KelseyPalmtree wrote: »

Instead of figuring out all the TDEE and getting confused with whether or not to enter exercise calories, wouldn't it be simpler to set your goals at your BMR, and then log your exercise? That's what I'm trying, at least.

I figured out that my BMR is 1715, so that's my net goal, and if I workout, then I eat back those calories.

Am I missing something, or is this a simpler way to do it?

the same for me! I looked for my TDEE w/ 15% cut: 1380 with sedentary life. If I Workout, I eat back those calories plus 1380cals.

Please help.
I am 41, 5" 5", 178 pounds and goal is 140.
Right now I am really not exercising...I do go out with the kids shopping on the weekends, doing chores around the house but, not exercise. Right now my bmr is 1477, tdee is 1772 and I've been eating around 1512 calories a day for 3 weeks, still not losing.

Before starting this I was eating well over my tdee for several months. Any advice would be helpful.

that Scooby site is a great site for information...

3furballs wrote: »

I'm just trying to figure out how best to set my profile and I like having my exercise in there, makes me feel like I accomplished something but my BMR (scooby site is down and I'm on IIFYM) is 1344, TDEE is 2084 and -15% is 1771.40. I want to lose at least 10lbs so should I set my profile to my BMR or halfway between the BMR and TDEE? If I put in my TDEE then I shouldn't put my exercise, right? Yet I like putting that in. Sorry, I know everyone has these issues, just trying to figure out the best way.

The last three weeks I've been getting back on track since December (wayyy to many treats and alcohol) and just weighed myself yesterday and I'm actually up a pound instead of down. I had my calories set to 1300 and then usually ate 1700-1800 cal and put in my exercise to most days end up under the 1300 with my net calories, but obviously that's not working for me. It could be hormonal in part but I want to do everything I can to lose that 10lbs!

Set your profile to 1771. You can still 'add' your exercise but just list it as 1 calorie.

I'm trying to decide whether I should do a metabolic reset or cut -15% TDEE.

I started logging food and cutting calories around the first of the year. According to the Scooby calculator, my BMR is about 1800. On average, I've been eating at or above my BMR for the past 2 months.

When I first started, I just switched to better foods, increased my water intake, and tracked calories. I didn't start exercising until the beginning of February. And it's been light exercise...using the recumbent bike, walking, resistance band strength training, etc. The thing is that I started feeling more tired and lousy when I added in working out.

So while weight loss is happening (about 7.5 pounds in 7 weeks), I am feeling lousy during it and I feel like I'll just quite if I keep this up. I had mono last year, which left me completely useless on the couch for 3 1/2 months. I don't know how long that hangs around.

So I haven't done a drastic cut of calories over a long period of time...but to be honest, I don't really know how much I was eating before I started tracking last month. I'm at 237 and based on the light exercise category, my TDEE is showing as 2500.

Any thoughts? If I do a -15% cut, then my daily calories would be around 2150. But the last few weeks, I've been averaging closer to 2000 and I still feel exhausted and grouchy all the time.

MistyAnneK wrote: »

I have absolutely no idea if I figured this correctly. I used "Moderate activity" and got a TDEE of 2231 (15% deficit to 1897). My BMR is 1623. So I changed my goals to a caloric intake of 1897, Carbs 40%, Protein 30%, Fat 30%, fiber 30g, sodium 2500mg. Now...as long as I do not burn over 274 additional exercise calories a day (1897-1623) I should eat my new calorie goal of 1897, but if I burn more than that I need to eat those calories too?

The odds that you have calculated correctly the exercise only calorie burn such that the math there would work, would be unusual. Besides, in any 24 hr block of time, I doubt you'll actually hit those requirements.

More to pay attention to.

If you do more exercise than you used for estimating your activity level, then you eat back those calories less the same 15%.
If you miss a planned workout, skip 100 calories that day. If you make it up, eat those 100 back.

If you only included exercise in the time estimate, but your daily life is actually Lightly Active anyway outside exercise because of kids and family running around at night/weekends, then go up a level actually.

Kimgreen27 wrote: »

Ok new to the game and want to make sure I have this correct! I went to my MFP and changed weight goal plus nutrition to what u suggested. Are u saying that I can input the calories I burn into MFP? Cuz if my TDEE -15%= 1909 and my BMR is 1449, I can burn up to 460 cals. Without adding to my cut TDEE. So say I got to the gym and burn 400cals I can input that into MFP? Won't it then say I have 1909 + 400 = 2309 cals to eat back for that day? Just need a little clarity on that part...thx

Unless you feel like memorizing your daily eating goal and macro amounts - you do NOT want to log workout calories. If you do those things will be adjusted, just as you see they will.

Just make a wall post about your workout with calorie burn and other fun details for your friends to see.

And if you selected the correct TDEE level, rarely does that eating above BMR on workout day come up as an issue.
Only if you had say 3 days of really hard workouts burning a lot of calories.
But even in that case, look at 24 hrs from the workout in to the next day with no workout but eating a lot - you'll never find 24 hrs where you don't eat enough.

