TDEE & BMR: What they are and what to do with them
Zylayna
Posts: 728 Member
TDEE - What is it and why you should not eat below your BMR
What is BMR?
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day!
What is TDEE?
TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR; in fact, you need your BMR to calculate your TDEE; but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' predetermined groupings:
Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk (****SIDE NOTE - even if you have a desk job most people fit right here when you workout 3 days a week)
Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training
Once you have determined where you fit in on the TDEE activity rate scale, this activity rate is used to weight your BMR giving you a more accurate assessment of how many calories you really need throughout the course of the day.
Here is a link to a site that you plug in your information and it will provide your BMR and TDEE along with your Cut value (again, if you workout 3-5 times a week select "Moderate" and the "Select Your Goal" option you will select is "Lose Fat - 15% caloric reduction") :
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
So now, you should have your BMR, TDEE, and Cut Value (TDEE - 15%)
Here is a video that talks about this in great detail that hopefully will clear up any questions you may have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi9xjIRvbY&feature=g-all-u
If TDEE is figured out correctly, then exercise cals don't *have* to be eaten back because, technically, TDEE figures them in. The underlying factor here, is that most people underestimate their activity levels, (for fear of being told to eat "too much") and then proceed to under eat. If a person is burning 1000 cals/day in exercise, then that should be figured into their TDEE, meaning their TDEE should be AT LEAST 1000 cals more than their BMR. If this is not the case then they are undercutting themselves on the cals. So a person w/a BMR of 1300, that puts up 1000 cal burns should have come up w/a TDEE calculation of 2400 or more. So any situation where a person is not getting those calculations, they should be eating back some of those exercise cals.
So if you come up w/BMR=1300, TDEE=1800, you need to either A)eat back some cals, or
recalculate your TDEE to include the *actual* burns that you're getting.
So to cut using *true* TDEE figures, you'd just eat a flat TDEE (-15%), as long as TDEE is correct. It should be fine. But if you are using MFP's calculations, or are not getting a TDEE that includes the amount you burn each day *plus* BMR, you need to eat back some exercise cals. (***NOTE-If you have been eating low calories for an extended period of time, you may want to consier taking a diet break by eating FULL TDEE for an 8-12 week period to do what is called a "Metabolism Reset". Information regarding is in the sticky "Metabolism Reset-Eating at TDEE Support Thread" at the top. Here is a video that will help you to decide if TDEE -15% or a Metabolism reset is right for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COzMKkXeiFo)
I make the following recommendations....Change the followiing in your MFP Goal settings under Custom:
Carbs 40%
Protein 30%
Fat 30%
Fiber 30
Sodium 2500
Everything I have read thus far in my journey suggests those macronutrient ratios. It forces you to eat more protein which is important for maintaining and building muscle. Break up your food inake too, eating small meals during the course of the day helps keep the body burning calories. Feel free to check out my diary "AnewLucia", it is open to the public. ***I didn't think it was necessary to say this, but have been asked...eating clean should go without saying because we all are trying to achieve a heathly lifestyle in general. However, we all have "loves" and this is about "living", so I also believe all things in moderation. Lastly, if you are truly sticking to your numbers and ratios, there is no way to junk out...hence the reason I never stressed it before..so now it has been stressed! ***
I almost forgot to mention, I always drink a protein shake right after a workout, so important to give the body good protein after exercising because those muscles are hungry...so take your shake with you to guzzle right after.
Ok ladies, If you aren't currently strength training you are missing out...weight lifting is what transforms the body. You would be amazed, but those beautifully toned women you just dream about looking like...you will rarely see them in a cardio class sweating to the oldies but goodies....they are in the weight room pushing some heavy steel. If you haven't read it, a good read is "New Rules of Lifting Weights for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess". It gives an excellent nutritional break down (which finally made my bulb light up,) and for beginning lifters it gives you a great program to get you going....for those that are already familiar with weights and have routines and all that...it is time to start challenging yourself...go up 5lbs each lift session, you would be absolutely amazed at what your body can do....and now that you are fueling it you will have the energy to challenge yourself as well!
Lastly, for those that love to weigh in daily, we all know it can be a bit disheartening watching the scale (please make sure to read "What to expect when you up your calories" in another of the topics on this board.) Someone found this great tool to track your weight. You weigh daily and it graphs not only your weight, but how you are trending. It also allows you to note what is happening with you(ie. TOM, sodium, constipation, heavy lift) so you can see the causes of the fluctuations....I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this tool.
https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet?s=022WQ9WF6Q200JFJJKFF2K288F0JQK950K003894&q=logout&HDiet_tzoffset=240
Ok one more last thing, if at week 6 you have not lost weight or inches (which is rare) post a topic and let's review what you have been doing during the timeframe. I have yet to find it is due to too many calories. The culprit has been inconsistency and/or underestimating calories burned. We can't stress enough to be consistent in fueling and making sure your activity level is correct.
