Same thing, but I eat more than my appetite by 200-500 calories and it's has been working great, have gained 20-25 pounds since I started 2 years ago and about the same bodyfat% I started with.
Im 15, do mma intense twice a week, running intervals every day, full body x2 a week super high volume, and eat approximately 4500-5000 kcal and maintain my weight for the past 4 months!
That is probably because you bulked before. I was bulking for powerlifting and was eating about 5500 calories a day and not gaining weight. I than ate 4000 calories a day and LOST weight.
This is so true after 3+ years of training my TDEE is actually pretty low. Maintenance is 2200 to 2300 and I train 6 days a week push, pull, legs. Finished a power meet and will change training when new year resolution happens. The great thing about my TDEE is don’t need to spend a lot on food to bulk and especially to cut and I prefer it that way. I have done a strong man competition with a specialist coach which I was eating like 3k calories and my gawd I feel so bad for people who need to eat a lot to bulk up. RIP my bank account.
So true. You should always figure out your maintenance calories on your own. Yes it can take a few weeks to find out and yes it is long, but it's a small sacrifice that will greatly benefit you in reaching your goals. Heres why. If you rely on a TDEE calculator and are trying to lose weight, this commonly happens: - They are given a calorie number which puts them in a calorie deficit, and this number is usually way off (due to calculators not being accurate), and it puts them in this extreme calorie deficit. After losing weight for a few weeks with this number, which is already ridiculously low, they then plateau and are unsure what to do next, as they find it difficult to create an even bigger deficit with the low amount of calories they are consuming. This also messes up their hormones and could potentially damage their metablosim, as fast weight loss is never sustainable. They then get frustrated and often crash diet. This could have all been avoided from the start if they just spent time and went through trial and error to figure out their maintenance calories, and put themselves in a smaller calorie deficit which would enable them to lose weight slowly and over a longer period of time. They key to losing weight successfully is to always diet on the highest amount of calories possible, and no calculator will ever tell you that number, because your body is different, and it's up to you to figure it out for yourself. If your not sure where to start or what number to pick, I recommend tracking what you normally eat for a week or 2 and see how many calories you eat on a weekly basis. Then pick a number off of that say for example 2500 cals. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after you've used the toilet, and wearing nothing but underwear. Record that weight. Then eat 2500 everyday for a week. When a week has passed weigh yourself again flowing the same procedure, and if your weight has stayed the same then that's your maintenance. If it's gone up your in a surplus and need to eat less (the more you gain the more you can cut back), and if you lost weight then you need to eat more (the more you lose the more you can eat). To be even more accurate, weigh yourself everyday for a week using the same procedure, and get a average weigh in by the end of the week. This is better for more accurate results, especially if your diet and activity levels are all over the place which means you will have a lot of weight fluctuations. Hope this helps someone out!!
TDEE was biggest bs I ever used. They told me for 10% deficit when I first started lifting and tried to lose weight that I needed to eat 1,500 calories. So I tracked everything and did. Lost more then 10 lbs in a month when I first began lifting. Was the biggest mistake ever probably lost tons of lean body mass in the process too. Way too extreme of a calorie deficit. Just count calories watch scale and keep an average of each week that is best way from my experience.
Honestly, I doubt you lost much muscle mass in a month and in all likelihood you jump started your weight lifting career. Yeah you may have lost some muscle mass, but you are now 10 lbs leaner and can eat at slightly above maintenance and gain tons of muscle with hardly any weight gain... and the weight you do gain will be mostly muscle. IMO cutting should be the first step. The leaner you are the easier it is to gain muscle. The leaner you are the harder it is to gain fat. The leaner you are (within reason) the healthier you are. The leaner you are the better you look. Overweight people that jump right into a bulk never seem to get it under control and they just turn into Fatty McFattAsses... So count your self lucky. You survived an extreme cut and now you are ready to put on some serious muscle.
The biggest problem I've noticed with the calculators is that they don't account for body composition, just total weight, even though fat free mass is considered the greatest single indicator of BMR. So I poured through the literature and found an equation that had the lowest margin of error for BMR (which none of the online calculators use) which does account for body composition. I then I added additional levels to the activity factors and gave specifications for what qualifies for each activity level. Still not perfect, but way better than any calculator I've seen. Here's the BMR equation and Activity factors I found and use if anyone's interested (note that FFM and FM have to be in kilograms): BMR Men: 898-3.32A+14.3FFM+6.46FM Women: 682-3.08A+12.9FFM+5.9FM Activity Bedridden (Basically no activity): BMR*1.2 Sedentary (low NEAT low exercise): BMR*1.53 Active (low NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise/moderate NEAT 3-4x weekly moderate exercise/high NEAT low exercise): BMR*1.76 Very Active (low NEAT daily intense exercise/moderate NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise/high NEAT 3-4x weekly moderate exercise): BMR*2.25 Extremely Active (moderate NEAT daily intense exercise/high NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise): BMR*2.5+
That's not true, because in 1990 there was a Russian scientist named Povandolakoviviscov Kintayionshinkov and...why you skip the name? I will not finish the story.
I’m a teenager and calculators gave me a TDEE of around 2600. I kept creeping up calories as I was losing weight and found my maintenance to be around 3500 and I’m bulking on 4300.
I have a question. If my BMR likely most men is around 2k and i burn 100-200 from lifting daily plus 300-500 from cardio daily how my TDEE can be 3.5k? I mean i see this multiplier (~x2) in every site but it doesn't make sense . Please help me understand this
I've been using my fitness pal for most of the year and I think it's good for finding and maintaining a base line. And something i think you should have mentioned is the nutrition facts label isnt 100% accurate.
