What is TDEE?

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jenbridges
jenbridges Posts: 213 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been seeing a lot of people in the forums talk about TDEE, but I don't know what that is! I looked it up, but I got very confused. It asks if you are "lightly active", meaning you exercise 1-3x week, "moderately active". exercising 3-5x week, etc. I exercise 3-5x week, but I do 30DS which is only 20 minutes, plus I walk a few days a week too. Does that still make me "moderately active"? Aside from exercise I mentioned, I am pretty sedentary.

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  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Total daily energy expenditure.

    The sum of expenditures from BMR, NEAT, EAT, and TEF/DIT, IIRC.

    But letter gibberish aside, see here:
    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    I needed some clearing up on that as well...thanks
  • MoveTheMountain
    MoveTheMountain Posts: 764
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    I have been seeing a lot of people in the forums talk about TDEE, but I don't know what that is! I looked it up, but I got very confused. It asks if you are "lightly active", meaning you exercise 1-3x week, "moderately active". exercising 3-5x week, etc. I exercise 3-5x week, but I do 30DS which is only 20 minutes, plus I walk a few days a week too. Does that still make me "moderately active"? Aside from exercise I mentioned, I am pretty sedentary.

    I share your frustration... I wish the TDEE calculators had an entry for overall lifestyle (which essentially means, how active are you at work), and then another entry to factor in the amount of targeted exercise you're doing. I'm doing P90-X, but I have a desk job... trying to reconcile both of those is nearly impossible, so I just take an average between 'moderate' and 'very' active. I don't like it, but that's the best I've been able to come up with.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    I have been seeing a lot of people in the forums talk about TDEE, but I don't know what that is! I looked it up, but I got very confused. It asks if you are "lightly active", meaning you exercise 1-3x week, "moderately active". exercising 3-5x week, etc. I exercise 3-5x week, but I do 30DS which is only 20 minutes, plus I walk a few days a week too. Does that still make me "moderately active"? Aside from exercise I mentioned, I am pretty sedentary.

    I share your frustration... I wish the TDEE calculators had an entry for overall lifestyle (which essentially means, how active are you at work), and then another entry to factor in the amount of targeted exercise you're doing. I'm doing P90-X, but I have a desk job... trying to reconcile both of those is nearly impossible, so I just take an average between 'moderate' and 'very' active. I don't like it, but that's the best I've been able to come up with.


    The nice part about any TDEE estimate is that you can just do your best to make an estimate, eat at that estimate for a month or so, and adjust your food intake based on results. Your results (after initial water weight loss) should assist you in getting an accurate TDEE.
  • jenbridges
    jenbridges Posts: 213 Member
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    :wink:
    This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

    this site was awesome! thanks!
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    :wink:
    This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

    this site was awesome! thanks!

    Indeed. It's a very good site with a lot of useful articles. Reliable info.
  • FlamingJune67
    FlamingJune67 Posts: 96 Member
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    This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

    Excellent site! thanks!
  • thefreebiemom
    thefreebiemom Posts: 191 Member
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    Hmm...isn't MFP supposed to give us a calorie goal above our BMR?

    I went to the link posted and calculated my TDEE and BMR and I got some weird numbers. The TDEE calculation is kind of close to what MFP has for me but the calorie goal I am on is lower then my BMR.

    Here are the numbers I got.
    On MFP it has my TDEE as 2440 (I have energy set to lightly active)
    It has my Calories set at 1690 (That's 1.5lbs per week because the 1440 at 2lbs per week was making me tired and cranky.)

    On that website linked it has

    Harris-Benedict
    BMR 1880
    TDEE 2256 (sedentary)
    2585 (lightly active)

    Mifflin-St. Jeor
    BMR 1807
    TDEE 2168.4 (sedentary)
    2484.63 (lightly active)

    MFP puts my TDEE at lower then both of those but I still thought I was supposed to net over BMR?

    I'm already not losing much weight, at first I dropped a few pounds but it keeps fluctuating between those few pounds depending on the day of the week/hour/etc. So wouldn't eating more calories then the 1690 or around that that I already am be even worse?

    ETA-- By the way after I did the calculations and got weird numbers I googled a BMR and TDEE calculator just to make sure I converted right and I did. The calculator gave me BMR 1876 and TDEE 2579.
  • mazie61
    mazie61 Posts: 106 Member
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    This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

    Wow! I really enjoyed reading this! Thanks

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