**READ THIS** Figuring out your calorie goals

My first post here. I hope its okay. o.o; (lurker)


First off i'd like to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this!!! Numbers are usually so confusing and evil for me, but this all kind of makes sense...

Question though (and this probably has been asked over and over and.. SORRY >.< )

So i eat over my BMR but under my calories per day goal thing? Mfp usually tells me to eat 1690 and i usually average about 1300/1400...

Heres the stuff from fat2fit

Neck 15
Waist 39
Hips 49

Body fat # 55.7%
My BMR - 1224
Goal Body Weight- 110 (i thought i had to aim higher? o.o;)
I am lightly active so it gave me 1733....

But lightly active because i work as a cashier at a grocery store.. So i am walking back and forth to get ciggerattes, put away back stock... Moving by ringing up customers and cleaning. That's the right one, right? I am only part time, so its only about 4 times a week (sometimes five) and thats anywhere between 4-8 hours a day.. Depending on the day/week everything changes. >.< I try and do work out during the week but i kind of suck at that.


...Help? Sorry, i am needy.

the number the chart gives you on fat2fit is what you should eat. this is the TDEE for your GOAL weight, to get your current TDEE, multiply by 1.2.
Eat between your BMR & current TDEE, ideally at the level on the chart.
just based on your job with no official exercise, go for lightly active.
If you exercise as well, go for next one up.

Okay. I am epically confused.

My stats:
BMI 38.7
168 cm tall
103.8 kg atm
goal weight is 55ks
body fat = 56.3%

I put all my stats in and got :

BMR = 1352 (1552 if you add the recommended 200cal over)
TDEE = 2270 (lightly active)

I understand that these are the min and the max of what I should be eating to lose weight. I need to be in the middle somewhere.

What I dont understand is MFP has put me on 1510 daily max. Any exercise I do I should eat back the calories of -according to this site-? Or should I only eat back only enough calories to bring me up to the 1500 ish total?

Basically If I trust this site to know what I should eat, its not going to screw me up, is it?

I've only been here a couple of days and while It's brilliant, its confusing at the same time.

MFP doesnt include exercise cals, you have to log exercise and eat back the extra cals.
F2F they are already included, you just eat the total cals, same every day.

As an example:
MFP is 1500. say you exercise an average of 300 a day. that would put you at 1800 eaten, which is pretty much in the middle of your range.

your stats are pretty similar to mine, apart from your BF is a bit higher therefore BMR is lower. I eat 1950-2000 total (1650 net) and lose 1.5 most weeks, so around 1800/1500net should work for you x

My first post here. I hope its okay. o.o; (lurker)


First off i'd like to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this!!! Numbers are usually so confusing and evil for me, but this all kind of makes sense...

Question though (and this probably has been asked over and over and.. SORRY >.< )

So i eat over my BMR but under my calories per day goal thing? Mfp usually tells me to eat 1690 and i usually average about 1300/1400...

Heres the stuff from fat2fit

Neck 15
Waist 39
Hips 49

Body fat # 55.7%
My BMR - 1224
Goal Body Weight- 110 (i thought i had to aim higher? o.o;)
I am lightly active so it gave me 1733....

But lightly active because i work as a cashier at a grocery store.. So i am walking back and forth to get ciggerattes, put away back stock... Moving by ringing up customers and cleaning. That's the right one, right? I am only part time, so its only about 4 times a week (sometimes five) and thats anywhere between 4-8 hours a day.. Depending on the day/week everything changes. >.< I try and do work out during the week but i kind of suck at that.


...Help? Sorry, i am needy.

the number the chart gives you on fat2fit is what you should eat. this is the TDEE for your GOAL weight, to get your current TDEE, multiply by 1.2.
Eat between your BMR & current TDEE, ideally at the level on the chart.
just based on your job with no official exercise, go for lightly active.
If you exercise as well, go for next one up.

Thank you so much!!!!

Another question, if thats okay... Should i change my numbers on mfp to reflect what i got from fat2fit? Or should i just use it as a base line and stick with 1690? Or should i be eating 1733?

Are you saying when i reach my goal weight i should be eating 2079 (.6? lol). I'm really sorry.. I'm kind of really math dumb..

Has anyone opted to set their calorie goals according to F2F and then just not log their exercise? I am thinking that if I do that, all I have to worry about is meeting my calorie goal every day, and not worry about doing the math involved with eating back exercise calories. ( I also don't have an hrm, so this seems the safest way around that).. The calories listed on F2F already has a deficit built in for regular exercise according to the level you choose, correct? Then, anything additional I do will be a bonus deficit on those days and will keep me balanced during the week if I indulge, or from plateauing hopefully.. I'm thinking I can track my exercise for myself in the exercise notes section without adding the calories burned to the diary...

