TDEE?

agronx

Can someone help explain this to me? I see people reply on message boards saying they go by their TDEE instead of counting exercise calories. I am just confused. So many people do so many different things, I don't want to miss out on something that might be beneficial to me.

dmenchac

Not trying to be rude, but google it and learn for yourself. Its much better that way. Just google TDEE instead of making a thread and asking people to do it for you

GauchoMark

TDEE is total daily energy expenditure

It is how many calories you burn every day including exercise.

cwolfman13

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure

This is what most calorie calculators use in determining your calorie goals whether to gain, maintain, or lose. Your TDEE is your maintenance calories and you include all of your activity in your activity level, including an estimate of your exercise throughout a given week...a TDEE calculator will then determine what your theoretical maintenance calories would be per your activity and your stats as per statistical averages.

MFP utilizes the NEAT method whereby your activity level only includes your day to day stuff...getting up, going to work, walking around, cleaning, cooking, etc...you aren't supposed to account for exercise in your activity level with MFP...you account for that activity after the fact when you log it...that's why you get calories to "eat back" after you exercise.

If you're doing it right, the two methods are 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. Where people really confuse themselves is they compare a 2 Lb per week loss rate goal with MFP to a 20% cut from TDEE and wonder why there's such a big difference...a 20% cut from TDEE is usually a deficit of 500 calories or less depending on one's TDEE...a 2 Lb per week loss rate is a 1000 calorie deficit..so right there you're talking about a 500 calorie difference at least.

Like I said, 6 of 1...my MFP goal to lose 1 Lb per week was 1,850 Net...with exercise I was grossing around 2100 - 2200 calories. My TDEE is in the neighborhood of 2700 - 2800 calories...a 20% cut to lose about 1 Lb per week results in a calorie goal of around 2,250 calories or so. See...same difference...it's just a matter of where you account for exercise activity.

WBB55

So to explain what people mean when they say they "go by their TDEE," it means they've calculated (either using an online calculator or thru trial and error or a heart rate monitor or pedometer) how many calories they burn total in a day.

I for instance burn about an average of 2050 calories total. Some days more, and some days less. But that's the average over the long term at my current weight. So if I wanted to lose weight, I could take a certain percentage of my TDEE and eat that every day. Or take 500 calories less than my TDEE. That 500 calories per day "deficit" would translate to approximately a 1# per week fat loss on average. If I was accurate about all my numbers.

Some people who are less than 20 lbs from their goal weight might pick a calorie target of TDEE-10%. For me, that would be 1845 calories per day. And if I did this, I wouldn't "eat back" exercise calories.

I hope this helps. Below is a link to a TDEE calculator I've used.
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

cwolfman13

I would also add that "burn" doesn't mean strictly exercise...you "burn" calories 24/7 just existing. I only mention it because a lot of people think when you say "burn XXXX calories in a day", they automatically think they have to go exercise like crazy. Most of your daily "burn" is just the energy required for your body to function optimally.

agronx

Not trying to be rude, but google it and learn for yourself. Its much better that way. Just google TDEE instead of making a thread and asking people to do it for you

It's not that I can't google it myself, but there are certain topics on here that make more sense having someone that does it explain how they do it. I will continue to research it but I wanted a more layman explaination for it.

Thank you cwolfman and GauchoMark!

mmmskyler

I'm also extremely confused by MFP's set up/TDEE/BMR, all of this jazz. Every thread I read, or online calculator I try just makes me more confused.

1.) MBB5, you're saying that if I can get an average of what I burn every day, and take a percentage off of that, it would equal what I should eat every day to lose weight?

2.) If I set up my MFP to lose 2 pounds a week, that I have a sedentary job, but work out for a hour every day, should I eat my exercise calories back?

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.

WBB55

I'm also extremely confused by MFP's set up/TDEE/BMR, all of this jazz. Every thread I read, or online calculator I try just makes me more confused.

1.) MBB5, you're saying that if I can get an average of what I burn every day, and take a percentage off of that, it would equal what I should eat every day to lose weight?

2.) If I set up my MFP to lose 2 pounds a week, that I have a sedentary job, but work out for a hour every day, should I eat my exercise calories back?

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.

Personally, I'd start my own thread, so people can tailor advice directly to you.

dmenchac

I'm also extremely confused by MFP's set up/TDEE/BMR, all of this jazz. Every thread I read, or online calculator I try just makes me more confused.

1.) MBB5, you're saying that if I can get an average of what I burn every day, and take a percentage off of that, it would equal what I should eat every day to lose weight?

2.) If I set up my MFP to lose 2 pounds a week, that I have a sedentary job, but work out for a hour every day, should I eat my exercise calories back?

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.

1) the average of what you burn per week is broken up per day and you should -20% of that number and eat that. That is your TDEE -20%

2) Eat back at least 60% of your exercise calories

3) If you have less than 30 lbs to lose, set your goal to lose 1lb a week. You will get to eat MUCH more. Also, as said in 2, eat back those exercise calories.


