Question about the tdee calculator

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speedygonzales32
speedygonzales32 Posts: 21 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi,
I lost 105 lbs since 25. May 2015 on a 1200-1400 cal a day diet. I did not eat any excercise calories back. I am goal weight since about 3 weeks and I struggle. It seamed the day I just added calories to about 1800 I gained 4 lbs and it wasn't just water. I had to cut back to 1200 to get rid of it. Psychologically I noticed I got very frustrated, hopeless and moody during that time. I never felt unhappy while dieting and I saw results. At the monent it's a constant eating for 3 days some more, weighing - numbers are up, back dieting. This can't be it!

Could someone tell me what activity level iam to use for the TDDE calculator? I am a stay at home mother and usually work out 5x a week for one hour and I would say it's all cardio (in days I do strength training I could count walking the dog in a brisk pace as cardio)

Am I lightly active or moderate?

Thank you

Replies

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Congrats on your huge loss! Since you've lost 105 pounds, surely you know that it's impossible to gain 4 lbs by adding 600 cal for one day. Of course it was water weight due to sodium, exercise, TOM, and/or other fluctuations in body chemistry. It is best to set a maintenance range of about 5 pounds because weight naturally fluctuates from day to day. Results in maintenance = not gaining more than your acceptable range over a period of time. It's a different mindset than losing. My weight goes up by 4 lbs between 7am and10am. Fluctuations are not a failure on your part! Consider weighing daily and using an app like Happy Scale that gives you a moving average over a period of time. This helps smooth out the daily ups and downs that are NORMAL.

    The calorie calculator in MFP is not based on TDEE, it is based on NEAT, so you would not factor in your exercise. Exercise gets added on top of the MFP estimate. You are prob lightly active for this purpose.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    It WAS just water, I agree with what @sijomial says ^^
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    The calorie calculator in MFP is not based on TDEE, it is based on NEAT, so you would not factor in your exercise. Exercise gets added on top of the MFP estimate. You are prob lightly active for this purpose.
    I just joined MFP and it calculated my daily calorie goal based on activity level.
  • tahxirez
    tahxirez Posts: 270 Member
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    DebSozo wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    The calorie calculator in MFP is not based on TDEE, it is based on NEAT, so you would not factor in your exercise. Exercise gets added on top of the MFP estimate. You are prob lightly active for this purpose.
    I just joined MFP and it calculated my daily calorie goal based on activity level.

    Yes it factored in your activity level outside of purposeful exercise. Any exercise you do is designed to be logged for additional calories. For me those come from fitbit but you can enter exercises but i wouldn't recommend reading back all those calories as they ate very generic. TDEE is all of your activity in one calorie goal.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    tahxirez wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    The calorie calculator in MFP is not based on TDEE, it is based on NEAT, so you would not factor in your exercise. Exercise gets added on top of the MFP estimate. You are prob lightly active for this purpose.
    I just joined MFP and it calculated my daily calorie goal based on activity level.

    Yes it factored in your activity level outside of purposeful exercise. Any exercise you do is designed to be logged for additional calories. For me those come from fitbit but you can enter exercises but i wouldn't recommend reading back all those calories as they ate very generic. TDEE is all of your activity in one calorie goal.

    Thanks

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