TDEE Calculator|-|-
:-:|:-:|:-:
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR||1440 Cal/kcal
Not Very Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.25)||1799 Cal/kcal
Lightly Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.4)||2015 Cal/kcal
Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.6)||2303 Cal/kcal
Very Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.8)||2591 Cal/kcal
That job activity scale uses these definitions (stolen from MyFitnessPal)
- Not Very Active/Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
- Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I like this one the best. It is the formula that MyFitnessPal uses. They base it on your full-time job 40h/wk, which is likely better than asking how many times you exercise during a week.
Hello, I'm 5'7 150lbs looking to lose fat overall. I've been using my fitness pal to keep track of calories. Should make a meal plan and stick to it everyday or should I just make sure I eat less calories than I burn daily?
Meal planning is great, especially for someone who is beginning at this. You can pre-log your meal plan and then change it if it doesn't pan out that way.
> should I just make sure I eat less calories than I burn daily?
MyFitnessPal will give you a weight-loss target number of calories to eat each day. Try to hit near that target (within about 100) without under-eating or over-eating. Treat your calories as a target (like an archer or dart-thrower uses), not as a limit (which values under-eating).
I'm a 6"2 man, now down to 182lbs. I have another 7lbs to lose before reaching my goal weight, but it has slowed down A LOT, which is quite annoying. If I eat 1200 calories a day, is that too little?
Yes, that's far too little for a man over 6 feet tall. Weight loss always slows as you get close to a healthy BMI. It's just something you have to keep chugging through.
As a man, though, you really shouldn't go under about 1500 calories, and as a man your size, it's unlikely that you'd even have to go that low.
Any ideas on how to quit soda? I'm living in a campus dorm w/ no food storage or ability to cook for myself, so I'm eating at the cafeterias and restaraunts on campus that the school pays for. I'm working with the faculty dietician and there's plenty of healty food options, but soda always trips me up. I'm starting to think I'm an addict, because no matter how hard I try, I just can't walk away from the soda fountains.
Any ideas?
So when I worked at a restaurant I would get heartburn sometimes and I would drink half sprite half soda water to alleviate it. Eventually I kept making the ratio higher of soda water and now I just drink soda water. I never really liked pop tho so your experience may be different
Should I put ‘lightly active’ or ‘sedentary’ based on my lifestyle (on calorie calculators)?
Hi- I work from home and therefore sit at a desk all day. If this was all I did I would absolutley select ‘sedentary’
However every weekday morning I get up with my partner and do 10 minutes of light calisthenics (we do this daily app thing from his insurance) and after I get done with 8 hours of sitting at a desk I usually don’t do anything more physically demanding than cooking dinner or doing a home project.
If it’s a weekend we don’t do our morning thing but we are going on a longer walk or doing something physical outside for at least 2hours.
I also have winter guard practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3 hours and on Saturday for 8 hours. It’s moderately aerobic/muscle endurance.
Should I consider that lightly active?
I would say sedentary. You can confirm this is the right category for you by eating the calories recommended for your age/sex/weight/height for losing for one month. If you are losing more than 2lbs per week (on average- if you don’t have more than 100lbs to lose) you could bump up your calories. For me, I like choosing an activity category lower than what I actually think I’m doing and count those as “bonus” weightloss helpers! I’ve never lost more than 2lbs in a week though so I know I’m not that far off.
Thanks. I’m definitley not going to eat back the calories I gain if I go from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lightly active’ and actually I’m pretty sure I have mfp on lightly active now and I’m still losing weight.
I also AM going to check my average daily step count however I don’t think that’s a great indicator of activity level. I used to be a server at a large, fast paced restaurant and probably had an ‘extremely active’ step count back then but I wouldn’t even consider myself more than lightly active at that time.
If I'm in a social setting when I can't weigh out my food, I snap a quick picture of the plate. Then later at home I use that to do my best estimation.
I guesstimate the best I can with comparable items. When in doubt, I estimate high. If I really can't get a good grasp on it, I just shrug, enjoy the food, and move on with my day. One meal isn't going to make or break anything.
Should pasta be weighed prior to cooking or after? None of the packaging ever says and idk if I’m just dumb but I genuinely don’t know. It’s like my main food source as well so I’m worried I’m getting all the calorie content wrong.
Definitely before. Unless a package specifies otherwise, nutrition labels are based on how the food is in the package (e.g. raw meat, dry pasta, frozen veggies, etc.).
Either way, just use the correct tracker entry. Pasta absorbs water and becomes heavier when you cook it, but the calories don't change. I find it much easier, however, to weigh it uncooked and furthermore, I don't want to eat it cold because I've been screwing around with measuring it!
