If you Understand TDEE please read...

JodaNord

So if I understand the principal behind TDEE, a person needs to calculate their TDEE (for me 2235) and have that be my goal daily, even on a rest day.

For a loss, you take away, 250-500 calories a day, (1985-1735) and should see a loss, whether a workout day or a rest day.

Am I on the right track here?

I have been playing with calories and had it set to 1/2lb loss but that puts me at my bmr, then i eat back all my exercise calories.

And i set to maintain, at 1710 a day and ate back exercise calories, and really either way, nothing really changes. i have put 2lbs on, but could be due to more vigorous strength routine and less cardio...

I am looking to start Insanity in the next week, so would love to have this *figured out* by the time i start following the meal plan...

Any help is great!

thanks!

lorierin22

One theory of using TDEE is to eat 15-20% less than TDEE to safely lose weight. That would mean eating between 1788-1899 calories/day for you, depending on how quickly you want to lose. If you choose this route, then you would eat this same amount of calories/day regardless of what exercise you do (since you have already calculated that in when you figured your TDEE).

ETA: Yes, you would eat same amount of calories on workout vs non-workout days.

bsinno

have you checked out the "eating more to weigh less" group board? lots and lots of info there...

ladyraven68

So if I understand the principal behind TDEE, a person needs to calculate their TDEE (for me 2235) and have that be my goal daily, even on a rest day.

For a loss, you take away, 250-500 calories a day, (1985-1735) and should see a loss, whether a workout day or a rest day.

Am I on the right track here?

I have been playing with calories and had it set to 1/2lb loss but that puts me at my bmr, then i eat back all my exercise calories.

And i set to maintain, at 1710 a day and ate back exercise calories, and really either way, nothing really changes. i have put 2lbs on, but could be due to more vigorous strength routine and less cardio...

I am looking to start Insanity in the next week, so would love to have this *figured out* by the time i start following the meal plan...

Any help is great!

thanks!

I think the TDEE minus 15-20% is a good plan, as you can just eat the same daily and not worry about eating back calories, and your daily/weekly menu is much easier to plan.

JodaNord

So...

I think this mean that now i will set my calories to 1800 (between 15-20% of TDEE) and stick to my schedule of workouts everyday that i do, and see what happens...

shaycat

That is what I did. My TDEE is lower so I set my goals to 1700 a day and don't worry about having to eat back my exercise calories or not. So far ( cross my fingers) I think it is working.

amysj303

your TDEE already accounts for your activity level so your workouts are already included, basically.
you can set your daily calorie goal to 1800, and don't record or credit calories burned from exercise.

juicemoogan

I follow TDEE - 15% and DO NOT eat back exercise cals unless i have a large burn and my net cals are under my BMR> At that point i eat back until my Net cals at least reach my BMR.

If you are eating back all the time i don't think you are following correctly. as the Tdee-15% already accounts for your exercise calories.

JodaNord

I follow TDEE - 15% and DO NOT eat back exercise cals unless i have a large burn and my net cals are under my BMR> At that point i eat back until my Net cals at least reach my BMR.

If you are eating back all the time i don't think you are following correctly. as the Tdee-15% already accounts for your exercise calories.

Yeah, i was set to maintain and so at 1700 or so, and then whatever burn from exercise, recorded with my Polar ft40, i ate back...

Saw a slight gain, but not the results i am wanting... So now, onto the TDEE -15% and my regular routine...

Fingers crossed!

kellyreynolds14

your TDEE already accounts for your activity level so your workouts are already included, basically.
you can set your daily calorie goal to 1800, and don't record or credit calories burned from exercise.

Ok, so if this is truley the case, then it seems to me the way MFP has it set up makes it a little confusing.

I see two ways to make it less confusing, wondering if it would work the same:

1) calculate your TDEE based on sedentary lifestyle, then log your excercises and account for calories burned and aim for your NET calories to be 500-1000 calories below that TDEE

2) Calculate TDEE with your lifestyle activity accounted for, the way you mentioned above and don't track excercising.

Either way, it doesn't seem to jive with how MFP is setup. I have been eating calories based on my net, and was somehow able to lose weight but there are so many variables! Either I am under-counting my calories burned during excercise, over counting my calories consumed, my TDEE is not accurate, I am eating foods more likely to promote weight loss, genetics, etc. etc.. <<---- This is what makes weight loss so dang confusing and why trial and error is the only thing that can work, IMHO. Good post.

juicemoogan

Of course it doesn't jive with mfp because it's a completely different method. Either follow mfp goals and eat back yourcals
Or

Folow tdee method and don't.

There are lots of different ways to do this. Find the one that works for you. It's a big science experiment with your body. You gotta try different thing until the right one for you just clicks.

I wouldn't recommend to set your tdee calc to sedentary. Set it to your actual lifestyle.make your tdee-15% your calories consumed goal. And either track or don't track your calories burned. As long as you know what your calories consumed number Should be and you don't let your net cals fall below bmr. If I didn't. Mention it already. Join the group "eat more to weigh less" they have more info on this