TDEE - What is it and why you should not eat below your BMR
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OK - I've been eating my TDEE-20 for several weeks now. Only a .5 lb drop. Really frustrated as I've been on this plateau for 3 years now. Can't move past 170 - flucuate +/- 3 pounds in any given month.
I am 65 inches, weigh 171 right now. Get 4-7 hours of moderate intensity exercise each week. Work a desk job. Scooby numbers:
BMR - 1453
TDEE - 2253
Calories - 1802
Currently eating 1700 - 1800 calories per day. Eating 5 x per day. This is an increase from 1200 -1350 per day for over 2 years.
Any suggestions?
We don't usually recommend tdee - 20% as it can produce too high of a deficit for some people and slow down progress...you may want to use tdee - 15% instead.
But that's so much food! Really! I'm full all the time now. Can barely stand to eat any more!0 -
OK - I've been eating my TDEE-20 for several weeks now. Only a .5 lb drop. Really frustrated as I've been on this plateau for 3 years now. Can't move past 170 - flucuate +/- 3 pounds in any given month.
I am 65 inches, weigh 171 right now. Get 4-7 hours of moderate intensity exercise each week. Work a desk job. Scooby numbers:
BMR - 1453
TDEE - 2253
Calories - 1802
Currently eating 1700 - 1800 calories per day. Eating 5 x per day. This is an increase from 1200 -1350 per day for over 2 years.
Any suggestions?
We don't usually recommend tdee - 20% as it can produce too high of a deficit for some people and slow down progress...you may want to use tdee - 15% instead.
But that's so much food! Really! I'm full all the time now. Can barely stand to eat any more!
Yup, that's the normal response.
Most of us have said that and then forced our way through the 'refeeding' process until we got to other side. It takes a lot of courage and some sheer determination, but it's a step you need to take. The reason you don't feel hungry is because you've trained your body to be full on less, or in some cases, insufficient amounts of food. You want to get your metabolism back up to normal and get a proper deficit in place. Read through the stickies and watch the videos....there is a lot of good information in there that may help you. 
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OK - I've been eating my TDEE-20 for several weeks now. Only a .5 lb drop. Really frustrated as I've been on this plateau for 3 years now. Can't move past 170 - flucuate +/- 3 pounds in any given month.
I am 65 inches, weigh 171 right now. Get 4-7 hours of moderate intensity exercise each week. Work a desk job. Scooby numbers:
BMR - 1453
TDEE - 2253
Calories - 1802
Currently eating 1700 - 1800 calories per day. Eating 5 x per day. This is an increase from 1200 -1350 per day for over 2 years.
Any suggestions?
We don't usually recommend tdee - 20% as it can produce too high of a deficit for some people and slow down progress...you may want to use tdee - 15% instead.
But that's so much food! Really! I'm full all the time now. Can barely stand to eat any more!
Yup, that's the normal response. Most of us have said that and then forced our way through the 'refeeding' process until we got to other side. It takes a lot of courage and some sheer determination, but it's a step you need to take. The reason you don't feel hungry is because you've trained your body to be full on less, or in some cases, insufficient amounts of food. You want to get your metabolism back up to normal and get a proper deficit in place. Read through the stickies and watch the videos....there is a lot of good information in there that may help you.
The stickies? Do you mean the video on the scooby site?0 -
OK - I've been eating my TDEE-20 for several weeks now. Only a .5 lb drop. Really frustrated as I've been on this plateau for 3 years now. Can't move past 170 - flucuate +/- 3 pounds in any given month.
I am 65 inches, weigh 171 right now. Get 4-7 hours of moderate intensity exercise each week. Work a desk job. Scooby numbers:
BMR - 1453
TDEE - 2253
Calories - 1802
Currently eating 1700 - 1800 calories per day. Eating 5 x per day. This is an increase from 1200 -1350 per day for over 2 years.
Any suggestions?
We don't usually recommend tdee - 20% as it can produce too high of a deficit for some people and slow down progress...you may want to use tdee - 15% instead.
But that's so much food! Really! I'm full all the time now. Can barely stand to eat any more!
Yup, that's the normal response. Most of us have said that and then forced our way through the 'refeeding' process until we got to other side. It takes a lot of courage and some sheer determination, but it's a step you need to take. The reason you don't feel hungry is because you've trained your body to be full on less, or in some cases, insufficient amounts of food. You want to get your metabolism back up to normal and get a proper deficit in place. Read through the stickies and watch the videos....there is a lot of good information in there that may help you.