Experience is the best. Though these kcal calculators could be roughly accurate if you put in your food right. Sometimes I go over a little overboard and break down my chicken wrap down to the lettuce and tomato slices. It’s worked great for me, but takes a bit longer.
Basing your TDEE on your experience can be flawed as you will need to take into account your macronutrient breakdown, your activity and your non-exercise expenditure. I think you should base your caloric needs on your BMR, not your TDEE. The problem with these calculators is that there is a huge element of subjectivity. For example, you can say you do moderate exercise 3 days a week, however not every session is equal. Some days in your routine are more intense than others. The majority of the calories you burn in a day is your resting metabolism, your BMR. The BMR can be calculated via a formula. These are actually the most accurate parts of the calorie calculators or they can be derived from scales that measure your body composition. I base my caloric needs based on my BMR, and what percentage of my BMR I will eat that day, I also factor in exercise and the thermic effect of food.
I lost about 60 pounds in 4-5 months last summer with My Macros + on the app store. I thought it worked really well, but now that I'm trying to bulk, my numbers don't make that much sense, and I haven't seen my weight go up like I thought it would.
also when weighing yourself, do it in the morning before you eat or drink, because those things add weight as well directly after so let us be acruate then.
the free dieting one i find to be most accurate, you have a wide variety of activities to chose from and you can specify how many MINUTES PER DAY on average for the week you do of that activity, which is very precise, and you can also chose your age precisely and not a range. AND you also get to chose activity level (sedentary, physical job etc.)
Alex, I have a question. If i add more carbs to my current calories, how do i know if it's just water weight or water weight combined with fat being gained in case it's indeed a surplus? I understand if i balloon up 5lbs in a day or week, it's probably water weight. But how do i know if some of it isn't fat? Perhaps a certain amount of lbs can only old a certain amount of water weight but I don't know.
Hey mah man, I just wanted to thank you ! Since I'm training 3xFB My gainz/strength just exploded ! (3 days a week (heavy,light,medium ... The rest day between the training depend on my work and my soreness (two days max) ) Encore une fois merci pour tout ce que tu fais pour la communauté fitness Alex :D
So I used to rely on those calculators very heavily. If my calculator said I needed 1550 calories, that's what I ate, no matter what my body and hunger cues said otherwise. Of course, that was fine the first couple months when I wanted to lose weight. I really didn't notice any changes until Christmas break, when I dropped from 140 lbs in September to 110 lbs. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong, because these calculators said I was getting in enough. And there was the fact that I was so paranoid about eating too many. Some days, I would only eat 900 calories OR LESS. It was when I decided to play it by ear that things changed. I bumped up the calories I ate by a lot, really. I have maintained the 110 lbs for a couple months, but now I'm looking to be 115, at the least. The biggest obstacle for me is my fear of weight gain of any kind. Any tips to help with that fear?
Well, I would somewhat agree.. but most people can't accurately count and track their calories anyways.. so is it the calculation or the counter that is less accurate?
Eating is a strange anomaly for me, for me to move I had to do 3400 calories Whole Foods, put me from 140-155ish but I seem to keep slipping from 155-160 then randomly drop to 150, eating all this food is destroying my wallet tbh I just want to quit and go back to 140 because I spend nearly $65 a week eating
I believe counting calories is an important factor in the learning of appropriate intuitive eating patterns, it helps to conceptualize the amount you should be eating, just my opinion though.
I’m 17, about 160lbs, 5’7, I would say about 15% bf, pretty active but through the years I’ve noticed my maintenance is around 2300, is this low for my age? I have a big appetite so it feel like a little
Yep it’s just to give u an idea but not really that true, if ur not losing 1 pound a week on your supposed calorie deficit ur not really in deficit. I personally just play around the numbers to see if I’m losing weight
i have been in there. i heavyly relied on my appetite. its worked a lot. if you listen to your body correctly, results are accurate and good. Eating clean also helps a lot.
I don't know man, lately in my cut I actually maintain my 183 lbs on only 2200 kcal, I thought around 2700 was my maintenance, it sucks. No way I will diet on 500 less than 2200 That said I have lost almost 50 lbs since July 2017 (slow cut, but with alot of hard manual labour at times), not sure what I should do, just wait it out, or eat more abit then back to 2200. Still have some kg's to lose to be relatively lean.
For me , they are extremely wrong. I am 6 ft tall and 166 pounds and as a late beginner it is approximately 800-1000 calories wrong . The calculators say that my TDEE is 3000-3200 while I maintain at 4000 right now .
That's why I believe in using a calculator as a starting reference point, then trial and error from there weighing yourself and calculating an average at the end of the week and revise your calorie count
Alex i train judo 3 times a week tuesday and wednesday and saturday if i did some thing like NE which i change for my goals rather than gaining weight , how can i manage that. It's hard i think especially i have to do 2 hiit and 2 aerobic sessions a week
I see what you mean. If your activity level is high outside of weight training, recovery can be an issue. That said, I would still recommend a 2x a week full body template. Maybe go less aggressive with the volume (and definitely skip the GPP) and up the food intake.
@@AlexLeonidas first thank you for replying. but does i still have the benefits of gpp without doing it and can i do minihome workouts ? And thanks again for helping us men.
@@relaxandfocus5563 Oh of course, the Judo training will take care of you :) You should still do the connective tissue work though, the neck training and band exercises will help your recovery and performance
Well guess what Alex experince might not be the best either because you are not going to lose EXACTLY the same amount of calories every single day. That's why I bought myself a calorie tracker (Fitbit Charge 3) in order to ALWAYS know what I'm doing on a given day and change my calories and macronutrients around that. I know the tracker might not be very accurate but it provides a good benchmark.
hey alex, keep in mind your tdee changes depending on if you are on a cut or a bulk. If you say had a 'maintenance' of 3000 calories, and ate 3500 calories to gain weight, you will eventually stall gaining weight. Your metabolism increases if you have been bulking, and decreases if you have been cutting.
