I am so grateful I found this forum. Following the OP's TDEE and Macro calculations, I got:

TDEE: 1700cals/day
My current weight is 103lbs.
I workout 2 to 3x a week (HIIT and weights), but I just started 2 months ago, and I lost 5lbs then. I eat clean like 80% of the time. I make sure I get enough Protein, and monitor my carbs. I set MFP to 1200 cals a day but I dont stress myself if I go over a few. I also eat my exercise back. Problem is I don't know my body fat percentage. I have a small frame (5'1" and 25 yrs old), a lot of people's telling me that I'm too skinny but I still have fats around my thighs, arms and most specially my mid section. If it would help, leggings from Abercrombie kids would fit me(probably the largest size) and for adult size I usually get size 2 for jeans and XS for tops. I have seen some gains since I started lifting weights, I'm more toned now (but i want more lean gains so I dont look like Im a 25 yr old girl locked in a body of a 16 yr old) and I'm aiming to work on my abs. I do have "morning abs" most of the time (when I eat healthier) but it disappears after my first heavy meal, so I think I still have to lower my BF%.

My questions are:
-Should I still do caloric deficit so I can lower my BF%? I'm scared I'll be too skinny and also, I've read that trying to gain muscles while in a caloric deficit isn't such a good idea. Im scared to go caloric surplus to get more lean gains but I am thinking about doing a maintenance.
-do i still lose BF% in my mid section if I do caloric maintenance and works out like 3x a week?

Couple of things.

- a lot of peoples abs kind of disappear towards the evening after they have eaten, I know mine do.(which is why my head is cut off half the time in my pics...I usually take pics first thing in the morning and nobody wants to see my face when I have just woken up!)

- if I were you I would eat at maintenance and recomp . It's slower than bulking, but you do not gain fat that way - you basically lose fat and gain muscle. Also, depending on how long you have been lifting for, you can make newb gains, so it may be quicker than people who have been lifting for longer.

Thanks a lot. I've started the maintenance calories 2 weeks ago, and eating 1700 calories a day made me stronger and healthier compared to the days where I use to eat 1200. I still lift 3-4x a week and incorporate cardio every now and then during these "lifting days". I gained 2-3lbs in the past 2 weeks and now weighing 105lbs. Should I be alarmed?

And one more thing, I don't record any exercise or workouts on MFP, because someone told me that I don't have to eat back the calories I burned from exercise since 1700 is the estimated caloric intake based on my activity level, so I stick with 1700 with or without exercise. Is that right?

Hi looking for some help setting my calorie and macro target.

I started using MFP generated recommended calorie intake of 1200 but thought this was a bit low so used the scooby website to estimate my TDEE (1966) and BMR (1429) and upped my calories target to 1400 but is this still too low? i am not eating back any of the exercise calories as they are factored into the TDEE.

On the macros was again using the MFP generated suggestions of 50%carb, 30% fat and 20%protein. I thought this was too much fat so recently changed it to 50%carb, 25% fat, 25% protein. However scooby website suggests 45%carb, 35%protein, 20%fat. So now i'm a bit confused. I have just started the stronglifts programme so think I should be eating more protein but is 35% too much?

I'm 5ft3, 145 lbs. Don't know an accurate body fat percentage but the tape measure method gives me 30%+.

Sorry for all the questions!

Do wish I had found this group earlier but its never too late

So from these calculations, using my total body weight of 181 lbs and approximately 26% BF my macros should be:

Protein: 1 x 181 CW x .74 (LBM) = 134g x 4 calories = 536 calories dividied by 1700 (calories target) =31% (rounded to 30%)
Fat: 0.35 x 181 = 63.35g x 9 calories =570 calories divided by 1700 = 34% (rounded to 35%)
Carbs: balance of 35%

So set the macro's to 35/30/35 and see how I get on

As a plus this looks like it will enable a higher cheese ratio on a given day :-)

Is your calorie target including exercise calories or do you add that to it?

I use the MFP NEAT system and eat back calories burnt. I use an HRM and then net them based on the fact that I would still be burning if I wasn't exercising.

I lose pretty consistently around the 1 lb per week (current target) this way. I do 20 mins cardio and 30-40 mins weights (dumbbells) 3 times a week but know I should increase this.

Wasn't surprised that my calories were low because I do live a pretty much sedentary lifestyle because I drive for 8 - 10 hours per day

Is the 1,700 including the exercise cals you eat back or are they on top of that?

Sorry I completely missed this response

1,700 is my base calories and I eat back whatever I gain from exercise so am eating anything from 1900 to 2200 on exercise days