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lcarter26
lcarter26 Posts: 24
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all

I just want a few general opinions.

I exercise at least 3 times a week (spinning, aqua aerobics and swimming, and lbt or bootcamp) and sometimes for 4 or 5 (ballet, zumba, street dance).

I have definitely gotten smaller - however not lighter (muscle maybe). This is not a problem for me (anymore) as I am going by how I look.

The problem I have is how much do I eat? My MFP tells me 1200 and eat back calories burnt but when I did the TDEE as recommended by someone it said eat 3178!! Which is crazy.

My BMR was 1620.95.then when I times it by 1.55 it said 2512.

How much do people think I should be eating?

I am open to all opinions :)

Replies

  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
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    If you have been aiming for losing weight there is not a chance you have gained muscle. Body weight fluctuates all the time from food, water retention etc so don't beat yourself up if the scale doesn't move. I had a 10lb difference in body weight over the course of a day because I had so much fish after weighing myself the first day. If you are getting smaller then it's working, that's all that matters.
  • Pinkranger626
    Pinkranger626 Posts: 460 Member
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    So the 2512 that you got is the amount of calories that you would need to eat to stay where you are and maintain your current state. If you are looking to lose (1-2 lbs per week is a healthy goal) you'll want to create a deficit. As you're already active, I would create the deficit in your calorie consumption.

    Typically you want to subtract 350-500 calories per day for a healthy weight loss, so your calorie consumption should be around 2,012 kcal per day. If you're going to be consuming this number you don't want to then eat back your exercise calories because then you'll be eating more than that. Typically I pay attention to my food calorie number, don't enter in exercise at all (since the Harris Benedicts equation already accounts for your activity level) and make sure I reach my goal calories, in your case, it would be 2,012 calories per day.

    If you want to add in your exercise then I would pay attention to your food number only. If you want to eat back your exercise calories then you want to make sure that you keep at least the 350-500 deficit through exercise. I'm a personal trainer, fitness instructor, and runner and I found that I was making myself crazy with trying to eat back exercise calories and keeping the balanced deficit. So not paying attention to anything but the amount of calories that I'm putting in my mouth works best for me. Play around with the way you figure out your total calories and see what works best for you.

    apparently I cannot type this morning
  • lcarter26
    lcarter26 Posts: 24
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    ok thanks guys

    I think I will stick to the 1200 on non active days and just eat back my calories on exercise days still making sure there is at least a 500 calorie deficit :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    ok thanks guys

    I think I will stick to the 1200 on non active days and just eat back my calories on exercise days still making sure there is at least a 500 calorie deficit :)

    eating 1200 plus exercise calories does give you a deficit.

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