Today = New Beginnings/Figuring out calorie intake

BuildingME7
BuildingME7 Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning all!!! My name is Kelly and last night I joined MFP. The last few days I have been browsing around and honestly I was going to take the weekend to browse more and beginning Sunday or Monday but right before my eyes closed last night I said WHY?! Why put it off another two/three days?! My reasoning was because I saw that on here you can not pick your start day MFP just uses Monday as the beginning of the week. Buttt thinking about it me saying "oh MFP starts on Monday might as well just start then" is just ANOTHER excuse. Lets face it excuses is how I got where I am today, if they helped me be skinny I wouldnt be here! lol After all there is no better time then the present! Soooo lets get it started! :) Excited and soooo happy!

I have seen a lot of people using the fat 2 fit calculators so I decided to go along with that to find out my BMR and TDEE...Here were my results:

I did the military calculator to find out est body fat which came out to be 40.7%...YIKES...I then plugged it into the calculator with the rest of the data (weight, goal, height, etc...) The Harris-Benedict Formula came out with a BMR of 1,461 calories and the Katch-McArdle Formula came out with a BMR of 1235 calories...Then going to the chart in which then takes into account of activiity which is my TDEE (I choose sedentary) is 1630 calories. I took that number is minused the 20% and came out to 1,304 per day to eat. With me choosing sedentary, which is little to no exercise and I will be exercising, should I then eat back my exercise calories? or atleast some of them? I know many may say why not pick the calories that include actifity but I wanted to see what my est TDEE was without my additives (exercise) and then be able to judge myself with how much I do. Overall I just wanted to see and go off the bottom line, if that makes sense...I did try out and look at the little exercise which is 1-3 times in the chart. That was 1,868 calories and minues the 20% came out to 1,494 calories. But if I went off of this calorie configuration I definetely wouldnt eat back the exercise calories right? I would probably only eat back (if any) of the exercise calories if I go off the sedentary right?

Ready for this! :) Yayyy! Thanks ahead of time for your thoughts!

Replies

  • Cassea7
    Cassea7 Posts: 181 Member
    I am glad you are joining. What is your height? I wouldnt choose sedentary personally..Its just not sustainable caloric intake. Are you truly sedentary.? Try to choose a reasonable activity level and try to move as much as possible..I joined in march and i started with 1300 cals and was starving and exhausted..after caculating my TDEE minus 20% is around 1800. I dont eat my exercise cals back..So if you chosse this method , which i believe is the best as I know that I can eat this amount for the rest of my life.

    I dont want to eat 1300 cals , just to lose weight and then stop and gain it back..This is a lifestyle change and it is easily doable if done properly.

    i suggest you eat whole foods that fill you up. i have lost 10 lbs and 5 inches of of my waist and 4 inches off hips.

    :flowerforyou:
  • Cassea7
    Cassea7 Posts: 181 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/680246-tdee-bmr-what-they-are-and-what-to-do-with-them
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    When I used the military calculator i got a really high bf% too. But the other calculators, which take more measurements, gave me much lower. I just averaged all of them (including what my scale said) and I used that number to calculate my TDEE. I think using more measurements is probably a better estimate if you dont get it measured professionally.

    Try that and you might get a much more reasonable number.
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    If you are going to do TDEE and eat back exercise calories WEAR a heart Rate Monitor!! And not one without a chest strap either. I would eat back only half because again even with a HRM it is only an estimate. Try it for a while, if it works for you stick with it. If it does't work for you then change your activity level and stop eating back. I tried what you are going to do an found I ate way too much. I am going with a higher activity level and sticking to that. To help I stopped tracking my calorie burns on here because it is too tempting for me to eat those back.

    You also have to remember with weight loss and your body changing your BMR and TDEE are going to change. I rework my number at the end of every month just to fine tune. No one can give you the exact answer, they can only give you advise on what works best for them.

    You are changing your lifestyle. It has to be manageable for YOU! Congrats on not waiting until Monday.
  • BuildingME7
    BuildingME7 Posts: 22 Member
    Thank you so much for you intake guys! I really appreciate it! :)

    My height is 5’0 and I am a preschool teacher. So yeah I wouldn’t say I was sedentary but I wanted to have a TDEE that did not incorporate the extra exercise activity. I do have a HRM and figured that I could use that to determine what exercise calories I will choose to intake back through my day. I will not want to eat them all back but probably say no more then half of what I burn that day, if I even want/need it. As of right now I set myself up at 1350 calories a day intake…When I have recently worked out (with my HRM) I burn an average of 230 calories (easy day) – over 700 calories and anywhere between. And I know even with a HRM its still an estimate. There is not certainty in what is exactly needed. I am a firm believer that you shouldn’t eat just to eat. Yes I believe it is healthy to have a good breakfast, lunch, dinner etc but I am not the one at the end of the night saying “Oh no I still have 200 calories I need to eat” When in reality I am truly not hungry. I am just starting up my journey again after a long couple of years of letting myself go…It is a journey and it is a lifestyle change. It is also a learning experience in knowing what MY body needs because we all are different. If I find myself losing to quickly I will up my calories because I do not want the weight to come back on and if I am not losing I will tweek as well. Everyone needs a starting point and can only go forward if they truly want it and are doing what they need too. I am thankful to have such a great opportunity to be a part of this site to see what others have had success with and what they haven’t. With all the information I can then tweek it to what is needed for myself and then I can have the chance to help someone else down the line with my experience. Happy I started and have not waited! :)
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    I'd suggest going with lightly active at the very least just based on your everyday activities. Teaching, especially preschool/kindergarten age kids, isn't the least bit sedentary!
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    I'd suggest going with lightly active at the very least just based on your everyday activities. Teaching, especially preschool/kindergarten age kids, isn't the least bit sedentary!

    I agree. I think using sedentary is not going to work well for you. I think you are going to find yourself hungry a lot.
  • BuildingME7
    BuildingME7 Posts: 22 Member
    I'm just nervous 1500 calories is to much. :/ I guess the eating high scares me but I need to get over it...with doing the light activity I shouldn't eat my exercise calories back right?

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