Alex, in terms of water intake, is there such thing as being over hydrated before a workout and flushing out key nutrients that you could’ve otherwise used ?
I checked my self on 20 differnt Websites and got all kinds of differnt numbers between 2800 to 4200 calories a day (bulking) some even tried to sell me a weight gainer
in my experience.. just eat intuitively, but strict to clean food(i can cook make it easier). tbh i never find my self able to eat clean and overeat/calorie overload at the same time... i dont drink smoothie or juice etc, just water of black bitter coffee.. eating at 2600-2700 and just stay in maintenence for almost 2 years... if i follow tdee, lol it recommend me to eat at 2000-2100 to maintain wth..
I compare how much bread I ate to how much pasta, rice or potato I need... how many tablespoons of lard, oil... Snacks are great to add or substract calories. Oatmeals, bars, cookies...
According to most calculators I'm supposed to be eating 2500 calories to maintain, so I wanted to slow bulk @ 2650. I kept losing weight. I upped that to 2800 and now I've been maintaining. I'm about to up it another 150 calories and see how it goes.
Mine i use as a reference im 185 pounds and i eat 1500 to 1800 calories to drop weight. I work out 6 days a week, it says i could eat 2100 to lose but i never really go to that number, when i started the cut i was 205 so it seems to be working fine, i keep the protein up to keep muscle mass, i also fast 2 days out of the week tho
How long should you stick with a number to know that is your maintenance? I've been eating 2500 cal. for a month and haven't drop weight. I also do cardio 5 days a week for 25 min. Also, how do I know if I'm in body recomposition ?
I used to try keto diet because i thought that was the reason i lost 15 kg in first place but the reality was i was going through a rough time and and barely eat. I used to shovel down peanuts so thats why i had thought keto was key. I barely shit. My metabolism was slow to begin with and considering the low calorie intake for long time i think i messed it up really well. So i dont think any calculator applies for me. I consider even 2000 cal too much
im 145 lb and ive been wanting to get to 10 bf for a very long time, prolly 4 years, and right now im eating at 1500 and not even losing a pound per week, knowing that most of you can be on a cut and eat 2000 cals makes me jealous, any advice?
I've never used one. I dont even track my food. I honestly just listen to my body. I've lifted on and off since I was roughly 14yrs old. I'm now 34. After that long you can tell the difference between being hungry because your body actually needs food. And boredom hunger. I rarely even weigh myself. Maybe once a month. It's just like you said. Experience is the key.
Teenager often times have high tdes. I started calorie counting with a scale. I thought i was eating allot but i was only getting in 3500kcal. At the time i was playing soccer as well as weightlifting and I could not understand how i could not gain weight since i used a tde calculator that said i only needed 3000kcal. So in my experience they are really bad
This is how i do it: 1. i calculate my tdee with the calculater on tdee.net its 2500 now for example maintance 2. depending on if i wanna cut or bulk. I add or take 500cal 3. for this example im bulking, its 3000 cals 4. i eat this 3000 cals for 10 days and weight myself after 10 days. 5. when i have gained atleast 1lb i will keep those 3000 cal for another 10 days if not i will increase my cals to 3050
I’m currently like 200ish with a decent amount of muscle mass on me and I wanna get down to like 175 what would you say I should aim for calorie wise Alex?
1. Take your height *in centimeters* and multiply that by 10. 2. Substract 300-500 from that. 3. That is your initial "cutting" calories for a day. 4. Try that for 4 weeks, tracking your progress. 5. Make adjustments. This takes time but will give you your own value. Everyone is different with varying starting points and even fitness goals.
Cronometer said I needed 5500 cals a day to gain weight. which was pretty close (I needed just over 6000 a day to actually gain weight due to playing sports, work and gym, I never really sit down)
with work + gym i maintain my weight with just 3000 calories. 5500 calories a day holy f** what do you eat to reach that number without stuffing your face with 2lbs of rice each meal ?
I've done this and noticed a difference as noted but one wasn't far off. Also, this may be some crazy coincidence but I've noticed that if I eat more calories then I burn (according to my fitbit) then I gain weight and vice versa. It keeps on happening but it is really surprising since I would never have thought that a fitbit is that accurate (much like the online TDEE calculators) Thoughts?
this is so correct man, for example i weight 180lb and i want to bulk 10lbs in the next 4-6months, the first week im already at 185lbs, is anyone else like this? i wouldnt mind but im only eating roughly 3000 calories per day
I totally agree with you, but maybe they give a beginner a good starting point and then is up to them to fine tune how many calories they have to eat everyday. I did this and I have a rough estimate of how many calories I have to eat on maintenance
So, true! Started out using myfitnesspal... wasn't losing weight consistently, so I just tracked my weight and made calorie adjustments to lose weight - ended up losing 80+Lbs and then experimented with my calories to find my maintenance intake. New subscriber... great channel!
I thought we all knew this? It's like asking a person how fast I'm driving down the road with their fingers out the window. Pretty fucking obvious they're not gonna get it spot on. It's a prediction, so use it as a guide to help you.
Most accurate would be a calculation based on lean bodymass and tracking steps and workouts. Even thats not 100% but it will give a good ballpark area to start out at, then just tweak it up or down from there.
