Best way to decide calories

[HatchetJob]

So at the start of the pandemic I was on my way to becoming slim for the first time in my adult life. I was very fit and control of my food.
It’s all gone to pot and I’m possibly at my fattest.
I m absolutely desperate to drop a stone in the short term.

Ive gone from very few steps to around £15k to give myself a kick.

I don’t know what to eat. Before I was fit and eating high protein and doing weights etc. I’m confused what I should start as a calorie guide?

I don’t want to do weight watchers etc again. I just want to input into an app for calories/protein to plan my meals as I was doing well. I just can’t remember what I was using before? Help anyone?

My fitness pal? If you have a Fitbit the Fitbit app also does it. You need to calculate your TDEE and subtract 500 calories to find your daily target.

tdeecalculator.net/

Or this if you really want to measure your macros www.calculator.net/macro-calculator.html

My favourite is Nutracheck- you have to pay (not much) but it's much more user-friendly than the others IME.

Brilliant thank you

It’s just shown I haven’t eaten nearly enough calories today! So that’s a lesson.

there’s nearly 500 left from the day when I input - plus it gives me another 400 for exercise. That’s with me taking 500 off. I don’t think it’s quite the right balance yet as I’ve not eaten that much less than usual.

I don't lose weight if I eat my 'exercise calories'.

I think I didn’t before. It would be a huge amount of food if I did.

Don't eat the exercise ones, just stick to your deficient ones

Calorie counting works really well when done accurately, it's tiresome but make sure you are doing exact measurements of things and including EVERYTHING. The small bits of sauce, spice etc all add up and can put you over
And then estimating weight of things as well can really hurt.

When you calculate your TDEE it asks how active you are so your exercise calories are already factored in.

As PP have said, calories counting works really well if done accurately, and this starts with calculating accurately your daily allowance. Most people get is wrong.

Careful with using TDEE if they don't specify your "adjusted weight" instead of actual weight if you are very fat as you stated (I am at my fattest). Your energy requirement do not rely on a metabolically low excess fat. If you use your current weight and not the adjusted weight you will struggle to lose weight.

To calculate your adjusted weight you use the Devine formula starting by define your ideal weight :

Ideal body weight (IBW) = 100 lb + 5 lb for each inch over 5 feet then you adjust to the BMI for your range depending on which one you aim for.

Minimum target weight = IBW × 18.5
Maximum target weight = IBW × 24.9

then this is the weight you will use in a TDEE calculator or you do it yourself with this formula

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
and then adjust the activity factors in this way

Sedentary (little to no exercise): BMR x 1.2
Lightly active (light exercise or sports 1-3 days per week): BMR x 1.375
Moderately active (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days per week): BMR x 1.55

Now calculate again your daily allowance. If you don't want to do the maths, I can do if for you.

@MatchaTea i have tried to do the maths but I am a bit lost! I’m currently 86 kilos and 5ft 3

Like I said I am walking a lot and I’m going to try and do some other exercise when I build up to it. So I was. Guessing moderate exercise? (For instance I burned 450 calories walking yesterday).

if you could do the math that would be amazing.

Inputting my weight shows I was 69 kilos 3 years ago urgh.

Minimum Adjusted weight : 47.36 kilos
Maximum Adjusted weight : 63.36 kilos

Let's use your maximum adjusted weight for the BMR, since it is not only the weight for the maximum limit and it is close to a a weight you had before

I don't know your age, so I put 40

BMR = 655 + (9.56 × weight in kg) + (1.85 × height in cm) - (4.68 × age in years)
BMR = 655 + (9.56 × 63.3) + (1.85 × 160) - (4.68 × 40)
BMR = 1369

Your ideal body weight is however smaller than 63.36 . The Devine formula was invented 50 years ago , in 1974, and it puts you at an ideal weight for your height.
IBW= 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg for each inch over 5 feet
IBW = 45.5 kg + (2.3 kg × (63 - 60))
IBW = 52.4 kg

You should ignore the exercise part, because we know that the body compensates. You were active in the morning, the body will keep the balance and make you less active later on, or slow down internal processes to preserve energy.

Exercise is beneficial on so many fronts, but not for losing weight. They calculate the metabolic output of hunter gatherers in Africa who walk for 8 hours a day with sedentary New Yorkers, no difference in metabolism. It is extremely complex.

It is what comes in that matters. Ignore the calories out part.

Thank you so much @MatchaTea

im actually 48, does that make a huge difference?

So I’ve x by moderate - removed 500 and I get 1621 calories a day (I was working on 1700 so not so different).

When I was young and skinny (and flat chested) I was 57 kilos!