Need Help With TDEE Badly!

YouHadMyCuriosity
YouHadMyCuriosity Posts: 218 Member
in Getting Started
My goal is to lose approximately 15lbs, while maintaining lean muscle. Over time, I want to get to a lower body fat percentage as my ultimate goal.

I have no idea where to start with TDEE! Googling it gives all sorts of conflicting results- "Most people are sedentary", "if you are not bed ridden, you are most likely lightly active"....

I have always thought of myself as sedentary because I like to lounge around in the mornings, but since starting my fitness journey a month ago, I am logging an average of 12,000 steps a day on my pedometer, and doing 30 minutes of kettlebells workouts 3x a week- on the day I don't do the kettlebells, I usually do about 15 minutes of calisthenics or yoga. I am starting out very out of shape, so this is the max I can do right now, but I already feel myself getting stronger!

Since my goal is to (eventually, I know you can't do both at the same time) gain muscle and burn fat, with only about 15 pounds to lose) I don't want to over or under eat. The problem is, when I put in sedentary, lightly active, or moderately active (which I know for sure I don't qualify for, though would like to eventually!) the calorie count is vastly different.

So which activity level would you put me as? All opinions welcome.

Replies

  • shirieshipp
    shirieshipp Posts: 20 Member
    what do you do for a living?
  • AverageUkDude
    AverageUkDude Posts: 371 Member
    put it like this, if you manage to get out of bed to take a **** in the morning, your not sedentary, as that will put you on 1200 cals.

    Google Scoobies TDEE calculator, plug your details in, try yourself on those calories for 4 weeks, and adjust up/down appropriately, try and keep your activity levels the same throughout.
  • changing4life
    changing4life Posts: 193 Member
    I'm probably not the most knowledgeable at this, but i would start at lightly active. Eat those calories (but not any exercise calories). give yourself several weeks to see if the scale moves. If you gain, reduce the number of calories you eat by 50 or so a day, until you find the spot where you start losing. If you never lose, and the scale is stuck, maybe you need to adjust your calorie level to have more calories. Any calculator you use is just an estimate. Everyone's body is different, and you just have to experiment until you find the right ratio of calories to exercise...
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
    Google Scoobies TDEE calculator, plug your details in, try yourself on those calories for 4 weeks, and adjust up/down appropriately, try and keep your activity levels the same throughout.

    I like Scroobies cause they have the exercise in hours done per week not just moderate etc (which was causing me hellofa confusion!)

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • YouHadMyCuriosity
    YouHadMyCuriosity Posts: 218 Member
    Right now, we just moved overseas due to my husband's military career, and I am waiting for my interview clothes to come in so I am temporarily a bum :) I was a Marketing Director before we moved, I worked from home a lot, but spent most of the time pacing while on the phone. But I am going to start working again next month, and going back to school next semester to get my Master's degree. I anticipate that in the time I am in school, I will be working part time, but it will most likely be a desk job.

    One factor is that I live in Hawaii, so my "steps per day" count will definitely not decrease from 12K- you do a lot of walking out here, since parking is a pain in the butt!
  • YouHadMyCuriosity
    YouHadMyCuriosity Posts: 218 Member
    put it like this, if you manage to get out of bed to take a **** in the morning, your not sedentary, as that will put you on 1200 cals.

    Google Scoobies TDEE calculator, plug your details in, try yourself on those calories for 4 weeks, and adjust up/down appropriately, try and keep your activity levels the same throughout.

    I definitely know that 1200 calories is not enough for me- that is why I want to figure out my TDEE. I just tried that website- thanks! It says my TDEE should be around 2100- holy crap! I will do that TDEE - 20% for a month and see what happens :)
  • Docpremie
    Docpremie Posts: 228 Member
    Go to heybales profile page & look for the link to his Excel spreadsheet. It's a few lines down from "About Me." The spreadsheet is great! I've been using it for 8 months now & have lost tons of weight, as has my family. The instructions are at the top of the document. You change the values in "yellow" & the others will adjust to give you your %BF, BMR, TDEE & macro goals. It also allows you to enter your activity in "hours." I redo my numbers monthly or after I've lost 5 pounds. The second tab also allows you to track your values over time, so everything is in one simple spreadsheet!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/heybales
  • FerretBuellerr
    FerretBuellerr Posts: 468 Member
    Go to heybales profile page & look for the link to his Excel spreadsheet. It's a few lines down from "About Me." The spreadsheet is great! I've been using it for 8 months now & have lost tons of weight, as has my family. The instructions are at the top of the document. You change the values in "yellow" & the others will adjust to give you your %BF, BMR, TDEE & macro goals. It also allows you to enter your activity in "hours." I redo my numbers monthly or after I've lost 5 pounds. The second tab also allows you to track your values over time, so everything is in one simple spreadsheet!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/heybales

    Cool info! Bumping to read later!
  • bluelena
    bluelena Posts: 304 Member
    Google Scoobies TDEE calculator, plug your details in, try yourself on those calories for 4 weeks, and adjust up/down appropriately, try and keep your activity levels the same throughout.

    I like Scroobies cause they have the exercise in hours done per week not just moderate etc (which was causing me hellofa confusion!)

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    THIS. I like that I can control my activity level by working out more or less. Recently, I added up a few weeks' workout times and found out that I had been shorting myself several minutes. Bumped workout time back up, and progress resumed.
  • sola24
    sola24 Posts: 334 Member
    bump
  • YouHadMyCuriosity
    YouHadMyCuriosity Posts: 218 Member
    Thanks everyone!

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