Is my method for TDEE correct?

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bertobelle77
bertobelle77 Posts: 17 Member
edited July 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I am using MFP linked to my garmin vivofit 2. This is a totally new start for me and I want to lose weight using the TDEE method. My current weight is 227lbs and approx 40% body at (female 5foot5inches) I have up until now been very sedentary but with my new tracker I want to walk 10,000 steps a day and exercise for about 45 minutes 5 days a week in a combination of moderate cardio and some strength training.

I put in all my data to MFP and selected my activity level as lightly active which gave me a calorie target of 1400. So for example today I ate around 1938 calories and my active calories those burned of in exercise according to my garmin tracker is 584 (this is over and above my BMR) which means my net intake of calories is 1354.

Is this the right idea for TDEE given that I wish to reduce body fat rather than losing too much muscle? Unfortunately at the moment my active calories are not transfering over properly from the garmin to mfp account.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Many people here would tell you to eat back only HALF of the extra calories exercise gives you. So for instance, today you earned 538 calories through exercise. Many people here would tell you to "eat back" about 270 calories, for a total of 1670 calories. But it depends on your long term result. You can do exactly what you're doing for a month and see how it goes. If you aren't losing at a rate you are happy with, you could try eating back only half.
  • bertobelle77
    bertobelle77 Posts: 17 Member
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    Ok cool, I didn't go to the gym today but when I do I should get more exercise calories. Also my BMR is about 1800 according to various sources and I thought with TDEE I should never eat under my BMR? Obviously I will recalulate this as my weight goes down to account for the drop in my BMR.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    No reason not to eat under you BMR.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    If you're eating back any exercise calories you're not using the TDEE method. Use the Katch-Mcardle equation to get your BMR, then multiply that by 1.35 or so to get your TDEE
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    I ran your numbers. Your TDEE is about 2300 calories and a 20% deficit would be around 1850 calories. You'll want to adjust that depending on your results after a few weeks. Don't eat back your exercise calories. Just eat 1850 every day.
  • bertobelle77
    bertobelle77 Posts: 17 Member
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    Sheldonklein, it is a personal preferance but according to my research eating under your BMR is potentially problematic in that it can effect your long term metabolism, you lose muscle mass and it leads to higher chance of loose skin as the body basically cannibalises itself to meet its needs. I have done the 1200 calorie diets and they don't work long term.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited July 2015
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    bertobelle77 wrote: »
    Ok cool, I didn't go to the gym today but when I do I should get more exercise calories. Also my BMR is about 1800 according to various sources and I thought with TDEE I should never eat under my BMR? Obviously I will recalulate this as my weight goes down to account for the drop in my BMR.

    Everyone's going to give you different advice. You could probably eat anywhere under 2400 calories per day (if you're being accurate) and lose weight. The obese probably won't do long term damage eating under their BMR, but once you've lost some weight, your BMR is a fairly good measure of what your minimum total intake should be.

    Do you want to eat more on the days you work out? Or would you rather eat a flat amount every day?
  • leahcollett1
    leahcollett1 Posts: 807 Member
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    The TDEE method is simplyfying it, so you DONT eat back your exercise cals as its already incoprated into your daily allowance, for instance im also 226lbs, 5foot7, and 31 years old, i was on 1.5lbs a week loss on MFP and eating back all my calorie earnt through exercise, i found that on days i did not exercise i struggled on just 1400 cals a day, on exercise days i was fine, i was not losing.

    now i use scooby workshop or iifym, to work out the TDEE calories, i entered that i did les mills combat 3-4 times a week and wanted to 25% fat, so it gave me 1750 calories i can eat every day, but i do not enter calories burnt. i ignore them, i also have to keep in mind that these calories do include exercise so i need to do it, last week i lost 2lbs yey!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    galgenstrick wrote: »
    I ran your numbers. Your TDEE is about 2300 calories and a 20% deficit would be around 1850 calories. You'll want to adjust that depending on your results after a few weeks. Don't eat back your exercise calories. Just eat 1850 every day.

    This except there is no way her TDEE is only 2300 considering that I'm the same weight and age and 100 pounds heavier and my TDEE is 2200. Scooby says her TDEE is 2750 as moderately active. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Does your vivofit give you your TDEE? If so, just eat 20% less than that. Or eat 20 or 25% under your TDEE (so 2000 at 25%).

    So it seems you're doing things right, as long as you're logging properly.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    If you have an activity tracker you need to set your activity to sedentary and enable negative adjustments to effectively use it.

    And using an activity tracker means no TDEE....you are using NEAT.

    The only other thing is that as you lose weight ensure you are adjusting the settings on your activity tracker..not just MFP.

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