TDEE Question

KerryPozzi

I switched from MFP to TDEE a month or so ago. My BMR is 1532 and my TDEE is 2316 and I'm doing TDEE -20 for a total of 1930 calories per day. So I was doing okay for the first few weeks but then seemed to be sort of hitting a plateau. To date, I have lost almost 20 pounds and have a goal of about 10 more. I've been doing my best to eat over BMR but nearly always fall short of 1930. I work out 5-6 days per week and burn (HRM) anywhere from 450-700 calories depending on the exercise. My question is...am I eating too few calories to lose since I'm not really hitting the 1930 regularly? Should I be forcing myself to eat more to get closer to the 1930? My diary is open for review. Take a look and tell me what I can improve on if anything.

Daisy80

Sorry I can't help much but I would like to see the replies too :-)

AAL94LBB

It's very possible that you could simply just be lacking 'fuel' because of your worksouts. And, therefore have to eat more. I did the TDEE-20% method for almost two months and I lost weight the first and second week and then I just plateaued and I'm now back to the MFP + eating back some exercise calories method. It's really just about finding that perfect number of how many calories your body needs vs how many you workout.

I workout 7 days a week, usually burning anywhere from 200 (minimum) to upwards of 850. On days when I would work out a lot more I would definitely have to eat a lot more or my body would literally be 'starving' when I'd wake up the next day.

I'd say eat at or slightly over your BMR for a week or two and see if anything happens. If you're burning 450-700 calories even 5 days a week that's amazing, but from what I've noticed with my body, I definitely need more fuel (i/e more food).

AAL94LBB

Also, oddly enough, I discovered that the more I workout the less I lose as well. My body gets exhausted and everything seemed to happen slower.

I found that when I cut back on working out, and ate at my BMR, I lost the most weight, consistently. I'd rather do 1 workout a day and really nail it, rather than force myself to do 2-3 smaller ones and only be able to nail 1 or so. You could also try that.

CorlissaEats

I would aim to hit within 100 calories above/below if you are doing TDEE-20%. Going too much below doesnt actually help you- you need fuel. And it can be hard some days to eat that much but you should try.

Are you seeing any changes in your other measurement numbers? The scale is only part of the picture. I find some plateauing is normal. And if you have lost significant weight since starting this plan, then maybe its not a bad idea to plot your BMR and TDEE to see if your number have changed since the start point.

AmyRhubarb

Easy-peasy - either cut back on the workouts so you aren't burning so much, or add more calorie dense foods to your day to get to goal. Ditch the Cheerios (I saw them for dinner one day?), add whole eggs, avocados, nuts and nut butters (actually I did see peanut butter in your diary!), olive and coconut oils, cheese, full fat dairy, etc. Good calories packed in small portions, so you're not stuffing yourself just to get to goal.

Also, if you're not already, start taking your measurements at least once a month. I "stalled" for around six months - up and down the same 2-3lbs on the scale, but dropped many inches and a full size during that time.

KerryPozzi

Thanks for all the tips. I really kind of thought I wasn't eating enough and that was my issue. I'll try to add more calories in to try and get closer to TDEE since I burn so many during the week from exercise. I'm certain that this might be a little less frustrating if I got to eat a little more. I find that I'm super tired on Saturdays after I do my long bike ride. Every Saturday requires a good nap to get through the day and I really think that can be attributed to my lack of proper fueling during the week.

KerryPozzi

It's very possible that you could simply just be lacking 'fuel' because of your worksouts. And, therefore have to eat more. I did the TDEE-20% method for almost two months and I lost weight the first and second week and then I just plateaued and I'm now back to the MFP + eating back some exercise calories method. It's really just about finding that perfect number of how many calories your body needs vs how many you workout.

I workout 7 days a week, usually burning anywhere from 200 (minimum) to upwards of 850. On days when I would work out a lot more I would definitely have to eat a lot more or my body would literally be 'starving' when I'd wake up the next day.

I'd say eat at or slightly over your BMR for a week or two and see if anything happens. If you're burning 450-700 calories even 5 days a week that's amazing, but from what I've noticed with my body, I definitely need more fuel (i/e more food).

It sounds like you've hit the nail on the head for me!

janetteluparia

When you lose you need to re-evaluate TDEE after every 5 pounds and adjust. The less you weigh the less you need. ALL94LBB has been doing this a long time. She has it down when it comes to heavy exercise.

Francl27

You might be eating too much really. TDEE overestimates exercise a lot... What do you do when you don't work out? I mean I walk 5 miles a day (roughly 400 calories worth I think... more when I use the treadmill) and I'm still really considered lightly active as I sit a lot otherwise. My TDEE in average is 2100ish (from my fitbit). I've been losing great at 1600-1700 a day, and I weigh everything.

pavrg

I switched from MFP to TDEE a month or so ago. My BMR is 1532 and my TDEE is 2316 and I'm doing TDEE -20 for a total of 1930 calories per day. So I was doing okay for the first few weeks but then seemed to be sort of hitting a plateau. To date, I have lost almost 20 pounds and have a goal of about 10 more. I've been doing my best to eat over BMR but nearly always fall short of 1930. I work out 5-6 days per week and burn (HRM) anywhere from 450-700 calories depending on the exercise. My question is...am I eating too few calories to lose since I'm not really hitting the 1930 regularly? Should I be forcing myself to eat more to get closer to the 1930? My diary is open for review. Take a look and tell me what I can improve on if anything.

It's tough to say without knowing your absolute height/weight, but a TDEE of 2316 for a woman on her last 10 pounds to lose sounds exceptionally high. My wife's TDEE is ~1800 calories when set to working out 6x/week.

Congrats on losing the weight so far, but I will offer the counterpoint: there is no magic mechanism where you stop losing weight at a deficit until you are out of expendable fat. Again, I don't know your actual weight but if you are over 10-15% bodyfat, then you are not approaching 'starvation mode' and increasing your regular food intake won't help.

HRMs have errors for calories burned, too, and depending on the exercise you might not be burning nearly 700 calories/session. In fact, HRMs are a poor estimation for many exercises because they are measuring how much your heart is working to get oxygen to muscles, not how much work those muscles are actually doing. For example, if two people of same height and weight jog a mile at a 10 min/mi pace, they will both burn approximately 100 calories. If person A is in shape and has a HR of 120 the whole time and person B doesn't do cardio at all and has a HR of 170 the whole time, they will both still burn the same amount of calories.

So my suggestions would be:

1) If your cardio is done on machines like ellipticals, only eat back half of that.
2) Reevaluate your TDEE using your own personal data to see if it really is 2300. If you have a track of food intake and weight loss, and both are accurate, you can calculate this by using that data from the last 4 weeks before you stalled. Let's say your average weight loss was 1.2 lbs/week and your average intake was 1600 calories/day those weeks. 1.2 lbs/week * 3500 cal/lb fat / 7 days = 600 calorie/day deficit, so your TDEE in that situation would be 2200 calories.
3) Even if TDEE isn't lower than you think, try lowering your caloric intake another 250 cal/day for a week. If you feel weak and tired all the time, stop, but if not then you're a-okay.
4) Make sure you are doing 'refeeds' on a regular interval. What this means is eating up to your TDEE once every week or every other week to restore nutrients to a normal level and keep everything running happy. Personally, I do this by pigging out on my rest day, which is Sunday, because it's impossible for me to eat 1600 calories in a day and not feel hungry and I usually have plenty of calories saved up by being under goal for the first 6 days.

Only after you've lowered your calories and felt exhausted/hungry all the time would I recommend regularly increasing your food intake to combat a stall in weight loss.