Hey everyone!
Glad I've found this post!!!
My numbers:
BMR: 1415
TDEE: 1945
Cut Value: 1653
I'm trying to figure what I'm doing wrong...
For the past 3 weeks I used my BMR 1415 as my goal, and logged my workout... hum.. I guess I was doing it wrong. ( and did not lose, btw... ) I was netting less than 1200.. should I care about that number or not?
If I understand what Heybales is saying... I should use my CUT VALUE ( 1653) AS my GOAL... Then DON'T log my daily workout...
Right?
( oh and so you know.. I'm french canadian... sorry for any misspelling... hope my english is okay )

HIIT is indeed a huge carb burner, even if not done truly as HIIT but as normal intervals.
Body responds by storing more glucose. But that's only going to be about 1-2 lbs at most.
Water retained in muscle for repair is more than that.

Is the HIIT because you think it'll burn more fat than straight cardio?
True, because it's closer to lifting to the body.
If you have the time and schedule and must not dislike lifting - skip the HIIT - do more lifting, for the true effect.

But you do indeed have the concept down.
Did you include daily life outside of exercise in the TDEE chart guess?
It's based only on exercise, not on being more active than sedentary desk job with no kids or pets or much in the way of other activity.
You have to add that level separately.

Hello! So like everyone else I am so confused.. been trying to lose at least 5lbs for the past month now and have not lost a thing. I work out usually 6x a week with 2 days cardio (usually 30mins), 2 days resistance training (not heavy lifting), and 2 days of HIIT (gets my heart rate up). I chose Moderate exercise going by the hours a week. I am 5'0" and weigh 135. According to Scooby with a 20% calorie reduction my info is as follows:

BMR: 1424
TDEE: 2208
Goal: 1776

This seems very high to me though. Especially because on another calculator my BMR was 1305, which made sense because of my height and my calories per day were usually 1436, then I started calorie cycling (10052 cals/week), but I still have noticed no change. What do I do/ how many calories should I be consuming?

8HeatherMarie8 wrote: »

Not sure if I did include my daily activity. I am always doing something! Single mom, cook, clean, I am a preschool teacher (though I have the summer off), and I actually exercise closer to 5-6 days per week. But when I select an option above moderately active on the Scooby site the TDEE I get would just stuff my belly!! Plus, I cook so many homemade meals it is difficult to really assess my calories from all of these recipes so I assume I am logging less than I am actually consuming... so I just figure that pans out. Could be wrong....
The HIIT I choose usually involves weight (sets of squats combined with arm curls or an over-head press for example, and then some intense cardio in between rounds for about 4 minutes each.) and I LOVE to do it! I sweat so much! And I always feel great! tons of energy... Maybe I just need to go to straight weights on 3 days and then simple walking for the other 2 days...? could be I shocked my body with an overload of exercise... lol Thanx for your response!!!

So link above to get better estimate.

Homemade meals always different, such that doing the work on 1 recipe isn't worth it because you'll likely never eat it again?

Ya, that's not HIIT. You could never do that workout non-HIIT. That's where the fad of HIIT is slapped on some routine that has always been intense, but really could never be non-intense.
That's calisthenics with light weight. Nothing wrong with it, just different than true HIIT.
And yes, would still benefit from true lifting 3 x weekly. During reset your routine is closer to circuit training though, and better.
The workout you are doing will reach a point it's no longer hard on the muscles, merely your cardio system. So there won't be much need for any body improvements then.

If you do enough intense cardio between lifts, almost any weight can be made to feel heavy.

To compare if it's actually heavy to your muscles though - use the same weight and reps without doing the cardio.
Like before you do your next routine but after your warmup, pick one of the lifts and do it first.
It shouldn't be nearly as hard now.
And heavy on the muscle is what causes damage, which given adequate rest for recovery and repair will get stronger and maybe grow more if diet allows.
The intense cardio makes it feel heavy only under those conditions. Which if that is the desire, then great. But it's not a load that requires the same improvements as lifting.

One more confused person here...

I had my calorie goal set at 1650 at MFP around 2.5 months ago (which was supposed to be my TDEE - 20% I think, based on some formula I found can't remember where).

I have lost about 14 lbs since then, so now I recalculated to see if any changes need to be made.

Using scoobysworkshop site:
BMR = 1846
TDEE = 2862
Calorie cut = 2289 (I used 3-5hrs moderately active and 20% fat loss).

I take circuit training classes 2-3/week, sometimes I would add yoga or replace one of those with kickboxing class.
In general, I don't take more than 4 classes per week and they are 50-60 min each.
Light walking on days when I don't exercise.

As I understand .... Do I need set my calorie goal to 2289 and don't eat my exercise calories back? SO anything between 1846 and 2862 would be ok as a daily goal? Am I correct or am I missing something?

Thanks for that!

heybales wrote: »

Almost correct, though the 20% could be rather aggressive unless you have over 60 lbs to lose to heathy weight.

Considering the TDEE rough 5 level sites are only about exercise and not daily life - they assume your time outside of exercise is really sedentary - 45 hrs weekly deskjob & commute, no kids keeping you busy in evenings/weekends.

If true you guessed the right rough level.

With walking on other days, if you are more active than that outside exercise, you need to bump up at least between levels if not the whole next level.

If no kids and sedentary desk job, then correct level.

And then eat from 2289 (or whatever better estimated value) up to TDEE. Leave your BMR out of the eating equation, it should be in upper ranges, not trying to hit that line.

Not below 2289 or whatever, unless you missed a planned workout, then drop 100 that day.
If you make it up - eat 100 more on that day.

So 20% is during the time you have over 60 to lose.
Once you have less than 60 it's as if you started there, and reasonable drops to 15% until final 10 lbs, then 10%.