Most calorie calculators don’t take faster metabolism caised by building muscle. A novice can gain up to 2lbs of muscle a month. Building that takes a lot of energy. And even when you have trained for ten years, it still the same, but the energy goes to recovering the micro tears and not so much for the hypercompensation:
Hi alpha, Im a novice, and i have am doing 3 set 5 reps for compound movements, and doing 5 sets 20 reps on every other excersise. Thoughts on that? And Im overweight rn btw, and need to cut Down around 20 lbs to play football/soccer on a High level. And and and 16 yr old btw. Im naturally strong and, without training i had 52 inch shoulders. But that also means Im pretty overweight and that has been the reason my coaches didnt want me on the team. “Too fat” lul
52 inch shoulders for 16 year old novice is BEAST. That said, I would not do 5x20 for every other exercise. 3x5 for main compounds and 3x8-12 for accessories will work best. Kill those gains!
AlphaDestiny thanks man. Very helpfull. Im very lucky with my shoulder and leg genetics. Thanks for all the videos, really helped me alot to get started.
the TDEE I've used have been pretty accurate. while bulking I use (bodyweight) LBS * 18-20 = kcal. times 14-16 for maintanence and times 12-14 for cut. worked pretty well for me. This is with a Moderate Exercise Activity. For high activity its 14-16, 16-18, 20,22
Alex, how much does stress effect your TDEE or ability to gain/lose? Few years ago when shit was great, I was eating about 2800 cal a day while lifting 4-5x a week, and 1 night a week of sports, and I gained about 12lb of muscle over 6 months. Now, I'm a bit older but life is much more stressful and I'm barely able to lose weight on about 2000 cal a day with gym 2 days a week and sports 2 night. Any variance in weight is probably just water loss/retention. I've been totally stuck on the same weight for months.
I was so afraid of getting fat again I was only eating 2500 calories. But I was maintaining 265 pounds and feeling super sick. But my TDEE said 3200 calories and I ignored it and went up to 3600 calories. My weight jumped up 5 pounds and I feel so alive now and I am starting to build muscles. It is an awesome feeling. But from what I am feeling I might need to go up to 4000 calories soon.
Actually pretty accurate... Plus or minus 150- 200 cals... But you're right... Gotta tweak from experience... Apps are a good place to start generally... Main thing is to continually sharpen your calorie "Eyeballing it" skills . . . 😀
Daily, weekly, and monthly. Make sure you're always getting the same amount of calories while eating similar foods (the cleaner the better since you won't be bloated). You'll nail the numbers after tracking for a few weeks
Some said my maintenance was 2300 , some said 2700 and even 2500 . I averaged it out to 2500 and its working good , bulking between 2800-3100 cutting between 1900-2200 .
So all the calculations are wrong 😂. I check various calculators tdee wrong too ...mine range from 2100-2800 even 1 was 3400 so i stay at 2300 minimum i want that bear mode bulk so I'm 183 lbs.
No idea if these calculators are ever accurate, I just eat according to my appetite. Been on one huge, long lean bulk ever since I started lifting.
The good life!
Same, but i have huge appetite
O C man give me your appetite genetics
Same thing, but I eat more than my appetite by 200-500 calories and it's has been working great, have gained 20-25 pounds since I started 2 years ago and about the same bodyfat% I started with.
I have been on a bulk since i was born
The BEST way to determine your TDEE is through experience.
True.
totally agree the TDEE is affected by hormones,metabolism, training etc...
I’m 17 and lift and do sprinting 4-5 times a week I train is it okay to eat 3,200 calories
@@Gl-futebol @Santos
Possibly, but you'll figure this out with experience. Eat 3200 and see what happens
Im 15, do mma intense twice a week, running intervals every day, full body x2 a week super high volume, and eat approximately 4500-5000 kcal and maintain my weight for the past 4 months!
Myfitnesspal told me to eat 1900 calories to lose a bit of weight slowly hahaha I'm losing on 2400
Great! Keep on.
Haha good that you didn't eat 1900 only or maybe you'll lose muscle,actually alot of muscle.
Haha nice
That is probably because you bulked before. I was bulking for powerlifting and was eating about 5500 calories a day and not gaining weight. I than ate 4000 calories a day and LOST weight.
Myfitnesspal tells me 3200 calories to bulk .25kg a week haha
This is so true after 3+ years of training my TDEE is actually pretty low. Maintenance is 2200 to 2300 and I train 6 days a week push, pull, legs. Finished a power meet and will change training when new year resolution happens. The great thing about my TDEE is don’t need to spend a lot on food to bulk and especially to cut and I prefer it that way. I have done a strong man competition with a specialist coach which I was eating like 3k calories and my gawd I feel so bad for people who need to eat a lot to bulk up. RIP my bank account.
What’s your height and weight just curious to see if that’s playing a factor.
So true. You should always figure out your maintenance calories on your own. Yes it can take a few weeks to find out and yes it is long, but it's a small sacrifice that will greatly benefit you in reaching your goals. Heres why. If you rely on a TDEE calculator and are trying to lose weight, this commonly happens:
- They are given a calorie number which puts them in a calorie deficit, and this number is usually way off (due to calculators not being accurate), and it puts them in this extreme calorie deficit. After losing weight for a few weeks with this number, which is already ridiculously low, they then plateau and are unsure what to do next, as they find it difficult to create an even bigger deficit with the low amount of calories they are consuming. This also messes up their hormones and could potentially damage their metablosim, as fast weight loss is never sustainable. They then get frustrated and often crash diet. This could have all been avoided from the start if they just spent time and went through trial and error to figure out their maintenance calories, and put themselves in a smaller calorie deficit which would enable them to lose weight slowly and over a longer period of time. They key to losing weight successfully is to always diet on the highest amount of calories possible, and no calculator will ever tell you that number, because your body is different, and it's up to you to figure it out for yourself.