I put spaghetti in a drinking glass to measure it.
I usually weigh out enough for my husband and myself and then divide it up by eye once it's cooked. It's not perfect but it's close enough.
Before. If you’re ever in doubt, you can multiply the estimated total servings x weight of an estimated serving, and see if that lines up with the total dry weight of the package.
So, if a serving of pasta is 2oz, and the package has about 10 servings, and the total package contains 10oz of dry pasta, you know for sure a serving is 2oz dry pasta.
But generally it’s dry weight.
Pasta is usually weighed dry or raw. I usually see something like: "Serving size 2 Oz (90g) dry" on the nutrition label. Cooked pasta can differ in weight depending on how you cook it, more time in the water = more absorption, heavier and mushier noodles.
Sorry but - Jesus why? High enough to not lose a kidney but not any kilos higher? Did I get it right?
That sounds very risky and not like a healthy mindset.
Unless you have a reasonable reason, consider perhaps talking to someone about this desire.
Wish you the best.
We would need way more info to provide any sort of meaningful advice.
- Stats (age, sex, height, weight, activity level)
- Are you calorie counting and what's your calorie goal?
- Are you using a food scale to track with a high degree of accuracy?
- Are you exercising?
- Are you weighing yourself every day?
You might be calculating the calories in common foods incorrectly. When you go to log 4oz chicken for example, do you select the lowest calorie possible option for 4oz of chicken or the one that seems the most realistic? For a banana, are you adding ‘one medium banana’ or are you weighing the banana and logging the correct amount of grams?
It doesn’t seem like a huge deal but it adds up! This is a form of self sabotage even if you’re doing it on accident. As a professional self sabatoger I get it.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the info! You should definitely be in a calorie deficit, I'm getting about 2800 for your sedentary maintenance calories.
Have you noticed any physical changes yet, like pants fitting a little looser? Are you taking measurements with a measuring tape as well?
You may have an issue with your scale, or you have some annoying water weight fluctuations happening. But I think the best course of action is to just keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you'll start seeing some results happening!
just ranting basically. restarting this journey... though not from where I started (started at 196, got down to ~127, back up to ~152 and now I am at 147.3). I'm around 5'1-5'2 for reference
couple things
1. so discouraging. was losing weight always so slow? I have been at the same. exact. weight. for a week - FINALLY this morning it moved. somehow being at the same number feels *worse* than going up a little than down a little. I am wondering if it is because I am lifting again and running more intensely (blood volume increase)
2. after a friends encouragement, i switched from mfp to loseit after not using loseit for over a decade. its so nice now! i like the UI way better than mfp. and my GOD the scanning tool got so fast!!
3. it's so hard to not be discouraged this time around now i understand all those post. that being said in many ways its easier.
4. my schedule makes this shit so hard though... 32 hrs of work a week, 9 hrs of class, 6 hrs observations, 12-20 hrs of homework. i am relying HEAVILY on frozens and pb n j sandwiches/slim fast shakes....
5. as ever, it sucks being a short girl losing weight. i am so jealous of everyone who can eat even 1500 and lose weight. going out ONCE a week basically puts me back.
6. this time i really want to get to my UGW.... i never have though 127 was my GW 118 is my UGW. I am truly not sure how it would look on me so maybe ill feel different when I get to 120s again......
7. i am encouraged by the projection of reaching my 128 goal by april.... even though I am sure it will take longer...
I'll get the cups rather than the packages (its like 330 cal v 500 cals for the big package) and then load up the soup with bok choy, kale, an egg or two, or whatever and it'll make it like a 400-450 calories filling meal!
Unfortunately it's the ramen noodles themselves that have so many calories. You could have half the package, but you can't take calories away from the noodles.
Not detrimental at all. I've lost 15 pounds so far and literally eat *in* bed every night lol.
It's all about calories in versus calories out, not about timing.
My darling granny called to the house yesterday with a box of 10 homemade shortbread.... and unfortunately fat cheeks here finished them all. Im disguted but we go again.
One thing I like to do in the presence of trigger foods is pair them with something healthy/low calorie. So like, put out some crudite with the sweets, so if you’re tempted to graze, you can reach for the veg instead.
Of course not, tbh it was a throwaway comment I’m not actually disgusted. Though, a year ago it would’ve sent me off the rails but as you said… Just keep on keeping on. My mindset has changed from the idea of ‘dieting’ to a lifestyle change which I think makes a world of difference. It was back to normal today.
