Are you discouraged by your TDEE

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MinmoInk
MinmoInk Posts: 345 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm trying to set myself up for maintaining for life and I just want to know how much other people eat to maintain. Mine seems so low, it's almost depressing!
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  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    https://supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

    Check this site out, they allow for fairly detailed entry of activities / exercise.....
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Yep, plus I'm starting to wonder if my TDEE dropped by 200 in a year or something, judging by my weight fluctuations the last 6 months, even though I've been more active :s

    To be fair, it's more the fact that it will never be enough for me. I'm probably maintaining at 2100/2200, which isn't too bad, but I also weigh all my food so I know it's really close to that. And I exercise 7-10 hours a week to get there.
  • MinmoInk
    MinmoInk Posts: 345 Member
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    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    https://supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

    Check this site out, they allow for fairly detailed entry of activities / exercise.....

    Thanks! Wow.. this is so hard. Different calculators give me wildly different answers when I put in the same things. I tried another calculator which told me 1400 to maintain, another said 1500, this one says 1600. I guess I'll have to "just see". I mean how do I go about figuring out whats right? Eat at the lowest answer and see if I lose weight, then up the calories?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    https://supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

    Check this site out, they allow for fairly detailed entry of activities / exercise.....

    This is extremely vague when it comes to exercise... Exercising once a week is 'moderate' now? Weird...
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    MinmoInk wrote: »
    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    https://supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

    Check this site out, they allow for fairly detailed entry of activities / exercise.....

    Thanks! Wow.. this is so hard. Different calculators give me wildly different answers when I put in the same things. I tried another calculator which told me 1400 to maintain, another said 1500, this one says 1600. I guess I'll have to "just see". I mean how do I go about figuring out whats right? Eat at the lowest answer and see if I lose weight, then up the calories?

    Start in the middle and give it at least a month to see if your weight stabilizes.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    If you've been losing weight you should have kept accurate records and you wouldn't need an online estimate to set you up to maintain. Just take your current average intake and adjust it up/down by your current loss/gain in weight.

    So, I currently eat ~2200 and I'm losing a little over 0.5lb/week, so my TDEE is ~2500, which is reasonable considering I'm no longer playing Ultimate (2 hours of running/week) or walking to the grocery store since it was winter. My TDEE was ~2700 in the summer. And no, I find those levels reasonable for maintaining considering I'm generally happy at 2200 calories as it really only means I have to be mindful of snacking but I still get to enjoy everything I want for my main meals. I'm also 5'11", which contributes to being able to eat so much despite only lifting weights 3x/week and maybe running 1x/week.
  • hko718
    hko718 Posts: 85 Member
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    2688 to maintain for me.
  • MinmoInk
    MinmoInk Posts: 345 Member
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    nordlead2005 wrote: »
    If you've been losing weight you should have kept accurate records and you wouldn't need an online estimate to set you up to maintain..

    B-but that's what I've been using MFP for! :) I'm terrible at manual record keeping. I'll get there. I'm currently 6lbs away from my stretch goal but I want to get into maintenance mindset.

    I just think... eating 1400 calories a day is kinda bleh! Social meals are calorie dense, I'll just always have to eat very lightly. I am just a small person living in a tall people world. People tend to think I'm under eating but they don't understand I can't do 2000 calories to maintain.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    MFP easily records food in, but not everyone also uses MFP to accurately record weight change. If you have all of that information in MFP you can go back through the information and do a 4-week average TDEE calculation and it'll get you a good estimtae to start out with (if you are switching from losing weight to maintenance it could actually be low due to the energy you are now going to spend digesting the extra food).
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I am petite (5'2) and am maintaining around 120 lbs with a desk job. My TDEE is about 2200 according to my FitBit and actual results. I have a desk job but average 15K steps/day.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I am petite (5'2) and am maintaining around 120 lbs with a desk job. My TDEE is about 2200 according to my FitBit and actual results. I have a desk job but average 15K steps/day.

