I have two questions:
I sometimes get stumped calculating activity level. I work out at moderate intensity 5 days a week, but am only casually active on the other 2 days and can't figure out if I should use "lightly" or "slightly" active. For reference, I use Sailrabbit
How often do you recalculate your TDEE? Every pound lost? Every 5 lbs? When you stall out?
Posted Apr 4, 2016, 2:29 PM UTC
Calculate your TDEE for both your active and inactive days and eat accordingly. And when losing, I calculated it every five to ten pounds.
So quick question for you and u/BigFriendlyDragon , how do you guess best at activity level? I think "lightly active" works for me because I do something that elevates my heart rate mildly (jogging) for 30 minutes followed by something that gets me in the 130-150 bps (I am 41 for reference) for 30 min-1.5 hrs (I rarely have time for a 2 hr workout but love it when I do....yay endurance). But could I be overestimating my activity levels? I know people have a tendency to do that
I compare my observed weight loss to my expected weight loss and adjust the activity multiplier to suit. I'm about 100 cals lower than expected because my work days are so sedentary.
My weight loss seems to go in weird spurts, I have 1-2 month plateaus where I bounce around the mean by a pound or 2 and then the mean drops by 4-5 lbs and then I bounce around again. When I hit the new plateau, I drop my intake and the cycle repeats. My graph looks like steps
How often are you doing this per week?
5 every week. I occasionally get in 6, but the routine is 5
You are at least moderately active. Lightly active implies much less than what you are currently doing.
I would suggest you check your TDEE over at IIFYM.
As far as planning goes, I have only calculated my TDEE once- for the weight I want to be.
Eating at that rate results in steady weight loss towards my goal, appropriately tapering as I near it.
Eating at that rate also means minimal adjustments when I finally get there. I'll have my maintenance diet planned out already.
I do eat below that to speed progress, but that's the way I try to look at it.
Nice strategy, but gearing toward a system balance is also going to slow down steadily, although i get what you say about adjustments.
Yes, it would.
I still eat under my TDEE to speed progress. I just think of that as my TDEE.
I use the lower TDEE but log the exercise so I can eat some back. Remember most machines/apps overestimate so be smart.
That is why I quit logging exercise. I used to have my TDEE set at sedentary and added in exercise each day, but it seemed too high, so I'd knock 200 cal off. I want to just program in a number now instead of having to keep subtracting the error out because I am lazy :)
I take stock every month or so in general, a ritual where I take photos and measurments (this can be so helpful in a stall month). If my weight has changed significantly (say 10lbs or so) I'll do a quick check of my overall TDEE/deficit.
TDEE is based on height, weight and activity level so if you've found something that works it makes sense to check if one of these factors changes. Not seeing to this may cause stalls, which is why people suggest recalculating TDEE with weight lost.
When I used the online TDEE calculators I always used sedentary to err on the side of caution. You want more deficit not less, and there's a bit of leeway in these things.
Now I have an HR fitbit I get a more accurate daily estimate of my TDEE, so I can average that over the month to check I'm still being reasonable.
I never calculate my TDEE. Not needed. I just track my calories, and if my weight is staying pretty stable over at least a week, that's clearly what's needed to maintain my weight at that activity level. If I want to lose weight, I just ballpark a number and see if I'm losing at the rate that I want. If not, I eat less. If too fast, eat more.
No brainer.
Everytime i lose weight.
I generally recalculate every 10 lbs lost. As for activity multiplier you have to best guess it really, the best thing to do is to compare you observed loss with your expected loss and adjust from there.