TDEE - 500 or 1200 Im so confused!

TonyaBtrfly

I started using MFP 11 days ago. I need to lose 50 pounds. I have never dieted or exercised before. I have started counting calories using MFP and using an elliptical trainer 30 minutes a day (for now) Id like to reach 45 mins or even 60. The confusion is after reading on the internet and on the mfp website is should i be trying to stay at 1200 calories a day as mfp has told me to do when i set my goals originally or should i subtract 500 from my TDEE. I just want to lose weight and do it in a healthy way and am just totally confused as to how many calories i should be eating every day. Any help is sooo appreciated. My BMR is 1401 and my TDEE is 2172. Thanks

geekyjock76

Everybody is different, but generally speaking, you want to experiment between 80-90% of your TDEE. That range for you would then be 1737 to 1954. Start off with the lower end to see how your body responds to daily demands for a few days and adjust accordingly. I'm not a fan of recommending people go at or below their BMR because for many it doesn't provide enough calories according to daily demands and can stall your metabolism/progress.

TonyaBtrfly

thanks! I reset m daily goal to 1600 and plan on eating back my exercise calories.

BabyLeila23

That's what I do exactly actually I eat 1600 calories a day and then try to add about 200 calories for workouts