TDEE -- What MFP says and other sites

mraudit2000

MFP says I should be at 2058 calories a day. I exercise 5-6 times a week, so I add in about 250 calories each day I work out. When I go online to find my BMR and TDEE, the average is 2691BMR, and 4171 TDEE. A 20% deficit works out to be 3337 calories a day. What gives? I do not want to be causing problems by not eating enough calories. I started on January 19th, and have lost 20 lbs. I started at 346 and am now at 326. I feel a ton better, clothes fit better, and the workouts are awesome. I just don't want to be causing myself harm by not eating enough ( I rarely hit my calorie goal each day).

cwolfman13

If you're overfat, most calculators are going to inflate your BMR because they're just using your total body weight...it is more accurate to use a calculation that only uses your lean body mass in the formula...In RE to BMR, you need to fuel lean mass, you don't need to fuel fat mass.

Judging by your 20 Lb loss, I think you're right where you should be. That is a reasonable and safe rate of loss for someone of your stats.

sdado1013

TDEE-20% is the a good place to be. if you are feeling good and losing weight then I'd say you are on the right track don't forget to recalculate BMR and TDEE every so often after you lose weight.

jwalters1805

I'm 5'11" 33 yo when I was 315lbs I was eatin about 2400-2500 a day and working out 3 days a week and losing at a good rate. Now that I'm at 245lbs I've been eating about 2150 cal a day and losing at a good rate. I don't figure exercise each day I just eat the same everyday. I've crunched the numbers on multiple calculators and just decided to try a calorie limit that works for my activity level.

Carlos_421

What MFP gives you is not true TDEE. With MFP you have to log exercise and eat those calories back. With TDEE your exercise is included in the total calories it gives you.
I prefer TDEE because you get the same calories each day based on your average exercise for the week. With MFP's version your calories vary day by day depending on your workouts.
Also, in my experience, TDEE calculators tend to be more accurate than MFP (I really like the one at IIFYM.com).
I just tweak my goals and settings until MFP gives me a goal close to my TDEE -20%

Carlos_421

Also, what types of exercise are you doing? At 326, you may be short changing yourself at 250 calories a day depending on how rigorous the workouts are.

mraudit2000

I am doing the new P90. I am at level A. I do the sweat 3 times a week and the Sculpt 2 times a week. I also do the optional Saturday workout. When I first started, I could hardly do 10 minutes of the workout. Now, 5 weeks later, I am doing all aspects of the workouts even the ab stuff. I am going to do level A one more week, then switch to the B level.

Liftng4Lis

If you've lost 20 pounds, I'd say you were doing it right. Carry on.