    The desk job part doesn't matter too much when you are walking 15k steps. I'm lucky if I walk half of that on an average day.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    When I got close to goal, I noticed that MFP would set me to 1650 to maintain (sedentary, which I was, outside of purposeful exercise). I wasn't discouraged by that. Rather, it made me determined to make it a habit to be more active in general, because I want to eat in the 2000-2200 range. 10,000+ steps daily plus thrice weekly resistance training (to maintain LBM) for me does the trick.
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
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    MinmoInk wrote: »
    I'm trying to set myself up for maintaining for life and I just want to know how much other people eat to maintain. Mine seems so low, it's almost depressing!

    So, increase your TDEE by moving more.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    nordlead2005 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I am petite (5'2) and am maintaining around 120 lbs with a desk job. My TDEE is about 2200 according to my FitBit and actual results. I have a desk job but average 15K steps/day.

    The desk job part doesn't matter too much when you are walking 15k steps. I'm lucky if I walk half of that on an average day.

    I know, but people assume that desk job = sedentary because of how MFP describes the activity levels during the set up process. When I started, I was more sedentary, and that was an appropriate setting for me at the time, but I worked to become more active and try to fit in more exercise. When I got my FitBit I was averaging 10K steps/day, and got the good advice to change my activity level to lightly active. Now that I move even more, I have raised it again.

    The point is that the OP said that she thinks because she is short that she is destined to have a low maintenance level. I'm just using my stats and experience as another perspective.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I am petite (5'2) and am maintaining around 120 lbs with a desk job. My TDEE is about 2200 according to my FitBit and actual results. I have a desk job but average 15K steps/day.

    +1 you must be my mfp twin :smile:
  • MinmoInk
    MinmoInk Posts: 345 Member
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    Hmm... I have a fit bit but I thought it was way over zealous with my activity level... I should use it again. My activity varies wildly day to day. Some days I bike for miles and walk for miles and miles, other I just laze around. It's pretty hard to get an average. Well I'll give it another chance thanks for the ideas guys.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    No, I am active purposely so I can have a higher TDEE, I maintain my goal weight range easily on 2100-2300 calories and for being petite and in my 40s that's not half bad :smiley:
  • jacklifts
    jacklifts Posts: 396 Member
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    google reverse dieting
    themacroexperiment

    you might be able to get yourself to the 2K range
  • minizebu
    minizebu Posts: 2,716 Member
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    MinmoInk wrote: »
    Hmm... I have a fit bit but I thought it was way over zealous with my activity level... I should use it again. My activity varies wildly day to day. Some days I bike for miles and walk for miles and miles, other I just laze around. It's pretty hard to get an average. Well I'll give it another chance thanks for the ideas guys.

    What is your height and current weight? What parameters are you giving the calculator to result in the 1400 kcal TDEE estimate? If you are biking and walking "for miles and miles", then you are likely underestimating your activity level for the calculator.

    Since you are still several pounds away from your goal, start keeping a trend line of your weight now, using an app like Happy Scales or trendweight.com for the next 8 weeks or so.

    Then at the end of that period you can do the backend calculation of your estimated TDEE, like the previous poster suggested.

  • MinmoInk
    MinmoInk Posts: 345 Member
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    minizebu wrote: »

    What is your height and current weight? What parameters are you giving the calculator to result in the 1400 kcal TDEE estimate? If you are biking and walking "for miles and miles", then you are likely underestimating your activity level for the calculator.

    Since you are still several pounds away from your goal, start keeping a trend line of your weight now, using an app like Happy Scales or trendweight.com for the next 8 weeks or so.

    Then at the end of that period you can do the backend calculation of your estimated TDEE, like the previous poster suggested.

    5'0" 106.5lbs, I put in lightly active with no workout setting because I wanted to get a baseline. I walk everyday for my job but it isn't too much walking, I don't drive everywhere. On the weekends I'm far more active where I walk sometimes 7miles or bike 16-30miles and I exercise on machines at least 3 times a week.. But I add those as eat back calories most of the time, I eat back half half the time and all the other half.

    Anyway I downloaded the happy scales app! Will do! I'm also going to try to use my fit bit again. I'm just confused by it really.

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