Disagree with MFP cals set for me....

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Replies

  • Chimis_Siq
    Chimis_Siq Posts: 849 Member
    Soooo MFP says 1200 cals for me to lose 2 lbs a week... and I found an accurate calorie counter (so 1000's of people say so) online and it states that my BMR(no exercise only eating to lose) is 1786, my TDEE (cals to maintain) is 2768 and (to lose weight working out 3-5 hrs a week while having a sedentary desk job) is 2076. Hmmm...Ive just gone ahead and set it to 1600. Why cant it be like when I first started working out-it just dropped weight like nothing. lol.......ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!??

    2 pounds a week would be 7000 calorie deficit over 9 days which would be a daily calorie deficit of 1000 calories. If your TDEE is 2600 that would mean eating 1600 a day on average. So to me it sounds like you are doing the right thing if you trust the TDEE calc you found. Different TDEE calcs will give different values, the only way you will find out what your "true" TDEE is is from listening to your body and watching it carefully over a long period of time while tracking your calories rigourously. Months down the line you can adjust based on the data from your own body.

    Thank you so much for a non-arrogant answer. Im going to try 1600 cals and see how that does for me. I can readjust next month...:) thanks again
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Soooo MFP says 1200 cals for me to lose 2 lbs a week... and I found an accurate calorie counter (so 1000's of people say so) online and it states that my BMR(no exercise only eating to lose) is 1786, my TDEE (cals to maintain) is 2768 and (to lose weight working out 3-5 hrs a week while having a sedentary desk job) is 2076. Hmmm...Ive just gone ahead and set it to 1600. Why cant it be like when I first started working out-it just dropped weight like nothing. lol.......ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!??

    2 pounds a week would be 7000 calorie deficit over 9 days which would be a daily calorie deficit of 1000 calories. If your TDEE is 2600 that would mean eating 1600 a day on average. So to me it sounds like you are doing the right thing if you trust the TDEE calc you found. Different TDEE calcs will give different values, the only way you will find out what your "true" TDEE is is from listening to your body and watching it carefully over a long period of time while tracking your calories rigourously. Months down the line you can adjust based on the data from your own body.

    Thank you so much for a non-arrogant answer. Im going to try 1600 cals and see how that does for me. I can readjust next month...:) thanks again

    Ok. Now I remember why I was avoiding the forums.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
    Nonetheless, high BF% is going to skew TDEE numbers because it's going to assume that all of that mass needs fuel...you don't need to fuel fat. A calculator that takes that into account is going to be much more accurate.

    Also OP, TDEE calculators include your exercise in your activity level...MFP does not...you log it after the fact and eat those calories back, so if you're exercising as much as you say you are then it should come out about 6 of 1 when you eat back exercise calories if your TDEE is actually correct...and to that point...I also have my doubts about your TDEE...but hey...AJ and I have only been doing this for quite awhile so maybe we don't know what we're talking about at all...

    ETA: you're also comparing a 2 Lb per week loss goal with MFP to a roughly 1.5 Lb per week loss goal with what amounts to around a 1.25 Lb per week loss goal with the TDEE calculator.

    What does it even mean to "fuel fat"? Seems a bit nonsensical to me but regardless it's only one factor out of many. Give a 150lb guy a 100lb sand bag to carry around all day and during his workouts and tell me if he burns more calories in a given day. He's not "fueling the sand bag" but everything he's doing is requiring more work from his muscles.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Nonetheless, high BF% is going to skew TDEE numbers because it's going to assume that all of that mass needs fuel...you don't need to fuel fat. A calculator that takes that into account is going to be much more accurate.

    Also OP, TDEE calculators include your exercise in your activity level...MFP does not...you log it after the fact and eat those calories back, so if you're exercising as much as you say you are then it should come out about 6 of 1 when you eat back exercise calories if your TDEE is actually correct...and to that point...I also have my doubts about your TDEE...but hey...AJ and I have only been doing this for quite awhile so maybe we don't know what we're talking about at all...

    ETA: you're also comparing a 2 Lb per week loss goal with MFP to a roughly 1.5 Lb per week loss goal with what amounts to around a 1.25 Lb per week loss goal with the TDEE calculator.

    What does it even mean to "fuel fat"? Seems a bit nonsensical to me but regardless it's only one factor out of many. Give a 150lb guy a 100lb sand bag to carry around all day and during his workouts and tell me if he burns more calories in a given day. He's not "fueling the sand bag" but everything he's doing is requiring more work from his muscles.

    Not only that but a lot of your BMR is just the maintenance of your body temperature which is only related to your total mass. If your mass goes up there is more to keep at that temperature and you expend more calories to do so. Doesn't matter if that's fat or muscle or water. Also as parkscs stated yeah the fat doesn't necessarily need "fuel" but the fact you are lugging it around means your muscles need more "fuel". Those two things combined means that your mass has more to do with your BMR than how much muscle you have. Of course on the extremes there will be a difference. A 200 pound bodybuilder at 8% bodyfat will have a higher BMR than a 200 pound person with 35% bodyfat but not by as much as you might think and that is the most extreme.
  • Chimis_Siq
    Chimis_Siq Posts: 849 Member
    Nonetheless, high BF% is going to skew TDEE numbers because it's going to assume that all of that mass needs fuel...you don't need to fuel fat. A calculator that takes that into account is going to be much more accurate.

    Also OP, TDEE calculators include your exercise in your activity level...MFP does not...you log it after the fact and eat those calories back, so if you're exercising as much as you say you are then it should come out about 6 of 1 when you eat back exercise calories if your TDEE is actually correct...and to that point...I also have my doubts about your TDEE...but hey...AJ and I have only been doing this for quite awhile so maybe we don't know what we're talking about at all...

    ETA: you're also comparing a 2 Lb per week loss goal with MFP to a roughly 1.5 Lb per week loss goal with what amounts to around a 1.25 Lb per week loss goal with the TDEE calculator.

    What does it even mean to "fuel fat"? Seems a bit nonsensical to me but regardless it's only one factor out of many. Give a 150lb guy a 100lb sand bag to carry around all day and during his workouts and tell me if he burns more calories in a given day. He's not "fueling the sand bag" but everything he's doing is requiring more work from his muscles.

    Not only that but a lot of your BMR is just the maintenance of your body temperature which is only related to your total mass. If your mass goes up there is more to keep at that temperature and you expend more calories to do so. Doesn't matter if that's fat or muscle or water. Also as parkscs stated yeah the fat doesn't necessarily need "fuel" but the fact you are lugging it around means your muscles need more "fuel". Those two things combined means that your mass has more to do with your BMR than how much muscle you have. Of course on the extremes there will be a difference. A 200 pound bodybuilder at 8% bodyfat will have a higher BMR than a 200 pound person with 35% bodyfat but not by as much as you might think and that is the most extreme.

    So much knowledge-I love it!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I should make one correction.

    Technically BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you were lying prone and not moving all day long. In that case you aren't "moving" the fat around so it isn't taxing your muscles more so the bodybuilder with more muscle would burn more calories in that state. That said no one lies flat on their back all day long and the more you move the less of a difference fat percentage makes and the more important overall mass is to the amount of calories you burn.

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