TDEE?

xLyric

And don't eat them back? But if I set it to 1700, and exercised 500 off, I'd be netting 1200 still. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to understand this website's logic, haha. Why not eat 1200 and not exercise? How is that different?

You said your TDEE was 2236 with exercise so that is what the others are using for the calculations. Yes, you could just eat 1200 and not exercise... that is up to you but then your TDEE would not be the same number without the exercise. It would then be 1700.

As to being argumentative, using the TDEE is not following MFP's logic or method. It is an alternative method where you set your own goals and calorie counts.

That's not with exercise. That website asked my activity level, and I gave it, and it gave me that number. So it's saying I need to burn 500+ calories a day?

xLyric

This website doesn't know what your body fat % is, or how active you are, or what you are doing. All it knows is that if you are dead set on extreme weight loss, that if you eat under 1200 calories for too long you will need to go to a hospital.

MFP does the least amount of math possible to give you a number. If you do the math yourself you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

I am 5'3" and I hardly ever eat less than 1800 calories. I have never had issues losing weight. I am still dropping. I ate 2100 calories on Saturday since I exercised off over 600 and didn't want to go under my BMR. I lost .2 lb.

You are going to lose weight at a super low amount of calories. But you are also going to stall, feel like crap, and then gain all the weight back. Then you'll be back on this website posting a new thread asking what you did wrong.

Just do it right the first time and save yourself the trouble.

So when you eat 1800, do you exercise? Or is that your base line like 1200 is for others?

neurochamp

My body does not need 1700 calories to live or I'd have been dead a long time ago.

The reason you've been OK eating below BMR for a while is that you have extra energy stores (extra fat, muscle, etc.) that your body can burn as fuel to prevent your organs from shutting down. As long as you have weight to lose, eating below BMR won't kill you.

As you drop weight, though, your body will burn both fat AND muscle. By breaking down muscle, your BMR will also decrease - it takes a lot of energy for your body to maintain muscle, so if you are eating at a severe calorie deficit your body will decrease the amount of muscle that it has to feed so it can conserve energy for your vital organs.

The bottom line is this: if you have a lot of weight to lose (and don't mind losing some muscle mass), eating 1100-1200 calories per day WILL work. But keep in mind that muscle requires a lot of energy to maintain (having more muscle = higher BMR = more calories that you can eat and not gain a lot of excess fat), so eventually you will want to (1) eat at least your BMR every day, and (2) do exercises that help build muscle. These two things will help you reach and maintain a healthier body composition.

I have read that, as a general rule, you should eat between your BMR and TDEE to lose weight. This makes sense, because you are feeding your vital organs by eating above BMR, but you're still eating fewer calories than you burn in a day through activity; as long as your TDEE estimate is fairly accurate, you SHOULD lose weight doing this.

eyeshuh

This website doesn't know what your body fat % is, or how active you are, or what you are doing. All it knows is that if you are dead set on extreme weight loss, that if you eat under 1200 calories for too long you will need to go to a hospital.

MFP does the least amount of math possible to give you a number. If you do the math yourself you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

I am 5'3" and I hardly ever eat less than 1800 calories. I have never had issues losing weight. I am still dropping. I ate 2100 calories on Saturday since I exercised off over 600 and didn't want to go under my BMR. I lost .2 lb.

You are going to lose weight at a super low amount of calories. But you are also going to stall, feel like crap, and then gain all the weight back. Then you'll be back on this website posting a new thread asking what you did wrong.

Just do it right the first time and save yourself the trouble.

So when you eat 1800, do you exercise? Or is that your base line like 1200 is for others?

My baseline, based on my TDEE-20% set to being "lightly active" is 1550. If I didn't exercise at all, I would lose weight if I ate 1550 calories.

Since I exercise different amounts every day, that is why I set my TDEE estimation at "lightly active". That means that if I exercise, I am now no longer at my estimated TDEE. My activity level is above it, so, I have to eat back all of those exercise calories in order to make sure my body is getting the 1550 it needs.

