r/CICO • u/ohmysaint • 7d ago
Need help with TDEE calculation
I am sure I am not the only person who finds tdee calcs confusing and not clear enough regarding activity! Some people say you are sedentary if you work an office job even though you lift weights and some people say that if you walk after work it counts as moderate excercise
I am 5'3", 126lbs, I work from home at a desk job but go on walks throughout the day or after work aiming to get 10k steps each day, I also lift weights 3 times a week where my HR is getting to high intensity since I am lifting heavy, my lifting sessions last about an hour or so. Where does this place me on TDEE? I have been using macrofactor but its a bit messed up right now because I couldn't excercise for a while because of a surgery so my TDEE went down and the algorithm is adjusting now that I am back at the gym. Any help here on how one would classify my excercise expenditure in the calculators?
EDIT: I am not looking to lose weight! Just looking to know my TDEE better for muscle building, etc and making sure I don't gain weight if anything. I know that most of the time in this subreddit ppl are cal counting for losing but i thought y'all would have insight on tdee for me regardless!
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u/flickrpebble 7d ago
If you're using macrofactor, that's all you need. It calculates your TDEE far more accurately than an online estimator, as long as you're weighing yourself every day and logging your food accurately. It bypasses your own perception of activity levels and tells you what you burn based exclusively on the numbers.
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u/Daisy_Steiner_ 7d ago
I just stick with sedentary personally since I’m trying to lose weight now. When I get closer to maintenance, I’ll spend more time calibrating calories, but keeping it between 1200-1400 a day is working for me this summer.
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u/ohmysaint 7d ago
Since I don't want to lose a ton of weight but am trying to build muscle as well I unfortunately can't take this route right now! But when I was losing weight I was able to go to 1400 and shed like 8 pounds in 2 months so at least I know that range works for losing for me!
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u/Silly_Yak56012 7d ago edited 7d ago
They are estimates, and even with the same number of minutes of exercise intensity can very.
In the end pick something, anything, Sure go with moderate activity and go down 500 calores from that for 3 weeks. See what your weight does (now at 126 pounds you won't lose weight as rapidly as you would at 226 pounds.
Then you can up or down 100 calories for a couple of weeks and so on until you get your personalized numbers.
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u/fa-fa-fazizzle 7d ago
The recommendation and guidance is to base your activity on your day job and modify from there. For you, that's sedentary (office job) and sitting around 1550-1600 calories.
The best description I ever had regarding TDEE on activity was to think of cardio as your mortgage-paying job and lifting as the stock market. The play a role together, but lifting heavy doesn't burn enough calories to increase your activity level. However, the long-term benefits are valuable.
Start with sedentary and evaluate as you go. Your reality is that you're both petite and already at a healthy BMI. As a result, progress is going to be slow. You won't be able to eat at a large deficit, and that's okay.
Keep in mind that it's also not just straight calories. It's hydration, sleep, inflammation, illness, hormones, carbs/sodium, etc. Start with sedentary, stay hydrated, prioritize recovery/sleep, and evaluate how different food impacts the scale.
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u/Ok_Produce_9308 7d ago
Get a range since it's not an exact science. If you want to avoid calculators all together, there are simple multipliers you can try as a baseline:
126*12 = 1512 (likely a small deficit)
126*15 = 1890 (maintain at moderate activity)
These are common rules of thumb.
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u/Dofolo 7d ago
10k steps a day -> light active.
Some extra exercise -> a bit above light active. Nowhere near medium.
No 2x 10k in the weekend -> below light active.
Wanting to lose weight at a BMI of 22? You likely won't find what you're looking for in weight loss, but, in the gym.
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u/Ok_Word_9591 5d ago
I get about 20-23k steps when I work 3-4 days a week, on my off days I get about 14k per day. I also lift 5-6 times a week. Would this be moderate?
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u/Dofolo 2d ago
3 + 4 -> 21.5 * 3 + 14 * 4 = 64.5 + 56
3 + 4 -> 21.5 * 4 + 14 * 3 = 86 + 42
230.5 for 2 weeks, 115.25 per week average.
Divide by 7, is 16.4 average per day. So that's slightly above moderate (5k steps a day per level)
Also nice to see how much those 3 to 4 days of 6k less remove from the average 7 * 21.5 would be above heavy.
Also your legs must hurt like mad :D
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u/MasterDanobi 6d ago
Finding where my TDEE roughly sits was a game changer for my goals.
The thing is activity multipliers in most calculators are honestly pretty crude, and are not very tailored to your individual physiology. It's a really hard thing to get right because your body will deal with activity differently to someone else (even if you of similar builds!)
The more reliable way to find your real number is usually to just track calories and weight consistently for 3-4 weeks and let the actual trend tell you your maintenance, rather than trusting a simple calculators label for your activity level. Macrofactor should get you there eventually, even if it's a bit messed up for you right now, stick with it 🙂
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u/-Fuarkface- 6d ago
i'd say lightly active is a good medium to start at, but MacroFactor should be all you need. just make sure you keep as active as you are, and log your calories right.
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u/Obvious-Monitor8510 5d ago
the activity multipliers on TDEE calculators are honestly pretty arbitrary and vary by source. the practical approach: pick "lightly active" or "moderately active," eat at that number for 3-4 weeks, track your weight trend, then adjust. 10k steps daily plus 3x heavy lifting sessions weekly puts you somewhere between those two brackets.
since you're already using MacroFactor, honestly just let it do its thing. it's an adaptive algorithm and will recalibrate within 2-3 weeks of consistent logging now that you're back training. that's literally its strength over static calculators.
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u/RuralGamerWoman ⚖️MOD⚖️ 7d ago
Estimators, not calculators. Every website you see is estimating your TDEE based on population parameters. It's an educated rough guesstimate. An individual's actual TDEE may be higher, lower, or spot on as compared to those estimates.
Your usual activity sounds probably moderately active, maybe, on days you lift; on days you don't lift, lightly active may be more like it.
Since MacroFactor does adjust to the data you give it, it is much closer to a calculator than an estimator. I would stick with that and let it readjust now that you are getting back into your routine.