Setting Calories at TDEE to Meet Weight Loss Goals

VickiMitkins

I'm getting ready to try something a little different. I want to know if any of you have had success doing something similar. I have reset my calorie goals to what the TDEE calculator I used said would be my TDEE for my goal weight. I find it hard to deal with a 1200 calorie diet day in and day out. There is very little room for even healthful food. My job can be demanding and sometimes I just can get any formal exercize in to get that calorie goal up. Then once I lose the weight, I will have to figure out how much to add back in to stay at maintenance. I don't really want to live like that just to lose weight faster. After thinking about it a bit, I decided to try and eat like I am already 135 lbs and I am already 5 feet tall, so don't have to adjust for that. Don't think i will be getting any taller.. I know it will take longer but the calculator said instead of one lb a week I should expect about 1/3 of a lb each week. I do have a couple of extra challenges, but nothing that can't be overcome. I'm 49 years old and unfortuneately have a sedentary job compounded by underactive thyroid since my late 20's. Also given my age a little perimenoupasal. The ladies out there will get this one, I alternate between hot flashes and shivering chills-its driving my doctor crazy. I also believe that keeping the macros in balance will help you meet weight loss goals, but healthy foods and micro nutrients are incredibly important to over-all health and they cant be ignored. I eat a wide variety of fruit and vegies, nuts, seeds, and lien meets or all types, and I do consider seriously dark chocolate a health food. I have been gluten free for several years (not celieac but very intollerant my entire life) and generally eat very few grains since most processed GF foods are so nutitionally void.

jacksonpt

if I'm understanding you correctly, I think you are misundestanding TDEE. TDEE is total daily energy expenditure - how many cals you burn each day doing all the things you do... everything from breathing and pumping blood through your body to running errands to workouts. Setting cals = to tdee IS maintenance. Eat less than tdee for weight loss, more than tdee for weight gain.

AmyRhubarb

I do TDEE minus 15% - used this topic to help set my goals - check it out, sounds like it might be what you're looking for.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

beachlover317

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

VickiMitkins

if I'm understanding you correctly, I think you are misundestanding TDEE. TDEE is total daily energy expenditure - how many cals you burn each day doing all the things you do... everything from breathing and pumping blood through your body to running errands to workouts. Setting cals = to tdee IS maintenance. Eat less than tdee for weight loss, more than tdee for weight gain.

I think I uderstand what TDEE is, I'm just using it as a tool to determine what my calorie expenditures should be if I were at 135 lbs instead of 170 lbs. I'm then using that as my target for daily calorie intake. It's still putting me in a deficit, just not a 500 calorie a day deficit. If it works the way I expect, I will continue to lose weight at a slower pace. I will eventually hit my target weight (give or take a few lbs) and stay there as long as my activity level and calorie intake remain constant. My thought is that by the time that happens, I will be very comfortable eating the correct number of colaries needed to maintain 135lb and getting what exersize I can fit in.

VickiMitkins

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

shellma00

I do TDEE minus 15% - used this topic to help set my goals - check it out, sounds like it might be what you're looking for.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I just switched to this roadmap, but I did the TDEE -20% as Dan suggests later in the comments. I can eat more and I am not gaining and I feel like I will be able to actually log a loss soon. I will say that I have only been doing this for a week, but I am not hungry throughout the day and feel like I am not starving myself. It feels GREAT!!! Good Luck!!

jacksonpt

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

Gotcha, ok I misunderstood then.

Can I ask why? Not judging, just trying to understand. Seems kinda like the weather to me. If the temp is 15 degrees, but windchill is 5 below, I'm going to dress like it's 5 below. If you're 170lbs, why aren't you basing your needs/goals on 170?

Again, just trying to understand this approach.

shellma00

if I'm understanding you correctly, I think you are misundestanding TDEE. TDEE is total daily energy expenditure - how many cals you burn each day doing all the things you do... everything from breathing and pumping blood through your body to running errands to workouts. Setting cals = to tdee IS maintenance. Eat less than tdee for weight loss, more than tdee for weight gain.

I think I uderstand what TDEE is, I'm just using it as a tool to determine what my calorie expenditures should be if I were at 135 lbs instead of 170 lbs. I'm then using that as my target for daily calorie intake. It's still putting me in a deficit, just not a 500 calorie a day deficit. If it works the way I expect, I will continue to lose weight at a slower pace. I will eventually hit my target weight (give or take a few lbs) and stay there as long as my activity level and calorie intake remain constant. My thought is that by the time that happens, I will be very comfortable eating the correct number of colaries needed to maintain 135lb and getting what exersize I can fit in.