The stickies? Do you mean the video on the scooby site?
nope, I mean the threads with the red pushpin markers on the main page of the EM2WL forum....you can find them all here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less All the ones at the top are called 'stickies' cause they've been stuck to the top of the forum for easy findin'. :happy:
There is a lot of good info in there..and there's one sticky that has the video links in it that you should watch too...it's this one http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/579855--new-vids-for-em2wl-faqs0 -
Hi - I would be very grateful for some quick advice please
My BMR is 1460
my TDEE is: for light exercise 2000 (15% cut - 1700) or for moderate exercise 2260 (15% cut - 1920)
I was advised to stick to the light option while recuperating from an op - at the time I was walking the dogs at a good speed for about 40 mins 3 or 4 times/week.
Now I am walking the dogs at good speed for an hour 5 times/week (about 250 cals/walk) should I go up to 'moderate' ie eating 1920 cals/day? If I then add a gentle stretch and tone session or very short swim would I still stay there?
with many thanks - it's tremendous thinking there is this option out there after years of starvation and bingeing!
Thank you! :flowerforyou:0 -
Hi there. I would definitely go for the moderate activity levelHi - I would be very grateful for some quick advice please
My BMR is 1460
my TDEE is: for light exercise 2000 (15% cut - 1700) or for moderate exercise 2260 (15% cut - 1920)
I was advised to stick to the light option while recuperating from an op - at the time I was walking the dogs at a good speed for about 40 mins 3 or 4 times/week.
Now I am walking the dogs at good speed for an hour 5 times/week (about 250 cals/walk) should I go up to 'moderate' ie eating 1920 cals/day? If I then add a gentle stretch and tone session or very short swim would I still stay there?
with many thanks - it's tremendous thinking there is this option out there after years of starvation and bingeing!
Thank you! :flowerforyou: 0 -
I was referred by a friend here and I have to say it's interesting! And it really makes sense! My TDEE is 2,661, and BMR is 1,935. So I set my MFP to 2,000 cals a day. MFP set me at 1,640. I have been eating about 70-80% whole foods the past couple of weeks and have lost a few pounds. As someone else asked. Is it okay for some of my 2,000 be junk food, obviously not fast food for lunch every other day. But moderation is alright I assume?
This makes sense to me because I really think I need more food. Even though I went from 1,400-1,600 calories when I started working out, I still lack some energy, so hopefully another jump will help!0 -
What is the rationale behind using the TDEE cut adjusted to average activity level as your calorie goal and not logging exercise less than 500 cal, rather than using appropriately-calculated BMR as the goal and logging all exercise?0
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What is the rationale behind using the TDEE cut adjusted to average activity level as your calorie goal and not logging exercise less than 500 cal, rather than using appropriately-calculated BMR as the goal and logging all exercise?
BMR + exercise alone is not enough. Look at it this way, if you got out of bed, ate your bmr calories (which in itself burns calories), brushed your teeth and went back to bed, you'd already have netted BELOW BMR. (= Bad). Same thing if you get out of bed, eat your BMR + exercise calories, worked out, showered, and went back to bed, you'd be netting under BMR (because you didn't leave anything for the shower.) You would have needed to eat back some of your shower burned calories too (not all necessarily, but enough to keep you above BMR).
What you want to do, is take the cut out of the daily calories above BMR. So, in essence you could then eat back only PART of your exercise calories....but this still leaves us with a couple of problems.
1. Are you sure you left enough room between BMR and calories eaten so that your daily activities don't burn so much that you then drop below BMR? (these are those things you do every day such as wash dishes, brush your teeth, make supper, play with kids, etc). You'd need to make sure you ate back enough of those calories burned too (approx 75%)...hard to determine those so much day to day though unless you have a Body Media Fit or other device. When all is said and done, you still want to make sure you are only at a 15% deficit total in order to keep the metabolism up higher, reduce plateaus, and promote a maintainable weight loss.
2. There is no consistency in what your body is fed day to day. This might not be as big of an issue for someone new to the diet world, but for people who have yo-yo dieted, binged, VLCD'd or other such things, the first thing the body needs to do is to learn to trust in a regular food supply. This helps restore metabolism, and break plateau's.
Basically it comes down to this...you CAN do it from BMR up (if you are new to dieting - still not recommended for others because of the consistency issue)...but you have a whole lot more calculations and numbers to watch that way if you want to do it properly.
I hope that helps explain it a bit...at least as far as I've been able to understand it!! 0 -
That does clear things up--thanks!