Now, I think my BMR is around 1300, which means I should never NET under 1300. However, I always try to keep my net as close to my TDEE-20% as I can, because I'm trying to stay as healthy as possible and eat as much as possible to still lose weight so that when I switch to maintenance it will be extremely easy to just eat a couple hundred more calories a day to maintain.

I know it's a lot to take in, but does that sort of make sense?

BMR: Least you should ever NET
NET: The amount of calories you have left after you subtract exercise
TDEE: I have mine set up on "lightly active" since I exercise different amounts ever day
TDEE -20%: That is the amount of calories that you can NET and still lose weight

xLyric

My body does not need 1700 calories to live or I'd have been dead a long time ago.

The reason you've been OK eating below BMR for a while is that you have extra energy stores (extra fat, muscle, etc.) that your body can burn as fuel to prevent your organs from shutting down. As long as you have weight to lose, eating below BMR won't kill you.

As you drop weight, though, your body will burn both fat AND muscle. By breaking down muscle, your BMR will also decrease - it takes a lot of energy for your body to maintain muscle, so if you are eating at a severe calorie deficit your body will decrease the amount of muscle that it has to feed so it can conserve energy for your vital organs.

The bottom line is this: if you have a lot of weight to lose (and don't mind losing some muscle mass), eating 1100-1200 calories per day WILL work. But keep in mind that muscle requires a lot of energy to maintain (having more muscle = higher BMR = more calories that you can eat and not gain a lot of excess fat), so eventually you will want to (1) eat at least your BMR every day, and (2) do exercises that help build muscle. These two things will help you reach and maintain a healthier body composition.

I have read that, as a general rule, you should eat between your BMR and TDEE to lose weight. This makes sense, because you are feeding your vital organs by eating above BMR, but you're still eating fewer calories than you burn in a day through activity; as long as your TDEE estimate is fairly accurate, you SHOULD lose weight doing this.

This makes sense, thanks. It also reinforces my plan of slowly working up to 1600 from where I am now instead of just jumping there.

karlalband

Since you say you have been here a while, you know that there are two ways of looking at this. MFP expects you to be exercising and eating those calories back and you said yourself that you know eventually you are going to stall because you are eating too little, especially if you aren't eating your exercise calories back.

This is where the TDEE method comes in. It is a different way of looking at weight loss. What cubbies and Determined are telling you is that you must eat above your BMR but be subtracting 15 to 20% from your TDEE which they have done for you. Listen to what they said and set your calories to ~1700 and do not eat your exercise calories back.

I was stuck and went to the TDEE method and weight is slowly but steadily coming off. I must note that I am an old(er) lady (harder to lose weight as you get older) and this is working for me so it will work for you! ;-)

And don't eat them back? But if I set it to 1700, and exercised 500 off, I'd be netting 1200 still. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to understand this website's logic, haha. Why not eat 1200 and not exercise? How is that different?

I started walking and my avrage weight loss was 2.4 lbs per week. Then I pick up my activity level exercising at the gym 2-3 hrs 4 to 5 times a week and my weight just stopped. I said the same thing "why" then I started to not feel well. I just didn't feel right. So because I have just started to understand TDEE I am slowly increasing my calorie intake and feeling better little by little. I have 90lbs to lose. Lol...well I just don't fully understand why eat more to lose either. But it's what I'm doing now. So be careful. And good luck.

eyeshuh

My body does not need 1700 calories to live or I'd have been dead a long time ago.

The reason you've been OK eating below BMR for a while is that you have extra energy stores (extra fat, muscle, etc.) that your body can burn as fuel to prevent your organs from shutting down. As long as you have weight to lose, eating below BMR won't kill you.

As you drop weight, though, your body will burn both fat AND muscle. By breaking down muscle, your BMR will also decrease - it takes a lot of energy for your body to maintain muscle, so if you are eating at a severe calorie deficit your body will decrease the amount of muscle that it has to feed so it can conserve energy for your vital organs.