Does this make sense, or has anyone done this already successfully?

First time posting here so bare with me. I have been following this thread and I think I have everything correct. just a few questions.

HB BMR: 1915 (This should not be important because I entered my body fat percentage using a tape measure. correct?)
KM BMR: 1656

So I need to multiply my KM BMR(1656) by 1.4 for something near moderately active to give me my suggested calorie intake? If thats correct I came up with 2318.

SUGGESTED CALORIE INTAKE: 2318

Then to get my TDEE I need to multiply my suggested calorie intake(2318) by 1.2 giving me 2782.

TDEE: 2782


So IF all the information I have entered is correct, then I need to eat about 2300 calories every day, even on days I work out and on my rest days? Or would it be better to eat around 2300-2500 calories on days I do work out and my rest days around 2000 calories?

Basically I need to eat under my TDEE(2782) and over my KM BMR(1656) and I think I read something about making sure your net calorie intake is at least 200 over your KM BMR making that 1856.

Is everything I listed above correct? Open to any corrections or helpful advice, thanks!

you got it spot on!!
using the fat2fit calcs, you would eat the same every day. That results in a 'zigzag' calorie pattern, with higher nets on rest days, lower on workout days.
Using MFP's eat back exercise, your net is the same every day.
Varying the net helps you avoid plateaus as your body cant adapt to the cal level as its always changing :-)

Has anyone opted to set their calorie goals according to F2F and then just not log their exercise? I am thinking that if I do that, all I have to worry about is meeting my calorie goal every day, and not worry about doing the math involved with eating back exercise calories. ( I also don't have an hrm, so this seems the safest way around that).. The calories listed on F2F already has a deficit built in for regular exercise according to the level you choose, correct? Then, anything additional I do will be a bonus deficit on those days and will keep me balanced during the week if I indulge, or from plateauing hopefully.. I'm thinking I can track my exercise for myself in the exercise notes section without adding the calories burned to the diary...

Does this make sense, or has anyone done this already successfully?

Okay, so my exercise varies, so would it work if I did this. My BMR is 1224, so what if I ate that much a day, and then ate back all the calories I burn during exercise in the day. Would that work? Or am I still eating too less? And how do you make your calorie goal without going over your "Fat" intake?

Just choose the one nearest to your overall activity level in the chart and eat that.
OR
Choose sedentary and eat back your exercise cals.
Not going over your fat intake is easy if you choose the right foods - lean meat, whole grains, fruit & veg, lower fat cheeses like mozzarella / feta / cottage cheese , skimmed milk etc.

Okay.. but I don't quite get it.. Because to Lose weight you need to take your TDEE and minus 500, right? so my TDEE is 1574, so i minus 500 and it is 1074. But my BMR is 1224 and I'm not suppose to eat under that, but I can't eat over 1074?

lol! I'm so confused!

Try running your numbers again sounds like something's gone wrong. Unless you are sedentary and do no activity / exercise at all, tdee should be a lot higher than that.
What are the numbers you put into fat2fit?

If the deficit puts you below bmr you need to go with a smaller deficit to stay above bmr.

Yah put it at sedentary becaus I have a desk job and was just playing on adding my exercise as i do it and then eating those calories back. I always plan my days ahead so that works for me, and my numbers were

Age: 22
Height: 5'0
Weight: 164
Goal: 110 (I have a small frame)
Fat per: 47

ah i see now.
your TDEE isnt 1574 thats your activity level, it would be 1574 PLUS exercise cals + 20%
(the figures in the table are the TDEE for your GOAL weight, not current weight. To get current TDEE you need to add 20% to the chart numbers.
with the amount you have to lose you should be aiming for around 1lb week. you could go 1-200 below the numbers below which would give you around 1.25, 1.5 would be too much and put you below BMR.

Say you exercise an average of 300 a day.
1574 + 300 exercise + 20% = 2248 TDEE
500 from TDEE = 1748 (1448 net / 300 exercise)

if you exercised more (500 a day)
1574 + 500 exercise + 20% = 2488
500 from TDEE = 1988 (1488 net / 500 exercise)

Its the same whether you log as total cals or 1448/1488 plus exercise, all depends if you prefer to eat more on exercise days (use eat back cals), or the same every day (use f2f).

hope this helps!