Confused about TDEE and calories

shanellef05

I'm confused on how many calories I should be eating when it comes to TDEE. Let me see if I have this correct.

My BMR right now is 1800
My average calorie burn is around 300-400 calories.

This means my TDEE or what I should be eating is 2478. This is what I should eat on the days I exercise?

What about days I rest?

I don't understand why I have to eat back the calories I burn exercising. Basically I'm eating back what I burn which gets me to my bmr amount. Why? I don't want to maintain my weight I want to lose.

Can someone please break this down in simple terms. I guess I'm just not getting it.

heybales

Perhaps seeing the numbers will help.

Because you burn more each day then your BMR + exercise calories. All your other movement and being awake burns calories too, digesting food does too. That is your TDEE.

You may have the wrong idea what BMR is. Calories your body would like to burn if you slept deep all day.

So as you stated, you could eat at BMR + exercise calories and you'll still be creating a deficit from your real TDEE for that day.
Or you could eat BMR + all the other activity burn and create a deficit purely from exercise calories.
Or you could eat at BMR + activity + exercise = TDEE with a reasonable deficit from the total.

Anyway, use this to see the numbers, it's helped many. Read the descriptions and notes since it tells the story too.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker

shanellef05

So the TDEE is an estimate of your BMR + the calories you burn exercising + what you might burn otherwise doing everyday things?

I think I get it now. The TDEE is an estimate of what you might burn with everything you're doing daily like walking around the office, going up and down stairs... not just bmr and calories burned exercising... I get it now.. Now I'm just not sure where exactly I should eat at? 20% of my TDEE?

heybales

So the TDEE is an estimate of your BMR + the calories you burn exercising + what you might burn otherwise doing everyday things?

I think I get it now. The TDEE is an estimate of what you might burn with everything you're doing daily like walking around the office, going up and down stairs... not just bmr and calories burned exercising... I get it now.. Now I'm just not sure where exactly I should eat at? 20% of my TDEE?

Well, you might say TDEE is what you literally burn total in a day.
You attempt to estimate that.
Devices you wear try to do each day.
TDEE levels try to take a weekly routine and average it out to a daily level.
Activity Calc in spreadsheet tries to do the same thing with better details.

The TDEE Deficit method is indeed a % off your TDEE.
The % can depend on the amount to lose, and really what your exercise is too, like lifting helps retain muscle mass, so you can take a steeper deficit. But less to lose should be less.

The TDEE Deficit method is great for set routines you will accomplish, with knowledge that if you miss a workout, you'll probably need to eat a tad less that day. Do more than planned, eat more.
The TDEE Deficit method is getting it's deficit from your day.

The MFP method, considered NEAT Method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) has you eating around your BMR depending on the goal you selected (sometimes foolishly way below), and you eat back exercise that is done. Which means the deficit is being created by not eating back your daily activity, or everything that is not sleep or exercise.

The bad part that studies have shown happens with the NEAT Method done wrong (like not eating back exercise) when you eat way too little, is your body adjusts how much you burn during the day, because it needs so many calories for BMR functions it needs to do, even if it slows down a tad there. So it'll cause you to burn less during the day.
But at least with eating back exercise calories that might be minimized.

So really depends on how you look at goals.
Is your eating habits benefited by looking at food as a reward for exercise, or is that dangerous?
Do you have a planned realistic routine that knowing you need to meet the exercise goals is a better encouragement?

What you'll also see many doing, is a non-exercise TDEE Deficit method, because they want the safer % off rather than block amount of calories (500, 1000), but their workouts vary enough that eating back exercise with same % off is better.

Or as I do right now, exercise creates the deficit, I eat at non-exercise TDEE level. Encourages me to exercise, since that's the only way to lose weight.

Spreadsheet does all these methods actually, depending on what you want to use.