The bottom line is this: if you have a lot of weight to lose (and don't mind losing some muscle mass), eating 1100-1200 calories per day WILL work. But keep in mind that muscle requires a lot of energy to maintain (having more muscle = higher BMR = more calories that you can eat and not gain a lot of excess fat), so eventually you will want to (1) eat at least your BMR every day, and (2) do exercises that help build muscle. These two things will help you reach and maintain a healthier body composition.

I have read that, as a general rule, you should eat between your BMR and TDEE to lose weight. This makes sense, because you are feeding your vital organs by eating above BMR, but you're still eating fewer calories than you burn in a day through activity; as long as your TDEE estimate is fairly accurate, you SHOULD lose weight doing this.

This makes sense, thanks. It also reinforces my plan of slowly working up to 1600 from where I am now instead of just jumping there.

That is not a bad plan. There are lots of people that start out at the extreme low and then correct it by slowly increasing their calories to the amount they should be eating.

Danni3ll3

Your TDEE must be calculated with what you normally spend in terms of energy in a day or averaged over a week. There are some calculators out there that will figure out in a more detailed fashion what you do daily in terms of activity and include the exercise you commit yourself to doing. The 20% reduction is based on that number so it must be accurate. And as said before, you should never eat below your BMR. That is just asking for trouble.

It really isn't that complicated.

Step one: Figure out your energy expenditure for the day. Use various calculators to get a number...it doesn't have to be super accurate. A few calories is not going to make a big difference.

Step two: Subtract 20% from that number.

Step three: Eat that amount of calories and do the exercise and activity you said you are doing on the calculator.

Step four: Watch the weight come off although you might go up the first week or two but don't give up.

Step five: Recalculate every 5 to 10 lbs.

I don't think I can make it any more simple than that! (Can you tell I used to teach primary kids? ;-) )

karlalband

This website doesn't know what your body fat % is, or how active you are, or what you are doing. All it knows is that if you are dead set on extreme weight loss, that if you eat under 1200 calories for too long you will need to go to a hospital.

MFP does the least amount of math possible to give you a number. If you do the math yourself you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

I am 5'3" and I hardly ever eat less than 1800 calories. I have never had issues losing weight. I am still dropping. I ate 2100 calories on Saturday since I exercised off over 600 and didn't want to go under my BMR. I lost .2 lb.

You are going to lose weight at a super low amount of calories. But you are also going to stall, feel like crap, and then gain all the weight back. Then you'll be back on this website posting a new thread asking what you did wrong.

Just do it right the first time and save yourself the trouble.

^^^^ THIS!!!!!

Thank you!!!!!

xLyric

This website doesn't know what your body fat % is, or how active you are, or what you are doing. All it knows is that if you are dead set on extreme weight loss, that if you eat under 1200 calories for too long you will need to go to a hospital.

MFP does the least amount of math possible to give you a number. If you do the math yourself you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

I am 5'3" and I hardly ever eat less than 1800 calories. I have never had issues losing weight. I am still dropping. I ate 2100 calories on Saturday since I exercised off over 600 and didn't want to go under my BMR. I lost .2 lb.

You are going to lose weight at a super low amount of calories. But you are also going to stall, feel like crap, and then gain all the weight back. Then you'll be back on this website posting a new thread asking what you did wrong.

Just do it right the first time and save yourself the trouble.

So when you eat 1800, do you exercise? Or is that your base line like 1200 is for others?

My baseline, based on my TDEE-20% set to being "lightly active" is 1550. If I didn't exercise at all, I would lose weight if I ate 1550 calories.

Since I exercise different amounts every day, that is why I set my TDEE estimation at "lightly active". That means that if I exercise, I am now no longer at my estimated TDEE. My activity level is above it, so, I have to eat back all of those exercise calories in order to make sure my body is getting the 1550 it needs.

