Confused by TDEE

victoria_1024

I keep hearing talk about the TDEE calculator so I decided to try it out (the fitness frog one). I put moderate exercise, since I work out maybe 6 days a week currently but my job is somewhat sedentary. It gave me 2609 calories to maintain. So then if I subtracted 500 calories from that it would be 2100. Am I doing that right? Why is that number sooo much higher than what MFP gives me? MFP says I should eat 1310 a day to lose 1.4 pounds per week (and eat back exercise calories). That seems like a big difference so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong?

Just FYI, I'm just about 4 weeks into this process. I hardly lost anything the first 3 weeks, but now this week I took off 3 pounds very suddenly. Maybe just my body adapting to changes.

navyrigger46

Yup, that's right. It's high because when you do TDEE you don't eat back exercise calories.

I recommend running your numbers through a couple more calculators and taking the average. Remember, it's just a rough estimate so use it as a baseline and work up or down to find your sweet spot. IIFYM has a calculator that a lot of folks recommend, it was a little low for me, and the others were a little high.

Rigger

Francl27

What do you do 6 days a week? Depending on the type of exercise you do, you might want to decrease your calories a little. I 'work out' every day at least 45 minutes but it's low intensity and I'm somewhere in between lightly active and moderately active.

You can't compare with MFP though, especially if your setting with MFP is 1.4 lb a week and not 1.

SezxyStef

In reality your TDEE - % should be what you were eating on MFP.

When I followed the MFP methoid (NEAT) I was given 1360 calories a day + appx 240 exercise calories and I lost weight..usually .5-1lb a week...

My TDEE is 1995...minus 20% is 1600...exact same number...and I average 1/2lb - 3/4lb a week

I didn't use an online calculator tho I used my personal data...

Total calories consumed+weight lost*3500/21days (3 weeks worth of data)

And guess what it hasn't changed since sept 9th 2013. So I am smaller, weigh less and can still eat 1995 to maintain my weight...makes me do the happy dance.

Phrick

In reality your TDEE - % should be what you were eating on MFP.

When I followed the MFP methoid (NEAT) I was given 1360 calories a day + appx 240 exercise calories and I lost weight..usually .5-1lb a week...

My TDEE is 1995...minus 20% is 1600...exact same number...and I average 1/2lb - 3/4lb a week

I didn't use an online calculator tho I used my personal data...

Total calories consumed+weight lost*3500/21days (3 weeks worth of data)

And guess what it hasn't changed since sept 9th 2013. So I am smaller, weigh less and can still eat 1995 to maintain my weight...makes me do the happy dance.

SezxyStef, could you give me some assistance on the math here? I can give you the numbers but I'm dreadful at math and I really don't think I can possibly be following your formula correctly...

Total Calories consumed (over 20 days) = 40,231 (so daily average 2,011.55)
+Total weight lost in the 20 days = 6.8 pounds
*3500
/20 days

I have no idea how to figure out, if 2011.55 is my daily average, what % of a cut that represents from my actual TDEE.

Phrick

In reality your TDEE - % should be what you were eating on MFP.

When I followed the MFP methoid (NEAT) I was given 1360 calories a day + appx 240 exercise calories and I lost weight..usually .5-1lb a week...

My TDEE is 1995...minus 20% is 1600...exact same number...and I average 1/2lb - 3/4lb a week

I didn't use an online calculator tho I used my personal data...

Total calories consumed+weight lost*3500/21days (3 weeks worth of data)

And guess what it hasn't changed since sept 9th 2013. So I am smaller, weigh less and can still eat 1995 to maintain my weight...makes me do the happy dance.

SezxyStef, could you give me some assistance on the math here? I can give you the numbers but I'm dreadful at math and I really don't think I can possibly be following your formula correctly...

Total Calories consumed (over 20 days) = 40,231 (so daily average 2,011.55)
+Total weight lost in the 20 days = 7.2 pounds
*3500
/20 days

I have no idea how to figure out, if 2011.55 is my daily average, what % of a cut that represents from my actual TDEE.

hang on I think I am on to something

total cals 40,231 + (6.8 x 3500) / 20 - am I right?
so 3,201.55

but is that my total TDEE (average) and if so the same question from above still applies - I don't know how to figure out "2,011.55 is ___ % of 3,201.55"

I know, it's horrible that I don't know, but I just don't.

ETA: I found a calculator online (God Bless Google) that tells me that 2,011.55 is 62.8% of 3,201.55 - does this mean I've been accidentally taking nearly a 63% cut from my TDEE (can't be right!!)?

Phrick

bump