I eat a alot more than my BMR but I lose weight

[sanshiros]

According to several calculators ( I know ) my BMR is 1900 to 2100 calories.
I eat around 3,500 calories a day but I keep losing weight.
5 months ago I got my thyroid gland surgically removed and my TSH is 4.2 which is not good because this is hypothyroidism ( but weight loss happens instead)

My body eats my hard earned muscle like crazy. It's frustrating cause I literally eat A LOT more than my BMR. I am 5 months unemployed and I only go to the gym with no cardio. I don't believe with this life that I burn more than 3,500 calories that I eat.
No diabetes.

I read over the internet that people actually put on weight eating less than their BMR. This sounds contradictory because they eat less than what their body burns for body processes + they move, work out, work. They should be losing weight.

Any expert opinions on that ?

[Heisman2]

You should care about your TDEE, not your BMR. Read the stickies for a more thorough explanation of those terms.

No one gains weight while eating less than their BMR unless they are doing something that causes them to retain a large amount of water.

Hypothyroidism should cause weight gain, not weight loss, however it can definitely make it harder to build/maintain muscle while losing weight overall. We cannot talk about medications here but hypothyroidism is very easily treated and if you had a doctor diagnose you with it then he/she almost certainly would have recommended the simple treatment for it medically.

[sanshiros]

We cannot talk about medications here but hypothyroidism is very easily treated and if you had a doctor diagnose you with it then he/she almost certainly would have recommended the simple treatment for it medically.

I am being treated of course. I said that I had my thyroid removed. Without treatment I would be dead since I need a pill a day forever. The TSH was 10 then 7, 5 and now down to 4. All this with weight loss, like crazy ! No weight gain for me. I removed it cause I had hyperthyroidism and I kept losing weight with the speed of light since it was diagnosed very very late.
Since my thyroid is gone and TSH went up I kept losing weight. SOOOO. This weight gain/loss thing is multi-factorial ! You cannot blame it on thyroid. This is old wives' tale.

ANyway my TDEE is 3,081 calories. Still I eat more.

[Heisman2]

You mentioned in your first post you are now hypothyroid. If that is true, then you are not being treated adequately, and that will make body composition goals more difficult.

Please post how you calculated your TDEE and also please post what you eat (with calorie counts) in a typical day.

[sanshiros]

You mentioned in your first post you are now hypothyroid. If that is true, then you are not being treated adequately, and that will make body composition goals more difficult.

Please post how you calculated your TDEE and also please post what you eat (with calorie counts) in a typical day.

I used this site which uses the Mifflin-St Jeor Formula, which is widely known to be the most accurate
https://tdeecalculator.net/result.ph...8&act=1.55&f=1

I did not add my body fat in there since I don't know it.
As for calories I eat 3 meals of 1,000 each and a weight gainer of 500 calories post workout. I check the nutritional values and this is how I calculate my calories.

[AdamWW]

I used this site which uses the Mifflin-St Jeor Formula, which is widely known to be the most accurate
https://tdeecalculator.net/result.ph...8&act=1.55&f=1

I did not add my body fat in there since I don't know it.
As for calories I eat 3 meals of 1,000 each and a weight gainer of 500 calories post workout. I check the nutritional values and this is how I calculate my calories.

Well that site puts my TDEE at 2450, and I just lift weights 4 days a week, and yet I lose weight using 3000 calories... so, calculators aren't always perfect.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter what the math says if you're losing weight. Those are starting points... you need to adjust based on your personal outcomes.

Also the protein recommendations on that site are stupid... it has me eating 240+ grams of protein on a 'high carb' diet? lol

[sanshiros]

Well that site puts my TDEE at 2450, and I just lift weights 4 days a week, and yet I lose weight using 3000 calories... so, calculators aren't always perfect.

True, it seems that calculators are not true. It's so multi-factorial and individual thing. These so-called today's calculators are paleolithic. We know so little about how our body works. These guestimations are an indication of the need the community has on finding out a result of how the body works. Well.... In 100 years from now maybe ! Good luck Molecular Biologists !

[AdamWW]

True, it seems that calculators are not true. It's so multi-factorial and individual thing. These so-called today's calculators are paleolithic. We know so little about how our body works. These guestimations are an indication of the need the community has on finding out a result of how the body works. Well.... In 100 years from now maybe ! Good luck Molecular Biologists !

We know a lot about the 'average' person, but as with most of these things it's a bell curve/normal distribution: the majority of people will likely be close-ish to the calculators, but some people (you might be one of them) fall well outside of that range. The only way to know is to pick a starting number and then adjust week over week until you respond. It can be frustrating feeling like you're wasting time, yes.

How are your hunger levels?

[ErikTheElectric]

See your endocrinologist OP.

[magician27]

ANyway my TDEE is 3,081 calories. Still I eat more.

if you are losing weight then your TDEE is 3500+ calories. eat 4-4.5k every single day then you will gain. there is no metabolic rate that you cant overeat

[lmcfreekz]

Any TDEE calculator is a best guess tool and a starting point... if you're losing weight, up your calories... depending on how much you're losing per week, you can probably get a bit of an idea about how much you need to add per day to your diet...

As for the thyroid stuff, I don't know the specifics and how it effects things... the above is just a general principle when you're trying to gain if you're not seeing the gains you want...

[sanshiros]

Can the TDEE differ from day to day ? For instance on Christmas Day I won't do any work-out. It's mostly eating and sitting.
Can I just put today on the calculator ( Sedentary/no work-out) and just follow the caloric recommendations for my target on that specific day ? This way I won't overdo it for today.

[lmcfreekz]

Can the TDEE differ from day to day ? For instance on Christmas Day I won't do any work-out. It's mostly eating and sitting.
Can I just put today on the calculator ( Sedentary/no work-out) and just follow the caloric recommendations for my target on that specific day ? This way I won't overdo it for today.

Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is based on assessing your weekly output... so as well as entering your height, weight, age etc... you'll enter the kind of job you do, e.g. desk or physical work.. you'll enter how many times per week you workout... and then based on that it works out what you need per day (by looking at your week)

Don't get too micro about it... I forget the suggested multiples off-hand... but I think it's TDEE = BMR x 1.75 for the most active people... all the way down to TDEE = 1.2 x BMR for the least active...

You've got 2 choices what you do with irregular weeks like Xmas or even vacation time...

1) is to enjoy the occasion, eat til your heart is content... maybe have a slight consideration for macros since it generally becomes engrained as you train so I'll generally eat plenty of meat and vegs... then appetite dependent I may or may not go light on the potatoes...

2) is to take 10%... 15%... 20% off whatever your normal TDEE based on how inactive you'll be that week compared to your normal week... then eat around that

But your struggle seems to be gaining weight... so the above examples are more about calorie counting... but if you're losing weight, you can already eat more... so just enjoy the days off from the gym and the Xmas food...

[ironwill2008]

Talk to your doctor, OP. This is no place in which to seek such advice.