TDEE - Let's talk about it

Duck_Puddle

Bry_Lander wrote: »

I have been using a Garmin Fenix 3 HR since December, wearing it almost continuously, and have had my "resting calories" consistently come in around 2,100 per day. Therefore, as my "active" calories start to accumulate throughout the day, I get an idea of where my total calories burned will be at the end of the day, and plan my targeted calories accordingly (I'm in sustainment / maintenance, looking to come close to a breakeven).




(If anyone sees a logic flaw in this methodology please give me feedback (beyond general criticism of the data provided by fitness trackers, that is a different issue)! In the pic above, since I know that the "resting" circle will end at 2,100 by the end of the day, I am sitting at around 2,400 calories if I cease being active. I'm not exercising tonight so I will only burn a few hundred more active calories, so I'm thinking I will shoot for 2,600 or 2,700 total)

Hypothetically, the interface between MFP and Garmin would do some of these calculations for me, but it is very unreliable and I often can't reconcile what my watch calculates and what is synched into MFP.

If you're not going to sync them, then that will likely be ok. It's working for you? Ultimately, the synced trackers give mfp a number for what you burned in that day (total) and subtract out what mfp thinks you burned that day (total) and the difference is the calorie adjustment. The only challenge in your approach is that Garmin is separating active/resting calories (which is cool), but unless mfp thinks you're only going to burn what Garmin counts as resting calories, you could be off. But-I under the sketchy sync which can sometimes be more frustrating than winging it. All thing considered, I think you're ok and if you find that's not working after a time, you can adjust then.

heybales

Look at how much confusion you are already dealing with.

Get yourself a Fitbit or other. Probably be worth the $50-70 USD.

That will track your daily activity pretty well, accurate enough anyway.
Confirm the stride-length setting is correct for average daily pace (not grocery store shuffle, not exercise pace).
Confirm no massive amount of missing or extra steps.

Any workouts you do, confirm you log them if needed for better accuracy.
Lifting or intervals for HR-based device, or non-step-based workouts like swimming, biking, elliptical, rowing with a step-based activity tracker, as well as lifting.

Sync MFP with that account so it can correct itself as to your daily burn.
It subtracts desired deficit.

Done.

Busy days - same deficit, lazy days - same deficit, sick days - same deficit, increased workouts - same deficit.

Not sure how you expect to change your daily non-exercise TDEE to any level of accuracy to be meaningful.

VintageFeline

Duck_Puddle wrote: »

Bry_Lander wrote: »

I have been using a Garmin Fenix 3 HR since December, wearing it almost continuously, and have had my "resting calories" consistently come in around 2,100 per day. Therefore, as my "active" calories start to accumulate throughout the day, I get an idea of where my total calories burned will be at the end of the day, and plan my targeted calories accordingly (I'm in sustainment / maintenance, looking to come close to a breakeven).




(If anyone sees a logic flaw in this methodology please give me feedback (beyond general criticism of the data provided by fitness trackers, that is a different issue)! In the pic above, since I know that the "resting" circle will end at 2,100 by the end of the day, I am sitting at around 2,400 calories if I cease being active. I'm not exercising tonight so I will only burn a few hundred more active calories, so I'm thinking I will shoot for 2,600 or 2,700 total)

Hypothetically, the interface between MFP and Garmin would do some of these calculations for me, but it is very unreliable and I often can't reconcile what my watch calculates and what is synched into MFP.

If you're not going to sync them, then that will likely be ok. It's working for you? Ultimately, the synced trackers give mfp a number for what you burned in that day (total) and subtract out what mfp thinks you burned that day (total) and the difference is the calorie adjustment. The only challenge in your approach is that Garmin is separating active/resting calories (which is cool), but unless mfp thinks you're only going to burn what Garmin counts as resting calories, you could be off. But-I under the sketchy sync which can sometimes be more frustrating than winging it. All thing considered, I think you're ok and if you find that's not working after a time, you can adjust then.

You have to play around with Garmin, sometime last year they changed their calorie formula and it resulted in some funky numbers. Mine almost match now I reduced my activity down to 2 in the settings.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I think it is confusing that TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) means the average value over many days of your total daily energy expenditure. People who day they use the TDEE method mean that they eat the same number of calories every day.

I also think NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is confusing, because it is the energy expended for everything we do that is not "sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise."

Then there is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is your burn rate while at full rest.

So your BMR plus your NEAT plus your exercise calories averaged over many days is approximately your TDEE?

janejellyroll

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

I think it is confusing that TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) means the average value over many days of your total daily energy expenditure. People who day they use the TDEE method mean that they eat the same number of calories every day.

I also think NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is confusing, because it is the energy expended for everything we do that is not "sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise."

Then there is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is your burn rate while at full rest.

So your BMR plus your NEAT plus your exercise calories averaged over many days is approximately your TDEE?

Your NEAT includes your BMR (at least how MFP does it). So your NEAT plus your average exercise calories is another way to consider TDEE, yes.

Bry_Fitness70

Duck_Puddle wrote: »

Bry_Lander wrote: »

I have been using a Garmin Fenix 3 HR since December, wearing it almost continuously, and have had my "resting calories" consistently come in around 2,100 per day. Therefore, as my "active" calories start to accumulate throughout the day, I get an idea of where my total calories burned will be at the end of the day, and plan my targeted calories accordingly (I'm in sustainment / maintenance, looking to come close to a breakeven).




(If anyone sees a logic flaw in this methodology please give me feedback (beyond general criticism of the data provided by fitness trackers, that is a different issue)! In the pic above, since I know that the "resting" circle will end at 2,100 by the end of the day, I am sitting at around 2,400 calories if I cease being active. I'm not exercising tonight so I will only burn a few hundred more active calories, so I'm thinking I will shoot for 2,600 or 2,700 total)

Hypothetically, the interface between MFP and Garmin would do some of these calculations for me, but it is very unreliable and I often can't reconcile what my watch calculates and what is synched into MFP.

If you're not going to sync them, then that will likely be ok. It's working for you? Ultimately, the synced trackers give mfp a number for what you burned in that day (total) and subtract out what mfp thinks you burned that day (total) and the difference is the calorie adjustment. The only challenge in your approach is that Garmin is separating active/resting calories (which is cool), but unless mfp thinks you're only going to burn what Garmin counts as resting calories, you could be off. But-I under the sketchy sync which can sometimes be more frustrating than winging it. All thing considered, I think you're ok and if you find that's not working after a time, you can adjust then.

I used to have my calorie target as 2,500 in MFP and would live by that number (eating back calories). Now, I ignore the MFP daily target, but log my food in MFP and compare it manually to my Garmin data (the synch between Garmin and MFP sucks, some days it doesn't synch anything, others an excessive amount of calories, and the exercise descriptions get totally screwed up). I feel like my calorie estimations are much closer to reality using this methodology.

NorthCascades

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

I think it is confusing that TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) means the average value over many days of your total daily energy expenditure. People who day they use the TDEE method mean that they eat the same number of calories every day.

I also think NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is confusing, because it is the energy expended for everything we do that is not "sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise."

Then there is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is your burn rate while at full rest.

So your BMR plus your NEAT plus your exercise calories averaged over many days is approximately your TDEE?

Sounds like at least 500 calories of alphabet soup.