I need help with TDEE BMR

perrymick

Hi,

I've spent the past 2 days on here reading different posts regarding TDEE and BMR and how they differ from the MFP set up.

I've really confused myself though and need some help.

I went to the fat 2 fit site ( http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ ) to calculate my BMR and entered the details as per below:

Your age: 42
Choose your sex: male
Your height (in inches): 66
Your CURRENT weight (in pounds): 209.5
Your GOAL weight (in pounds): 160
Your body fat percentage (if known): 35

My result for my BMR was:

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1938
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2221
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2503
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2786
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 3069

This next bit maybe incorrect but as I'm doing at least 3 days of light exercise (C25K plan), I think my max daily calorie intake would be around 2221 calories (though I appreciate that these figures are just estimates due to the formulas used).

So for my second day on MFP I set my calorie goal to 1700 calories as I thought this was roughly 2221- 20% (well roughly around 20%),

I believe the 1700 goal includes any calories gained from exercise so I should try not to go over that intake per day, am I correct thinking that?

If my BMR is 2221 and my goal calories are 1700 and I carry on completing 3 moderate exercise sessions per week and stick to the calorie goal I guess that's a good enough deficit in calories and I will lose the excess pounds.

Finally I'm in need of some friends for help and support so if you want you can add me.

Many thanks

Mick

SideSteel

Hello,

You do not take a reduction from your BMR to establish your daily caloric intake. You take a reduction from your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure.


TDEE is essentially your total caloric needs on a daily basis to maintain bodyweight. BMR is your metabolic rate before adding in things like diet induced thermogenesis (caloric expense of digesting/processing food) and activity thermogenesis (calories burned during exercise and non exercise movements).

Most calculators will take your stats and use them to establish an estimation of BMR. They will then have you take that BMR and multiply it by an activity factor to make another estimation on total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This final value is what you would use to determine your goal intake, by taking a percentage of it (or adding to it if you want to gain weight).

So for example if your BMR was 1800 and you were lightly active, you might end up with a TDEE around 2300 or so. You would then take 80% of 2300 to reach your goal intake of 1840.

Now having said all that, how active are you outside of your 3 days/week exercise program? Do you sit at a desk most of the day or are you a construction worker or somewhere in between?

perrymick

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm pretty inactive in work as I have a desk based job, the nearest I get to any exercise is walking to the coffee machine.

Out of work I have been pretty inactive also, though this week I've just started C25K.

Thanks

SideSteel

If I were in your position I would consider setting my calorie and macronutrient intake to around the following, and leave it there for two weeks monitoring change in bodyweight and how you feel/perform/etc.

1850 calories
160 protein
65 fat
160 carbohydrate



Your original post confused BMR and TDEE. If you re-run your numbers in the link you provided you will see that your BMR turns out to be around 1700-1900 depending on the calculator. If you go with 1800 as an estimate and then use an activity factor around 1.3 you'll get a TDEE of 2340. Taking 80% of that gets you around 1850 or so.

Remember this is a starting point. This is not the ultimate answer to your intake needs. Your success will be determined by your ability to execute the program (training, diet) and monitor your results and adjust accordingly.

perrymick

Hi SideSteel,

thanks for your help on this.

I know there are no short cuts here and am determined to keep track of my calorie intake and exercise more.

I will be looking to weigh myself every 2 weeks so I can re-assess my TDEE and make any necessary adjustments.

I've sent you friends request, hope that's ok with you.

Thanks again

SideSteel

Hi thanks for your help on this.

I know there are no short cuts here and am determined to keep track of my calorie intake and exercise more.

I will be looking to weigh myself every 2 weeks so I can re-assess my TDEE and make any necessary adjustments.

I've sent you friends request, hope that's k with you.

Thanks again

I'd like to make one point that I think is important:

Weighing yourself every two weeks gives you one data point every two weeks. This can present problems because you have less opportunity to watch trends. For example, if you happen to weigh in two consecutive times when you're bloated you might think you've gone a full month without any weight loss.

If you aren't emotionally attached to the number on the scale, I would weigh in daily under identical circumstances. After the restroom, and in the same attire so that you don't have varying amounts of clothing weight. Then, you can watch this daily trend and make decisions on it. I go a step further and average those weigh-ins and compare weekly averages. This tends to smooth out normal day to day fluctuations in weight.

If you are the type that gets neurotic about the scale, and day to day fluctuations effect your emotions or your decisions then this can merit less frequent weighing.

perrymick

To be honest I just thought that I wouldn't shed much weight weekly so thought I'd do every 2 weeks.

I don't have a problem weighing more regularly as I'm not fixed on my weight as such more on the way I look.

So daily weigh ins won't be a problem for me.

SideSteel

Locking this thread since this seems to be resolved as of now.

Feel free to PM me or Sarauk2sf if you need further input or if you would like the thread unlocked to add more.

Thanks!