Caloric intake and Macros tracking with Body Weight Planer

[Joshua Swashbuckle]

Hello

since started to track my nutrition some Weeks ago and used the NIDDK Body Weight Planer I have 2 or 3 questions.
I want to build muscle and strength and lose about 5-8 kg of weight.

Often times it is talked about a slight calorie surplus or deficit... I get that but you are talking about 150-200 Calories and I cannot really figure out how I am supposed to narrow it down so much.
Since the parameters are something like: A little bit active, active, very active, extremely active and so on ...
So I ride my bike every day for some ~30 km and I work 6-8 hours a day as a Farrier (Blacksmith, Horseshoer as you like) and do my weightlifting on 3-4 days/week.
So I would guess I am very active... but am I ? and even if.... how could I be sure that 150-200 isnt too much/to little since the parameters seem so vague? I probably just have to do it for 3 month and ask my scale?

And the other thing would be... with my tracking app I target about 3130 kcal/day which I sometimes hit and sometimes I am a wee bit over or under it. But I find it very difficult to meet my Carb goals and often times (always?!) overshoot my fat goal (Protein is almost always in the 1.6-2.2 range) is that a big problem as long as my cals are good AND the fats are mostly unsatureted?

Thanks for this awesome Forum.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Joshua,

I think our two most recent podcasts may be helpful. As far as your questions go:

1) I think you (and most others) should use an activity modifier between 1.35 to 1.55.
2) You'll be able to determine your energy balance with reasonable precision over a month or so.
3) We would recommend most of your carbohydrates come from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, etc. and fats from unsaturated sources, yes. In a surplus, you'll likely be able to consume foods with added sugars, saturated fat, etc. in moderation.

-Jordan