ONCE you have your TDEE and BMR...next step:
I have received this question quite a few times so hopefully this will help (of course please plug in your own numbers).
Let's say your TDEE is 2300 then you subtract 15% so that you now have your cut value of 1955.
Let's say your BMR is 1500.
Ok, so now you know the numbers, I suggest you then go into MFP Goal custom settings and change daily calorie goal to 1955, carbs 40, prot 30, fat 30, and fiber 30.
So, this takes into account your exercise so you shouldn't have to eat back any extra calories UNLESS (as in this example 1955-1500= 455) you burn over 455 calories. If you burn lets say 655 calories then you would need 200 extra calories on top of the 1955 to NET BMR.
If you make that change to your MFP goals then you can input your exercise and on your homepage of MFP it will show you where you stand with your NET calories...as long as it is higher than your BMR on that workout day you are good to go...if not, then eat calories until you at least NET your BMR.
Here is a video that you should watch that may answer questions you may still have right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQF3_8LVI8&feature=g-upl
If you have decided to do a full Metabolism Reset, then you would eat your TDEE value daily. You would still be sure not to NET below your BMR on any workout day.
What is BMR?
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day!
What is TDEE?
TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR; in fact, you need your BMR to calculate your TDEE; but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' predetermined groupings:
Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk (****SIDE NOTE - even if you have a desk job most people fit right here when you workout 3 days a week)
Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training
Once you have determined where you fit in on the TDEE activity rate scale, this activity rate is used to weight your BMR giving you a more accurate assessment of how many calories you really need throughout the course of the day.
Here is a link to a site that you plug in your information and it will provide your BMR and TDEE along with your Cut value (again, if you workout 3-5 times a week select "Moderate" and the "Select Your Goal" option you will select is "Lose Fat - 15% caloric reduction") :
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
So now, you should have your BMR, TDEE, and Cut Value (TDEE - 15%)
Here is a video that talks about this in great detail that hopefully will clear up any questions you may have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi9xjIRvbY&feature=g-all-uIf TDEE is figured out correctly, then exercise cals don't *have* to be eaten back because, technically, TDEE figures them in. The underlying factor here, is that most people underestimate their activity levels, (for fear of being told to eat "too much") and then proceed to under eat. If a person is burning 1000 cals/day in exercise, then that should be figured into their TDEE, meaning their TDEE should be AT LEAST 1000 cals more than their BMR. If this is not the case then they are undercutting themselves on the cals. So a person w/a BMR of 1300, that puts up 1000 cal burns should have come up w/a TDEE calculation of 2400 or more. So any situation where a person is not getting those calculations, they should be eating back some of those exercise cals.
So if you come up w/BMR=1300, TDEE=1800, you need to either A)eat back some cals, or
recalculate your TDEE to include the *actual* burns that you're getting.So to cut using *true* TDEE figures, you'd just eat a flat TDEE (-15%), as long as TDEE is correct. It should be fine. But if you are using MFP's calculations, or are not getting a TDEE that includes the amount you burn each day *plus* BMR, you need to eat back some exercise cals. (***NOTE-If you have been eating low calories for an extended period of time, you may want to consier taking a diet break by eating FULL TDEE for an 8-12 week period to do what is called a "Metabolism Reset". Information regarding is in the sticky "Metabolism Reset-Eating at TDEE Support Thread" at the top. Here is a video that will help you to decide if TDEE -15% or a Metabolism reset is right for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COzMKkXeiFo)I make the following recommendations....Change the followiing in your MFP Goal settings under Custom:
Carbs 40%
Protein 30%
Fat 30%
Fiber 30
Sodium 2500
Everything I have read thus far in my journey suggests those macronutrient ratios. It forces you to eat more protein which is important for maintaining and building muscle. Break up your food inake too, eating small meals during the course of the day helps keep the body burning calories. Feel free to check out my diary "AnewLucia", it is open to the public. ***I didn't think it was necessary to say this, but have been asked...eating clean should go without saying because we all are trying to achieve a heathly lifestyle in general. However, we all have "loves" and this is about "living", so I also believe all things in moderation. Lastly, if you are truly sticking to your numbers and ratios, there is no way to junk out...hence the reason I never stressed it before..so now it has been stressed! ***
I almost forgot to mention, I always drink a protein shake right after a workout, so important to give the body good protein after exercising because those muscles are hungry...so take your shake with you to guzzle right after.
