What is your actual TDEE?

LiftAllThePizzas

It's one thing to have a calculator tell you, another to see the real results. :happy:

Take the amount of calories you ate in a 28 day period, and add 3500 for each pound you lost during that period (or subtract 3500 for each pound gained) and divide that total by 28.

Here are mine:

Feb 1 - March 1 (29 days, started at 188 lbs)
77630 eaten
2 lbs lost (+7000 = 84630)
TDEE = 2918 (84630 / 29)

Sep 1 - Sep 29 (29 days, started at 178 lbs)
76626 calories eaten
1.8 lbs lost (+6300 = 82926)
TDEE = 2859 (82926 / 29)

What's your TDEE?

Stoshew71

Interesting theory on getting a better estimate for TDEE. I may have to try that since I think the online calculators are very conservative for me. I am sure there are tons of factors that influence TDEE throughout the month, but interesting concept.

I need to be on mfp longer to test this however.

kyleekay10

Looks like mine is around 1900. I say "around" because I know there were days in the past month that I didn't log completely accurately.

This is very cool, though. :flowerforyou:

I'll try again in another month since I'll be logging much more faithfully.

Poofy_Goodness

Quieau

Did you find the calculators to estimate your TDEE too high or too low or pretty close to the mark? I'm not close enough to goal to do the test and I'm curious since I'm basing my daily calories on the TDEE I expect to have at goal weight.

Thanks!

tiddles_yeah

I had mine done through a medical test the other day and thus know exactly what my BMR is now

It was higher than i expected it

I always thought, based on internet calculators and the like, that i should eat around 1200cal a day - NOPE! - my BMR alone is about 1400 and thus my trainer, after working out what exercise i do and my goals etc, recommends i east about 1800-2000cal per day!

I am SO glad i got the test done!

However, i am also an unusual case as i have had many medical issues across my life and thus wondered if my metabolism was different from the general person. thus the test was really important for me to have done to know my base line!

jennybennypenny

It's like tracking the gas mileage your car gets, hehe. I haven't logged completely accurately for a whole month to know, but it's Friday so maybe I'll mess around with the math and try to figure out a reasonable estimate.

Quieau

But this doesn't really account for water gain/loss or for muscle gain/loss, right? Hmmmm ...

Morgaath

It's one thing to have a calculator tell you, another to see the real results. :happy:

Take the amount of calories you ate in a 28 day period, and add 3500 for each pound you lost during that period (or subtract 3500 for each pound gained) and divide that total by 28.

Here are mine:

Feb 1 - March 1 (29 days, started at 188 lbs)
77630 eaten
2 lbs lost (+7000 = 84630)
TDEE = 2918 (84630 / 29)

Sep 1 - Sep 29 (29 days, started at 178 lbs)
76626 calories eaten
1.8 lbs lost (+6300 = 82926)
TDEE = 2859 (82926 / 29)

What's your TDEE?

While a nice concept, it only works if the person doesn't gain/lose muscle.
Seeing as I currently have inches dropping in some places, and going up in others, but my weight is mostly holding steady, you can see where I am coming from.
Maybe if we find someone who is only using calories in as the way to lose wight...

LiftAllThePizzas

Interesting theory on getting a better estimate for TDEE. I may have to try that since I think the online calculators are very conservative for me. I am sure there are tons of factors that influence TDEE throughout the month, but interesting concept.

I need to be on mfp longer to test this however.

Yep. This is why I picked a longer period of time. It helps smooth out bumps that might have been caused by water gain/loss and other short-term anomalies.

(I also started losing weight and working out in December, so I used February to avoid getting the "newbie" period where a lot of weight shifts for other reasons.)

LiftAllThePizzas

Did you find the calculators to estimate your TDEE too high or too low or pretty close to the mark? I'm not close enough to goal to do the test and I'm curious since I'm basing my daily calories on the TDEE I expect to have at goal weight.

Thanks!

On scoobysworkshop I have to put "5-6 hours a week of strenuous exercise" in order to get up to 3050. (The next one down gives me 2700.)

