What is TDEE?

jenbridges

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.

Sidesteal

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

I needed some clearing up on that as well...thanks

MoveTheMountain

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

This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

Sidesteal

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

This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

this site was awesome! thanks!

Sidesteal

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

This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

Excellent site! thanks!

thefreebiemom

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

This is my favorite link for clearing up all the confusion: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

Wow! I really enjoyed reading this! Thanks