If your not sure where to start or what number to pick, I recommend tracking what you normally eat for a week or 2 and see how many calories you eat on a weekly basis. Then pick a number off of that say for example 2500 cals. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after you've used the toilet, and wearing nothing but underwear. Record that weight. Then eat 2500 everyday for a week. When a week has passed weigh yourself again flowing the same procedure, and if your weight has stayed the same then that's your maintenance. If it's gone up your in a surplus and need to eat less (the more you gain the more you can cut back), and if you lost weight then you need to eat more (the more you lose the more you can eat).
To be even more accurate, weigh yourself everyday for a week using the same procedure, and get a average weigh in by the end of the week. This is better for more accurate results, especially if your diet and activity levels are all over the place which means you will have a lot of weight fluctuations. Hope this helps someone out!!
TDEE was biggest bs I ever used. They told me for 10% deficit when I first started lifting and tried to lose weight that I needed to eat 1,500 calories. So I tracked everything and did. Lost more then 10 lbs in a month when I first began lifting. Was the biggest mistake ever probably lost tons of lean body mass in the process too. Way too extreme of a calorie deficit. Just count calories watch scale and keep an average of each week that is best way from my experience.
Damn bro!
Mine was way to low wanted to bulk up but lost weight
Lol fuck man. Should have upped it once you lost the first 3
I had experienced the same thing in the past I was supposed to bulk and ended up losing 4kg in about 3 weeks
Honestly, I doubt you lost much muscle mass in a month and in all likelihood you jump started your weight lifting career. Yeah you may have lost some muscle mass, but you are now 10 lbs leaner and can eat at slightly above maintenance and gain tons of muscle with hardly any weight gain... and the weight you do gain will be mostly muscle. IMO cutting should be the first step. The leaner you are the easier it is to gain muscle. The leaner you are the harder it is to gain fat. The leaner you are (within reason) the healthier you are. The leaner you are the better you look. Overweight people that jump right into a bulk never seem to get it under control and they just turn into Fatty McFattAsses... So count your self lucky. You survived an extreme cut and now you are ready to put on some serious muscle.
“Cause me to get shredded when I don’t want to” LMAO I wish I could accidentally get shredded
Been on a streak with these videos my man, awesome to get home to one every day
The biggest problem I've noticed with the calculators is that they don't account for body composition, just total weight, even though fat free mass is considered the greatest single indicator of BMR. So I poured through the literature and found an equation that had the lowest margin of error for BMR (which none of the online calculators use) which does account for body composition. I then I added additional levels to the activity factors and gave specifications for what qualifies for each activity level. Still not perfect, but way better than any calculator I've seen. Here's the BMR equation and Activity factors I found and use if anyone's interested (note that FFM and FM have to be in kilograms):
BMR
Men: 898-3.32A+14.3FFM+6.46FM
Women: 682-3.08A+12.9FFM+5.9FM
Activity
Bedridden (Basically no activity): BMR*1.2
Sedentary (low NEAT low exercise): BMR*1.53
Active (low NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise/moderate NEAT 3-4x weekly moderate exercise/high NEAT low exercise): BMR*1.76
Very Active (low NEAT daily intense exercise/moderate NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise/high NEAT 3-4x weekly moderate exercise): BMR*2.25
Extremely Active (moderate NEAT daily intense exercise/high NEAT 3-4x weekly intense exercise or daily moderate exercise): BMR*2.5+
That's not true, because in 1990 there was a Russian scientist named Povandolakoviviscov Kintayionshinkov and...why you skip the name? I will not finish the story.
Realest content on this topic anywhere on UA-cam. Salut Bear
This guy is great. Also love how his videos are short and to-the-point. I don’t need movies for fitness tips. I need quick facts like THIS.
Out of interest, what have you determined to be your TDEE Alex?
Secret
@@AlexLeonidas broooo why should that be a secret :p?
😂😂😂😂
are you a couch potato outside the gym? tdee only 2000 and you're ashamed of it?
he's weird, won't tell anyone his age either
I’m a teenager and calculators gave me a TDEE of around 2600. I kept creeping up calories as I was losing weight and found my maintenance to be around 3500 and I’m bulking on 4300.
800 calorie surplus jeez bro don’t get fat! efficient weight gain is the solution
This video is going to be HUGE for you
I have a question. If my BMR likely most men is around 2k and i burn 100-200 from lifting daily plus 300-500 from cardio daily how my TDEE can be 3.5k? I mean i see this multiplier (~x2) in every site but it doesn't make sense . Please help me understand this
Also i see everybody seems to think their calculator's results are pretty low. Wtf
I've been using my fitness pal for most of the year and I think it's good for finding and maintaining a base line. And something i think you should have mentioned is the nutrition facts label isnt 100% accurate.
Experience is the best. Though these kcal calculators could be roughly accurate if you put in your food right. Sometimes I go over a little overboard and break down my chicken wrap down to the lettuce and tomato slices. It’s worked great for me, but takes a bit longer.
I love your current style. Suits you really well
Basing your TDEE on your experience can be flawed as you will need to take into account your macronutrient breakdown, your activity and your non-exercise expenditure. I think you should base your caloric needs on your BMR, not your TDEE. The problem with these calculators is that there is a huge element of subjectivity. For example, you can say you do moderate exercise 3 days a week, however not every session is equal. Some days in your routine are more intense than others.
The majority of the calories you burn in a day is your resting metabolism, your BMR. The BMR can be calculated via a formula. These are actually the most accurate parts of the calorie calculators or they can be derived from scales that measure your body composition. I base my caloric needs based on my BMR, and what percentage of my BMR I will eat that day, I also factor in exercise and the thermic effect of food.
