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Can you all help me with my numbers, please?

ambpac76
ambpac76 Posts: 6 Member
in Social Groups
Hi guys -- I was wondering if you all could help me figure out my numbers. I guess I want a starting place to go from to see if I need to raise or lower them. Maybe you can help me???

Here are my stats: I am 39 years old, 5' 7" and weigh 170 pounds. I aim for an average of 45 to 60 min of working out. A typical week for me looks like M, W 45 min ST, Tu, Th 60 min Ashtanga/Power yoga. I do keep fairly active during the day. I am a SAHM with a busy toddler (plus 3 other kids).

I am not new to the EM2WL philosophy. I have been trying Lean Habits but am not seeing any results so I thought I would give MFP another shot but working with REAL numbers. I tried running my numbers with Health-Calc (I can never seem to figure out the Scooby calc as I don't really know what selection to make for activity...) and I came back with this for my TDEE:

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I was going to shoot for about 2300 (give or take) for a deficit. How does that look? Any ideas from anyone?

Replies

  • kmac1196
    kmac1196 Posts: 188 Member
    We all come here wanting someone to just tell us the numbers. LOL Unfortunately, you have to figure out your own numbers over time. Isn't that a pain? LOL

    I think that you have a decent figure to start at. Give it a solid month and record what happens. If your weight stabilizes than that's TDEE. If it goes up, too high, drop by 100 per day. If it goes down, raise by 100.

    What have your calories been like recently? Too long on a steep deficit will lead to rapid initial weight gain (hello water) so don't be nervous about that.
  • ambpac76
    ambpac76 Posts: 6 Member
    I am just looking for a good place to start not fir someone to *tell me my numbers* lol. I don't know what my calories have looked like as I haven't been tracking I was attempting the Lean Habits program. I'll start here as long as you guys think my numbers look like a good jumping off point. Thabks! I
  • kmac1196
    kmac1196 Posts: 188 Member
    That's actually great then! Perfect place to start.

    I didn't mean to imply that you were that way specifically. Perhaps it was just me.
  • ambpac76
    ambpac76 Posts: 6 Member
    edited November 2015
    Oh no worries thanks for the help!
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,756 Member
    With all those kids I don't see how you can possible stay seated for 22:20 hrs. I would think you need at the very least an hour or so for standing walking/cooking using the tool you have. Track your food and adjust for any missed workout sessions too. Gotta start somewhere.

    All the best on your Journey. Keep us updated.
  • crewbprice
    crewbprice Posts: 38 Member
    Also, I hope you sleep everyday, that will effect your number when you add that into the calculator, it will likely go down a bit
  • Sumiblue
    Sumiblue Posts: 1,597 Member
    I just used the health-calc calculator & it gave me way too many calories. I'm a SAHM who lifts heavy 3-5x/week & I choose moderately active on the Scooby calculator. I find that it's very accurate for me. My TDEE is around 1800-2000 (I'm 46, 5' 2", 125) Fitbit confirms it. Health-calc said 2800+.
  • crewbprice
    crewbprice Posts: 38 Member
    Interesting, when I did health calc it came up with less than Scooby if I choose moderately active, and about 200 calories more if I put lightly active... Interestingly enough I would define myself in the middle, as I am doing 2 days cardio for 30 min and 2 days strength for 50min, otherwise I'm at an office job.

    Recently joined this group because I was non stop hungry for 4-5 days, been dieting for 8 months with trying to do a one pound deficit per week using mfp calcs, which it seems according to any calculators is a lower amount then what this plan recommends. Had good success until recently, lost 44 lbs thus far, but has slowed down, so I am trying a reset by eating maintaince calories for a week.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    That type of calculator is really hard to use - because every day is not equal. So basically you need to manually add up your week, then divide by 7, and dial in each section for what applies.

    It's based on this one. They thought a visual would be easier - I don't know.

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    Why not just use this to hone in on numbers faster?

    Just TDEE please, better than 5 level TDEE charts.
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing

    And you can keep your results and progress chart at the bottom with measurements to see changes.
  • ambpac76
    ambpac76 Posts: 6 Member
    crewbprice wrote: »
    Also, I hope you sleep everyday, that will effect your number when you add that into the calculator, it will likely go down a bit

    Oh boy - I didn't even notice the sleep thing lol
  • ambpac76
    ambpac76 Posts: 6 Member
    I don't know where the rest of my post went... if I were to use Scooby should I do 3 to 5 days moderate activity?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    ambpac76 wrote: »
    I don't know where the rest of my post went... if I were to use Scooby should I do 3 to 5 days moderate activity?

    Sadly the normal rough TDEE tables are only about exercise - so you have to account for increased daily life over the sedentary they are expecting.

    So if you want those real rough figures, you are Lightly Active merely with the kids and increased activity that causes.
    Exercise looks like 90 lifting and 60 yoga (only counts half-time) - so 150 min is 2.5 hrs so Lightly Active.
    Lightly Active and Lightly Active would indeed be the wide Moderate Active range - somewhere in there on way up to next level likely.

    Again though, that spreadsheet is better than 5 rough levels. You may luck out and be right at the middle of that range - but obviously there is better chance you are not.
  • bnowell724
    bnowell724 Posts: 31 Member
    Yeah, Heybale's spreadsheet is awesome.

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