Helloitsdan Fans. I have a question

i thought i had this down pat. i'd reset my calories according to F2F calc
33 y/o female
219 current weight/ 169 goal weight
5'9 = 69 inches tall
desk job
heavy weight train 2x week, spinning 2x week, couple dog walks a week
per F2F:
Katch McA BMR 1489
Sedentary 1871
Lightly Active 2144
Mod Active 2416
for the past couple of weeks i've set my cals at 2416 (i'm not weighing all april long so idk if there's been a loss) and macros at 40/30/30. but before this i've stalled with no weight loss for over a month. should i continue this cal amount or should i drop it to Lightly Active amt of 2144?
and to be clear- we are NOT to pay attention to the Net calories??
on days with large burns from HRM should we make an attempt to eat more so we NET more than our BMR??
thanks in advance!

Those numbers dont appear to have a deficit in them from what i can tell. I would eat 1900 calories total everyday and not worry about exercise calories.

wow, an amazing amount of info to digest, but I think I've got it, and I've set MFP up to my personal TDEE for a moderately active person. Now all I need to do is make sure I do my 5 workouts a week so that the numbers are right, give it time, and hopefully see love handle and tummy fat progress in the mirror. I'm also changing my workouts from 45 mins x 5 days a week of cardio and strength (15 mins of each) to Mon, Wed and Fri for purely strength training and Tues and Thurs for 45 minutes of pure cardio, HIIT style.

Pleeease let this work! I'm 43 and have spent 16 years yo-yoing, on and off paid diet plans like Weightwatchers and Slimming World and putting on 42lbs in the process :laugh: :sad:

Would love for folks to come back when they are making progress, what a treat that would be and a boost in confidence for us new to this method of fat loss. While I am going to love eating 2269 cals a day there's still that nag in my head saying it's too much!:laugh:

Good luck everyone, come back and tell us how you're doing!

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I NEED HELP.

I just read the article yesterday and used the tools that Dan suggested. My BMR is 1440. Plus 20% is 1,728 - my TDEE. Right?
To get to my goal weight of 145 pounds. I have a desk job all day but weight train 3 times per week and cardio 2-3 times per week (my cardio is sometimes short bursts, sometimes hour long). It says that I should be consuming 2,190 calories per day. Can this be right???? It seems crazy! When i signed up to MFP today - it says my daily calories to lose 1.5 pounds per week is 1200. But perhaps the 2,190 calories per day is calculating my exercise as well?

I'm just so confused and new to this... I need some help understanding how many calories I should consume daily. Point blank. I feel I've been brainwashed in the past to think that I need to drop calories down low and train hard... and perhaps I've never been eating enough????? Please help me!! Thank you.

The major difference is fat2fit includes exercise as part of your calculation. So if you are burning 500 calories working out, then you would eat that on top of your 1200 calories. Based on the numbers, I would probably start with 1800 calories total. As you get closer to your goal, it may be advisable to reevaluate your calories and increase as necessary.

I am so confused and honestly am agonizing over this, especially since I'm in a what seems like forever plateau.

I have been eating 1480 and not losing. Eating back some/most of my calories.

I am 189, 5'7", 33 years old, 39% body fat according to a scale (not sure how accurate that is.)
Goal weight is 150.

I have reset my MFP calories to 1700. Should I eat my exercise calories back? So confused.

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1756
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2012
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2268
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2524
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2780

How much/what sort of exercise are you doing?

It varies. I go to the gym 3-4 days a week. Sometimes elliptical, sometimes zumba, sometimes some other random class.

I'd say (and am happy to be corrected...) that you can either eat the sedentary number and eat your exercise calories back or eat the lightly active number and not eat them back.

Thanks!

I'd say (and am happy to be corrected...) that you can either eat the sedentary number and eat your exercise calories back or eat the lightly active number and not eat them back.

yep this is right.
using sedentary or MFP figures assumes you do no exercise so you would log and eat back.
using a higher activity level that matches your workouts will already include exercise so dont eat back.

I am so confused and honestly am agonizing over this, especially since I'm in a what seems like forever plateau.

I have been eating 1480 and not losing. Eating back some/most of my calories.

I am 189, 5'7", 33 years old, 39% body fat according to a scale (not sure how accurate that is.)
Goal weight is 150.

I have reset my MFP calories to 1700. Should I eat my exercise calories back? So confused.

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1756
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2012
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2268
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2524
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2780

Eat 1800 calories a day. Also try to do 2-3 of the 4 days you work out strength training or resistance training related. Cardio is for heart health and burning a lot of calories which you would have to eat back. WT or RT will cut fat and burn more calories in the long run repairing your muscles.

Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2268

Eat this for 2 weeks while continuing your routine.
This should regulate things and break the plateau.

Hi

Another question please....

I have basically been plateued from 2nd March between 11st6-11st3 (162.4 - 158.2)

I was eating 1200 (dont I know now :noway: ) until 12th March then upped to 1450 when I dropped to 11st 2lb. April 2nd I upped to between 1650 - 1950 per day and I started heavy (for me) freeweights last Friday 13th and have done those 3 times this week. I also do zumba 20-50 minutes, or run 2 miles as a cardio 2-3 times a week. As a normal everyday activity I have horses to look after which involves poo picking 50-70kg per day and changing rugs etc and total time daily is 60 - 90 minutes everyday.

I am female, 38, 5'4, currently 160lb, bf was 34.9% as calcualted on Tuesday. I think I should be eating more like 1900 consistently and learning patience that the scale doesnt change that quickly after upping.

I will say that BF reduced by 2.3% in the last 2 weeks....

Hi Dan!
I'd just like to say a huge thank you for your original 'in place of a roadmap' post.
I had been doing this accidentally since I started on MFP as I like to have the same calorie goal every day rather than logging & eating back exercise, but its great to learn the science behind it :-)

I am so confused and honestly am agonizing over this, especially since I'm in a what seems like forever plateau.

I have been eating 1480 and not losing. Eating back some/most of my calories.

I am 189, 5'7", 33 years old, 39% body fat according to a scale (not sure how accurate that is.)
Goal weight is 150.

I have reset my MFP calories to 1700. Should I eat my exercise calories back? So confused.

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1756
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2012
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2268
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2524
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2780

Eat 1800 calories a day. Also try to do 2-3 of the 4 days you work out strength training or resistance training related. Cardio is for heart health and burning a lot of calories which you would have to eat back. WT or RT will cut fat and burn more calories in the long run repairing your muscles.

Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2268

Eat this for 2 weeks while continuing your routine.
This should regulate things and break the plateau.

So do I eat 1800 and eat back my exercise calories or eat 2268 and not eat them back?

id go with what Dan says, the 2268 and not eat them back, he was the one who originally started the topic 'in place of a road map'