Big favour: PLEASE work out my daily calorie allowance

Enter this into MFP and it will set your calories for you.

Since it's 42lbs you want to lose set weight loss goal for 1lb a week

Log your exercise and eat back 50-75% of those calories and your set.

If you really want to do the TDEE Method ensure you are logging accuratly, which means weighing food, measuring liquids, choosing the correct entries in the MFP database (no generic, no homemade, non * marked entries whenever possible) do this for about 3-4 weeks and then do this calculation

Total calories consumed+(weight lost x 3500)/# days then it's not an estimate.

What should my daily calorie allowance REALLY be? I want to lose 3 stone. (42lbs) as quickly and healthily as possible.

Given what you're describing I'd suggest just using the MFP calculation rather than faffing about with TDEE. All of the training that you talk about can be easily assessed in terms of energy expenditure using a Heart Rate Monitor, or even a smartphone tracking app.

Put your objectives into MFP and let it do the work.

BMR: 1980
TDEE:2723

no exercise at all TDEE: 2376

Thanks, but if my BMR is 1980. why has MFP given me a recommended daily intake of 1530? (I used their recommended settings, and was accurate in my details).

The 1530 will be 1000 below the estimated 2530 MFP calculated based on your BMR and activity level.. The 1000 comes from setting 2 lbs/week.

Edit: Also your BMR isn't specifically a factor in setting your calorie goal, it's just a large proportion of your daily expenditure. Anyone setting "sedentary" and "2lbs/week" is likely to get a target below their BMR - it's just maths.

BMR: 1980
TDEE:2723

Thanks, but if my BMR is 1980. why has MFP given me a recommended daily intake of 1530? (I used their recommended settings, and was accurate in my details).

Because MFP is a computer and doesn't take anything into account aside from the numbers you enter.

I'm 6 foot and 185 pounds at the moment.

I used to run about 20 miles per week up till I go injured in sept 2013 Then my wt was 174 pounds.

My daily calories whilst I was running and injured and laid up on the couch is between 2500 and 3500 this kept my wt at 174-178 whilst running but now after unable to run have gained 11 pounds to 185.

So I guess my maintenance level at the moment with out any exercise would be lets say 2000 calories per day.

So I will hazard a guess and say with your bigger build (6' 2") your maintenance will be lets say 2500 per day.

To lose 2 pounds per week you would need to reduce your intake to 1500 calories per day:

This means 1000 cals less per day or 7000 cals per week which is 7000 / 3600 = 1.94 pounds loss per week.

I've not taken into account your present exercises per week which have estimated as follows:

2 hours jog at mod pace of 11:5 min mile at a wt of 231 = 1886
1 hour fast walk at 4 mph at a wt of 231 = 524
2 hours of 10-12 mph cycling at a wt of 231 = 1257
giving you the total number of cals burned 3667 this is = to another 1 pound loss per week or you could use them burnt cals to eat a little more if you feel like it (upto 500 extra cals a day to take it to 2000)

Bypassing all the responses, has anyone told this dude to meet Scooby?

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

YES!

1400 is below the minimum recommended for men. That Min is at least 1800 calories a day.

recommended by whom, where. I was quoting a professional.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/USDAFoodPatterns/EstimatedCalorieNeedsPerDayTable.pdf

If he was 4-6 years old 1400 would e great...and sorry a TV show doesn't not qualify as a "professional" in dietary needs.

Bypassing all the responses, has anyone told this dude to meet Scooby?

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

Yes, thanks, but Scooby gave me a totally different calorie intake of 2347! Even I know that's too high. So what is the point of any of these sites if we can't trust them? I guess I just need to pay to see a nutritionist professional then. Surely if my BMR is X and MFP is telling me to eat a lot less than X then that is dangerous and there should be safeguards in place to stop the computer giving such stooooopid advice?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond, but with most of you saying completely conflicting things, I'm still no clearer what my healthy daily calorie intake should be

Unfortunately, no web site can magically examine your body and tell you exactly the right answer. They are all estimates. Therefore, you have to take those estimates and experiment with what works for you. If you eat 1500 calories and are starving, then eat 1800. If you are not losing weight at 1800, then drop it to 1700. You have to experiment until you figure out what works. And you really should be shooting for 1-1.5 lbs per week unless you want to be hungry all the time. Set MFP to 1 lb per week loss (as already recommended to you). You should lose weight, especially with the exercise you do.

I'm talking a vast range from 1800 up to 3000!

