How long should I wait to see if the TDEE method is working?

psykins

Hello,

I just started up with MFP again at the beginning of the June and was doing the regular, eat a deficit and eat back exercise calories method. Then I got worried because, for my weight loss goal, I'd often end up eating about 1200 cals a day and people were going on about starvation mode, etc etc. I was also interested in being able to eat the same amount every day, regardless of whether I exercised or not. So, I decided to try the TDEE - 20% method. I've still been exercising almost every day, but I decided to go with the TDEE number for "light" activity since my exercise is not very intense (usually walking/hiking for 1-2 hrs, occasionally elliptical or exercise bike). This means my TDEE is 2369, and TDEE - 20% is 1895. I aim for this goal, exercise 5-6 times a week, and don't eat exercise calories back.

I started at 204, dropped to 197 using MFP's plan, and am now stuck right around 200 while on the TDEE - 20% deal for the last two weeks. What gives? How long should I wait to see if I'm going to lose weight? I'm really depressed about this because I was hoping to lose about 15 lbs by the end of August (I have a year-long trip coming up and won't be able to buy many, if any, clothes while overseas). It felt like I was doing so good, and then switching to the TDEE method screwed me up. Thoughts?

psykins

Oh, I should also mention that I have definitely accumulated a deficit in exercise calories that should have resulted in at least 2 lb lost by now - but nothing!

ChristinaR720

Give it a few weeks. It takes your body time to adjust to the changes in your dietary and exercise routines. You've got this! Just give it some time!

257_Lag

3-4 weeks is the norm. Then if you still aren't losing reduce by 100.

SweetestLibby

I'm at 1800, which is TDEE - 10% (a little more - 12.13% because I like whole numbers) and it took about 6/7 weeks for the scale to start movig downward again. I didn't gain during the stall but the scale didn't move downward either.

Edit: also since I was active recording the intensity of my workouts it took a bit longer for me to starting losing again. Rather than eat less I worked out harder (not longer though!)

CherylP67

I've not been doing this long enough to be an expert, I'm sure you will get some good advice. I'm only sharing my personal experience.

I started at 198.4, I'm down to 179.4 in almost 8 weeks, I'm 5ft 5 inches.

I started with the 1200 cals, did a lot of reading here and realized it wasn't enough. I then moved up to my BMR and ate back exercise calories. Did some more reading and decided on sedentary TDEE-20% and eat back exercise. I gradually increased my calories by 50 every few days until I got to this number. I sometimes eat more calories, if I'm under its by less than 100.

I'm not cutting out any food groups. I do try to eat lots of fresh produce because its delicious. We've switched to coconut milk and almond milk instead of cows milk but still eat cows milk cheese.

The first week I lost 6 lbs, I know it was mostly water. I've consistently lost right around 2 pounds a week. One week I stayed the same because I went on vacation and didn't track accurately, we ate out a lot and I did make healthy choices, but I wasn't going to whip out my food scale and deconstruct my salad!

I've also upped my activity tremendously. I rarely sit and watch TV, I'm always busy doing something. It feels good to be dog tired at the end of the day and my house has never been cleaner. For heavy jobs like yard work, I wear my HRM and count that as exercise, because it's not part of my normal activity and it truly wears me out. If my weight starts to stall, I plan on going to TDEE-20% for lightly active and eating back purposeful exercise calories only. I walk and was doing 30 DS for exercise. I plan to join a gym and start lifting as soon as finances allow. I'm in the middle of a divorce, I have the kids, and money is tight.

Best of luck to you.

savithny

Couple of things that could be factors:

1) How long did you eat at a deficit? What was your intake like before that - still low, but different low?
I ate at a moderate deficit for 10-ish weeks, and then had my RMR tested (resting metabolic rate; a bit higher than BMR, but related). It was over 10% lower than the formulas would predict.
The formulas are just a guideline, but they assume you haven't already abused your metabolism into slowdown.

2) Any guesses on your body fat percentage? The formulas assume a moderate BF%, but if you're above 30% BF, the formulas are going to overestimate it, again by quite a bit. I used the more specific calculator that asks for body fat percentage and ran mine with everything from 30%BF to 45% BF and come up with numbers from 1800-ish to 1500-ish.

3) TDEE requires (IMO) brutal self-honest about activity level. I suspect a lot of MFP-ers are drastically overestimating their activfity level. When you say you walk 1-2 hours - is that daily? Every other day? A couple of times a week? For people whose exercise is erratic, the MFP plan of eating back exercise may make better sense. I ran the numbers for myself, comparing treating my daily walk to the bus stop as exercise, vs raising my activity level to "lightly active," and as long as I do it daily, the numbers are very close. But if I wasn't doing the walk at least 4-5 times a week, it woudl throw my numbers off pretty badly.

psykins

Thanks for the info. I ony ate at a deficit for about a week, so I don't think I've trashed my metabolism or anything. I do have a high bodyfat, though - I have gotten wildly differen numbers from different calculators, but the one that seems most accurate to me is about 40% body fat. I have tried calculating my BMR both with and without bodyfat, and it is about 1500 with bodyfat and 1750 without.

I am DEFINITELY exercising - I do 1-2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I make it my goal to burn a minimum of 1500 cals in exercise per week (1 hr walking/5 days per week), but I often do up to 2.5 hours of hiking (burns more cals than just walking on pavement) or some other more intense/shorter workout (according to my exercise bike, I burned 400+ clas in 30 mins today). So, I really don't think the exercise is a problem, which is what is so frustrating! I'm more active than I've ever been, I can SEE my calf muscles and arms becoming more defined, and NOTHING is moving - no scale movement, no inches. FLURGH.

TwelveSticks

Don't guess your TDEE (which is what using online calculators amounts to) - work out your own, actual TDEE.

Assuming you kept track of how much you ate and how much weight you lost in the last X weeks(?), then work out your real-life TDEE using the formula:

TDEE =
Total Calories Consumed + (Lbs lost * 3500)

---

Number of days

That will tell you your average TDEE for the period you have records for. Then you can work out your TDEE - 20% with confidence (assuming you maintain the same levels of exercise)...

Lochlyn_D

I agree with twelvesticks. Your TDEE will change daily, depending on your activity levels. Some days mine is 1000, some days it is 3000. I adjust what I eat based on what I do that day.

Vorenus85

I agree with twelvesticks. Your TDEE will change daily, depending on your activity levels. Some days mine is 1000, some days it is 3000. I adjust what I eat based on what I do that day.

If your TDEE on some days is 1000, what exactly is your BMR? Something doesn't really add up there.

Lochlyn_D

I agree with twelvesticks. Your TDEE will change daily, depending on your activity levels. Some days mine is 1000, some days it is 3000. I adjust what I eat based on what I do that day.

If your TDEE on some days is 1000, what exactly is your BMR? Something doesn't really add up there.

At the hospital they determined that it is between 801 and 845