TDEE - This can't be right!

mymodernbabylon

Also note that most people under-estimate their activity level in these calculators - most of us start off as lightly active and so should go up even higher on the activity scale. Otherwise you have a much larger deficit than you need.

Chevy_Quest

mymodernbabylon wrote: »

I'm 45 yr old, 145 lb and 5'6". My TDEE is 2300 calories. And I lose on 2000 (just about 15% deficit). I don't see the point in eating less than I have to - I'd rather go slowly, eat my protein (minimum of 100 grams and usually more) and learn how to eat for life. More food is good!

My thoughts exactly! :-)

mykaylis

i'm roughly the same size as you and most calculators i use list similar TDEE. suggested calorie deficits will vary. i'm using mfp's "2 lbs per week" goal myself, which is proving a little difficult and is not actually losing 2 lbs a week, so there's obviously some wiggle room to be expected.

segacs

Really important to also remember that the TDEE calculators are estimates and they may not apply to you!

All the calculators out there estimate my sedentary TDEE at around 1450 and my lightly active TDEE at around 1650. Now, I'm trying to be better about being active, but realistically speaking, my activity level is probably somewhere in between those two.

HOWEVER, seven weeks of diligent tracking, weighing, and some fancy Excel regression and moving weighted average formulas estimate my actual TDEE somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2100.

Which, according to the calculator, should be impossible. And probably is impossible, as the start of a weight loss journey can involve some water weight drop and whatnot.

But my true TDEE is probably somewhere in between the two numbers. And if I keep losing at this rate after the first 60 days, I'll probably increase my calories. Even though I'm quite full and satisfied at the end of a day, I still don't want to lose too quickly.

So I suggest tracking and measuring and seeing what your body actually does at the given number of calories, and making adjustments.

DanaHerro

I did NOT follow any macros. Calories only

SweatLikeDog

It's right. At 45% percent body fat, you've got 110 pounds of fat that doesn't burn any calories and 135 pounds of lean mass that's actually doing work and burning calories. TDEE is based off of what the lean mass is doing. If you weighed the same and had a lower body fat percent (i.e. more lean mass burning calories), your TDEE would be higher.

TimothyFish

At 245lbs, that's about what I would expect.

lavendah

Erm no,that's surely erroneous.You should eat around 1600 calories if you'd like to lose 1 pound per week.