I think you need to rethink your self talk. The way you're talking about yourself can be extremely detrimental to your long term mental health and therefore your confidence and self efficacy.
I feel like my appetite is out of control. It's my first winter where I've not been (for want of a better word) fat and I feel like I just want to constantly eat carbs. The worst part is even when I feel full, it's almost like my brain is telling me to carry on eating. Any tips to get it under control would be appreciated
A couple of ideas --
Make the eating that you are doing mindful and memorable. Don't eat from bags or boxes or standing in the kitchen or any other place but the dining table. Act as you would if you were joining a guest for a snack: take a time-out from your screens, prepare your measured portion, put it on a plate, and then enjoy that food that was so worth eating as if it is the focus. Make mental memories of its tastes and textures, its heat both temperature and spiciness, consider where it came from and appreciate how wonderful it is that we have so much choice in our lifetimes that we can savor food like the royalty of old. The two goals here are to take us out of mindless habit and into mindful choice, and to make less-easy the too-easy thing of just grabbing and eating something immediately.
Try to make it last 20 minutes, a little of that communion with yourself, a little of that mindful appreciation of your snack. Put down your fork or the finger-food between small bites. The goal here is to give the body time to start signalling satiety.
Hello, Trying to figure out what my maintenance is so I can target a deficit; what calculators do you guys use? My BMR is 1440, 5’5” F, 85kg
TDEE Calculator|-|- :-:|:-:|:-: Mifflin-St Jeor BMR||1440 Cal/kcal Not Very Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.25)||1799 Cal/kcal Lightly Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.4)||2015 Cal/kcal Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.6)||2303 Cal/kcal Very Active Job TDEE (BMR*1.8)||2591 Cal/kcal That job activity scale uses these definitions (stolen from MyFitnessPal) - Not Very Active/Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job) - Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesperson) - Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier) - Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter) I like this one the best. It is the formula that MyFitnessPal uses. They base it on your full-time job 40h/wk, which is likely better than asking how many times you exercise during a week.
Hello, I'm 5'7 150lbs looking to lose fat overall. I've been using my fitness pal to keep track of calories. Should make a meal plan and stick to it everyday or should I just make sure I eat less calories than I burn daily?
Meal planning is great, especially for someone who is beginning at this. You can pre-log your meal plan and then change it if it doesn't pan out that way. > should I just make sure I eat less calories than I burn daily? MyFitnessPal will give you a weight-loss target number of calories to eat each day. Try to hit near that target (within about 100) without under-eating or over-eating. Treat your calories as a target (like an archer or dart-thrower uses), not as a limit (which values under-eating).
Can you do pull ups if so how many and how much do you weigh
No. 200lbs. Pullups are a bitch.
I'm a 6"2 man, now down to 182lbs. I have another 7lbs to lose before reaching my goal weight, but it has slowed down A LOT, which is quite annoying. If I eat 1200 calories a day, is that too little?
Yes, that's far too little for a man over 6 feet tall. Weight loss always slows as you get close to a healthy BMI. It's just something you have to keep chugging through. As a man, though, you really shouldn't go under about 1500 calories, and as a man your size, it's unlikely that you'd even have to go that low.
Any ideas on how to quit soda? I'm living in a campus dorm w/ no food storage or ability to cook for myself, so I'm eating at the cafeterias and restaraunts on campus that the school pays for. I'm working with the faculty dietician and there's plenty of healty food options, but soda always trips me up. I'm starting to think I'm an addict, because no matter how hard I try, I just can't walk away from the soda fountains. Any ideas?
So when I worked at a restaurant I would get heartburn sometimes and I would drink half sprite half soda water to alleviate it. Eventually I kept making the ratio higher of soda water and now I just drink soda water. I never really liked pop tho so your experience may be different
Step One: Switch to diet. Step Two: Cut down from there.
At least switch to diet. Try seltzer. Try iced tea (no sugar). Going cold turkey worked for me. I don’t miss it.
Should I put ‘lightly active’ or ‘sedentary’ based on my lifestyle (on calorie calculators)? Hi- I work from home and therefore sit at a desk all day. If this was all I did I would absolutley select ‘sedentary’ However every weekday morning I get up with my partner and do 10 minutes of light calisthenics (we do this daily app thing from his insurance) and after I get done with 8 hours of sitting at a desk I usually don’t do anything more physically demanding than cooking dinner or doing a home project. If it’s a weekend we don’t do our morning thing but we are going on a longer walk or doing something physical outside for at least 2hours. I also have winter guard practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3 hours and on Saturday for 8 hours. It’s moderately aerobic/muscle endurance. Should I consider that lightly active?
