came up with:
Harris-Benedict Formula BMR : 1779
Katch-McArdle Forumla BMR: 1499

Sedentary: 2135
Lightly Active: 2446
Moderately Active: 2757
Very Active: 3069
Extremely Active: 3380

Then looked at this thread (not sure on accuracy of statements):
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/921403-yes-you-can-quick-start-guide-to-fat-loss

I discovered that all the numbers in the table above were using the Harris-Benedict Formula for the BMR and as such not taking into account BF%. I consider myself lightly active, so I took:

1499 * 1.375 = 2061

So my TDEE is either 2061 or 2446. To lose weight effectively I should eat 80% of one of these numbers, but I'm not sure which one I should go by.

If I go with 2446, I need to eat roughly 1956 (if I'm doing the math correctly).
If I go with 2061, I need to eat roughly 1648 (again if my math is correct).

So my questions come down to:

Is the body fat calculator very accurate or is it way off?
If its accurate, which TDEE should I use? Or should I go with somewhere in the middle?
Finally can someone check my math.

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