Confused about calorie recommendations

cougarose

When I came here and filled out the questions about weight etc, mfp spit out a recommendation of 1200 calories a day. However, when I looked at the IIF TDEE calculator it gave me a number of 1716 calories a day. If I subtract 20% from that I get 1373, which is what it told me to do to calculate how many calories I should eat daily to burn fat and lose weight at a steady pace. So what do I?

kayla_who

How tall are you, how much do you weigh, and what is your goal?

JoshD8705

Are you dieting, or exercising too? I see no reason to go as low as 1200 unless you're bed ridden. Just go with about 1500 and make sure you try to get a walk in every day.

baileyang33

change MFP to lose1 lb instead of 2

aleggett321

It depends on how you like to approach your daily goal. With the TDEE method, you have the same goal every day. It doesn't change in relation to activity as that is already accounted for.
MFP has set your goal as a NET of 1200 calories. This means you add calories burned from exercise to your total for the day. For example, if you burn 300 calories from exercise in a day, you would actually eat 1500 calories that day which leaves you with a net of 1200. It's referred to as "eating back" your calories.
Personally, I prefer a consistent goal so I use TDEE. If you average your intake over time, the totals of either method end up pretty closely the same.

SezxyStef

change MFP to lose1 lb instead of 2

this...TDEE-20% means 1lb of weight loss a week...

cougarose

Thank you all for your comments. Now I get it.

beautifulwarrior18

MFP uses your BMR not your TDEE. Do the one that makes more sense to you.