Trap jesus blessing us with knowledge
😂😂
lmao
Mine was way to high, I'm supposed to be around 3000 calories maintenance. When really it's closer to 2300. I'm 85 kg 6,2ft 17%body fat
Instructions not clear, I ate 5000 kcals per day and now I have a fupa
Tdee is supposedly 2500, struggling to gain on 3300 lmao
Great honest informative videos. Thank you AlphaDestiny
Thank you too, glad you enjoy the videos.
I lost about 60 pounds in 4-5 months last summer with My Macros + on the app store. I thought it worked really well, but now that I'm trying to bulk, my numbers don't make that much sense, and I haven't seen my weight go up like I thought it would.
also when weighing yourself, do it in the morning before you eat or drink, because those things add weight as well directly after so let us be acruate then.
the free dieting one i find to be most accurate, you have a wide variety of activities to chose from and you can specify how many MINUTES PER DAY on average for the week you do of that activity, which is very precise, and you can also chose your age precisely and not a range. AND you also get to chose activity level (sedentary, physical job etc.)
What do you mean? Most calculator are like this. That’s what he’s talking about
Alex, I have a question. If i add more carbs to my current calories, how do i know if it's just water weight or water weight combined with fat being gained in case it's indeed a surplus? I understand if i balloon up 5lbs in a day or week, it's probably water weight. But how do i know if some of it isn't fat? Perhaps a certain amount of lbs can only old a certain amount of water weight but I don't know.
It will stabilize. Track on a weekly basis and you'll be able to figure out what's going on here. After a month you'll know what's up
Agreed, all tdee calculators are BS in my experience, they give you way lower TDEE
Hey mah man, I just wanted to thank you ! Since I'm training 3xFB My gainz/strength just exploded ! (3 days a week (heavy,light,medium ... The rest day between the training depend on my work and my soreness (two days max) )
Encore une fois merci pour tout ce que tu fais pour la communauté fitness Alex :D
Super!
So I used to rely on those calculators very heavily. If my calculator said I needed 1550 calories, that's what I ate, no matter what my body and hunger cues said otherwise. Of course, that was fine the first couple months when I wanted to lose weight. I really didn't notice any changes until Christmas break, when I dropped from 140 lbs in September to 110 lbs.
I didn't understand what I was doing wrong, because these calculators said I was getting in enough.
And there was the fact that I was so paranoid about eating too many. Some days, I would only eat 900 calories OR LESS.
It was when I decided to play it by ear that things changed. I bumped up the calories I ate by a lot, really.
I have maintained the 110 lbs for a couple months, but now I'm looking to be 115, at the least. The biggest obstacle for me is my fear of weight gain of any kind.
Any tips to help with that fear?
Well, I would somewhat agree.. but most people can't accurately count and track their calories anyways.. so is it the calculation or the counter that is less accurate?
Eating is a strange anomaly for me, for me to move I had to do 3400 calories Whole Foods, put me from 140-155ish but I seem to keep slipping from 155-160 then randomly drop to 150, eating all this food is destroying my wallet tbh I just want to quit and go back to 140 because I spend nearly $65 a week eating
I believe counting calories is an important factor in the learning of appropriate intuitive eating patterns, it helps to conceptualize the amount you should be eating, just my opinion though.
I’m 17, about 160lbs, 5’7, I would say about 15% bf, pretty active but through the years I’ve noticed my maintenance is around 2300, is this low for my age? I have a big appetite so it feel like a little
Yep it’s just to give u an idea but not really that true, if ur not losing 1 pound a week on your supposed calorie deficit ur not really in deficit. I personally just play around the numbers to see if I’m losing weight
PREACH Brother!
i have been in there. i heavyly relied on my appetite. its worked a lot. if you listen to your body correctly, results are accurate and good. Eating clean also helps a lot.
Alex, how do u feel about ketogenic/low carb diets? For fat loss? And for muscle/ weight gain?
They definitely work, but that doesn't make them needed. I feel a 60/20/20 macro setup would work better for most lifters.
I don't know man, lately in my cut I actually maintain my 183 lbs on only 2200 kcal, I thought around 2700 was my maintenance, it sucks. No way I will diet on 500 less than 2200 That said I have lost almost 50 lbs since July 2017 (slow cut, but with alot of hard manual labour at times), not sure what I should do, just wait it out, or eat more abit then back to 2200. Still have some kg's to lose to be relatively lean.
For me , they are extremely wrong. I am 6 ft tall and 166 pounds and as a late beginner it is approximately 800-1000 calories wrong . The calculators say that my TDEE is 3000-3200 while I maintain at 4000 right now .
Thoughts on collagen powder paired with vitamin c (non synthetic) for optimizing tendon and tissue health ?
That's why I believe in using a calculator as a starting reference point, then trial and error from there weighing yourself and calculating an average at the end of the week and revise your calorie count
Agreed, that would be the smartest way to use them.
Alex i train judo 3 times a week tuesday and wednesday and saturday if i did some thing like NE which i change for my goals rather than gaining weight , how can i manage that.
It's hard i think especially i have to do 2 hiit and 2 aerobic sessions a week
I see what you mean. If your activity level is high outside of weight training, recovery can be an issue. That said, I would still recommend a 2x a week full body template. Maybe go less aggressive with the volume (and definitely skip the GPP) and up the food intake.
@@AlexLeonidas first thank you for replying. but does i still have the benefits of gpp without doing it and can i do minihome workouts ?
And thanks again for helping us men.
