The Occasional Sedentary day

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Thowe92
Thowe92 Posts: 109 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
On some days when we turn out to be couch potatoes, should we eat at our BMR or still go with our estimated TDEE?

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  • PoundChaser2
    PoundChaser2 Posts: 241 Member
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    If im laying around I cut my calories back and remove one of snacks
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If you are following the TDEE method everything is averaged out over time - including your intake and output.
    There could be a huge difference between (average) TDEE and your BMR remember.

    If you are following the MFP eat back exercise calories then you have a lower allowance automatically on a sedentary day compared to a day with exercise.

    To me it sounds like you are being a little obsessive about one day. It's perfectly natural to have high days / low days, busy days / lazy days. Would suggest you look at maintenance as a long term thing not day to day.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    In Maintenance you'd eat maintenance levels no?
  • Maaike84
    Maaike84 Posts: 211 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    If you are following the TDEE method everything is averaged out over time - including your intake and output.
    There could be a huge difference between (average) TDEE and your BMR remember.

    If you are following the MFP eat back exercise calories then you have a lower allowance automatically on a sedentary day compared to a day with exercise.

    To me it sounds like you are being a little obsessive about one day. It's perfectly natural to have high days / low days, busy days / lazy days. Would suggest you look at maintenance as a long term thing not day to day.


    ^^ This. Also wanted to add that, even if you are a couch potato all day, you'd more than likely still burn more calories than your BMR.
  • Thowe92
    Thowe92 Posts: 109 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    If you are following the TDEE method everything is averaged out over time - including your intake and output.
    There could be a huge difference between (average) TDEE and your BMR remember.

    If you are following the MFP eat back exercise calories then you have a lower allowance automatically on a sedentary day compared to a day with exercise.

    To me it sounds like you are being a little obsessive about one day. It's perfectly natural to have high days / low days, busy days / lazy days. Would suggest you look at maintenance as a long term thing not day to day.

    I just go with TDEE everyday. Obsessive might be a bit much but I get where you're going with that. I was just curious how some people viewed the occasional lazy day and wanted some incite on whether or not BMR or TDEE was best while maintaining.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    TDEE takes the average of your workouts, so I eat the same. Typically when I have a sedentary day my next workouts are better anyway so it pretty much makes up for it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    even if you have a lazy day, you're going to burn more than your BMR...your BMR accounts for the energy required for you to merely exist. even if you're sedentary you're doing more than simply existing.

    beyond that, you body doesn't react that quickly to changes in activity vs intake. your body is actually pretty good at utilizing surplus energy for many different things...it's when you're consistently giving your body a surplus of energy that overrides your body's ability to effectively utilize that energy. same for losing weight...you don't just drop weight because you had a low calorie day. I've been sick all week with little appetite...i ate a couple bowls of soup yesterday and that was about it...I weighed in this morning with zero change from the previous morning.

    consistently overeating and undereating are what overrides your body's ability to maintain weight, not a day here and there.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    When working out your TDEE if you chose lightly active, this usually means 3-4 exercise days per week. So if you usually exercise everyday you should be fine having a sloth day now and then.
  • bclarke1990
    bclarke1990 Posts: 287 Member
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    If you have a lazy day once a week and you notice weight gain after a couple of months maybe cut back by 50 cals or move a bit more. Should be pretty easy to gauge
  • Thowe92
    Thowe92 Posts: 109 Member
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    Thank you for the incite everybody.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    TDEE is an average. Well, you have a different TDEE each day. But if you're using the TDEE method, you're using an average anyway.

    So yeah, just eat to your average every day (or week, if you prefer to have some lower and higher food days, like most of us) and that should work fine. If, over time, you notice yourself gaining or losing weight beyond the normal flucutations, then adjust your TDEE calories upward or downward a bit accordingly.
  • Thowe92
    Thowe92 Posts: 109 Member
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    Everything has been pretty stable for months. I was just curious if some prefered to adjusted their calories on the occasional lazy day.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Thowe92 wrote: »
    Everything has been pretty stable for months. I was just curious if some prefered to adjusted their calories on the occasional lazy day.

    My lazy days are far more often than "occasional". :)
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    I have Sundays as my off day off from absolute everything. No exercise or keeping schedules and I plan to lay around all day except to do the laundry. I do eat what ever I want. And to point out Saturday is exercise day (I have an extensive exercise day this day) but I also eat what ever I want but with a little more control around the number of calories this day.. it is football day in my house and it is all day and night.

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