How not to eat when you can afford to?

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  • LovLeigh416
    LovLeigh416 Posts: 17 Member
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    rankinsect wrote: »
    LovLeigh416 wrote: »
    rankinsect wrote: »
    LovLeigh416 wrote: »
    Ok so now I'm confused. My TDEE is way more than my calorie allotment and I don't get why? I selected lose fat and gain muscle but I didn't mean I didn't want the number on the scale to move?

    That's what that option means, if you want to lose weight, pick "lose fat". "Lose fat gain muscle" essentially means you want to keep your weight constant.

    Ok. How about that macros ratio? It seems like a lot of carbs?

    I don't pay too much attention to my carbs, I mainly try to hit proteins, and let the rest split between fat and carbs however it happens to fall on a given day.

    Some people do better by reducing carbs, but it's not necessary. Personally, I just try to pick foods I find satisfying, which tends to reduce some carbs, particularly sweets, but I don't aim low carb. I think I'm around 46% carb over the past few months, and I'm doing fine.

    I don't find a benefit in carefully controlling carbs that is worth the effort of adding another dietary constraint, because every additional thing you try to do means you spend more time planning meals out. I keep a rigid calorie goal that I try to adhere to very strongly, a looser protein goal that I aim for but don't worry terribly about if I miss by a bit, and don't control anything else except to try to plan meals that I find filling.

    Others find a benefit in low carb that outweighs the cost in terms of additional planning and dietary restriction. Whatever works for you.

    Thanks Rankinsect. Very helpful. One last question. Which of the calorie numbers am I supposed to be eating? The BMR of the daily based on option 6? I is it saying that second larger number is what I can eat based on my activity level (so it's taking into account exercise burns?)? I think I read someone say that but I can't remember if it was this number or the TDEE one that includes exercise
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    BMR: Basal metabolic rate, this is basically the number of calories you burn if you were in a coma. It's the bare minimum just to keep your body functional and alive.

    TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is the average number of calories you burn in a day.

    If you are not in a coma (and I hope you never are!) if you eat exactly at your TDEE, your weight will not change over time. It will fluctuate up and down like all our weights do, but it will stay in the same range over time.

    To lose weight, you need to eat some amount less than your TDEE. As a quick rule, -500 calories per day means a weight loss of one pound per week. Essentially, your body burns the TDEE every day, and most of that energy comes from your food, but 500 calories more are needed, so your body burns 500 calories of stored fat. This is all that is meant by eating in a deficit - you eat 500 calories less than you burn, so you lose 500 calories of fat per day (in actuality you lose from fat and muscle both, but if you keep weight loss to reasonable levels - no more than 1% body weight per week - and try to be active, you lose mainly fat).

    The calculated number from your goal in step 6 is creating this calorie deficit that allows you to lose weight.

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