Another activity level question for TDEE

ModQuad · February 2014

I've been maintaining for a while now but I always feel like I'm "dieting" even though I'm not losing any more weight. I'm happy with the lifestyle changes I've made, but still very carefully monitor/log my eating and exercise. I don't like feeling like my exercise "earns" me calories, so I want to switch to a TDEE-based plan.

I've done TDEE before when training for a marathon (eating large quantities of food for fuel is STRESSFULL! but I know I was working hard so I trusted that I wouldn't put on weight, and I didn't). But now that my activity levels are more "normal" I'd like to try TDEE again. I'm just not sure of my activity level.

MONDAY: 1 hour (light exercise or a long walk or spin bike w/o resistance)
TUE/WED/FRIDAY: 1.5-2 hours (30 minute bike commute or 60 minute walk commute; 1 hour of moderate/intense spin bike)
THUDAY: 2.5-3 hours (30 minute bike commute or 60 minute walk commute; 1 hour moderate spin bike, 1 hour jog)
SATURDAY: 1-3 hours (varies, but usually about 1-2 hours moderate/intense outdoor cycling, plus MAYBE a 1 hour jog or 0.5 hour run if I have time, plus housework and gardening all day)
SUNDAY: 4-6 hours (also varies, but usually 4-6 hours moderate/intense outdoor cycling one weekend, then 4-6 hours hiking the next weekend.)

TOTAL: 15-19 hours

I've read on this forum that it's not an exact science, but the difference between just 2 activity levels in most TDEE calculators is, for me, sometimes 500-600 calories. If I can have 500 more calories per day, fantastic! I don't want to NOT eat those 500 calories, be in a deficit but not lose weight (I don't think I could lose more and I don't want to lose muscle!) and slow my metabolism too. That just sounds crazy when the alternative is enjoying 500 delicious "extra" calories.

ModQuad · February 2014

I just wanted to add that even though this is 7 days/wk exercise, at least - of those days is super light. Outside of these workouts and activities, I sit at a desk & don't have kids to chase around either !

PaytraB · February 2014

I had a hard time deciding my activity level as well.

I decided that anything "easy" and "short" wouldn't count. Those would be my fudge activities for when I overate.

Questions to ask yourself:
- which of these activities has you sweating?
- which of these activities raises your heart rate for a length of time?
- which of these strengthens muscles?
- which of these activities did you add since changing your lifestyle?

I'd be guessing here since I don't know the intensity of your activities:
- ignore the commutes
- ignore "light" exercise
- ignore housework
- count gardening only if its heavy and causes a sweat. For TDEE purposes, I'd probably ignore it.

Using this guide, I would count:

TUE/WED/FRIDAY: (1 hour of moderate/intense spin bike)
THUDAY: (1 hour moderate spin bike, 1 hour jog)
SATURDAY: 1-3 hours (varies, but usually about 1-2 hours moderate/intense outdoor cycling, plus MAYBE a 1 hour jog or 0.5 hour run if I have time)
SUNDAY: 4-6 hours (usually 4-6 hours moderate/intense outdoor cycling one weekend, then 4-6 hours hiking the next weekend.)

That's a lot of hours of activity each week (11-14 hours/week).

aleggett321 · February 2014

Basically what a TDEE calculator does is average your estimated calories burned from exercise over a period of time instead of day by day. You can do the same math since it sounds like you monitor your exercise pretty closely. Average the calories you would consider "earned" over a couple of weeks or more and add that to your base maintenance intake. That should give you a starting point for your daily total. Give it a few weeks and adjust up or down from there.

ModQuad · February 2014

I appreciate the insight! Averaging over a few weeks and adding that to base is an excellent idea.

As far as what "counts", my walk commutes are kind of tricky to figure. When I bike commute, my HR monitor says I've burned about 300cal on average while MFP says I've burned about twice that given my speed and duration. Clearly I trust the HR reading more than MFP. My HR monitor is a cycling specific though, so I have no clue what I burn when I walk to work which is more frequent now that it's snowy.

My weekend rides sometimes burn 2500cal (6hrs at elevated HR) which seems like a LOT to ad back to my intake even fuvided by 7.

aleggett321 · February 2014

I have read numerous posts that MFP way over estimates calories burned. The HRM should be pretty on for your cycling but if you think that's too much to add, maybe start with half of those in your average? And possibly a fraction of what MFP estimates for your walking commute? It seems like it would at least give you a target. Then if you find that you're losing again you can go up a hundred calories or so at a time til you find that maintenance amount. It may need some tweaking but doing TDEE has made me a lot happier than constantly changing my calories. Hope it works well for you too.

heybales · February 2014

Agreed with what is mentioned above - why would you want to estimate from 5 rough levels when you know exactly what your TDEE is?

Add up how much you eat daily over say 2 typical weeks, divide by the number of days.

Bam - average TDEE. Now eat that daily. Easy planning.

I will recommend though, if those rides are long, you do need more calories post ride, not spread throughout the week when you don't need them. So perhaps day before or after, cut back 100-200 calories, and eat those extras after the ride.

That way you don't even need HRM for calorie estimates, which isn't it's intended purpose. You can use it for what it was meant for - monitoring the HR. Confirm you are working just as hard.

Though, even that's false, because as you get more fit, you can do the same amount of work, or effort, or calorie burn in other words, with a lower HR. So even that's not true indicator.

aleggett321 · February 2014

Much simpler than what I said! Nicely done heybales!

Another activity level question for TDEE

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