a quick tdee question

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Redribbon73
Redribbon73 Posts: 117 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi

I have been here for about 2 months now for the first time ever counting calories and must be doing something right as I have lost weight. I was reading yesterday about tdee, I don't do any fancy things just logging calories when I can as accurate as I can and exercise.

My MFP has set me to eat 1210 calories a day, my tdee I checked yesterday on a site is 1786. As I understand I eat1210 and will loose weight. My question is if I eat more than 1210 but under my tdee do I still loose weight?

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  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    Great question. I set my calorie goals off of progress. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1400 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    Calculators are a good place to start, but they may not be right about you. Doing this process is how I dropped 64 lbs. All it takes is time and consistency.

    Allan
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Hi

    I have been here for about 2 months now for the first time ever counting calories and must be doing something right as I have lost weight. I was reading yesterday about tdee, I don't do any fancy things just logging calories when I can as accurate as I can and exercise.

    My MFP has set me to eat 1210 calories a day, my tdee I checked yesterday on a site is 1786. As I understand I eat1210 and will loose weight. My question is if I eat more than 1210 but under my tdee do I still loose weight?

    Of course...TDEE is your theoretical maintenance number...anything less than that and you lose weight. Just keep in mind that the smaller the deficit from maintenance, the slower the rate of loss (which isn't always a bad thing).

    Also keep in mind that these calculators represent great starting points...nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories so that number may not be your true maintenance...it could be lower or higher or just about right...it just depends.
  • sculli123
    sculli123 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    If you eat less than TDEE you will lose weight but the closer you get to the TDEE calories, the slower the weight loss will happen. Thta's why it's recommended to do a 500 calorie deficit because that equates to about a pound a week for most people if they do it right.

    However, keep this in mind. I finished cutting two weeks ago. I am reverse dieting by adding 100 cals to my daily intake each week. So week 1 I ate 2100, this week 2200, and starting tomorrow will be 2300. Guess what? I'm eating more calories but I'm actually leaner now than I was when I finished my cut. My AVI is from that day, I plan on updating soon as I'm leaner than that already.

    I will slowly get more lean until I eat at TDEE maintainance level. Although, I'm going to be taking a break during my vacation in about a week so that could affect things slightly but probably not much. It will take me until September to reach maintainance levels. At that point I'll stick with it for about a month before I begin a slow bulk.

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