Ok ladies, If you aren't currently strength training you are missing out...weight lifting is what transforms the body. You would be amazed, but those beautifully toned women you just dream about looking like...you will rarely see them in a cardio class sweating to the oldies but goodies....they are in the weight room pushing some heavy steel. If you haven't read it, a good read is "New Rules of Lifting Weights for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess". It gives an excellent nutritional break down (which finally made my bulb light up,) and for beginning lifters it gives you a great program to get you going....for those that are already familiar with weights and have routines and all that...it is time to start challenging yourself...go up 5lbs each lift session, you would be absolutely amazed at what your body can do....and now that you are fueling it you will have the energy to challenge yourself as well!
Lastly, for those that love to weigh in daily, we all know it can be a bit disheartening watching the scale (please make sure to read "What to expect when you up your calories" in another of the topics on this board.) Someone found this great tool to track your weight. You weigh daily and it graphs not only your weight, but how you are trending. It also allows you to note what is happening with you(ie. TOM, sodium, constipation, heavy lift) so you can see the causes of the fluctuations....I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this tool.
https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet?s=022WQ9WF6Q200JFJJKFF2K288F0JQK950K003894&q=logout&HDiet_tzoffset=240
Ok one more last thing, if at week 6 you have not lost weight or inches (which is rare) post a topic and let's review what you have been doing during the timeframe. I have yet to find it is due to too many calories. The culprit has been inconsistency and/or underestimating calories burned. We can't stress enough to be consistent in fueling and making sure your activity level is correct.
ONCE you have your TDEE and BMR...next step:
I have received this question quite a few times so hopefully this will help (of course please plug in your own numbers).
Let's say your TDEE is 2300 then you subtract 15% so that you now have your cut value of 1955.
Let's say your BMR is 1500.
Ok, so now you know the numbers, I suggest you then go into MFP Goal custom settings and change daily calorie goal to 1955, carbs 40, prot 30, fat 30, and fiber 30.
So, this takes into account your exercise so you shouldn't have to eat back any extra calories UNLESS (as in this example 1955-1500= 455) you burn over 455 calories. If you burn lets say 655 calories then you would need 200 extra calories on top of the 1955 to NET BMR.
If you make that change to your MFP goals then you can input your exercise and on your homepage of MFP it will show you where you stand with your NET calories...as long as it is higher than your BMR on that workout day you are good to go...if not, then eat calories until you at least NET your BMR.
Here is a video that you should watch that may answer questions you may still have right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQF3_8LVI8&feature=g-uplIf you have decided to do a full Metabolism Reset, then you would eat your TDEE value daily. You would still be sure not to NET below your BMR on any workout day.
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thanks for clearing up something I never even knew that i didn't know or understand!0
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bump0
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Bump!0
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Ok, so now you know the numbers, I suggest you then go into MFP Goal custom settings and change daily calorie goal to 1955, carbs 40, prot 30, fat 30, and fiber 30.
So, this takes into account your exercise so you shouldn't have to eat back any extra calories UNLESS (as in this example 1955-1500= 455) you burn over 455 calories. If you burn lets say 655 calories then you would need 200 extra calories on top of the 1955 to NET BMR.
If you make that change to your MFP goals then you can input your exercise and on your homepage of MFP it will show you where you stand with your NET calories...as long as it is higher than your BMR on that workout day you are good to go...if not, then eat calories until you at least NET your BMR.
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Hi. I'm new to the group and think the above seems a little high-maintenance to me, especially given that I have a HRM that tells me exactly what I burn. Would it be the same thing to set the MFP daily calories at TDEE - 15% (using sedentary when calculating TDEE) and then just eat whatever my HRM says I've burned that day? Don't I end up the same place without have to make sure I didn't burn over a certain calories???0 -
seems a little high-maintenance to me, especially given that I have a HRM that tells me exactly what I burn. Would it be the same thing to set the MFP daily calories at TDEE - 15% (using sedentary when calculating TDEE) and then just eat whatever my HRM says I've burned that day? Don't I end up the same place without have to make sure I didn't burn over a certain calories???
i agree! it's taking all my focus to get adjust to this new-to-me concept of food tracking/logging and calorie counting. buggars! think I'll just try n stick w balancing it out w what MFP shows for a bit longer, and maybe coming back to this later when i get better at counting.
