**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals

Ok, the charts on fat2fit are confusing the hell out of me.

My Katch-McArdle BMR is 1568.

I'm Moderately Active, so my TDEE would be 1568 * 1.55 = 2430. Right? And, in theory, if I eat 2430 calories a day I will maintain my weight. Correct?

OK, if this is the case, why is Fat2Fit telling me to eat 2427 calories if I am moderately active. There is no deficit here, so how I'm I supposed to lose weight like this?

Clearly, I'm missing something here. I was under the impression that in order to lose weight I need a deficit.

Fat2fit uses 1.4 for mod active, the chart already has a 20% deficit.

My numbers are pretty similar to yours, bmr 1574, mod active number from chart 2207, tdee 2645.
Using the 500 cals per pound deficit, I eat around 1950 and lose 1.5 most weeks.
Am down 40lbs and 10% bf in 6 months :-)

1.4 of what? 20% from what number? I'm not seeing a 20% deficit in that table.

Maybe if someone could lay out the math for me I'd understand. All I can see is that F2F is telling me to eat 3 calories less than my maintenance calories for someone who is moderately active. 3 calories does not a weight loss deficit make. I am so confused.

I entered the following:

70 inches tall
27 y/o
CW: 173
GW: 163
BF: 29.6 %

the number in the chart is 1.4 x bmr (i got this by just divding the number in the chart by bmr)
add 20% to the number in the chart to get TDEE / maintenance
the info above the chart says the figures have a deficit already included, as they are actually based on your goal weight, not current weight - read the section 'how many calories should i eat' . You only get a small deficit as you dont have much to lose, the info says you can lower by another 2-300 if needed as you get close to goal. 250 would give you 0.5 a week @ 2177 cals which is a sensible goal if you only have 10lbs to lose.

someone confirmed this for me on the original post 'in place of a road map' place from helloitsdan, pages 18/19.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map?error_user_id=6110710&error_username=em9371&page=18.


hope this helps x

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BMR is min so always eat above 1293
TDEE is max, usually what you would eat to maintain so eat less than 2316
The number in the chart is your TDEE - 20% so you should ideally eat 1930
Im confused where you got the 437/200 from. dont eat back exercise unless your workouts take you below BMR so you can burn 637 without eating back (1930-1293)

If you are currently eating much less than this, put your calories up gradually maybe 100 a week if you dont want to see a gain, or just go the whole amount at once, dont worry about the gain and stick with it for a few weeks.

To change your macros, go to home>goals>custom goals.

hope this helps x

Thanks for your help. I got the 437 because the original post by helloitsdan stated it's best to stay at least 200 calories over your BMR. Eating 1930 calories and burning 437 calories would put me at 200 calories over my BMR (1493). So, let's say I burnt 537 calories, I would need to eat back 100 of those calories to stay 200 calories over BMR. Does that make sense?

Again, thanks for the help!!!

ah thanks for that, i never saw the part about eating 200 cals over! might need to eat more then i usually net about 50 above bmr :-)

very very very helpful!!!


Thank you!!

Thanks for sharing....I have wanted to hear from people who have used these numbers with success. Would love to hear from some shorter women who have had success also.

I am 5'6.5" and have been following the F2F model, modified, for a little bit now. I decided to take the moderately active number and subtract 200 (because they say if you are close to your goal, you can, and I am only 10 lbs away). That was still an increase from where I was netting prior, by about 160 cals/day. My weight loss increased. In fact, I am losing too quickly for what I have left to lose, meaning I am losing muscle, so yesterday I bumped it all the way up to the 2200 they recommend for me, which is a 200/day increase. In mfp, just because I don't like to see red, I set my goals manually to a 2200 goal and then don't eat back my exercise cals. Even by changing my MFP to lightly active, it thinks I am set to gain 0.6 lbs/ week, but I just ignore that, as well as the what you'll weigh in 5 weeks numbers.

BTW, I use their original BF% calculator, not the military one. The military one seemed way off from the other results, which all seemed close to one another. When I went in and did the Bod Pod test 2 months ago, that reading was only 0.1% off from the F2F original BF% calculator, so I will continue to use that one.

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Well put with great info!

bump to re-read later!

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Ok, some very good info here, but, im also a little confused. Fat2fit and mfp both give me my bmr in and around the 1400 mark, which is fine, but f2f tells me i should eat 1900 cals, while mfp set my goal at 1200! I frequently go over the 1200 mark but i exercise regularly to make up for it, also my scales havent budged since the first two weeks i joined when i lost my first five pounds. Is it possible that I am eating too few cals? i still have ten pounds to go to get to my ideal weight but im worried that I may be going into starvation mode. I never go hungry so I think Im eating enough, even though i eat few cals. WTF? I really dunno what to do!

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i followed the Fat2Fit.com site instructions & worked out my BMR, plus the site has shown me what amount of calories i should be eating per day based on my activity level (Lightly Active) as 1950 to get to my goal weight.

so if i choose to eat 1900 calories per day and then i burn between 300-500 calories during exercise...do i eat back those calories?

say i ate 1900, then i burned 450 during exercise: 1900-450 = 1450
do i eat back that 450? so then it would be like:

[total calories eaten that day]2350 - [exercise cals]450 = [calories i should be eating per day]1900

is this right? or am i confusing myself all over again! gaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh this is difficult to understand. :sad:

you would just eat the 1900/1950, fat2fit calcs include exercise already :-)

Ok, some very good info here, but, im also a little confused. Fat2fit and mfp both give me my bmr in and around the 1400 mark, which is fine, but f2f tells me i should eat 1900 cals, while mfp set my goal at 1200! I frequently go over the 1200 mark but i exercise regularly to make up for it, also my scales havent budged since the first two weeks i joined when i lost my first five pounds. Is it possible that I am eating too few cals? i still have ten pounds to go to get to my ideal weight but im worried that I may be going into starvation mode. I never go hungry so I think Im eating enough, even though i eat few cals. WTF? I really dunno what to do!

mfp goals are NET and expect you to eat back exercise cals so you should eat more than 1200.
fat 2 fit already includes exercise - i take it if your BMR is 1400 and it gave you 1900 you are at least moderately active?

Bump. Finally, something that actually makes some sense and makes me feel good about my higher calorie limits.

Very interesting.