TDEE not accurate?

SezxyStef

TDEE is always an estimate. Each of us has a different body composition. Some are heavy boned, some are fine boned. We carry around different amounts of water, fat, and lean tissue. Our heart rates vary. Calculations of calories in foods are estimates based on estimates and assumptions. Our measurements are not scientifically precise. So, you and I may enter the same figures into a TDEE calculator and get the same result but that TDEE estimate may be high for you and low for me or vice versa.

That being said, using estimates is better than not using them. You will only know what works for you by finding it. If you are trying to maintain but are still losing, your TDEE estimate may be low. If you are trying to maintain but are gaining, your TDEE estimate may be high.

Not picking on you specifically but TDEE Calculators online are always estimates.

Calculating your own TDEE using your own Actual data is not an estimate.

SezxyStef

Just had a question for all who has been doing this for a while.

I just started doing TDEE -20% last week. I am wondering how long it will be before I start to see changes in the scale?

I am 34, female, 63 inches, 193 lbs. I work out on an elliptical for about 30-40 minutes 3 - 4 times per week as well as do some kettle bell exercises using a 10 lbs kettle bell.

I have used both Scooby and IIFYM calculators for Mifflin and they are pretty close. my BMR on Scooby is 1547, TDEE is 2128 based on 1-3 hours of exercise per week with mostly a desk job during the day. 20% cut is 1702
IIFYM BMR is 1562. with the same info as above my TDEE is 2148 and 20 % cut is 1718.

I guess I should be expecting a 4-6 week wait to see if this will work?

When I switched over I had also started SL 5x5 program...it took 3 weeks for me to see a true loss....

First 2 weeks up 2.5lbs (water) then down that 2.5lbs at the end of those 2 weeks, then wham Tuesday morning down 2lbs...

kimmyt4

So what ever cut calorie amount I chose I need to stick it out for at least 3 weeks? I just get nervouse that I have chosen the wrong numbers lol.

One site that I went on actually broke it down into single times so 4 times per week would be BMR x 1.42. that gave me a 20 % cut of 1760, which is the amount I started out with. I am still the same after 1 week. While the other one said 1.375 was for 1-3 hours of exercise, which I don't go over so then my cut would be 1702.

I don't really know which number I should go with?? Just stick to the 1760 that I have been doing for the last week or lower it to 1702?

heybales

So what ever cut calorie amount I chose I need to stick it out for at least 3 weeks? I just get nervouse that I have chosen the wrong numbers lol.

One site that I went on actually broke it down into single times so 4 times per week would be BMR x 1.42. that gave me a 20 % cut of 1760, which is the amount I started out with. I am still the same after 1 week. While the other one said 1.375 was for 1-3 hours of exercise, which I don't go over so then my cut would be 1702.

I don't really know which number I should go with?? Just stick to the 1760 that I have been doing for the last week or lower it to 1702?

I'm going to recommend that you really get the scale out of the way and get the tape measure out, because your focus on the scale after just 1 week is going to spell disaster down the road, I can sense it.

And for you, as a woman, you'll need to wait a whole month, because your BMR literally does change through the month.

If you just started a different or new exercise program, your body will also make some improvements that will mask fat loss if only looking at weight loss - hence the tape measure.

Best you can do is confirm valid weigh-in days, log correctly, and go from there.

And remember, are you anywhere near eating ABOVE TDEE such that you would actually gain fat?
No, you still have a deficit.

And look at the numbers you threw out, 58 calorie difference. Hate to tell you, but food labels through a day will throw in more inaccuracy than that.
You eyeballing rather than weighing food will throw out more calories than that.
Shoot, a fast food item where the website says this is the nutrition label for it, but they actually made it bigger will cause more than 58 calorie difference.

Relax, start with best estimates as you can, log as correct as you can, keep the scale as a minor data point and the measuring tape as a better one, but realize clothes and pictures may be best.

After all, do people see the scale, or the fat?

aNewYear123

There has been a lot of good advise about TDEE. I just wanted to mention that at a 0.5 lb rate of weight loss, 3 weeks is probably not long enough to see a difference. You should only have lost 1.5 lbs total anyway, so this could be any type of weight fluctuation not simply a failure to continue to lose. Compare that to a 2 lb a week rate of loss; you would have expected to be down 6 lbs, so anything over 4 lbs would have been considered acceptable (possibly great) but this results in the same amount of difference in expected loss verses actual loss. It just gets magnified at low rates of loss since you were expecting so little anyway.

That being said you should use the advise given to find your correct calorie level.

jeffpettis

If you have been eating the same amount of calories everyday for 3 weeks and are not gaining or losing weight you have found your maintenance calories no matter what some online calculator says. Any calculator or formula you use to find anything whether it's TDEE, maintenance calories, BMR or whatever is just going to be a starting point. Trial and error is the only way to know exactly what any of these numbers are.

dacspace

Nothing really to add, just loving all the TDEE advice. Definitely going to try calculating using my own results and see just how far off those calculators are for me. ~ Thanks!

californiabella

saved for later read!