@@relaxandfocus5563 Oh of course, the Judo training will take care of you :)
You should still do the connective tissue work though, the neck training and band exercises will help your recovery and performance
Well guess what Alex experince might not be the best either because you are not going to lose EXACTLY the same amount of calories every single day. That's why I bought myself a calorie tracker (Fitbit Charge 3) in order to ALWAYS know what I'm doing on a given day and change my calories and macronutrients around that. I know the tracker might not be very accurate but it provides a good benchmark.
Like Leroy Colbert said. Listen to your body
Eat the right foods till your full. Or just track your macros
hey alex, keep in mind your tdee changes depending on if you are on a cut or a bulk. If you say had a 'maintenance' of 3000 calories, and ate 3500 calories to gain weight, you will eventually stall gaining weight. Your metabolism increases if you have been bulking, and decreases if you have been cutting.
Hey Alex when I get chin ups or neck curls I get nots in my upper back? Any way to fix/prevent this?
Alex, in terms of water intake, is there such thing as being over hydrated before a workout and flushing out key nutrients that you could’ve otherwise used ?
I checked my self on 20 differnt Websites and got all kinds of differnt numbers between 2800 to 4200 calories a day (bulking) some even tried to sell me a weight gainer
😂😂😂
in my experience..
just eat intuitively, but strict to clean food(i can cook make it easier).
tbh i never find my self able to eat clean and overeat/calorie overload at the same time... i dont drink smoothie or juice etc, just water of black bitter coffee..
eating at 2600-2700 and just stay in maintenence for almost 2 years...
if i follow tdee, lol it recommend me to eat at 2000-2100 to maintain wth..
I compare how much bread I ate to how much pasta, rice or potato I need... how many tablespoons of lard, oil... Snacks are great to add or substract calories. Oatmeals, bars, cookies...
According to most calculators I'm supposed to be eating 2500 calories to maintain, so I wanted to slow bulk @ 2650. I kept losing weight. I upped that to 2800 and now I've been maintaining. I'm about to up it another 150 calories and see how it goes.
I hear ya brother, glad you figured it out
Mine i use as a reference im 185 pounds and i eat 1500 to 1800 calories to drop weight. I work out 6 days a week, it says i could eat 2100 to lose but i never really go to that number, when i started the cut i was 205 so it seems to be working fine, i keep the protein up to keep muscle mass, i also fast 2 days out of the week tho
How long should you stick with a number to know that is your maintenance? I've been eating 2500 cal. for a month and haven't drop weight. I also do cardio 5 days a week for 25 min.
Also, how do I know if I'm in body recomposition ?
I used to try keto diet because i thought that was the reason i lost 15 kg in first place but the reality was i was going through a rough time and and barely eat. I used to shovel down peanuts so thats why i had thought keto was key. I barely shit. My metabolism was slow to begin with and considering the low calorie intake for long time i think i messed it up really well. So i dont think any calculator applies for me. I consider even 2000 cal too much
wow great video. I've come to the same conclusion just through experience and I'm surprised people don't talk about this more often.
Awesome brother
I use a Fitbit to find my TDEE which changes everyday based on what I do that day
Alex what do you think about things like Fitbit, Smartwatches etc. for calculating calories through your day?
What about calorie tracking with a sportswatch? I own the Garmin vivosport and i am not sure if it is correct
Usually too low for sure. Occasionally I'll find one that says way too much
Notifications squad
Alex we need cooking videos plz :)
im 145 lb and ive been wanting to get to 10 bf for a very long time, prolly 4 years, and right now im eating at 1500 and not even losing a pound per week, knowing that most of you can be on a cut and eat 2000 cals makes me jealous, any advice?
they can cut at 2000+ because they are not 145lb dude lol
I found my best guess is 2200 sedetary. I think the average result between different calculators is good enough
I've never used one. I dont even track my food. I honestly just listen to my body. I've lifted on and off since I was roughly 14yrs old. I'm now 34. After that long you can tell the difference between being hungry because your body actually needs food. And boredom hunger. I rarely even weigh myself. Maybe once a month. It's just like you said. Experience is the key.
Yes. Staying in touch with your natural hunger cues is important for a balanced and healthy relationship with food.
Teenager often times have high tdes. I started calorie counting with a scale. I thought i was eating allot but i was only getting in 3500kcal. At the time i was playing soccer as well as weightlifting and I could not understand how i could not gain weight since i used a tde calculator that said i only needed 3000kcal. So in my experience they are really bad
I'am a newbie and i'am 23%range and i am relatively strong but i'am afraid to waste my novice gains if i go on a cut first
He's something of a scientist and a philosopher all in one
I feel like if you slicked your hair back instead of parting it awkwardly in the middle then it would look good. Just a suggestion.
When I have more length I'll pull it back more. Right now it always falls down unless I oil the hell out of it
i´ve never used calculators in my life. I just look at myself in the mirror and see how my body is reacting
Awesome
This is how i do it:
1. i calculate my tdee with the calculater on tdee.net its 2500 now for example maintance
2. depending on if i wanna cut or bulk. I add or take 500cal
3. for this example im bulking, its 3000 cals
4. i eat this 3000 cals for 10 days and weight myself after 10 days.
5. when i have gained atleast 1lb i will keep those 3000 cal for another 10 days if not i will increase my cals to 3050
I’m currently like 200ish with a decent amount of muscle mass on me and I wanna get down to like 175 what would you say I should aim for calorie wise Alex?
1. Take your height *in centimeters* and multiply that by 10.
2. Substract 300-500 from that.
3. That is your initial "cutting" calories for a day.
4. Try that for 4 weeks, tracking your progress.
5. Make adjustments.
This takes time but will give you your own value. Everyone is different with varying starting points and even fitness goals.
Cronometer said I needed 5500 cals a day to gain weight. which was pretty close (I needed just over 6000 a day to actually gain weight due to playing sports, work and gym, I never really sit down)
Are you kidding men?