That makes more sense.. In your OP you did not mention you were 170, so that was a little confusing. So yes you would use your TDEE for your goal weight of 135. Good Luck!! Sounds like you know what you are doing, I love using this method personally!

:drinker:

AmyRhubarb

I do TDEE minus 15% - used this topic to help set my goals - check it out, sounds like it might be what you're looking for.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I just switched to this roadmap, but I did the TDEE -20% as Dan suggests later in the comments. I can eat more and I am not gaining and I feel like I will be able to actually log a loss soon. I will say that I have only been doing this for a week, but I am not hungry throughout the day and feel like I am not starving myself. It feels GREAT!!! Good Luck!!

It's awesome! I started at a 20% deficit too, but am near goal weight, so dropped to 15% & am mostly focused on lowering my body fat percentage rather than the scale at this point. The Road Map rocks! :drinker:

auddii

There's a group on here called something like "eating for the future you". Lots of people do it, so look into it. It ends up being lower than your current TDEE and higher than your BMR, so it is similar to the in place of a road map group.

In fact, the in place of a roadmap spreadsheet includes a "future you" calculation on the side. Personally, eating for the future me would be weight loss of 0.7lbs per week (doing it IPOARM is 1.5lbs per week). However, I have 75lbs to lose, so that would be a really slow method for me. The closer you get to goal, the more appropriate it would be.

loriepaulin

Sounds like a good plan and I know everyone's body is different. The only thing I will add here is that I am also Hypothyroid and when I up'd mine to @2k calories for maintaince I actually gained the 20pds back that I am trying to lose right now. Just something I wanted to share especially since we have a lot in common, desk jobs, thyroid, etc. I do best at losing weight @1600 calories a day with 5 days a week of exercise.

VickiMitkins

Sounds like a good plan and I know everyone's body is different. The only thing I will add here is that I am also Hypothyroid and when I up'd mine to @2k calories for maintaince I actually gained the 20pds back that I am trying to lose right now. Just something I wanted to share especially since we have a lot in common, desk jobs, thyroid, etc. I do best at losing weight @1600 calories a day with 5 days a week of exercise.

That's one of the things I want to avoid. I had gotten down to about 158 for a while and felt pretty good. Tried maintenance just to take a break and the and a year later I'm up to 170. At least I did not go all the way back to 195. Small mercies.. I thought about it for a while and it makes sense to eat what I need at my goal weight instead of a a number that would not be enought to sustain me at 100lbs let alone 135lbs. I did have a body analysis done a few months back and I am about 31%bf which is less than one would expect for a 170lb woman that is 5ft tall. Gives me hope that even though my weight is up there, its still close to an acceptable bf for an adult. Just would like to to be more like 25%.

Duck_Puddle

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

Gotcha, ok I misunderstood then.

Can I ask why? Not judging, just trying to understand. Seems kinda like the weather to me. If the temp is 15 degrees, but windchill is 5 below, I'm going to dress like it's 5 below. If you're 170lbs, why aren't you basing your needs/goals on 170?

Again, just trying to understand this approach.

I'm pretty much following this approach too. My reasoning is that I'm "done". The way I'm eating now is the way I'll eat forever. There's no changeover to maintenance, no learning to eat 100 (or whatever) more or less. Assuming my activity level remains what it is, I just do this forever and ever and eventually I'll be at my goal weight. No recalculating, no nothing-it just "is".

VickiMitkins

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

Gotcha, ok I misunderstood then.

Can I ask why? Not judging, just trying to understand. Seems kinda like the weather to me. If the temp is 15 degrees, but windchill is 5 below, I'm going to dress like it's 5 below. If you're 170lbs, why aren't you basing your needs/goals on 170?

Again, just trying to understand this approach.

I read a post a few weeks ago that sugested one should eat like the person they want to be. Made sense to me. It may be slower, but I still weigh a lot less than I did, I'm healthier now, and all my numbers are good; so instead of being worred about missing a goal of 1200 calories so I can lose one lb a week, I'm going to eat like I'm already there and see what happens this year.

VickiMitkins

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

Gotcha, ok I misunderstood then.

Can I ask why? Not judging, just trying to understand. Seems kinda like the weather to me. If the temp is 15 degrees, but windchill is 5 below, I'm going to dress like it's 5 below. If you're 170lbs, why aren't you basing your needs/goals on 170?

Again, just trying to understand this approach.

I'm pretty much following this approach too. My reasoning is that I'm "done". The way I'm eating now is the way I'll eat forever. There's no changeover to maintenance, no learning to eat 100 (or whatever) more or less. Assuming my activity level remains what it is, I just do this forever and ever and eventually I'll be at my goal weight. No recalculating, no nothing-it just "is".

