The impossibly complex world of calories...

[mesophyte]

I'd like to start a discussion on calorie calculation. With the different research models (Harris-Benedict, Mifflin-St Jeor, Katch-McArdle, Cunningham) all offering widely different estimates, ambiguous terms for activity level modifiers (from a different era when excercise didn't necessarily mean the same thing) such as "Light" "Moderate" and "Heavy" excercise, estimating caloric needs just seems like such an incredibly innacurate thing to do.

So, while I don't have any particular question, I am curious as to how most of you determine your total daily energy expenditure in order to bulk / cut and so on.

For example, using a popular online calculator, and assuming my activity level is "Heavy" (is it? I've no idea) my TDEE is either 3247, 3077, 3359, or 3634 according to the different research models. From 3077 to 3634 is a pretty major difference. Say I want to cut at 15% caloric reduction. Am I to eat 2615 calories or 3089? What if I'm looking to bulk? That is an even scarier scenario in that you may think you are bulking at a safe level and eating 3884 calories per day assuming your TDEE is 3634 but what if it is really 3077? That can easily work out to nearly 2lbs of weight gain in just over a week all because of a innacurate calculation (and we all know it won't be 2lbs of muscle). Also, this calculation is assuming you know your BF% accurately (for all of the mentioned research models other than Mifflin-St Jeor, BF% is take into account and affects the result).

Further, the calories and macro counts on food are hardly precise, but I won't touch on that subject here.

As an extra discussion point: For those on cycle, how do you know what metabolic enhancement your cycle offers you (if any)? What about other simpler things like the metabolic effects of coffee, higher protein intake, lower carb intake, medications etc. Each thing on its own and in small amounts might not make a huge difference but combined it does.

It just seems impossibly complicated. That being said, I manage just fine....and what I mean by that is that I'll typically just eat at the lowest estimate. Not exactly a best practice and definitely hinders progress with buliking since I'll refuse to do a genuine bulk for fear of gaining fat (which I tend to gain easily if I don't watch myself).

So what are your thoughts? What do you all do?

[tarmyg]

These are simply guideline values and should not be taken too seriously and is just a place for you to start. You will notice in a couple of weeks if it is accurate or not. Unless you have access to someone doing Indirect calorimetry with facemasks and such it will always be a guesstimate. How you eat will also affect this value. When I go on Keto (Like at this very moment) I can eat way more calories than any calculator tells me and still not gain fat. In conclusion, get your value from any calculator and then adjust to real world results.