Looking back over the last month, which is about when I started "dieting," it looks like I netted below my 1490 BMR for about 13 days (not all in a row, but still not good). I'm adjusting my calories upward in stages--have set my net goal up from the MFP preset of 1360 to 1800 for now, which is a bit of a leap but still not quite 200 below my cut of 1960.0 -
Still learning what I need to do to figure this out, but am upping my calories to about 1800. My BMR is 1563, TDEE is 2149, and my daily caolories needed are 1827. This seems high, but I actually lost a lot of weight over the last few years simply by removing several items that I ate regularly from my diet. I used cream in my coffee (about 4 to 6 cups of coffee a day) and stopped using it, and a couple other things too. My husband is resisting upping his calories because he's losing so quickly. I have been making sure he eats about 2300 to 2400 a day, and his BMR is 2308, TDEE 3174, and daily calorie is 2698 (these all came from scooby using a -15% calorie reduction).
I have been thinking that my calories were to low, even though I thought I had figured out the scooby calc about a month ago. I have been getting headaches the last week almost every day, which seem to resolve themselves if I eat an extra snack. I was still not reaching 1800 calories, but the extra food seemed to help a lot.
My biggest issue is actually reaching my protein goal of 30% of my calories. I eat protein at every meal, but really am not a big protein eater. I won't use soy based things because my body doesn't react well to them. I actually try really hard to eat home made real food, rather than store bought premade things. Any ideas of how to up my protein without upping my carbs and fat levels?0 -
Before I make another mistake, if my -15% reduction number is 1827 using light activity level, do I use this number as the calories I need to eat or up it by about 100 calories? I've heard it both way on here and am just not sure.0
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Joanne, what percentage are you allowing yourself for fat right now? Fat isn't necessarily bad for you--we need it, including saturated fats--so I don't know that you need to worry to much about finding low-fat ways to up your protein unless you're already consuming a lot.0
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I am trying to follow the 30 fat - 30 protien - 40 carb, but I always seem to be around 45% for fat and 20 for my protein. I struggle to even make 20% on the protein. I know it's probably because I don't like meat very much. I like chicken, fish, pepperoni, beef stick, but don't care for most other meat sources. My husband loves ham, which is a really good choice, but I just can't seem to eat it. I also don't really like most lunch meats. I am starting to wonder if I should get some of that protein drink mix that has whey in it, but I hate to go that route when I have tried for years to keep to natural foods.
I only really started "dieting" or reducing my calories a lot the last about three months, before that I had simply cut certain food from my diet and lost a lot simply doing that. Once I started limiting the calories more I have had problems with headaches, and lack of energy. I get plenty of water during the day too. I also got to 195 lbs and have been sitting there since the beginning of the month. Both these things caused me to stop and look at what I am doing, re-evaluate to make sure I am really feeding my body right. I have been averaging out at about 1300 to 1400 calories a day, except on days I exercise a lot then I raise the amount to accommodate the exercise. I also eat when I am hungry, if my body says feed me I take it seriously and try to eat about 100 calories at a time till I"m no longer feeling hungry. I wait about 1/2 an hour after I eat to decide if that was enough. Even doing that I still rarely went over 1500 calories.
Fat: I eat butter, in moderation. Olive oil is used if I need to fry something, mostly I use water to cook things rather than adding oil to a pan. I use Pam spray if needed. The other fat I get from eating things like pepperoni or beef stick.
Carbs: I make my own bread using 100% whole wheat and added flax seed, with either canola oil or olive oil in it. I also use milk in it. It's pretty low in fat though, and fresh ground wheat has a LOT of the good vitamins already in it. I also use a lot of broccoli, zucchini, onions, garlic, red peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, mushrooms, etc. I have to be careful with any fruit I eat, because if I eat to much my mouth breaks out in small welts which aren't fun!
Btw, trying to eat 1800 is actually really really hard to do, and trying to up my husband up to 2800 is hard too!0 -
Wow, I just calculated mine and I've had a couple days below my BMR already.
BMR: 1577
TDEE: 2444
Cut (15%): 2078
2078 seems like a lot of calories to me. I'm not even sure how I can eat that many calories in a day without putting some thought into it. I guess I need to start incorporating snacks throughout the day.0 -
Wow, I just calculated mine and I've had a couple days below my BMR already.
BMR: 1577
TDEE: 2444
Cut (15%): 2078
2078 seems like a lot of calories to me. I'm not even sure how I can eat that many calories in a day without putting some thought into it. I guess I need to start incorporating snacks throughout the day.
It happens fast. A couple extra pieces of fruit and maybe a piece of toast with peanut butter. Boom.0 -
Hi, I feel lost and very confused with everything I am reading. Please can someone help me out?
I am Female, 60 years, 5'5" tall, current weight 124.2kg
On Scooby my TDEE is 2177 and BMR 1814
Daily Calories 1850 -15%
1741 - 20%
1632 - 25%
Due to multiple injuries to back, neck and shoulders and having had knee replacement to both knees, I cannot do the gym yet.