Now, I think my BMR is around 1300, which means I should never NET under 1300. However, I always try to keep my net as close to my TDEE-20% as I can, because I'm trying to stay as healthy as possible and eat as much as possible to still lose weight so that when I switch to maintenance it will be extremely easy to just eat a couple hundred more calories a day to maintain.

I know it's a lot to take in, but does that sort of make sense?

BMR: Least you should ever NET
NET: The amount of calories you have left after you subtract exercise
TDEE: I have mine set up on "lightly active" since I exercise different amounts ever day
TDEE -20%: That is the amount of calories that you can NET and still lose weight

Kind of? So since my BMR is ~1600, if I ate that, with NO exercise, I would still lose weight? I am 22, 180lbs, 5' 9''. My activity comes from school. It just seems kind of high.

neurochamp

My body does not need 1700 calories to live or I'd have been dead a long time ago.

The reason you've been OK eating below BMR for a while is that you have extra energy stores (extra fat, muscle, etc.) that your body can burn as fuel to prevent your organs from shutting down. As long as you have weight to lose, eating below BMR won't kill you.

As you drop weight, though, your body will burn both fat AND muscle. By breaking down muscle, your BMR will also decrease - it takes a lot of energy for your body to maintain muscle, so if you are eating at a severe calorie deficit your body will decrease the amount of muscle that it has to feed so it can conserve energy for your vital organs.

The bottom line is this: if you have a lot of weight to lose (and don't mind losing some muscle mass), eating 1100-1200 calories per day WILL work. But keep in mind that muscle requires a lot of energy to maintain (having more muscle = higher BMR = more calories that you can eat and not gain a lot of excess fat), so eventually you will want to (1) eat at least your BMR every day, and (2) do exercises that help build muscle. These two things will help you reach and maintain a healthier body composition.

I have read that, as a general rule, you should eat between your BMR and TDEE to lose weight. This makes sense, because you are feeding your vital organs by eating above BMR, but you're still eating fewer calories than you burn in a day through activity; as long as your TDEE estimate is fairly accurate, you SHOULD lose weight doing this.

This makes sense, thanks. It also reinforces my plan of slowly working up to 1600 from where I am now instead of just jumping there.

Yeah, I think it's a good idea to ramp up slowly - add 50-100cal/day to your goal, then leave it there for a week or two before bumping up again. You've worked hard to get to where you are, and you need to give your body time to adjust to your changing diet. Like I said, adding exercise will also help (since you will eventually want to maintain/build muscle to boost your BMR)...but if you are not exercising regularly right now, that should also be done gradually so you can learn what your limits are in a sensible way - you definitely don't want to overexert yourself and cause an injury.

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

xLyric

I don't think I can make it any more simple than that! (Can you tell I used to teach primary kids? ;-) )

That's good, I'm in college and I still need it explained to me like I'm 5.

xLyric

Yeah, I think it's a good idea to ramp up slowly - add 50-100cal/day to your goal, then leave it there for a week or two before bumping up again. You've worked hard to get to where you are, and you need to give your body time to adjust to your changing diet. Like I said, adding exercise will also help (since you will eventually want to maintain/build muscle to boost your BMR)...but if you are not exercising regularly right now, that should also be done gradually so you can learn what your limits are in a sensible way - you definitely don't want to overexert yourself and cause an injury.

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

Thanks for your help!

eyeshuh

This website doesn't know what your body fat % is, or how active you are, or what you are doing. All it knows is that if you are dead set on extreme weight loss, that if you eat under 1200 calories for too long you will need to go to a hospital.

MFP does the least amount of math possible to give you a number. If you do the math yourself you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

I am 5'3" and I hardly ever eat less than 1800 calories. I have never had issues losing weight. I am still dropping. I ate 2100 calories on Saturday since I exercised off over 600 and didn't want to go under my BMR. I lost .2 lb.

You are going to lose weight at a super low amount of calories. But you are also going to stall, feel like crap, and then gain all the weight back. Then you'll be back on this website posting a new thread asking what you did wrong.

