Hi! Just a couple questions :)

If your body fat is relatively high -- as many of ours is when we first start out here -- then it's likely you can lose weight at TDEE-20% without risking losing much lean muscle mass. Especially if you're working out three times a week. Is some of that exercise some form of strength training? Anyway, I think a 20% deficit is perfectly reasonable and not overly aggressive.

Remember if you custom-set your goals to TDEE-20%, don't log your exercise or eat back exercise calories on top of that, since that would be double counting. You've already accounted for that exercise in your calorie goal, so make sure you do it regularly! By the way, that answers your question about MFP's estimated burns versus a heart rate monitor; the question is moot if you're using TDEE since you don't need to log exercise with that system, so it doesn't really matter how many calories you burn per workout. All that matters is whether you're losing weight at the predicted rate. Stick with it for a couple of months, remember that your first two weeks or so might have faster losses due to water weight coming off, and there are fluctuations all the time. But after the first two weeks, see what you're trending on a weekly basis, and after 6-8 weeks of that, you can adjust your calories upward or downward based on actual results. For instance, if the calorie calculator tells you that 20% should result in a 0.6lb/week loss, and you're actually seeing 1lb/week, then eat more calories.

Don't worry about being all that exact with your macros. Just find the percentage breakdown that's closest to them and stick with that. Unless you're training at a highly advanced level, there's no benefit to being all that precise. Just aim to come within +/- 5% of that macro breakdown on a weekly basis, and you should get a good balance of nutrition.

Good luck!

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/926789/protein-sources/p1

BTW, here is a good list of protein sources that might help you.

If you use a TDEE calculator you are supposed to incorporate exercise as part of the equation but not eat back exercise calories.

There are vegetarian protein powders out there, too, I've even seen them at Costco. I was going to warn about double-dipping calories but you've gotten straight on that.

As far as a heart rate monitor goes, definitely get one if you want to be fairly accurate on your calorie burns. You can choose the exercise that fits in MFP's list and then just overwrite the calorie burn MFP gives with what your HRM displays. After, entering that exercise seems to go off of what you entered before. Expect that your calorie burns will decrease over time. As you lose mass, you'll burn less calories doing the same exercise. Your body also gets more efficient.

Strength training is definitely the way to go. HIIT can be great but nothing beats lifting heavy things and putting them down again for building and maintaining muscle mass.

psulemon wrote: »

It's simple. If you use the TDEE method, you include exercise up front. If you use MFP you eat back exercise calories. In the end, it works out to be about the same calories over the week. Personally, i like the TDEE method. So I would just eat 1600 calories daily for 4 to 6 week and see how results are. I like this method because you eat the same goal daily which makes it easier to plan and calculate your true TDEE after 4 to 6 weeks.

It's really not that confusing once you start to do it.

I'm in the "log my exercise when I do it" camp because I'm not consistent with my workouts unless I'm training for a race. Even then I run an increasing number of miles each week and a different number of miles each day so it's not a consistent calorie burn. I have MFP set to sedentary because I have a desk job. I log my calories from running and give myself a few extra on the days I lift weights, which doesn't really burn much but is so great for other reasons.

eapple87 wrote: »

That does make much more sense but just wondering if you set it at 3 exercises per week and then exercise 5 times that week wouldn't the calories be too low?

Nope, because like I said, MFP doesn't do anything with the 3 exercises per week number. It's not including it into your base calorie goal. Whenever you log exercise -- 3 times, 5 times, whenever -- it "rewards" you with more calories to eat on top of that base goal.

Just ignore the 3 times per week thing, or set it to 0. It's completely irrelevant.

Exercise however often you exercise, log it each time, and you'll get the extra calories to eat whenever you do.

eapple87 wrote: »

I meant for the tdee when I set my tdee to three exercises weekly if I exceed that wouldn't it be inaccurate. But it's irrelevant because I'm going to stick with the mfp. Seems more geared to ppl like me who need to be held accountable for their exercises by logging.

Well if you follow the TDEE method and you exercised more one week then you could add in a few more calories later or just enjoy the additional weight loss. But if you became more consistent with exercising 5 days then you recalculate your deficit. Honestly, it would be another 150 or 250 calories additional.

In the end, pick a method and adjust. They are all basic calculation and may have to be adjusted. MFP suggest with 6 hours of exercise that i will maintain at 2500 calories. In reality i maintain at 3000.