MFP uses NEAT to count its calories, not TDEE.

cwolfman13

I'm also extremely confused by MFP's set up/TDEE/BMR, all of this jazz. Every thread I read, or online calculator I try just makes me more confused.

1.) MBB5, you're saying that if I can get an average of what I burn every day, and take a percentage off of that, it would equal what I should eat every day to lose weight?

2.) If I set up my MFP to lose 2 pounds a week, that I have a sedentary job, but work out for a hour every day, should I eat my exercise calories back?

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.

See my original post in this thread...it pretty much explains the differences between the NEAT (MFP) method and TDEE method

GauchoMark

So, the quick version:

BMR - basal metabolic rate - is how many calories your body needs just to be alive. It does not include movement, just organ function. It is very similar to RMR - resting metabolic rate - which is as if you were in a coma. BMR and RMR are used interchangeably for all intents and purposes.

Any movement you do, whether it is exercise, just daily movement, eating even, etc., burns a certain number of calories. If you add all of them up and add that to the amount your organs use, that is the TDEE.

If you eat the same number of calories as your TDEE you will not lose or gain weight. Eat more than the TDEE and you gain, eat less and you lose.

Now, there are 2 common ways to track it 1) TDEE minus % or 2) TDEE - deficit +exercise.

Option 2 is how MFP is set up to operate. So it calculates your TDEE, you tell it how many pounds per week you want to lose so it can determine a calorie deficit, and you log both your food and exercise to maintain the deficit. With this method you eat back exercise calories. I use this method mainly because my activity level changes quite a bit, so it is more accurate for me.

Option 1 essentially averages out your TDEE and you subtract a percentage from it and just eat that amount every day no matter how active you are.

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.

you are probably looking at TDEE minus a deficit on MFP. Change the goal to 0 lbs/week to see your TDEE on MFP.

establishingaplace

cwolfman13 gave a good explanation. It really is not all that different from the MFP way.

Personally, I prefer TDEE because I eat the same calories every day except on days I go over. Even though my workouts are factored in to my TDEE, I don't feel like I'm "earning" my calories (so neither am I punishing myself for a cupcake with an hour of cardio, which I've known a lot of people IRL to do).

Also MFP gave me like 1400 cals a day to eat and I have a tendency to be grumpy when I hungry.

mmmskyler

Thank you, everyone.

mymodernbabylon

[

2.) If I set up my MFP to lose 2 pounds a week, that I have a sedentary job, but work out for a hour every day, should I eat my exercise calories back?

3.) The calorie limit I have every day seems very, very low to me. Every calculator I use allots me a much larger number than MFP's.
[/quote]

2. Unless you do next to nothing in your day (like sit on your tush), you shouldn't set it for sedentary...this is what every post about his has stated that I've read. Sedentary is for people who do nothing but lie on the couch all day.

3. See above...once you change that, you'll have more calories.

mymodernbabylon

And p.s. I eat back about half my calories as MFP tends to over-estimate calories

scubasuenc

You can also calculate your personal TDEE based on your actual weight loss if you accurately log your food. For example, if I eat 1700 calories per day and lose 2lbs per week that would mean my TDEE is 2700. I was skeptical about the calculators until I started actually figured out my TDEE from my weight loss. I calculate it over 2, 3 and 4 week windows. So for a 2 week window I look at the start and end weights to determine how much I lost. Take the number of pounds * 3500 and you get the total calorie deficit. Divide by 14 to get the deficit per day. Then find the average calories in over the same period. avg calories in + avg daily deficit = TDEE.

Does it work, yes. I was surprised to discover that when I calculate my TDEE it usually comes to within 100 calories of the TDEE calculators. Just because I'm a geek, I do keep updating my numbers each week, but I also trust the calculators more.

agronx

So I used the scoobysworkshop.com calculator and it said my TDEE is 2152 and my daily calories based on goal of 25% at 1614. I am currently doing 1300 on MFP and that has been pretty good. I have only been exercising for the past 3 weeks but now it seems like the 1300 is not enough. I assume that my metabolism is increasing but a 314 cal diff seem like a huge jump.

Ready2Rock206

I use this website - super easy - http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

My life is so much easier since I switched to TDEE. And I'm much happier with the scale.

TayJoMama

bumping for later. I've been confused about this as well.

SezxyStef

So I used the scoobysworkshop.com calculator and it said my TDEE is 2152 and my daily calories based on goal of 25% at 1614. I am currently doing 1300 on MFP and that has been pretty good. I have only been exercising for the past 3 weeks but now it seems like the 1300 is not enough. I assume that my metabolism is increasing but a 314 cal diff seem like a huge jump.

If you log your exercise calories it is probably about 200-240...TDEE-20% normally = MFP + exercise calories.

Oh and btw -25% is too agressive for the amount you have to lose try 15% which gives you about 1800.

And yes you can use calculations but the easier one is this

Total calories consumed+(pounds lost x 3500)/# of days (try 2-3 weeks) and this only works if you log accurately.

walk757

bump....and thanks for all the info!