MFP BMR TDEE!?

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alush08
alush08 Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay I'm fairly new to dieting healthy. Until three years ago I was skinny fat. Now at age 35 I've got roughly 50lbs of fat to lose. I go to the gym 5 to 6 days a week. I love lifting heavy!! I also do 30 to 45 minutes of cardio at least 3 days a week. The first few weeks on MFP I did the 1200 and was weak and starving. My goals is to burn fat and build muscle. My 5'9 and seriously wouldn't mind what the scale said as long as it muscle. After realizing this and that my body was starving I bumped up the calories to 1500. Today however I finally figured out my BMR (1627) and TDEE (2275) cutting 20% of that I should be eating 1820 to fuel my workouts build muscle and burn fat.

My conundrum is it seems like so much! How do I convince myself to eat more to weigh less? Any old school starvation dieters who have turned over a new leaf and have motivational success stories? Or just support, because making this change is kinda scary. I am determined to be healthy and happily fit as hell though! Any help is appreciated feel free to add me as a friend!

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  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    That's only 320 cals more than what you have been eating. That's a snack or 2 or a few desserts each week. Since you've done the math & figured out your numbers, you should be able to logically reason with yourself that you can eat a healthy amount and still lose weight because you're eating less than TDEE. Try adding 100 cals each week rather than upping all at once. Glad you took time to figure out a healthy consumption.
  • xlgman
    xlgman Posts: 33 Member
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    Make a small adjustment upward and hold steady with the new calories and exercise regimen for 3 weeks. If at the end of the next three weeks, you are losing a consistent 1-2 pounds per week, then you've hit a sweet spot. If you are losing more than that, you should probably up the calories accordingly again. I recommend making simple adjustments to either calories, macros, or exercise once every 3 weeks. Adjust only one factor at a time. This way, you give your body time to adjust to the new regimen (3 weeks is an arbitrary but reasonable sample size) and you can isolate the effect that the change is having. Try to be very consistent over those three weeks so you get accurate data. Eventually, through trial and error, you'll determine your own TDEE without needing MFP or any other website to tell you what it is.

    I started having real success when I started taking this approach and basically treated my body like a science experiment. In a pretty short time, I was able to figure out exactly how my body reacts to changes in weekly calories, macros, and exercise. Once you understand how your body really works, it will not be scary at all. It'll be liberating and dare I say, fun!
  • MPDean
    MPDean Posts: 99 Member
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    Weigh everything you eat.

    You wouldn't have 50lb of excess fat if you are unable to eat above your TDEE. If you gained this over 2 years then you must have been eating TDEE plus 250 calories all that time.
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
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    None of what you're focusing on matters. Pick a calorie number you're comfortable with, eat that much for 6 weeks, and evaluate whether you need to eat more, or less, or the same. The reevaluate again 6 weeks after that.

    Everything you'll see here regarding calorie counts is an approximation. It's up to you to do the work to see if that approximation actually works for you.

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. Log carefully and honestly.
  • alush08
    alush08 Posts: 14 Member
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    MPDean wrote: »
    Weigh everything you eat.

    You wouldn't have 50lb of excess fat if you are unable to eat above your TDEE. If you gained this over 2 years then you must have been eating TDEE plus 250 calories all that time.

    Actually it's been 3 years as stated in OP. Two of those I was nearly bedridden do to a bad accident. Depression set in and yes I over ate a lot. Maybe I should have worded my op differently. What I meant was now that I'm in a mindset to lower my calories and workout. It is scary to think about bringing my carloric intake back up. Just looking for support not snide remarks about what I must have eaten to get here. We are all here for the same reason to live healthier lives.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Pick a method, stick to it for 4-6 weeks, adjust as necessary. If you like tdee, start there. I personally prefer mfp and extra exercise cals on workout days.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited September 2016
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    You have two choices. Doing TDEE less the 20% and try that for period of time or MFP method + exercise and try that for a period of time.

    I think since you have done a great deal of research, you have some baseline numbers to work with, pick one, stay on that plan and start trending.

    When eating at a deficit you will not see significant muscle gainz and the newbie gainz you do build taper off fairly quickly. Concentrate on losing weight and maintaining the muscle you have, then move to recomp (build muscle/lose fat while in maintenance with/without a very small deficit) for a while.

    And to beat the fear, you just got to pick one and stick to it and trust the process.
  • sarahkw04
    sarahkw04 Posts: 87 Member
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    I'm in a similar situation of needing to eat more. I've been inching up a couple hundred calories every week or two and focusing mostly on reaching macros - instead of "did I reach 1900 calories?" it's "have I eaten 120g of protein?" I found looking at macros instead of calories has helped me.

    I lift heavy as well and since I started eating more, my lifts have improved so much, and I'm seeing my measurements decrease despite slow movement on the scale.
  • SouthernPeach1
    SouthernPeach1 Posts: 21 Member
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    I understand where you're coming from. I used to think anything over 1000 cal a day was a sin. And it 5'9", that's not a healthy way to think. I also did weight watchers, which worked but when I started doing the conversions I realize those points weren't adding up to many calories. Because I am 60 years old, post menopausal, with significant arthritis issues, I don't quite trust the TDEE figure I'm given. I think my years of yo-yo dieting have slowed my metabolism down. So I've set my calorie goal at 1400 a day, but I allow myself to eat my exercise calories as well. And I generally burn between 900 to 1200 cal a day and exercise, a mixture of weight training and cardio.

    As I look back on my diary for the past month, I realize I am eating about 1700 to 1800 cal a day, and I've been losing 2 pounds a week for the past month. So, moral of the story is-eat your calories and keep track of the results.

    You can do this.

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