TDEE calculation for me?

BMR 2075
TDEE 3216

Calories to lose 2lbs is 2412.

It seems like a lot of calories?

Hey! I am also just starting this. I have been eating 1200 calories, just upped it to 1350 and going to start eating all of my exercise calories back. According to my calculations my BMR is 1769 and my TDEE-20% is 2194. SO- i'm going to start with eating around 1769 and prob work up to eating 2194. It seems high to me too, but I think we're used to seeing such low number like 1200/1400. I just friended someone who has helped me a lot thus far and she suggested going to eating more to weigh less board on MFP. There is lots of good info, I've been scowering it for a few days. Best of luck! Oh my stats so you can compare
225lbs
5'3
I workout 5-6/week (30-60 minutes at a time)

I do the MFP calculation + exercise calories method, but it ends up being about the same thing.

MFP gives me 1790 per day (I'm 5'6", 203, 36 down so far), and I burn on average about 2000 cal per week. My TDEE is 2521, -20% 2016.

I went back over the last 7 days and averaged out my calories - 2003 per day, so right on the nose.

I've been averaging 1-1.5 pounds per week since late September, and that includes taking most of December "off" from counting and not really exercising until about 8 weeks ago.

You'd be surprised how much you can eat and still lose weight, as long as you are meticulous about your tracking.

Well, you've got two months of data on how your body actually works (rather than how an online calculator predicts the body of the average person with your stats should work). I'm assuming you started toward the beginning of January, so these numbers assume 8 weeks to lose 11 pounds.

1400 kcal/day X 7 = 9800
9800 + 2500 (b/c you said you were eating your exercise calories and burning 2500 a week from exercis) = 12300 kcal consumed per week
11 lbs lost in roughly two months = about 1.375 (one and an eighth) lbs per week = about 4800 kcal deficit per week
12300 + 4800 = 17,100 kcal per week for maintenance, or 2443 per day for maintenance

2443 - 10% = about 2200 kcal/day
2443 - 15% = about 2075 kcal/day
2443 - 20% = about 1950 kcal/day


ETA: These calculations already account for your exercise level, so you would not eat any exercise calories back.

2lbs per week is hard to sustain long term. I've had weeks where I've lost 2 lbs (or more), but as a set goal it can be hard to maintain.

I was just going to say MFP method usually equals TDEE-20%...

and yes log accurately which means get a digital scale and log every bite and choose the correct entries...(make sure the nutrional values make sense)

Nice to know I am estimating my activity multiplier correctly then

BMR 2075
TDEE 3216

Calories to lose 2lbs is 2412.

It seems like a lot of calories?

Your calories to lose 2 Lbs per week would be 2,216...that would be 1000 calorie deficit from your TDEE. 2,412 is TDEE - 25%...roughly 1.5 Lbs per week.

What are you typically eating with MFP including your exercise calories?

I would suggest maybe you just stick with what you're doing...the method should really not make any difference...it's pretty much 6 of 1 for the most part. You're not going to have linear losses regardless of method. This is a very long process, not an overnight one. It is very cliche...but this is a marathon, not a sprint. It took me the better part of 9 months to lose about 40 Lbs...as a matter of perspective, it took me the better part of a decade to put those pounds on.

Just a comparison of the methods with my numbers...my MFP to lose 1 Lb per week was 1850...plus exercise I generally ate around 2100 - 2200 calories. My TDEE is roughly 2700 calories...my TDEE - 20% to lose about 1 lb per week was 2,160. As you can see...pretty much 6 of 1

Thanks for the reply cwolfman13, that makes a lot of sense.

Typically I was netting 1400 a day, which I think must be too low?

So I'm aiming for a net goal of 1650 now, and see how I go.. then try and up it again in a week or so?

Not sure if I'm doing it right, I feel like I'm eating a lot, but then I'm burning a lot more than normal too!

Just feels wrong in a way.. I guess I'm used to eating a lot less and being hungry to lose weight, when it's not the best way.

It depends on what you're doing. When I started on here it was advised I go on 1200 cals per day. I'm 5' 4" and already within a healthy weight range. 1200 is so close to my BMR, it felt like an uphill struggle. Because I was a bit out of shape it was OK at first, but as I did higher intensity workouts I found my performance dipped so I wasn't getting the full benefit of the cardio anyway. Bit of a waste of time (except for teaching me portion control). Obviously if you're doing more activity then you need to eat more, but as I said it depends on what you're doing. I'll spare you the story of my conversion to heavy lifting (especially as there's loads of threads on here about exactly that), but you WILL burn more calories while resting than if you just do cardio. And you can eat a lot more. So it's a win-win decision for me, to be honest!

Odds are that if you think this is a lot of calories compared to what you normally eat, you aren't doing a good enough job tracking your intake and/or are overestimating your exercise calories burned.

I didn't really start having good success until I had a scale (and used it) instead of eyeballing and bought a heart rate monitor to use to track burn instead of relying on MFP (or worse, the exercise machines) to tell me what I burned.

Be honest with your intake though....that is where most people "lie" to themselves...and if you are going to do that, why even bother with the effort?

As for lifting weights, is this a good way to help me get a better body? The weight on the scales is annoying me, but overall I want a better look, and not to be skinny fat.

I read that you can't build muscle whilst at a calorie deficit, so presumed cardio was the way to go, rather than weights?

Thanks for the input!

Lifting weights is a great way to get a better body.

The weight on the scale is actually irrelevant for most who lift...

And no you can't build muscle while in a deficet (few exceptions but you aren't one) but you can maintain the muscle you have.

If you don't do some sort of resistence training and eat enough protien the weight you are losing is fat and muscle...

I lift weights 3x a week and I weigh 161lbs and wear a size 7...just for perspective. There are tonnes of threads with pics of women who do lift as well.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

check the link above out...