TDEE or total calories burned
Don't worry about getting this perfect as it is just not possible to do... just try to be as accurate as possible. The easiest way to know if you have calculated your TDEE correctly is to see what happens to your body's weight over several weeks.
If you eat the same calories as your TDEE your body weight should stay roughly the same allowing for normal daily and monthly fluctuations in weight due to meals and water weight.
If you eat less than your TDEE than your weight should drop. Eating 500 daily calories less than your TDEE should result in a weight loss of one pound per week (you can use our weight loss calculator in the
Workout Manager to determine your weight loss for any calorie deficit value).
As for calculating calories burned while run/walking for a female.
On average you will burn 74 calories per mile walking and 105 calories per mile running, so you're probably somewhere in-between this range when you do both. Your actual calories burned will depend on your running terrain, your weight, your stride and your fitness level, but this should give you a good idea of how many calories you are burning. Remember to subtract out the calories you would have burned if you would have done nothing from these numbers as they're are already reflected in your BMR.
Also keep in mind that there are are medical factors, such as thyroid issues, that can affect your BMR and can cause your expected results to be totally wrong in using our calculator. This is why in a future release of the Workout Manager we will add a slider that will let you increase or decrease your TDEE to whatever value like.
In your case it is just not possible to tell you which exact activity level is appropriate for you, but from what you have said it sounds like it should be "Very Active" which is very good. "Extra Active" is really for someone who is a competitive athlete and has a very active lifestyle and job. An example of this is person who works manual construction and also trains daily for a marathon. But if you find that your losing too much weight you may want to up your TDEE and your calorie intake.
Listen to your body and make adjustment as is needed. Calculators like ours give only average values. Your metabolism may not be average, so don't be afraid to make adjustments. Our calculator is meant to be a starting point in your journey of finding your real TDEE. Everyones activity level and exercise routines are different, so our calculator can not be 100% accurate. It will help you get close to your true TDEE, but you always need to make adjustments for your specific lifestyle.
