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

Just wanted to check my workings hope that's ok
I've used the scooby workshop link and get a BMR of 1575 so that's what i have set my calorie goal in MFP to
i also have bf% scales that say i am 40%bf I've used the tape methods too but know they are pretty inaccurate
I've used the macro calculators you have set out and get 25% protein 25% fat and the rest carbs so 40%

i workout 6 days a week with Sundays as rest days and weds as single workout days i net 1000 on double workout days and 1800 on rest days and burn 500-1000calories in exercise cals.

By putting 1575 as my calorie goal and logging my exercise as then eating goal and 50% exercise calories with those macro % should that get me about where i aim to be?
I'm 162cms, 26yo, 172lbs, apparently 40%bf, bmi 29, waist 83cm neck 33.7cm, hips 97cm and my diary is open but all over the place this past month while i work things out

I just recently joined but have been reading a lot on these threads - shouldn't you be basing your caloric intake on TDEE, not BMR? BMR is the calories you need to LIVE, like, if you are bed ridden. That would make your target way too low and you'll end up being lathargic, etc. For me, my BMR is ~35% less than my TDEE.

Sorry in advance, but can someone please dumb this down for me? I read through the original post a few times and I am not getting it. These letters and acronyms are so confusing to me.

I'm afraid that I'm not taking in enough calories/I'm burning too many and not taking enough back in.

MFP originally had me at 1400 cal (50% carb, 30% fat, 20% protein). I just started doing Insanity in the evenings (burning around 450-650 cals) and I'm also doing T25 in the morning (burning around 200-500 cals), and I go to the gym with my sister on Sat and use some of the machines. Because of this I upped my number to 1660, but I think that I should be taking in more because the last 3 days my deficit has ranged between 500-1,125 cals. I guess I just need some advice. It was easier when I was just doing the T25 program in the morning, but now that I've added a new workout series, it's complicated things a bit. I can't seem to wrap my brain around it.

The Insanity Food Guide said I should be eating 1900 cals a day (I used the math equation they had in the book), but that sounds like a lot of food. I'm a 26 y/o female who currently weighs 145.5 pounds and I work out about 60-70 mins Mon-Sat.

My sister told me to use a protein powder to bump up my calories, and I started eating a heavier breakfast, but I'm not sure if that will be enough. I'm afraid of messing up my progress, but I don't want to quit my exercise programs because they challenge me and I enjoy them.

Is 1900 cals what I should eat for the entire day, not eating back the exercise cals lost? Or is 1900 what I should be eating for the entire day, including eating back some of the exercise cals lost, making my number really be like 2400 cals?