My suggestion is to eat a total of 2000 calories every day for a month. Don't eat more if you exercise. Don't eat less because you don't believe calculators. Just eat 2000 every day. You sound like the kind of person that wants things simple. I promise, you WILL NOT GAIN ANY FAT eating 2000 calories per day.

If after a month you aren't losing weight fast enough, drop it to 1800 every day.

Per this site: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

"If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low."

I dunno man, I think you're probably OK with the caloric intake. But I'm no personal trainer. A guy I train with swears by HIIT and chats me up about it a lot. HIIT is a lot of fun and it really torches you and kicks your metabolism in high gear.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/USDAFoodPatterns/EstimatedCalorieNeedsPerDayTable.pdf

If he was 4-6 years old 1400 would e great...and sorry a TV show doesn't not qualify as a "professional" in dietary needs.

He isn't American, so that's OK. Your table of estimated calorie requirements are "Estimated amounts of calories a needed to maintain calorie balance for various gender and age groups at three different levels of physical activity" and hence broadly useless for weight loss.

The professionals filmed on the show are professional, one's a well published researcher, see the screenshot above that shows their suggested intake. They prescribed a dietary restriction rather than an excessive exercise regime.

doesn't matter nationality 1800 calories is the minimum healthy recommened amount of calories for a grown man just because a lot of American men eat in excess doesn't mean that the science behind the recommendations are wrong.

But lets be frank you eat 1400 a day...you are slowly depriving your body of what it needs and losing lots of muscle in your process I actually think you need to seek professional help....and that isn't said to be mean it's actually out of conern

but if you are going to insist that caloric needs change due to nationality

Here

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5686e/y5686e00.pdf

Joint paper by Joint
FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Human Energy Requirements so World health org, United Nations etc and Published by Oxford university Press...check page 42..min for a man between the ages of 30 and 59.9 is 2100 calories and that is a small man who is not active

Bypassing all the responses, has anyone told this dude to meet Scooby?

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

Yes, thanks, but Scooby gave me a totally different calorie intake of 2347! Even I know that's too high. So what is the point of any of these sites if we can't trust them? I guess I just need to pay to see a nutritionist professional then. Surely if my BMR is X and MFP is telling me to eat a lot less than X then that is dangerous and there should be safeguards in place to stop the computer giving such stooooopid advice?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond, but with most of you saying completely conflicting things, I'm still no clearer what my healthy daily calorie intake should be

Unfortunately, no web site can magically examine your body and tell you exactly the right answer. They are all estimates. Therefore, you have to take those estimates and experiment with what works for you. If you eat 1500 calories and are starving, then eat 1800. If you are not losing weight at 1800, then drop it to 1700. You have to experiment until you figure out what works. And you really should be shooting for 1-1.5 lbs per week unless you want to be hungry all the time. Set MFP to 1 lb per week loss (as already recommended to you). You should lose weight, especially with the exercise you do.

Thanks for advice. Trouble is I'm not a patient man, but I do have strong willpower, so ignoring hunger hasn't been a problem. My goal is to get down to my target weight as quickly (realistically) as possible, then start maintaining with higher exercise and more calories to build muscle back up. (Like Christian Bale in that film 'The Machinist' - except without his good looks, money or talent

I agree with you on trying and experimenting with what works. So I'm ignoring MFP's computer stat of 1530 and sticking with 1870, see how that goes for a few weeks.

I think that's a very realistic number to start with. I agree with you about being impatient, I'm the same way. However, I turn into a serious grump when I get hungry, so I can't agree with you on the willpower thing lol.

Realize this tho if you don't fuel your body you will lose muscle along with the fat...not sure that's what you want...

You will be the weight on the scale but you probably wont like what you see...

1400 is below the minimum recommended for men. That Min is at least 1800 calories a day.

recommended by whom, where. I was quoting a professional.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/USDAFoodPatterns/EstimatedCalorieNeedsPerDayTable.pdf

If he was 4-6 years old 1400 would e great...and sorry a TV show doesn't not qualify as a "professional" in dietary needs.

I for one am definitely not going to argue with their credentials...

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ihs/people/profile/ashley.adamson
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/biomedicine/research/brc/profile/Roy.Taylor

Not sure how much more professional you could want :laugh:

I don't care what degree they have or where they went to school or where they work...if a "professional" is recommending a man eat under 1800 calories a day they are a quack...

Guess what you call a doctor who graduated last in their class....Doctor...letters behind names mean nothing if the knowledge isn't there...and if they don't stay current. All I am gonna say is...Dr. Oz...now that's a laugh...and so are these two if they recommend for a man...full grown man to eat under 1800 calories.

You didn't even look, did you?