Thumbs Up!

krickeyuu

It is exactly what I did. January 2012 I set my calories to TDEE, sedentary, for my goal weight of 130+/- a few lbs. This was about 1500 calories. It took about 10 months to lose 21 lbs and now I have leveled off at about 132. I don't know if I will lose any more but I am not too worried about it. I find 1500 calories to be fine most days. I meet my macros and I exercise for health and treats (wine mostly). I also liked the fact that I was trining my body for what would eventually be my maintenance. Good Luck!

Duck_Puddle

I will also say that there's really no material difference in calorie goal for me whether I use current TDEE-%, TDEE for goal weight or mfp's settings (plus exercise calories). It all works out to a gross intake of about 1800 (netting me around 1200). I choose to keep mfp's settings because I have been injured or sick or recovering from surgery or whatnot too many times to feel comfortable not actively "seeing" the exercise portion separately. But again-it would work out the same (if I can't exercise, I would need to remember to recalculate all the TDEE numbers anyway).

I don't think that really adds anything to the discussion about using the goal weight TDEE, but wanted to add that for me, it's really yet another way to arrive at the same number.

elisa123gal

Hi. There is a name for that kind of diet..where you just eat at the calorie limit for your goal weight. I can't recall the name..but i've read that it worked in the article I was going over. It makes sense. The only difference is when you eat at 500 calorie deficit for your present weight..you gradually go down as you lose....which might help you to avoid a plateau. yet i don't know for sure. just something to think on. good luck.

Sabine_Stroehm

If memory serves, isn't this what fat2fitradio suggests doing?

cwolfman13

I think she is saying that she will use her estimated TDEE for her GOAL weight now. Eat the calories she would at goal weight. I've heard of some people doing that.

That is what I'm saying.

I've known some people who've done this with great success, though it is a much slower process. I did this initially after I dumped the 2Lb per week goal and my goal was about 100 calories per day less than my current TDEE so roughly .2 Lbs loss per week. I ultimately decided to go with TDEE - 20% for roughly 1 Lb per week. I find the caloric goal to be acceptable. If you're doing the 1,200 calorie goal thing, it's probably because you entered for 2Lbs per week loss which is a lot. 20% less your TDEE should be right around 1Lb give or take a couple points and is much more manageable. Nothing wrong with using the TDEE of your goal weight other than the fact that it's really slow.

Jerrypeoples

all this talk about TDEE vs everything else is a little confusing

i just figured mine out at iifym.com and it says i should be eating at 4804 a day. this seems a bit too high for me.

MFP has me eating 1900 a day. my current weight is 233.5 and i want to get to 212 so 1900 is suggested

who do i believe?

VickiMitkins

Actually I was set for one lb per week at 1200 colories. Problem is a sedentary job and only about 30 minutes most days to get in any exersize

VickiMitkins

all this talk about TDEE vs everything else is a little confusing

i just figured mine out at iifym.com and it says i should be eating at 4804 a day. this seems a bit too high for me.

MFP has me eating 1900 a day. my current weight is 233.5 and i want to get to 212 so 1900 is suggested

who do i believe?

If my understanding of TDEE is accurate, the number provided would be for you to stay exactly where you are. for weight loss you would deduct a percetage of calories from that number. I've read anywhere from 10-30% depending on goals. Or like me instead of plugging in your current weight, plug in your goal weight and see what it says.

VickiMitkins

Thanks for a great exchange. I've read some of the information y'all posted and I'm encouraged that this is a good way to meet my health goals.

heybales

The fat2fit site does indeed do that, sadly they use the least accurate Harris BMR still for some reason.

The Mifflin BMR has been found to be about 5% more accurate, at healthy weight and avg LBM to fat ratio of the healthy participants the study was based on.

They also force you to use a sub-goal if the range is too big, and you still have the problem of picking the right activity level - is 60 min of walking equal to 60 min of lifting equal to 60 min of running?
Hardly.

So indeed, I had a Eating for Future You group and spreadsheet that finally became a spreadsheet for the more used TDEE deficit method.
I did that group before I knew fat2fit was doing it, but I'm glad I did because I still prefer this method, and many with very consistent routines have indeed set it and forgot it. They let me know from time to time still losing.

I recently put the Eating for Future You on the Simple Setup tab to visually compare too on a newer spreadsheet.

It'll usually be a smaller deficit, sometimes not. The new usage actually is still 5% off goal weight TDEE, or otherwise it might take a long time to lose the last 5 lbs. But that's still close enough to learn to eat at goal weight.

Description and link for new spreadsheet here in that old group.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

tdooley59

Saving for topic link.

LeenaRuns

Yes! I did that--ate for maintenance at my goal weight. Worked out awesome.