I have a high NEAT, but I don't do that much "exercise."

So the calcs underestimate for me by about 10%.

Phoenix_Warrior

That is interesting. I'm in the process of upping my calories to maintain and seeing as I haven't been around this weight in 6 years I am completely in the dark until I hit that wall.

Morgaath

As a side note, the info I got from my first 28 full days with my Bodymedia

Calories burned --- Target:2600 --- Average: 2831 (Low 2472 -- High 3338)
Calories consumed --- Target 1700 --- Average 1953 (Low 1409 -- High 2929)
Calorie deficit --- Target 500 --- Average 878 (Low 1729 -- High +457 over my burned)
Activity Moderate --- Target 1:30 --- Average 1:53 (Low 70min -- High 231min)
Activity Vigerous --- Target 0:10 --- Average 0:06 (Low 0min -- High 37min)
Steps taken --- Target 10,000 --- Average 10,693 (Low 4,656 -- High 20,651)
Sleep --- Target 8:00 --- Average 5:46 sleeping, out of 6:46 laying down (Low 3:33 sleeping/4:04 laying down -- High 9:00sleep/9:49 laying down --- There were 2 days I did not wear it to bed)

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I did this a while back. I lost 5lbs in 5 weeks averaging 2166 a day, therefore my TDEE was 2666.

QuietBloom

Huh. I consumed an average NET of 1553 calories per day and neither gained nor lost. That is a depressingly low TDEE!

God, please don't tell me I need to eat 1200 to lose weight. :sad:

LiftAllThePizzas

While a nice concept, it only works if the person doesn't gain/lose muscle.
Seeing as I currently have inches dropping in some places, and going up in others, but my weight is mostly holding steady, you can see where I am coming from.
Maybe if we find someone who is only using calories in as the way to lose wight...

How much muscle do you believe you're gaining in 1 month?

Anyway, I think you're missing the point, which is to figure out how much you could eat to maintain. So if you're not gaining or losing weight then your TDEE would be the average amount you ate in however many days.

LiftAllThePizzas

As a side note, the info I got from my first 28 full days with my Bodymedia

Calories burned --- Target:2600 --- Average: 2831 (Low 2472 -- High 3338)
Calories consumed --- Target 1700 --- Average 1953 (Low 1409 -- High 2929)
Calorie deficit --- Target 500 --- Average 878 (Low 1729 -- High +457 over my burned)
Activity Moderate --- Target 1:30 --- Average 1:53 (Low 70min -- High 231min)
Activity Vigerous --- Target 0:10 --- Average 0:06 (Low 0min -- High 37min)
Steps taken --- Target 10,000 --- Average 10,693 (Low 4,656 -- High 20,651)
Sleep --- Target 8:00 --- Average 5:46 sleeping, out of 6:46 laying down (Low 3:33 sleeping/4:04 laying down -- High 9:00sleep/9:49 laying down --- There were 2 days I did not wear it to bed)

Are those numbers actually the number of calories you burned, or what your bodymedia thinks you burned?

How much weight did you lose in that period of time?

bkw99508

So if I use this calculation my TDEE for Sep was 4065 and for Oct was 3503 and so far for Nov it is 3436. That's an average of 3679.

September (28 days)
Calories = 73,222
Loss (11.6lbs) = 40,600
TDEE = 4065

October (28 days)
Calories = 68,001
Loss (8.6lbs) = 30,100
TDEE = 3503

November (21 days)
Calories = 51157
Loss (6lbs) = 21,000
TDEE = 3436

Unless I'm doing something wrong with my math, this isn't even close to being accurate.

Maybe I'm totally wrong.....

LiftAllThePizzas

It's like tracking the gas mileage your car gets, hehe. I haven't logged completely accurately for a whole month to know, but it's Friday so maybe I'll mess around with the math and try to figure out a reasonable estimate.

Yes, this is the idea. And by logging the way you log, it's calibrated to your own setup and any (consistent) quirks/errors in your logging.