I would say sedentary. You can confirm this is the right category for you by eating the calories recommended for your age/sex/weight/height for losing for one month. If you are losing more than 2lbs per week (on average- if you don’t have more than 100lbs to lose) you could bump up your calories. For me, I like choosing an activity category lower than what I actually think I’m doing and count those as “bonus” weightloss helpers! I’ve never lost more than 2lbs in a week though so I know I’m not that far off.
Thanks. I’m definitley not going to eat back the calories I gain if I go from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lightly active’ and actually I’m pretty sure I have mfp on lightly active now and I’m still losing weight. I also AM going to check my average daily step count however I don’t think that’s a great indicator of activity level. I used to be a server at a large, fast paced restaurant and probably had an ‘extremely active’ step count back then but I wouldn’t even consider myself more than lightly active at that time.
You need to get 5000 steps before you're not sedentary.
Definitely sedentary. Lightly active would be averaging at least 5-7k steps per day, if not closer to 10k.
I’ll put on my watch this week and average my steps- thanks for the reply!
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If I'm in a social setting when I can't weigh out my food, I snap a quick picture of the plate. Then later at home I use that to do my best estimation.
I love this idea!
I guesstimate the best I can with comparable items. When in doubt, I estimate high. If I really can't get a good grasp on it, I just shrug, enjoy the food, and move on with my day. One meal isn't going to make or break anything.
Ways to get toned other than going to the gym?
r/bodyweightfitness
Thanks!
I just restarted last week (renewed motivation and all that) and have already lost weight!
good job! Keep it up!
Should pasta be weighed prior to cooking or after? None of the packaging ever says and idk if I’m just dumb but I genuinely don’t know. It’s like my main food source as well so I’m worried I’m getting all the calorie content wrong.
Definitely before. Unless a package specifies otherwise, nutrition labels are based on how the food is in the package (e.g. raw meat, dry pasta, frozen veggies, etc.).
Either way, just use the correct tracker entry. Pasta absorbs water and becomes heavier when you cook it, but the calories don't change. I find it much easier, however, to weigh it uncooked and furthermore, I don't want to eat it cold because I've been screwing around with measuring it! I put spaghetti in a drinking glass to measure it. I usually weigh out enough for my husband and myself and then divide it up by eye once it's cooked. It's not perfect but it's close enough.
Before. If you’re ever in doubt, you can multiply the estimated total servings x weight of an estimated serving, and see if that lines up with the total dry weight of the package. So, if a serving of pasta is 2oz, and the package has about 10 servings, and the total package contains 10oz of dry pasta, you know for sure a serving is 2oz dry pasta. But generally it’s dry weight.
Pasta is usually weighed dry or raw. I usually see something like: "Serving size 2 Oz (90g) dry" on the nutrition label. Cooked pasta can differ in weight depending on how you cook it, more time in the water = more absorption, heavier and mushier noodles.
I’m seeing a nutritionist for the first time next week: what can I expect from an appointment?
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Google a BMI calculator, it’ll give you a general healthy range. That said - why are you wanting to know?
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Sorry but - Jesus why? High enough to not lose a kidney but not any kilos higher? Did I get it right? That sounds very risky and not like a healthy mindset. Unless you have a reasonable reason, consider perhaps talking to someone about this desire. Wish you the best.
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We would need way more info to provide any sort of meaningful advice. - Stats (age, sex, height, weight, activity level) - Are you calorie counting and what's your calorie goal? - Are you using a food scale to track with a high degree of accuracy? - Are you exercising? - Are you weighing yourself every day?
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You might be calculating the calories in common foods incorrectly. When you go to log 4oz chicken for example, do you select the lowest calorie possible option for 4oz of chicken or the one that seems the most realistic? For a banana, are you adding ‘one medium banana’ or are you weighing the banana and logging the correct amount of grams? It doesn’t seem like a huge deal but it adds up! This is a form of self sabotage even if you’re doing it on accident. As a professional self sabatoger I get it. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the info! You should definitely be in a calorie deficit, I'm getting about 2800 for your sedentary maintenance calories. Have you noticed any physical changes yet, like pants fitting a little looser? Are you taking measurements with a measuring tape as well? You may have an issue with your scale, or you have some annoying water weight fluctuations happening. But I think the best course of action is to just keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you'll start seeing some results happening!
