TDEE... Help.

daddjmo

Hello,

I've read about a hundred posts today, many that list the following:

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): The number of calories you burn at complete rest.
EAT (Exercise Associated Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of training, or training expenditure.
NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of activity that is not planned exercise. Vacuuming, driving, brushing your teeth, for example.
TEF/DIT (Thermic Effect of Feeding or Diet Induced Thermogenesis): Caloric expense of eating/digestion.
TDEE: (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) = Sum of the above. BMR+EAT+NEAT+TEF

Can anyone help me figure this out? One post suggested I use this calculator:
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

I'm male, 33 years old, current weight is 509.4 and my height is 76 inches (6'4"). I've got a desk job so I played it safe and put down 10 "resting" hours and 14 "very light" hours for my day. My current exercise comes from DDP Yoga, three times a week (I'm following their beginner calendar, currently on week 5). That calculator says my total calories are 5,158. It also says my BMR is 3,933... Huh? Is that my TDEE? There is no way I could eat that many calories in a day and lose weight. I don't track my calories now and that is because I simply have no idea how many I am supposed to have. I don't want to pick a random number and it be too low. I don't even want to try eating 4,000 or 5,000 calories a day because there is no way that would cause a loss or even maintenance. I've eaten a lot to get to 509 pounds but I doubt there were any days that went to 5,000 calories. How do I figure this out?

Any help is appreciated!

Sued0nim

Use scooby calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

And cut 20%

Or follow MFP set to sedentary and add your exercise in and eat it back its what it is designed for

MityMax96

I usually use this calc:
http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Sued0nim

So it looks like 3800 calories which is a lot so you should have a very easy time

juggernaut1974

MityMax96 wrote: »

I usually use this calc:
http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Ditto

Sued0nim

These are your stats

juggernaut1974

asflatasapancake wrote: »

Either of the calculators should work above.

I use this one:

I think that only works for paleo

MityMax96

Your TDEE is around 4500, to just maintain your current weight.
Start eating around 3000 for a while see if you start to lose weight.

You have been over eating if you are at 509 lbs....so whether you ate 5000 calories or not, you are where you are.

Your TDEE at one point may have been 2500 calories, but you would eat 3500.....so that is how you got big.
Then as you got big, your appetite got big as well.....so you were just repeating the cycle.

Plus the more body fat you put on, the less efficient your body comes at burning off excess....so it begins to become easier for your body to store fat, than actually do something with it.....
hormone cues are subdued.

PAV8888

Given your current weight it is probably safe to assume that you are one of the rare people who can safely go beyond MFP's limits for weight loss for quite a while without any particular detriment to your health.

Here are a couple of strategies you can follow:

a) Enter your stats in MFP. Go for the maximum amount of weight loss MFP allows (2lbs=1000Cal deficit). Eat to the numbers MFP gives you. Log but do not eat back any of your exercise calories unless you are feeling extremely hungry, at which point eat back the least amount of exercise calories you can get away with.

Remember throughout that as long as you achieve SOME deficit, it is better than achieving a surplus. With 300lbs to lose you are looking at a journey of a few years. Getting there a couple of months sooner or later is not nearly as important as eating to a target that is actually achievable and allows you to get there in the first place!

b) Enter your stats but pretend that you are a 350lbs person of the same height and age as yourself, one who wants to maintain their weight.

Eat to whatever MFP gives you again, for now, ignoring exercise calories as you can actually tolerate a faster weight loss than a person with less available fat. Again, though, do eat back exercise calories if you must to maintain compliance. Compliance is more important than speed!

When you're down 50lbs, drop the MFP pretend person from 350lbs to 300lbs. After another 50lbs drop them down to 250lbs, and then to 200lbs.

Long before you get your pretend person to 200lbs (and yourself to 350lbs), and especially if you learn to log accurately, you will have a pretty good idea of how well your actual weight loss corresponds to the deficits you think you're creating for yourself.

Having that info will allow you to adjust your goals!

As you approach lower weights and can no longer (safely) support a weight loss rate that is extremely rapid, eating back some of your exercise calories (or even all, eventually) will become a better strategy for you!

Anyways: all the above do boil down to "eat around 3,500Cal for now and you will lose weight". Oh, yes, and do try to make sure that you fit in there a good 250g+ of protein to help maintain a maximal amount of your current lean mass (assuming that you have no kidney issues)

A note: while for the foreseeable future you will be able to get away with extremely inaccurate logging (you will lose weight whether you eat 3,500 Cal, or whether you make logging mistakes and eat 4250 Cal thinking that you're eating 3500), as you get to lower weights and start having less room to play with, inaccurate logging will impact your progress.

Plus, part of the fun of all this is that you are your own science experiment! And good data is good for science experiments

daddjmo

I really appreciate all of your responses! I see all of these high calorie numbers and my brain can't make that idea work. My brain has been wrong once or twice before though so I'm not too surprised.

If my body is less efficient at burning fat then I should stay away from that 3,800 calorie number, right? Heck, I don't think I could afford to buy 3,800 calories worth of food a day. Is it also true though that if I went too low, say 1800 calories, my body would shut down and I wouldn't lose as much?

sheldonklein

daddjmo wrote: »

I really appreciate all of your responses! I see all of these high calorie numbers and my brain can't make that idea work. My brain has been wrong once or twice before though so I'm not too surprised.

If my body is less efficient at burning fat then I should stay away from that 3,800 calorie number, right? Heck, I don't think I could afford to buy 3,800 calories worth of food a day. Is it also true though that if I went too low, say 1800 calories, my body would shut down and I wouldn't lose as much?

I don't understand what the "less efficient" comment means, but I'm pretty sure it is wrong. As far as I know, 3500 calorie deficit equals 1 lb fat loss, whether you are 500 lbs. or 150. Eat 1500 calories below your TDEE and you should lose 2.5 lbs./week, which is a reasonable target at your weight.

futuremanda

daddjmo wrote: »

I really appreciate all of your responses! I see all of these high calorie numbers and my brain can't make that idea work. My brain has been wrong once or twice before though so I'm not too surprised.

If my body is less efficient at burning fat then I should stay away from that 3,800 calorie number, right? Heck, I don't think I could afford to buy 3,800 calories worth of food a day. Is it also true though that if I went too low, say 1800 calories, my body would shut down and I wouldn't lose as much?

If your TDEE really is around 4700, and you've been maintaining your current weight, you've been eating about 4700 already. So you can afford to buy 3800 cals of food, as it's actually less than you've been eating.

Your body is not less efficient at burning fat. Your body won't shut down or stop your weight loss if you eat too little. However, 1800 is pretty aggressive. Why not start at 3k, which in theory is still pretty aggressive, but will also get you more nutrients, enjoyment, satiety, etc? You'll need to reduce it as you go anyway, and you can't reduce very far from 1800 safely. At 1800, you're more likely to burn out and quit or binge.

I know the 4700 sounds like a high number, and most people are a bit shocked when they find out how many calories they've really been eating. Calorie dense foods are a big culprit, as is grazing (where it may not fully register in your brain as a lot of food), as is drinking your calories (soda, milk, juice, coffees, chocolate milk, alcohol, etc). A short-ish not even terribly heavy female like me could easily eat 3k in a day if not paying attention, so I promise that you can eat (and likely have been eating) closer to 5k.

And yeah, it's all an estimate. But everyone is working from an estimate at first. Eat around 3k as others are suggesting and see what happens -- then you will have real data and can get a better idea of your true TDEE. You won't know until you faithfully, carefully log for several weeks.