ps. I went to ****s sporting goods and academy sports and Neither had or knew what a fitbit is???0 -
ha ha - i typed the name of that sport store that's a guys name/ name of the 'male appendage' and it asterisked it out like it was profanity... funny mfp...0
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~ * Super Bump *~0
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great article. I am currently watching my macronutrients to see if i can lose weight staedily0
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BUMP...I think I finally understand!0
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thanks for the great explanation0
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Desperately trying to comprehend this all - bump.0
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It's like a breath of fresh air to hear "eat more" and feel better while you lose weight! So much to take in - I shall be back to check this out and try and absorb a bit more of all this info. Thanks0
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This is so awesome and super helpful!!! I love this group and really appreciate everyon'es helpful tips and ideas!! I am so pumped right now:)0
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I recently learned that my BMR was just about 1700 calories!! I am also pretty new to this tracking stuff and am finding out that I tend to be much lower than this... hence me NOT losing weight, despite my efforts of going to the gym!! Any suggestions on how to up the calories without feeling miserably full?0
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bump0
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shes got it0
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This was a great thread. Soooo excited i get to eat 2095 calories Whoop Whoop. LOL0
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Okay i got a question. Since the TDEE includes my workout calculation i don't need to enter excersise at all or it will make me eat more than my net calorie goal.
My TDEE-15% = 2100 ( this includes burning 500 calories 5 days a week)..If i enter that as my net calorie goal, my food entry will try to reach that number. However if i add 500 calories of excercise to MFP it will want me to eat 2600, alhough. So shouldn't i put in my net calorie goal my 1600 instead and then my 500 calorie burn so that net will equal 2100?0 -
Instead of figuring out all the TDEE and getting confused with whether or not to enter exercise calories, wouldn't it be simpler to set your goals at your BMR, and then log your exercise? That's what I'm trying, at least.
I figured out that my BMR is 1715, so that's my net goal, and if I workout, then I eat back those calories.
Am I missing something, or is this a simpler way to do it?0 -
Bump0
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Instead of figuring out all the TDEE and getting confused with whether or not to enter exercise calories, wouldn't it be simpler to set your goals at your BMR, and then log your exercise? That's what I'm trying, at least.
I figured out that my BMR is 1715, so that's my net goal, and if I workout, then I eat back those calories.
Am I missing something, or is this a simpler way to do it?
That's what i bascially ended up doing. LOL0 -
Thanks!0
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Instead of figuring out all the TDEE and getting confused with whether or not to enter exercise calories, wouldn't it be simpler to set your goals at your BMR, and then log your exercise? That's what I'm trying, at least.
I figured out that my BMR is 1715, so that's my net goal, and if I workout, then I eat back those calories.
Am I missing something, or is this a simpler way to do it?
That's what i bascially ended up doing. LOL
Awesome, I was just thinking today how to switch back to eating exercise calories, & you've saved me a lot of trouble, lol
Yup, I'll admit it, having to exercise for extra calories works as an incentive for me
Well, there's other things going on that's led to me not exercising as much as I was, but I'm thinking that not using exercise as a means to bump up my available calories has played a role too, so I decided this weekend I'd try going back to that method, but wasn't sure how. Setting my starting amt at my BMR is so easy, I'm glad I stumbled on this!
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I just posted a really long ramble asking about this. I realized I may have posted it in the wrong place so I just went searching for a better place and found this. Setting my goal in MFP to my BMR is exactly what I want to do. But, it seems that may be defeating the purpose. We want to have our metabolism working in an efficient manner, and if we just eat our BMR is that not only one step up from starving ourselves. Or maybe Im wrong. Reading some other threads I gathered that eating consistently is they key. And that should be a reasonable number given our daily activity, not just the bare minimum. The BMR is if you were doing nothing other then laying in bed all day. But again, I dont really know. I am curious to see what others say here. If I dont get a response from my zillion line post on the other page, I may come back and post it here. FYI, its on the "what to expect from re-setting...." thread.0
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I just posted a really long ramble asking about this. I realized I may have posted it in the wrong place so I just went searching for a better place and found this. Setting my goal in MFP to my BMR is exactly what I want to do. But, it seems that may be defeating the purpose. We want to have our metabolism working in an efficient manner, and if we just eat our BMR is that not only one step up from starving ourselves. Or maybe Im wrong. Reading some other threads I gathered that eating consistently is they key. And that should be a reasonable number given our daily activity, not just the bare minimum. The BMR is if you were doing nothing other then laying in bed all day. But again, I dont really know. I am curious to see what others say here. If I dont get a response from my zillion line post on the other page, I may come back and post it here. FYI, its on the "what to expect from re-setting...." thread.
I got to thinking about this last night, because you're right, we don't just lay in bed all day, so really you do burn more than your BMR regardless of exercise. So even eating back exercise cals, there's all the other calories you burn through out the day sitting, walking, etc etc. I thought about maybe redoing my TDEE for sedentary, then eat that plus exercise calories? I dont' know. Right now I have it set close to BMR (its like 1580 depending on the calculaor used, so I rounded up to 1600) plus eating exercise. I may sit down and figure out what it'd be doing the sedentary TDEE + exercise and see how that would work...0
This discussion has been closed.