Just do it right the first time and save yourself the trouble.

So when you eat 1800, do you exercise? Or is that your base line like 1200 is for others?

My baseline, based on my TDEE-20% set to being "lightly active" is 1550. If I didn't exercise at all, I would lose weight if I ate 1550 calories.

Since I exercise different amounts every day, that is why I set my TDEE estimation at "lightly active". That means that if I exercise, I am now no longer at my estimated TDEE. My activity level is above it, so, I have to eat back all of those exercise calories in order to make sure my body is getting the 1550 it needs.

Now, I think my BMR is around 1300, which means I should never NET under 1300. However, I always try to keep my net as close to my TDEE-20% as I can, because I'm trying to stay as healthy as possible and eat as much as possible to still lose weight so that when I switch to maintenance it will be extremely easy to just eat a couple hundred more calories a day to maintain.

I know it's a lot to take in, but does that sort of make sense?

BMR: Least you should ever NET
NET: The amount of calories you have left after you subtract exercise
TDEE: I have mine set up on "lightly active" since I exercise different amounts ever day
TDEE -20%: That is the amount of calories that you can NET and still lose weight

Kind of? So since my BMR is ~1600, if I ate that, with NO exercise, I would still lose weight? I am 22, 180lbs, 5' 9''. My activity comes from school. It just seems kind of high.

Yes. However, you should really look at your TDEE-20% rather than your BMR. BMR is what you should NEVER go under. If you want to have a more sustainable weight loss, you should aim higher and go for the TDEE. If you're not sure enough of your activity level, just put it as sedentary or lightly active, and then eat back your exercise calories.

I know it seems high, but trust me, it's not! If you have faith and you give it time, I promise you the weight will come off this way.

xLyric

Yes. However, you should really look at your TDEE-20% rather than your BMR. BMR is what you should NEVER go under. If you want to have a more sustainable weight loss, you should aim higher and go for the TDEE. If you're not sure enough of your activity level, just put it as sedentary or lightly active, and then eat back your exercise calories.

I know it seems high, but trust me, it's not! If you have faith and you give it time, I promise you the weight will come off this way.

Alright, I'll see how it goes. Thanks for your help!

I think I've just about got it, so thanks to everyone else for their help too!

eyeshuh

Most of the people on this site just want to help and want others to be healthy. I really hope that everything works out well for you.

Active37

I am a little confused as well about the BMR and the TDEE. I went to two different websites to calculate both and here is where I am confused....My BMR is 1503 my TDEE is 1796. If I were to eat 20 percent less than the TDEE it comes up as 1436 which is less than my BMR. So if I am supposed to eat at my BMR but 20 percent less of the TDEE is less than that how does that make sense. i am really wanting to try and make a real go at this and being my first time dieting I am really confused

eyeshuh

I am a little confused as well about the BMR and the TDEE. I went to two different websites to calculate both and here is where I am confused....My BMR is 1503 my TDEE is 1796. If I were to eat 20 percent less than the TDEE it comes up as 1436 which is less than my BMR. So if I am supposed to eat at my BMR but 20 percent less of the TDEE is less than that how does that make sense. i am really wanting to try and make a real go at this and being my first time dieting I am really confused

Eat your TDEE -15% instead. Don't go below your BMR. In general the rule that people like to post is:

TDEE #
#
#
<

---

Weight loss
#
#
BMR #

Active37

Thanks I will try to keep it at the 15% It seems I am eating around my BMR every day as is. This whole thing seems complicated to me lol. I started calculating as I eat on a normal basis without trying to change much and as it stands I am eating right around my BMR anyways. If that is the case and I am already like 18 percent down from my TDEE how come I haven't been loosing weight? The only thing that seems to be kind of high is my carbs, like today I went 69 over.

eyeshuh

Do you use a food scale? In cases like that, it's usually an issue of not tracking correctly. If you do use a food scale and track your food well, then you might try not eating all of your exercise calories back, as you might be over estimating them.