In place of a road map!

Last week I upped my calories to 2000/day, a little more if I needed to get up to my BMR due to a workout (a couple days I did struggle to eat that much, though previously I had only been eating 1400-1700 gross most days). On Fat 2 Fit, my numbers are as follows:

BMR - 1530 (I am 5'6", 26yrs old, and currently 158lbs)

Calories to maintain: 2372 (moderately active), 2639 (hard exercise)

Calories for goal weight of 140: 2251, 2505

That doesn't seem like much of a deficit?

My workout schedule has been 3 days heavy lifting, 4 days running (5 days/week) so I have been using the moderately active, however this week I am also adding 2 Insanity workouts in (Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Power/Resistance) for 6 days/week - would this warrant moving up to hard exercise? I have a desk job, so aside from walking the dogs I am not extremely active outside of my workouts. Do the numbers above make sense?

Thanks so much!

(edited to add: I currently burn 3000-3500 calories a week (polar hrm), but now it will be about 3500-4000)

The activity levels is based on 1 hr for those days of workouts. So add up what that total time is to see what level.
It's also based on midlevel type exercise, not as intense as you are getting.

So that's where the extra deficit comes into play the numbers don't look so good showing as weight loss.

That's why the bodyfat % is much better, your base BMR may be lower right now, could be higher for that matter. For you, probably not far off, but still...

I might also suggest another way that will be easier if you love and keep to these workouts. Look how much deficit your workouts are causing. 3500 look like familiar figure?

Suggest you set MFP to the true non-exercise activity level that applies, usually lightly active seems to apply for many, unless truly a desk job without much of anything besides exercise, then sedentary. Don't hurt your metabolism by thinking going lower helps.
Set weight loss goal to Maintain.

Now exercise, log it with HRM calories, and do NOT eat them back. And at the end of each day, MFP will inform you the deficit you just created will mean "in 5 weeks you'll weigh..."

My estimated body fat is 22-25% (calipers and online calculators), hourwise I workout about 7.5-8hrs/week. If I set MFP as you suggest, it has me eating 1990, but if I don't ever eat exercise calories I would be below my BMR most days, which is not a good idea, correct?...I guess that is where I get confused.

Does the amount below BMR on workout days get made up on the 2 rest days being 400 above BMR? Since you would eat same amount every day. So 800 extra between 5 other days is 160 deficit you could have and still be even. But you really want to be better than even to get max fat loss.

But if working out that much, the TDEE method may workout better then. Back to original plan.

Thanks for taking the time to reply
This gives me 2000 calories a day!

Well, now that is a much nicer round number than 1200, and probably better long term success too.

Though, you are hoping your lean body mass improves with exercise, so every 5 lbs lost, go revisit the site and re-measure for bodyfat %. Probably will have lost a lot, and hopefully will have more lean mass.

Which, surprise, means you get to eat even more!

Help!!

Age- 23
Height- 64 inches
Weight- 269
Goal- 175 (will change it when I get there)
BF- 60% (holy cow)

Katch-McArdle- 1430

Activity- Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)- 2494 (i zumba 5x a week with 2 rest days)

So I should be eating 2494 when I exercise and 1430 when I don't?
Say I burn 1000 cals doing zumba, I do not eat those back because they are already in the 2494?
Say I burn 200-300 cals, do I still eat 2494 or do I just add it to the 1430?

I am so confused.

if you got the 2494 from Fat2fit, you eat the same calories every single day.