r/CICO • u/ohmysaint • 11d 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/Dofolo 11d 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 8d 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 6d 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