Lifters - does this look right?

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fruity2
fruity2 Posts: 66 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Have been inspired by all the ladies on here who lift. I'm keen to get started at home, so will look up programmes to start with (I have free weights at home). I find it difficult to get enough protein in, so will opt to add protein shakes (problem solved re the protein).

However, when checking out some figures, this is what I came up against (for my age/height/weight)

TDEE 1774 (for fat loss)
BMR 1518
Maintenance 2087

GRAMS per day
CARBS 221.4
PROTEIN 116.9
FAT 46.8
FIBER 34 - 42
CALORIES 1774

Question: MFP suggests 1200 cals per day. I'm happy to eat more, yet a tad nervous eating 1774 cals. Which do I choose?

Also, do I only eat 1774 cals on days when I'm lifting? Or do I stick to 1200 and then just eat my exercise cals back? I'm a tad confused.

Thanking you.

Replies

  • Khukhullatus
    Khukhullatus Posts: 361 Member
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    So, a lot of that is sort of going to be . . . maybe not subjective, but will depend on who you're asking what response you get. IMHO, nothing there looks nutty. I think you have the right idea. As far as the "eating your calories back" is concerned, that is basically how I do it. I eat my 1600 a day, then if I do some serious extra workout, I compensate a bit since I know my body needs it to recover.

    Two suggestions though. First, I think MFP is ludicrously generous on the calories burned during an exercise session. I'd try a few different sources and see what you can come up with for your most accurate number of calories burned. Secondly, be sure not to count workout calories twice. Lots of people put themselves down as "very active" because of regular workouts, then also deduct the calories for the workout, it's an easy way to accidentally cheat yourself.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
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    Your TDEE and maintenance calories should be the same - they're the calories you burn during a day. I'm guessing that you're looking at a TDEE - x% method and the "TDEE" figure is the one you are planning to eat at? That would give you a deficit of 300 calories. If you've factored your exercise into your calculations, then you would eat that figure every day, regardless of whether it was a lifting day.

    If you prefer the MFP method you can get much the same result by changing to half a pound a week weight loss, and eating back (most of) your exercise calories. (I say "most of", because with a small deficit you're cutting it quite fine and don't want to overestimate). That would give you a deficit of 250 calories a week (slightly less than your calculation, so weight loss would be marginally slower), and would mean that you could eat more on lifting days if that's what you plan to do.

    The reason MFP is giving you 1200 calories is because you've set it to lose more than half a pound a week. There isn't really much difference between the TDEE- x% method and the MFP method - both create a deficit. It's just that most people find they can eat more (and lose more slowly) on the TDEE method because they'd previously set MFP at a bigger deficit. (This confused me, because I had MFP set to half a pound a week when I started TDEE- 20% and found that I had to eat less!).
  • fruity2
    fruity2 Posts: 66 Member
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    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    So, a lot of that is sort of going to be . . . maybe not subjective, but will depend on who you're asking what response you get. IMHO, nothing there looks nutty. I think you have the right idea. As far as the "eating your calories back" is concerned, that is basically how I do it. I eat my 1600 a day, then if I do some serious extra workout, I compensate a bit since I know my body needs it to recover.

    Two suggestions though. First, I think MFP is ludicrously generous on the calories burned during an exercise session. I'd try a few different sources and see what you can come up with for your most accurate number of calories burned. Secondly, be sure not to count workout calories twice. Lots of people put themselves down as "very active" because of regular workouts, then also deduct the calories for the workout, it's an easy way to accidentally cheat yourself.
    Thanks, will keep this in mind and check out some other sites for cal burned :) Oh, and yes, I get what you mean by "very active" and then cals burned. I think I've been one of those peeps in the past - woops

  • fruity2
    fruity2 Posts: 66 Member
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    Vailara wrote: »
    Your TDEE and maintenance calories should be the same - they're the calories you burn during a day. I'm guessing that you're looking at a TDEE - x% method and the "TDEE" figure is the one you are planning to eat at? That would give you a deficit of 300 calories. If you've factored your exercise into your calculations, then you would eat that figure every day, regardless of whether it was a lifting day.

    If you prefer the MFP method you can get much the same result by changing to half a pound a week weight loss, and eating back (most of) your exercise calories. (I say "most of", because with a small deficit you're cutting it quite fine and don't want to overestimate). That would give you a deficit of 250 calories a week (slightly less than your calculation, so weight loss would be marginally slower), and would mean that you could eat more on lifting days if that's what you plan to do.

    The reason MFP is giving you 1200 calories is because you've set it to lose more than half a pound a week. There isn't really much difference between the TDEE- x% method and the MFP method - both create a deficit. It's just that most people find they can eat more (and lose more slowly) on the TDEE method because they'd previously set MFP at a bigger deficit. (This confused me, because I had MFP set to half a pound a week when I started TDEE- 20% and found that I had to eat less!).

    Thanks! I've upped my cals using the MFP and dropped my goal from 1kg to .5kg to lose per week, to get the extra cals, kept it at sedentary, and will eat some (not all) of my exercise cals back. This makes more sense now :)
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Also, do I only eat 1774 cals on days when I'm lifting? Or do I stick to 1200 and then just eat my exercise cals back? I'm a tad confused.

    if you do MFP's NEET method- you would eat back calories burned from exercising.

    If you do a TDEE method- no- you do not eat back calories- you eat the same amount all the time.