My doctor has said I can do some hydro and modified pilates to strengthen my body, and eventually full pilates and the gym.
I need to lose a minimum of 80kg or 177lb.
Please can you direct me how I go about it. - I am not loosing weight at the moment so have started to increase my calories, but am not sure what next. I eat and haven eaten clean for 30 years due to food and chemical allergies.
What should my calorie count be? I think because of my extreme weight that initially I would prefer one of the higher percentages lost in the daily calories what do you think?
I have been told by many friend that I eat small, but I was never hungry, except on the odd occassion when I might binge - at a party or something similar.
I am feeling desperate as to what damage I may have done to my body, and now having some information behind me, I want to do it properly. Is there percentages suggested for protein, carbs, cals, fat or fibre etc. I struggle with carbs and unfortunatly green salad and veges due to IBS.
You are welcome to look at my food diary if you have any queries.
Thankyou for any help and advice that you can give me. I am very new to all of this and very inexperienced. : )0 -
bump0
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Hi, I feel lost and very confused with everything I am reading. Please can someone help me out?
I am Female, 60 years, 5'5" tall, current weight 124.2kg
On Scooby my TDEE is 2177 and BMR 1814
Daily Calories 1850 -15%
1741 - 20%
1632 - 25%
Due to multiple injuries to back, neck and shoulders and having had knee replacement to both knees, I cannot do the gym yet.
My doctor has said I can do some hydro and modified pilates to strengthen my body, and eventually full pilates and the gym.
I need to lose a minimum of 80kg or 177lb.
Please can you direct me how I go about it. - I am not loosing weight at the moment so have started to increase my calories, but am not sure what next. I eat and haven eaten clean for 30 years due to food and chemical allergies.
What should my calorie count be? I think because of my extreme weight that initially I would prefer one of the higher percentages lost in the daily calories what do you think?
I have been told by many friend that I eat small, but I was never hungry, except on the odd occassion when I might binge - at a party or something similar.
I am feeling desperate as to what damage I may have done to my body, and now having some information behind me, I want to do it properly. Is there percentages suggested for protein, carbs, cals, fat or fibre etc. I struggle with carbs and unfortunatly green salad and veges due to IBS.
You are welcome to look at my food diary if you have any queries.
Thankyou for any help and advice that you can give me. I am very new to all of this and very inexperienced. : )
It sounds like you may need a metabolism reset. You may not be hungry, but that is usually a sign of VLCD'ing and if you have been eating very small amounts of food for a while or yo-yo dieting/binging, you should really think about the metabolism reset. You want to get your metabolism in proper working order.
If you aren't a candidate for a reset, then go with the 15% deficit. This maintains a healthy rate of loss. In regards to macros (proteins etc) you want to set them up as 40C/30P/30F.
Make sure you read through this sticky http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience and watch the videos in here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/579855--new-vids-for-em2wl-faqs
I hope some of that gets you started. Ask us questions if you aren't sure about something!! 0 -
i use a bodymedia fit armband.....
over the last 28 days i have had an average daily burn on 2962 calories...so that would be my TDEE correct??
then to get my TDEE minus 15% #, i would multiply 2962 by .85 which equals 2518 so that is what i'm supposed to eat each day if i keep up my current movement and have an average daily burn of 2962....is this correct????
the scooby website gave me similar numbers
BMR 1487
TDEE 2826
daily cal goal 2402 (based on 15% and 7hrs workout calculations)
so if i keep averaging a close to 3000 calorie burn each day i should really be eating 2500ish cals each day???? i dont mind gaining at first to get this *kitten* figured out especially if i expect it....i've lost 75+ lbs since jan 2008 and i would like to lose another 30ish to end up between 140-150 for the rest of my life....any suggestions would be wonderful...
PS i log my food in MFP diary and then just enter that as my daily estimate on my BMF activity manager...i know my MFP stats on my homepage are all off because i dont adjust for my true burn per my BMF....i dont care about what that says...at this point i just want my BMF activity manager to be accurate based on burn and cals eaten as entered....i have been playing with the 170s since May 2011...it's time to get into the 160s and then i'll at least feel like im making some "scale" related progress even though i KNOW that the scale is not the best measure of progress and i am working on the other things too...back to lifting 2 times a week, going to mix up my workouts and try to get some more anaerobic workouts including some hiit and increasing my overall protein intake....i know what to do i just need help finalizing the number to work with....a few people have suggested i do the metabolism reset before starting the emwl concept?? thoughts on that too please lol...
thanks again...denise
thanks for the help....0
