Help with TDEE for short ladies!

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littlehappystitches
littlehappystitches Posts: 121 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
hi I am having a bit of trouble getting my head around using the TDEE calculators in combination with trying to lose weight. I am 5ft 0 "tall and currently weigh 138lbs. When I input my stats my TDEE says its 1379 cals and my BMR is 1199. I get that to lose weight you need to subtract 500 cals a day from you TDEE per pound a week that you want to lose,but just wondered how I can do this as it will leave me at 879 cals per day which I know MFP does not recommend. So what I really want to ask is does this mean trying to lose 1lb a week is way too much for me? It doesn't seem like a lot to want to lose? And then my next problem is if I go for half a pound a week then my cals say I need to eat 1129 a day which is below my BMR and still under MFP recommendation of you have to eat 1200 cals minimum?? So can someone please tell me how I can safely lose weight as I'm confused

Replies

  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    According to your ticker you only have 9lbs to lose, so you should only be aiming to lose 0.5lb per week (I would recommend this to anyone with less than 10lbs to lose, regardless of height).

    Set your MFP goal to lose 0.5lbs per week. It will likely put you at 1200 cal per day based on your stats. Eat at this level and remember that if you work out you will be credited with more calories.
  • yogacat13
    yogacat13 Posts: 124 Member
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    Did you put it at sedentary? I'm 5'1 and my fitbit puts my TDEE between 1400 and 1800, depending on my activity level for the day. As KarenJanine said, set the MFP goal at 1/2 pound a week. You should eat back at least some of your exercise calories. Those of us who are short have to lose more slowly, I only achieve 1-1.5 pounds a week if I exercise every single day for 45 mins to an hour.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    If BMR is 1199, then your TDEE should be ~1350 for a sedentary person. My bet is that your TDEE estimate is too low.

    What I would do, is eat at 1200 and log as accurately as possible for at least 6 weeks, 8 would be better. Increase your exercise (just move more, it can be more walking if you wish) over that period to something you can sustain for life. So, don't go crazy with 2hr/day in the gym, but 1hr 3 times per week is a good goal. I wouldn't eat back exercise calories unless you are really hungry and I'd keep it to 50%.

    Once the time period is done, average your calorie intake per day, take your totalweight loss (in lb), and run the following equation.

    (Weight lost * 3500)/(weeks * 7)+average calories eaten

    The results is your TDEE for that period. As you lose weight, TDEE will drop slightly. I would expect you to lose 0.5-1lb/week. Once you know your TDEE, you can set future goals and periodically recalculate TDEE.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    wonkywendy wrote: »
    I am 5ft 0 "tall and currently weigh 138lbs. When I input my stats my TDEE says its 1379 cals and my BMR is 1199. I get that to lose weight you need to subtract 500 cals a day from you TDEE per pound a week that you want to lose,but just wondered how I can do this as it will leave me at 879 cals per day which I know MFP does not recommend.

    You're overthinking this—and 500 calories is too aggressive a deficit at your size.

    Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    And learn to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging works. To understand how MFP works, read the Sexypants post: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
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    What site did you use, and what activity level?

    I'm shorter than you and weigh a little less. And according to the Scooby site my BMR is 1260, my sedentary TDEE is 1512 and my lightly active TDEE is 1733. That aligns relatively well with the TDEE results my Fitbit is giving me. In two weeks of wearing it my TDEE has ranged from 1644 to 2043.

    That said, it's very difficult IME to lose even a pound a week when you're working with such tight numbers (short/ relatively low BMR and TDEE and not much weight to lose). I consider it doing good if I lose .25 pounds/week.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    KarenJanine wrote: »
    According to your ticker you only have 9lbs to lose, so you should only be aiming to lose 0.5lb per week (I would recommend this to anyone with less than 10lbs to lose, regardless of height).

    Set your MFP goal to lose 0.5lbs per week. It will likely put you at 1200 cal per day based on your stats. Eat at this level and remember that if you work out you will be credited with more calories.

    ^^ this
  • littlehappystitches
    littlehappystitches Posts: 121 Member
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    Thanks everyone great advice I will settle myself to a more realistic goal of 0.25-0.5 lbs per week so I can eat more! And I will try out some different TDEE calculators in case the one I used wasn't such a good one! I think the only way around this is to change my way of thinking that it will be a slow process but being slow isn't a bad thing

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