Hi everyone! I'd be really grateful for some advice.
Tl;dr:
I want to lose bodyfat and I want to do it in the correct way, so my life isn't hell and the results are sustainable. However, figuring out my BMR seems to be bloody impossible. The results online calculators give me are anywhere from 1331 to 1725. How do I know what I should be following? I can't afford coaching/consulting or even having my bodyfat professionally measured right now, so I'm relying on what I can find on the internet until I can. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Refer to the long version of my story for more detailed information about my body type, diet, etc.
Deets:
Female
Age: 31
Height: 165cm
Current weight: 84.1 kg
Current bodyfat: 47.3 %
Goal weight: 60 kg
Goal bodyfat: 20ish%
Sedentary job (desk job) and hobbies (gaming, reading, etc.)
Exercise: Weights 5 times a week, HIIT 1-3 times a week, walking 3-7 times a week.
Using x 1.45 for activity because I exercise regularly and push myself hard, but am otherwise sedentary.
muscleforlife.com/bmr-calculator/ 1331 x 1.45 - 500 = 1430 kcal
tdeecalculator.net/ 1333 x 1.45 - 500 = 1433 kcal
calculator.net/bmr-calculator.ht 1556 x 1.45 - 500 = 1756 kcal
iifym.com/bmr-calculator 1556 x 1.45 - 500 = 1756 kcal
bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/metric-bmr-calculator.php 1614 x 1.45 - 500 = 1840 kcal
bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm 1619 x 1.45 - 500 = 1848 kcal
damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/ Total body weight formula 1558 x 1.45 - 500 = 1759 kcal
Lean mass formula 1327 x 1.45 - 500 = 1424 kcal
active.com/fitness/calculators/bmr 1625 x 1.45 - 500 = 1856 kcal
muscleandstrength.com/tools/bmr-calculator 1725 x 1.45 - 500 = 2001 kcal
Full version:
I'm a 31-year-old woman, 165cm tall and currently weigh 84.1kg. My scales at home tell me my bodyfat is at 47.3%, but I don't necessarily believe that's accurate - just using it as a means to track what direction my bodyfat is going in.
I've been active on and off all my life, and I've mostly been at a healthy weight. 2011-2013 I went through a period of disordered eating and over-exercising and got very thin. 2014-2017 I went through a period of being very sedentary and eating really badly, and gained about 20kg. Right now I'm at the point that I've been working out (weights + HIIT + walking) 4-7 times a week for just over a year, so my fitness level is pretty alright and I've got that side of things down. However, I didn't make any changes to my diet, so my weight has stayed pretty much the same (I actually hadn't been weighing myself at all - I was exercising to feel good. I did lose a bit of size though, judging by how my clothes fit and how my face shape changed). Two weeks ago I decided to fine tune my calories and macros as well, as I'm now ready to make a conscious effort to lose the extra weight, in a healthy and sustainable way. My problem is that I don't know what I should be following. As you can see, the results different BMR calculators give me vary pretty wildly. I don't want to accidentally be eating too much and end up frustrated when I don't achieve results, but I also don't want to accidentally eat too little and ruin my metabolism all over again. If anyone here can advise me, I'm all ears.
A little bit about my body, in case the information is useful in terms of how I should be eating: I'm very compact and heavy. What I mean is, even when I'm tiny, I weigh a lot. My lowest weight when I had an eating disorder was 57kg, and I was rail thin (my waist measured at 64cm). However, even at that point my muscles were very defined. Right now, with all this bodyfat, you can still see the outlines of some of my muscles. People are astounded when I tell them I weigh 84kg - and I agree, although I'm definitely visibly overweight, I don't look quite as heavy as I am. I'm not big boned though - in fact, my bone structure is probably on the smaller side of average. I'm just muscular. My body shape is hourglass. At a healthy weight, I don't carry fat around my midsection. It's all in my hips, butt, thighs and upper arms. Right now, at this weight, my waist is still small and I can feel my ribs. When I lose weight, the first place it comes off is my waist and the last place is comes off is my butt. Vice versa, when I gain wright, the first place it goes on is my butt and the last place is goes on is my waist and back (which is how I know I need to get serious about dropping this extra weight now, as I can really see it on my belly and back - that means it's gone way too far :D).
A bit about my appetite and how my body deals with dieting: As I mentioned, I started controlling my macros 2 weeks ago, and I'm currently in the process of trying to fine-tune them. I didn't have scales at first, so I guesstimated my weight at 87kg (wasn't thinking about bodyfat at this point) and went with what the first online BMR calculator I came across told me. I ate 1763 kcal per day (500 cal deficit), and followed gaugegirltraining's advice when it came to macros, which put me at around 45ish% protein, 30ish% fat and 25ish% carbs, if I remember right. I was concerned with the amount of protein and read somewhere that there's no point in getting more than 35% of your calories from protein, so I changed to that and upped my carbs and fat instead. I felt the same eating both ways, granted, I only did both for 2-3 days each. Then I came a cross a BMR calculator that had a field for bodyfat. I put in my weight at 87kg and estimated my bodyfat to be 42% (as when I was at my lowest weight, 57kg, my scales claimed that my bodyfat was 22%, so I just added 20% and figured I might be in the ballpark). Suddenly, it put my BMR at around 1460! Which made the calories I could eat per day around 1650ish, can't remember exactly. So I dropped my calories to this new figure and adjusted my macros accordingly, keeping protein and fat at 35ish% each, and carbs at around 30%.
Just over a week in, so 3-4 days ago, I started getting hungrier and hungrier. My meals are spaced 2-3 hours apart, but I seriously can barely make it to 3 hours. Sometimes I can hardly make it to 2. I'm lethargic and unhappy, and all I can think about is food. This is at 1650ish calories per day, rough macros 35% P, 35% F, 30% C. I eat clean, unrpocessed foods, with vegetables for volume. I drink pleeeenty of water and a couple of cups of matcha per day. But I can barely handle this - I'm starving. This lead me to wonder whether my calories might be too low. I don't have much experience of healthy weight loss, so I don't know hungry is too hungry. I figured that any calorie deficit will probably lead to some amount of hunger, but how do I know how hungry I should be feeling for my calories per day to be healthy? I'm not even sure if the 1700+ calories feel good, because I might have been running on my surplus from before I started my diet for a couple days in the beginning. I don't know how I should be feeling :D. Halp.
SO:
I want to figure out what to do with my calories and macros, once and for all. Meaning, what to do now and how to tweak in future, which calculators to listen to and which ones to ignore. I finally bought a new set of scales yesterday that measure also measure bodyfat, and found out I weigh 84.1kg. They say my bodyfat % is a whopping 47.3%. I decided to go through the first 10 BMR calculators I could find and see what they say. The results vary from 1331 to 1725, the ones on the low end being calculators that asked for bodyfat % and the ones on the high end only using total body weight. So factoring in my activity at x 1.45 (because I exercise often and hard, but am otherwise quite sedentary) and a deficit of 500 cals, I should be eating anywhere from 1430 to 2001 cals a day. 1430 would probably kill me, so I hope that's not what I should be following, but 2001 sounds like too much. I'm concerned that the 1700s-1800s might be too high because I felt so normal on that amount. Like I said, I don't know how I should be feeling in a reasonable deficit.
Sorry for how long this is! Anyone that's read the whole thing, I applaud and thank you :D. Also, thanks in advance for any advice.
by kettleb3ll via Bodybuilding.com Forums - Female Bodybuilding