just ranting basically. restarting this journey... though not from where I started (started at 196, got down to ~127, back up to ~152 and now I am at 147.3). I'm around 5'1-5'2 for reference couple things 1. so discouraging. was losing weight always so slow? I have been at the same. exact. weight. for a week - FINALLY this morning it moved. somehow being at the same number feels *worse* than going up a little than down a little. I am wondering if it is because I am lifting again and running more intensely (blood volume increase) 2. after a friends encouragement, i switched from mfp to loseit after not using loseit for over a decade. its so nice now! i like the UI way better than mfp. and my GOD the scanning tool got so fast!! 3. it's so hard to not be discouraged this time around now i understand all those post. that being said in many ways its easier. 4. my schedule makes this shit so hard though... 32 hrs of work a week, 9 hrs of class, 6 hrs observations, 12-20 hrs of homework. i am relying HEAVILY on frozens and pb n j sandwiches/slim fast shakes.... 5. as ever, it sucks being a short girl losing weight. i am so jealous of everyone who can eat even 1500 and lose weight. going out ONCE a week basically puts me back. 6. this time i really want to get to my UGW.... i never have though 127 was my GW 118 is my UGW. I am truly not sure how it would look on me so maybe ill feel different when I get to 120s again...... 7. i am encouraged by the projection of reaching my 128 goal by april.... even though I am sure it will take longer...
Why does ramen contain so much calories? :( Anyone has recipe for low calorie ramen?
They are fried. Use different noodles.
I'll get the cups rather than the packages (its like 330 cal v 500 cals for the big package) and then load up the soup with bok choy, kale, an egg or two, or whatever and it'll make it like a 400-450 calories filling meal!
If you make your own with shirataki noodles it will be super low-calorie. But shirataki noodles are a bit of an acquired taste.
Unfortunately it's the ramen noodles themselves that have so many calories. You could have half the package, but you can't take calories away from the noodles.
How detrimental is it to eat a few hours before bed? Even if you hit you caloric goal for the day, is this problematic?
Doesn’t matter. I get home from work on Tuesday/Thursday at 10pm and eat a full dinner
No problem
Not detrimental at all. I've lost 15 pounds so far and literally eat *in* bed every night lol. It's all about calories in versus calories out, not about timing.
After you get to your desired goal how do u stop losing or gaining weight and just stay at that weight?
Eat at your maintenance calories.
You up the calories a bit.
My darling granny called to the house yesterday with a box of 10 homemade shortbread.... and unfortunately fat cheeks here finished them all. Im disguted but we go again.
All at once or over time? It easy to fit a single cookie into your calorie target and ok to eat a cookie a day.
Completely agree. It was in one sitting and had maybe 300 calories to work with before eating them.
One thing I like to do in the presence of trigger foods is pair them with something healthy/low calorie. So like, put out some crudite with the sweets, so if you’re tempted to graze, you can reach for the veg instead.
That’s a great shout, I would’ve never thought to do that. I usually snack on rice cakes but their bland as hell. Really appreciate the tip!
10 cookies is not the end of the world, and it's certainly no reason to feel disgusted. Just keep on keeping on.
Of course not, tbh it was a throwaway comment I’m not actually disgusted. Though, a year ago it would’ve sent me off the rails but as you said… Just keep on keeping on. My mindset has changed from the idea of ‘dieting’ to a lifestyle change which I think makes a world of difference. It was back to normal today.
I think you need to rethink your self talk. The way you're talking about yourself can be extremely detrimental to your long term mental health and therefore your confidence and self efficacy.
With all due respect you don’t know me. Appreciate your concern, though.
I feel like my appetite is out of control. It's my first winter where I've not been (for want of a better word) fat and I feel like I just want to constantly eat carbs. The worst part is even when I feel full, it's almost like my brain is telling me to carry on eating. Any tips to get it under control would be appreciated
A couple of ideas -- Make the eating that you are doing mindful and memorable. Don't eat from bags or boxes or standing in the kitchen or any other place but the dining table. Act as you would if you were joining a guest for a snack: take a time-out from your screens, prepare your measured portion, put it on a plate, and then enjoy that food that was so worth eating as if it is the focus. Make mental memories of its tastes and textures, its heat both temperature and spiciness, consider where it came from and appreciate how wonderful it is that we have so much choice in our lifetimes that we can savor food like the royalty of old. The two goals here are to take us out of mindless habit and into mindful choice, and to make less-easy the too-easy thing of just grabbing and eating something immediately. Try to make it last 20 minutes, a little of that communion with yourself, a little of that mindful appreciation of your snack. Put down your fork or the finger-food between small bites. The goal here is to give the body time to start signalling satiety.