    I switched in October from eat back to TDEE_ it IS easier- not having to worry about calculating burns... down side- when you have a hard workout- it sucks because you want to eat more... but you can't. womp womp- sad panda face... But as someone pointed out above- you're numbers would should be about the same for either method if you averaged them out for the week.

  • sandrop329
    sandrop329 Posts: 26 Member
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    Forget what MFP says. Eat your 1774 on workout days. You CAN eat a little less (maybe 200 less) on rest days but that is not completely necessary. Try eating 1774 every day for a couple of weeks and see how your body responds - adjust as needed. Put in 1 calorie for exercise. Do NOT trust what MFP tells you for calorie burn. If you want to know your calorie burn get a good HRM. Still eat a gross of 1774. Recalculate your numbers every 8-10lbs you lose. Good luck!!
  • CorlissaEats
    CorlissaEats Posts: 493 Member
    edited January 2015
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    What you have listed as your TDEE is actually your TDEE minus 15%. TDEE means total daily energy expenditure.

    Stay away from 1200 cals, especially if your TDEE is estimated at 2087. Thats an 887 Calorie deficit! Deficits of 500 cals per day are within the realm of healthy. General rule of thumb should be eat at least your BMR, especially true if you plan on being at a deficit for a while or have a lot to lose. Its the number your body needs just to be in a coma or sleep state.
  • paj315
    paj315 Posts: 335 Member
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    There's tons of different opinions on what works best I can tell what has been working for me. I lift heavy 3-4 times a week and am currently losing.
    On lifting days I eat at my full TDEE 225c/75f/175p that's meant to support your performance and recovery for lifting.
    On rest days I cut my carbs back to 125g keep the other macros the same. This is where fat loss comes in. This has been working well for me, I'm averaging one pound a week loss.
    I log my workouts in MFP but change the calories burned to 1 calorie (because it won't let you use zero) because my workouts are already figured into my TDEE. Hope that helps!!
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    paj315 wrote: »
    There's tons of different opinions on what works best I can tell what has been working for me. I lift heavy 3-4 times a week and am currently losing.
    On lifting days I eat at my full TDEE 225c/75f/175p that's meant to support your performance and recovery for lifting.
    On rest days I cut my carbs back to 125g keep the other macros the same. This is where fat loss comes in. This has been working well for me, I'm averaging one pound a week loss.
    I log my workouts in MFP but change the calories burned to 1 calorie (because it won't let you use zero) because my workouts are already figured into my TDEE. Hope that helps!!

    Semantics but if you change your carbs- and keep everything else the same- that means you're changing the amount you eat daily- then you aren't doing TDEE.
  • fruity2
    fruity2 Posts: 66 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    down side- when you have a hard workout- it sucks because you want to eat more... but you can't. womp womp- sad panda face... But as someone pointed out above- you're numbers would should be about the same for either method if you averaged them out for the week.
    Oh I so get the "want to eat more" days - ouch, hate those days, they usually trip me up. Thanks for the info, the biggest 'aha' (or is that DOH!) moment came when you said the numbers should be the same for either method if you average them out.

    sandrop329 wrote: »
    Forget what MFP says. Eat your 1774 on workout days. You CAN eat a little less (maybe 200 less) on rest days but that is not completely necessary. Try eating 1774 every day for a couple of weeks and see how your body responds - adjust as needed. Put in 1 calorie for exercise. Do NOT trust what MFP tells you for calorie burn. If you want to know your calorie burn get a good HRM. Still eat a gross of 1774. Recalculate your numbers every 8-10lbs you lose. Good luck!!

    Thanks! :smiley: Will do the 1 cal for exercise, thanks for that tip.
    CorlissaEats wrote: »
    What you have listed as your TDEE is actually your TDEE minus 15%. TDEE means total daily energy expenditure.

    Stay away from 1200 cals, especially if your TDEE is estimated at 2087. Thats an 887 Calorie deficit! Deficits of 500 cals per day are within the realm of healthy. General rule of thumb should be eat at least your BMR, especially true if you plan on being at a deficit for a while or have a lot to lose. Its the number your body needs just to be in a coma or sleep state.

    Thanks for the info about BMR. That makes sense!

    I'm going to have to 'try' different ways to see how my body responds, and the results I get from it. Thank you every one for the info and different ways to look at it. I get it now. No wonder I was getting all confused! I never looked at it as different ways of approaching it, but can see that which ever way I use, I will have to make sure I don't double up on the exercise cals burned - and EAT them! Unless I'm meant to ;)

    Yay, feel so much more organised now. Now all I have to do is play around to see which way is for me.

    Thanks so much for all the info !!!
  • paj315
    paj315 Posts: 335 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    paj315 wrote: »
    There's tons of different opinions on what works best I can tell what has been working for me. I lift heavy 3-4 times a week and am currently losing.
    On lifting days I eat at my full TDEE 225c/75f/175p that's meant to support your performance and recovery for lifting.
    On rest days I cut my carbs back to 125g keep the other macros the same. This is where fat loss comes in. This has been working well for me, I'm averaging one pound a week loss.
    I log my workouts in MFP but change the calories burned to 1 calorie (because it won't let you use zero) because my workouts are already figured into my TDEE. Hope that helps!!

    Semantics but if you change your carbs- and keep everything else the same- that means you're changing the amount you eat daily- then you aren't doing TDEE.

    Um I said TDEE on Lifting days. Deficit is only on rest days, which is created by cutting back the carbs only on rest days.

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