BMR & TDEE questions

artdragon1013
artdragon1013 Posts: 14
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, I looked up my TDEE and it's so high! It's 2159. I have trouble even eating 1500 cal/day. I'm afraid if I eat that much, my weight will skyrocket. I'm a 28 yo female at 212lbs. I ride my bike almost everyday for about 30 min and I start to sweat profusely after about 10 mins. So I think I'm in the moderate exercise range. Does that TDEE sound right? My BMR is 1741. I used weight watchers when I lost weight the first time, so I have no idea how many calories I was eating back then. That just seems like a lot of calories for weight loss. Is that why I'm stuck in a plateau right now?

Replies

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Your TDEE is not very high. I exercise ~5hrs a week and my estimated TDEE is usually 2400-2600 depending o the calculator. Based on the fact that I am pretty misersable eating less than 2000 cals a day I would guess my TDEE is closer to 2500 or more.

    A lot of people who eat too few calories will notice that after a while they are no longer able to lose on that amount, even after months of waiting. Once raising intake to their estimated TDEE they may notice some weight loss again, and then maintenance (or only maintenance) and then once a suitable deficit is implemented they lose weight again.

    So if you're not losing now, you might as well try eating at your TDEE to see if you maintain on that. And if you do, subtract 20% from it and see what happens. Otherwise, buy a food scale to make sure you're actually logging correctly. You may find you're eating more than you think. Are you eating 1500 as your net (no exercise) or is that WTIH your exercise? Either way it's very low in my opinion.

    I just calculated you TDEE (putting in an average height of 5'5) and estimated 21 minutes of moderate exercise 7x a week based on your biking. I got a TDEE for you of of 2450-2700 from 2 sites. Which website did you use to calculate your TDEE?

    And TDEE is maintennce needs. You subtract 10-20% for your deficit.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Remember you are taking your TDEE and subtracting 20% for weight loss and NOT eating back exercise calories as its already considered in there. The plateau is back to your earlier post where you were not accurately weighing your food and are most likely eating more than you think.
  • artdragon1013
    artdragon1013 Posts: 14
    I used Scoobysworkshop.com. I saw it on a MFP post when searching for TDEE.

    The 1500 cals is just from today. It was actually like 1337 or something like that. I didn't exercise today because it was raining today. Yesterday, I earned 288 exercise cals so I was at about 1600 not counting those. I guess I forgot to mention that I'm 5'6" and I usually ride my bike for 30 min everyday. Sometimes longer. We don't have a vehicle, so my bike is my only means of transportation. I actually have an MRI scheduled at the hospital on Tuesday and it's a 4 mile ride with lots of uphill areas. So I'm guessing I'll have to eat A LOT that day. I'm not wanting to maintain. I need to lose 65lbs.

    So the 1720 that MFP suggests is with my exercise cals taken out of the 2159 TDEE? I'm confused. lol. ok...am I supposed to eat 1720 and do my exercises? But wouldn't that drop me down below the 1720? If I'm not eating back my exercise cals, would I be at around 1500 since my ex cals are around 300? ok, I'm still confused. :/
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    2100 isnt that large. i'm 42 and mine is 2700-3000 so at your age i'd actually think yours might be a bit low.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    I used Scoobysworkshop.com. I saw it on a MFP post when searching for TDEE.

    The 1500 cals is just from today. It was actually like 1337 or something like that. I didn't exercise today because it was raining today. Yesterday, I earned 288 exercise cals so I was at about 1600 not counting those. I guess I forgot to mention that I'm 5'6" and I usually ride my bike for 30 min everyday. Sometimes longer. We don't have a vehicle, so my bike is my only means of transportation. I actually have an MRI scheduled at the hospital on Tuesday and it's a 4 mile ride with lots of uphill areas. So I'm guessing I'll have to eat A LOT that day. I'm not wanting to maintain. I need to lose 65lbs.

    So the 1720 that MFP suggests is with my exercise cals taken out of the 2159 TDEE? I'm confused. lol. ok...am I supposed to eat 1720 and do my exercises? But wouldn't that drop me down below the 1720? If I'm not eating back my exercise cals, would I be at around 1500 since my ex cals are around 300? ok, I'm still confused. :/

    Assuming you put yourself as lightly active on MFP (no one is really sedentary unless bed-ridden), and put your loss at ~1lb/week, then the number it gives you is your caloric need based on your non-exercise activities, already at a deficit. So if you do exercise you log it and eat back 50-75% of the calories as most think MFP estimates are too high. MFP doesn't use TDEE. So all your bike rides are exercise, meaning you need to log them and eat back those calories. I'd log anything that feels like moderate or heavier exercise. Monitor your progress for a month, adjust accordingly. If you aren't losing, drop 100 cals from your day - this is why it's much easier to set up a custom goal, so you can change things as needed. Weigh and measure food and log accurately.

Categories