TDEE

Mandy72CM
Mandy72CM Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I’ve used the calculator and my maintenance calories are 1798. So if I want to lose weight I just eat under this amount?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Yes. If 1,798 is the amount of calories your body is using each day, eating under this amount will result in weight loss. The speed of your weight loss will be determined by how far under this goal you are. The safe amount to lose each week is determined by how much excess weight you have. The closer you are to your goal, the more moderate you want your deficit to be.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Mandy72CM wrote: »
    I’ve used the calculator and my maintenance calories are 1798. So if I want to lose weight I just eat under this amount?


    If you have selected to maintain your weight then 1798 is your maintenance amount. If you have selected to lose x pounds per week the calorie goal will already have the deficit built in.

    Also, the online calculator has given you an estimate so the number it has given you may or may not be accurate. It will very likely be accurate or close to it if you have entered the necessary information correctly. The problem may be in how you evaluated your activity but that is nothing to be concerned about right now. We all have to start somewhere. In about 6 weeks you should review your progress and determine if you are losing weight based on the deficit you have decided to use. If you are losing too fast or slow you can adjust accordingly.

    If you find yourself feeling fatigued a lot you may need to revisit your calories sooner and select the next activity level up.

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,127 Member
    If you used MFP's calulator that's your calorie goal based on whatever you told it you want to do (weight loss/maintenance/weight gain)

    If you used a TDEE calculator, then that's your approximate Maintenance and eating less than that will lead to weight loss.

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    It's important to know which calculator you used and also to confirm you did select current weight maintenance to get your number.

    If "the calculator" is this site (MyFitnessPal) them it's not calculating your average TDEE - it's calculating your TDEE only for a day when you do no purposeful exercise.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 913 Member
    Your TDEE is an estimate of how many calories you'd need to stay the same weight. If you'd like to lose weight then you want to eat less than that (you can subtract ~20% of that if it keeps you above your BMR). BUT - this is just an estimate and you will have to consistently eat this amount and then see if you lose/maintain/or gain and then adjust accordingly from there.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,401 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    It's important to know which calculator you used and also to confirm you did select current weight maintenance to get your number.

    If "the calculator" is this site (MyFitnessPal) them it's not calculating your average TDEE - it's calculating your TDEE only for a day when you do no purposeful exercise.

    ^^This. Pay attention to This.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,401 Member
    TDEE calculators and Myfitnesspal use different algorithms.

    Please read this from "Help"

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • Mandy72CM
    Mandy72CM Posts: 59 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    It's important to know which calculator you used and also to confirm you did select current weight maintenance to get your number.

    If "the calculator" is this site (MyFitnessPal) them it's not calculating your average TDEE - it's calculating your TDEE only for a day when you do no purposeful exercise.
    .

    I used the TDEE calculator not MFP

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited February 2020
    Mandy72CM wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    It's important to know which calculator you used and also to confirm you did select current weight maintenance to get your number.

    If "the calculator" is this site (MyFitnessPal) them it's not calculating your average TDEE - it's calculating your TDEE only for a day when you do no purposeful exercise.
    .

    I used the TDEE calculator not MFP

    There's many TDEE calculators around - they use several different equations.
    Think sailrabiit.com uses 7 different TDEE calculations based on different studies.

    It should be a decent start point from which you might need to make adjustments based on results over an extended period of time. Sometimes because the particular calculation is off for an individual, sometimes because the activity and exercise estimates are vague, often because people's food logging is inaccurate.

    After four weeks logging you should be able to use your own logging data and weight loss (or gain, or maintenance) to work out your own effective TDEE maintenance level.

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