Calculated my TDEE, now what?

nyla2120
nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I used a few different TDEE calculators & they all gave me 2100 calories as my result. So what do I need to lower that to in order to lose around 2 pounds a week?

Replies

  • Feelenjoy
    Feelenjoy Posts: 2 Member
    2 pounds a week requires a daily deficit of 1000 calories. That would put you at 1100 calories a day. Such a low number is not usually recommended though, the general guideline is to not go below 1200 calories a day. At that rate you would lose a little less than 2 pounds a week.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    2 pounds a week requires a daily deficit of 1000 calories. That would put you at 1100 calories a day. Such a low number is not usually recommended though, the general guideline is to not go below 1200 calories a day. At that rate you would lose a little less than 2 pounds a week.

    Ok, good to know! Thanks :smile:
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  • jaxxie
    jaxxie Posts: 576 Member
    Traditionally the rule of thumb is 20% below TDEE. Get a food scale, log every single bite that goes into your mouth, be honest about your activity and food.....oh and move MORE! You could also go to Scooby.com and honestly input your numbers to get a precise read of their suggestions in terms of your macros. Good luck.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    I'm not sure what your height and weight is but I'm not sure if you need to lose 2 lbs per week.
    If you have some weight to lose just go at a 10-20% deficit from your TDEE. If you end up eating 1600-1700 daily while lifting heavy you will find it a lot easier mentally than limiting yourself to 1200. This is not a race just be patient and teach yourself how to mix and match foods and eat what you like.

    I'm 5'4, 128 pounds if that helps. Thanks for the great advice so far.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    Traditionally the rule of thumb is 20% below TDEE. Get a food scale, log every single bite that goes into your mouth, be honest about your activity and food.....oh and move MORE! You could also go to Scooby.com and honestly input your numbers to get a precise read of their suggestions in terms of your macros. Good luck.

    I'm going to check out this site now, thank you! I think it will help a lot!
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  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    Ok, so I used the Scooby site & it gave me this.....

    BMR: 1356
    TDEE: 2339
    1754 to lose weight.

    Does that seem right? Why does MFP put me at 1200 calories a day? That's a huge difference. No wonder why people get so confused.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    I'm not sure what your height and weight is but I'm not sure if you need to lose 2 lbs per week.
    If you have some weight to lose just go at a 10-20% deficit from your TDEE. If you end up eating 1600-1700 daily while lifting heavy you will find it a lot easier mentally than limiting yourself to 1200. This is not a race just be patient and teach yourself how to mix and match foods and eat what you like.

    I'm 5'4, 128 pounds if that helps. Thanks for the great advice so far.

    No offense intended but at 5'4 128 you dealt don't have the ability to lose 2 lbs of fat a week. If you really think you need to lose weight you need to take a second and reevaluate things. Maybe go speak to a professional if you need to.

    If you are trying to be lean and defined you can probably aim for half a pounds a week while doing compound exercises. But 2 lbs per week, you will be burning muscle. Get that thought out of your head.

    That's exactly what I want, to be lean & defined. For my abs to show easily, without me having to flex. I'm not trying to be skinny, I just want to be lean & toned. So I want to shed fat so my muscle can give me that definition.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    MFP doesn't care what your TDEE number is, when you tell it "I want to lose 2 pounds a week" it simply subtracts 1000 calories a day but to a minimum of 1200 regardless of whether or not that is reasonable.

    You are not very far from goal weight, you should set it to half a pound a week, if you were going to use MFP method, PLUS exercise cals.

    I'd go with TDEE -20 or actually maybe even a smaller percentage since you do not have a lot to lose.
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  • CarmenSRT
    CarmenSRT Posts: 843 Member
    I'd follow MrM27's advice. You want to do body recomposition as opposed to mere weight loss. You're probably not far away from what you really want, as you can already see your ab slab when you flex. That's a fantastic place to be. No need to make your goal a slog when you can do it pleasantly. :wink:
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    Ok, so I used the Scooby site & it gave me this.....

    BMR: 1356
    TDEE: 2339
    1754 to lose weight.

    Does that seem right? Why does MFP put me at 1200 calories a day? That's a huge difference. No wonder why people get so confused.

    If you did the numbers right, as far as activity level then it would seem right. It's basically an estimate. If you want go ahead and do the 10-15% of your TDEE, monitor your weight while lifting heavy. Squats, deadlifts, rows, presses and so on. You need to be doing resistance training.

    I do cardio 5 days a week & lift heavy 3-4 days a week. I do all the exercises you mentioned & more. I love to work out, that's not the issue at all. My diet is the issue, I haven't been sticking to eating healthy & right, I over do it & indulge way too much. So I know that has been stalling my progress. That's why I really want to focus on getting the right amount of calories in each day.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    I'd follow MrM27's advice. You want to do body recomposition as opposed to mere weight loss. You're probably not far away from what you really want, as you can already see your ab slab when you flex. That's a fantastic place to be. No need to make your goal a slog when you can do it pleasantly. :wink:

    This is great advice, thank you.
  • nyla2120
    nyla2120 Posts: 370 Member
    MFP doesn't care what your TDEE number is, when you tell it "I want to lose 2 pounds a week" it simply subtracts 1000 calories a day but to a minimum of 1200 regardless of whether or not that is reasonable.

    You are not very far from goal weight, you should set it to half a pound a week, if you were going to use MFP method, PLUS exercise cals.

    I'd go with TDEE -20 or actually maybe even a smaller percentage since you do not have a lot to lose.

    Got it, so it's not personalized really, it just gives everyone the same generic answer. I'll just be using it to monitor my calories from now on.
  • Triplestep
    Triplestep Posts: 239 Member
    Traditionally the rule of thumb is 20% below TDEE. Get a food scale, log every single bite that goes into your mouth, be honest about your activity and food.....oh and move MORE! You could also go to Scooby.com and honestly input your numbers to get a precise read of their suggestions in terms of your macros. Good luck.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com

    I tried scooby.com and got .... well ... Scooby! Googled and got this. Thanks for the tip. :)

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