@@relaxandfocus5563 no
Do you run in your sleep???
That's fucking insane how old are you and what is ur job?
with work + gym i maintain my weight with just 3000 calories. 5500 calories a day holy f** what do you eat to reach that number without stuffing your face with 2lbs of rice each meal ?
i tried these calculators recently and i could not beileve it
I've done this and noticed a difference as noted but one wasn't far off. Also, this may be some crazy coincidence but I've noticed that if I eat more calories then I burn (according to my fitbit) then I gain weight and vice versa. It keeps on happening but it is really surprising since I would never have thought that a fitbit is that accurate (much like the online TDEE calculators) Thoughts?
this is so correct man, for example i weight 180lb and i want to bulk 10lbs in the next 4-6months, the first week im already at 185lbs, is anyone else like this? i wouldnt mind but im only eating roughly 3000 calories per day
2:38
I totally agree with you, but maybe they give a beginner a good starting point and then is up to them to fine tune how many calories they have to eat everyday. I did this and I have a rough estimate of how many calories I have to eat on maintenance
Any suggestions of how to get to maintenance calories if you have been eating way too little for way too long?
So, true! Started out using myfitnesspal... wasn't losing weight consistently, so I just tracked my weight and made calorie adjustments to lose weight - ended up losing 80+Lbs and then experimented with my calories to find my maintenance intake. New subscriber... great channel!
Awesome thank you so much 🙏🏼💪🏼
I thought we all knew this? It's like asking a person how fast I'm driving down the road with their fingers out the window. Pretty fucking obvious they're not gonna get it spot on. It's a prediction, so use it as a guide to help you.
Most accurate would be a calculation based on lean bodymass and tracking steps and workouts. Even thats not 100% but it will give a good ballpark area to start out at, then just tweak it up or down from there.
Most calorie calculators don’t take faster metabolism caised by building muscle. A novice can gain up to 2lbs of muscle a month. Building that takes a lot of energy. And even when you have trained for ten years, it still the same, but the energy goes to recovering the micro tears and not so much for the hypercompensation:
Mines apparently 2700 but it’s more like 4k lol
Dr. V I’m 40lbs lighter in that photo aha
Hi alpha, Im a novice, and i have am doing 3 set 5 reps for compound movements, and doing 5 sets 20 reps on every other excersise. Thoughts on that? And Im overweight rn btw, and need to cut Down around 20 lbs to play football/soccer on a High level. And and and 16 yr old btw. Im naturally strong and, without training i had 52 inch shoulders. But that also means Im pretty overweight and that has been the reason my coaches didnt want me on the team. “Too fat” lul
52 inch shoulders for 16 year old novice is BEAST.
That said, I would not do 5x20 for every other exercise. 3x5 for main compounds and 3x8-12 for accessories will work best. Kill those gains!
AlphaDestiny thanks man. Very helpfull. Im very lucky with my shoulder and leg genetics. Thanks for all the videos, really helped me alot to get started.
the TDEE I've used have been pretty accurate. while bulking I use (bodyweight) LBS * 18-20 = kcal. times 14-16 for maintanence and times 12-14 for cut. worked pretty well for me. This is with a Moderate Exercise Activity. For high activity its 14-16, 16-18, 20,22
Glad it worked for ya
True. I eat around 2300 calories at maintenance, pretty much you just have to listen to your body and see what works best for you.
Alex, how much does stress effect your TDEE or ability to gain/lose? Few years ago when shit was great, I was eating about 2800 cal a day while lifting 4-5x a week, and 1 night a week of sports, and I gained about 12lb of muscle over 6 months. Now, I'm a bit older but life is much more stressful and I'm barely able to lose weight on about 2000 cal a day with gym 2 days a week and sports 2 night. Any variance in weight is probably just water loss/retention. I've been totally stuck on the same weight for months.
yo destiny, what's your thoughts on ketogenic diets for muscle building provided you're on a caloric surplus and consuming adequate protein?
I was so afraid of getting fat again I was only eating 2500 calories. But I was maintaining 265 pounds and feeling super sick. But my TDEE said 3200 calories and I ignored it and went up to 3600 calories. My weight jumped up 5 pounds and I feel so alive now and I am starting to build muscles. It is an awesome feeling. But from what I am feeling I might need to go up to 4000 calories soon.
When i started working out I just guessed a random number and I was right
lol nice
You literally posted this right when Im starting to bulk to 200 and didnt gain weight for 4 weeks
Actually pretty accurate... Plus or minus 150- 200 cals... But you're right... Gotta tweak from experience... Apps are a good place to start generally... Main thing is to continually sharpen your calorie "Eyeballing it" skills . . . 😀
So bro should I test out my calories on weekly basis or a daily basis? Because you know daily fluctuations can be really inaccurate.
Daily, weekly, and monthly. Make sure you're always getting the same amount of calories while eating similar foods (the cleaner the better since you won't be bloated). You'll nail the numbers after tracking for a few weeks
@@AlexLeonidas Ok bro I'll do that 💪
Thoughts on 5/3/1 bbb? Also good video!
Bbb, big black bosses?
@@monwty-5128 😂😂😂😂
Some said my maintenance was 2300 , some said 2700 and even 2500 . I averaged it out to 2500 and its working good , bulking between 2800-3100 cutting between 1900-2200 .
I'm 12 150lb and 5'2 what should my tdee should be
So all the calculations are wrong 😂. I check various calculators tdee wrong too ...mine range from 2100-2800 even 1 was 3400 so i stay at 2300 minimum i want that bear mode bulk so I'm 183 lbs.
You the best man, thanks