This is something that will require a little bit of patience, and trial and error. While there are a ton of calorie / TDEE calculators and formulas out there, there can be (mostly minor) variations in metabolic rate (and activity level) that will make the numbers they spit out good only as a place to start that you refine over time. You should never expect to get a perfect number from a calculator, or for any number to be the same every day, forever.
To get the best results, follow this step by step process:
- Use any TDEE calculator you can find on the internet. Seriously, any of them are fine. This is just to get a general place to start – don’t treat it as gospel and don’t worry about selecting the perfect activity level.
- Target +/- 10-20% of this number, depending on your goal of weight gain or loss.
- Start tracking everything you eat that has calories. Everything.
- Start weighing yourself at roughly the same time every day – preferably in the morning, on an empty stomach and bladder/bowels.
- Make use of the nSuns Adaptive TDEE Spreadsheet. It will give you an estimate as a starting point, and as you enter your weight and calories consumed each day, it will calibrate and give you a more accurate picture of your TDEE over time.
- If, after a few weeks, your weight is not changing, adjust your calorie target either up (for weight gain) or down (for weight loss), and keep on trucking.
- Repeat!
For longer, more detailed information on diet, read over the Improving Your Diet page.