No More TDEE posts

tisha_rae

I too spent so much time trying to figure out how much to eat (and being really hungry as well). Then I realized if I wore something to track how much I actually burned every day (not just during work outs) that I could just eat 500 calories less than that. No more complicated math for me, just subtraction.

Love it!

wibutterflymagic

It looks like you are right on the money!! I need more friends that believe in doing this the healthy way and not starving themselves at 1000 calories. Totally sending a friend request!!

tisha_rae

I don't know much, but I definitely DO understand TDEE.

From your original post, I wasn't sure if you totally understood why/why not someone might choose to eat back or not eat back exercise calories using TDEE-20%, so I just wanted to explain the reason in case it makes it easier for you to understand what you're doing.

There are two ways to calculate TDEE. You can (a) include your activity level OR (b) set your activity level at sedentary.

If you include your activity level, you WOULD NOT eat back exercise calories, because those are included in the calculation of your TDEE. If you do this, log your exercise as 1 calorie burned and it will not affect your net intake.

If you set activity level at sedentary, you WOULD eat back exercise calories, because they are not included in the calculation. If you do this, log all your exercise calories, and eat them back, resulting in the same net intake as the first method.

The net intake doing either of this is the same. I personally use the second method because I like seeing all my calories burned; it is motivating to me. If your exercise is at all inconsistent, week to week, the second method also makes sure you don't accidentally go over on calories for the week, because you don't have a set number of exercise calories accounted for.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for your input & clarification.

I knew I didn’t have to eat back the exercise calories, but with my goal set at 20% of TDEE I was consistently eating under my BMR….so setting my goal to that number helps me ensure that I eat enough.

It was just a better way for me to track.

8Sam12

I just used that site you linked to and it gave me these numbers:

BMR: 1744
TDEE: 2093
TDEE -20%: 1674

So my TDEE-20% is lower than my BMR. I eat back exercise calories as my exercise patterns can vary a lot depending on how much work I have to do (I'm a student so when deadlines are looming there's much less time) so I just put my activity level as sedentary.
I currently have my calorie limit set to 1400 (up from 1200 after reading the forums). Can someone explain to me what I should do considering my BMR is higher than my TDEE-20%? I'm a bit confused. And to be honest, I still can't quite imagine eating that many calories to loose weight...

1ConcreteGirl

I just used that site you linked to and it gave me these numbers:

BMR: 1744
TDEE: 2093
TDEE -20%: 1674

So my TDEE-20% is lower than my BMR. I eat back exercise calories as my exercise patterns can vary a lot depending on how much work I have to do (I'm a student so when deadlines are looming there's much less time) so I just put my activity level as sedentary.
I currently have my calorie limit set to 1400 (up from 1200 after reading the forums). Can someone explain to me what I should do considering my BMR is higher than my TDEE-20%? I'm a bit confused. And to be honest, I still can't quite imagine eating that many calories to loose weight...

Try for TDEE-15% instead, then.

The larger a person is, the more they can eat and still lose weight. Remember this is not a sprint; give it time. Try it for a month and then let us know how it goes

jonnythan

I knew I didn’t have to eat back the exercise calories, but with my goal set at 20% of TDEE I was consistently eating under my BMR….

What's wrong with eating under your BMR? If you don't burn 500 calories over your BMR, eating less than your BMR is fine.

My BMR is just over 1700, but most days I eat between 1550 and 1650. There's nothing wrong with that; I'm just not very active those days.

slim422

Bump

BGM325

This is my last post about this for awhile, I’ve been blowing up the boards & posting about this all week.

I finally think I have figured it out – or at least what I think will work for me, and what I’m going to try.

I believe whole heartedly in the idea behind eating enough as to not slow down your metabolism “aka starvation mode” (no your body isn’t actually starving)

I had calculated my BMR, TDEE and 20% of TDEE, I upped my calories and changed my goals ( using 20% of TDEE)…but I was still confused – to eat or not eat back calories…everyone had a different opinion.

After hearing from everyone, reading a lot of information, and coming near to the edge…this is what I am going to do. I re-set my calorie goal to my BMR – 1495 per this site…

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I will be eating back my exercise calories and trying my hardest to never drop below 1495 ( I need this just to function in a healthy way)

I am keeping in mind that if I go over – DO NOT FREAK OUT – so long as I am not OVER 20% of my TDEE which happens to be 1644.

Thus my calorie goal daily is at least 1495 & not over 1644.

I set my macro’s as well –

35% protein
45% carb
20% fat

I also watch my sodium (2500mg) & fiber(15g)

When I reviewed my diary after changing these goals it was very clear that I’ve consistently been eating under my BMR on 7 out of 9 days with or without exercise…
And that I need to be eating much, much more protein (never met goal).

I wanted to post this because it really did make me crazy and I know a lot of other people struggle with it too.
I’m NOT advocating this – just sharing.

If you really have your stuff together and see a problem in my theory please let me know. I welcome any suggestions.

If you are similar and want to be friends – add me.

In case you find this info useful;

I am 33, 5’5 and 160lbs w/ a goal of 135.

Oh, and one more article I found useful…

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/595473-why-the-scale-goes-up-with-a-new-workout-program-must-read

This is really helpful. It took me a while to figure out how to do things correctly, if I would've read this post last week it would've saved me loads of confusion! (And research!) :happy:

1ConcreteGirl

I knew I didn’t have to eat back the exercise calories, but with my goal set at 20% of TDEE I was consistently eating under my BMR….

What's wrong with eating under your BMR? If you don't burn 500 calories over your BMR, eating less than your BMR is fine.

My BMR is just over 1700, but most days I eat between 1550 and 1650. There's nothing wrong with that; I'm just not very active those days.

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

lilahk95

bump

jonnythan

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

... What? Why? You want a calorie deficit. You have to eat fewer calories than you use in a day to lose weight.

So what happens when your TDEE is only 300 calories over your BMR? My BMR is about 1728. What do I do when my TDEE is 2050? Eat 1728 anyway, instead of TDEE - 20% = 1640 (or, alternatively, TDEE - 500 = 1550)?

Why would I want to do that?

artofbs

Here is an interesting thought... I've done the whole use MFP figure and eat back the exercise routine before. Had some success but fell off the wagon after a few weeks.

This time around I have purchased a tracker (Fitbit One) which tracks steps and flights of stairs and converts this to a calories burned figure through the day - this is based on weights and BMR on the Fitbit website and its all linked together with MFP. I'm finding that I am eating up to 600 or so MORE calories that what I would of done based on MFP's base figure of 1980 (set at lightly active I think) and I am losing weight. The beauty of this is though, if I sit around on my butt all day I will be close to or below the 1980. Everyday is different.

tisha_rae

I just used that site you linked to and it gave me these numbers:

BMR: 1744
TDEE: 2093
TDEE -20%: 1674

So my TDEE-20% is lower than my BMR. I eat back exercise calories as my exercise patterns can vary a lot depending on how much work I have to do (I'm a student so when deadlines are looming there's much less time) so I just put my activity level as sedentary.
I currently have my calorie limit set to 1400 (up from 1200 after reading the forums). Can someone explain to me what I should do considering my BMR is higher than my TDEE-20%? I'm a bit confused. And to be honest, I still can't quite imagine eating that many calories to loose weight...

do you mind giving me your stats?

tisha_rae

This is my last post about this for awhile, I’ve been blowing up the boards & posting about this all week.

I finally think I have figured it out – or at least what I think will work for me, and what I’m going to try.

I believe whole heartedly in the idea behind eating enough as to not slow down your metabolism “aka starvation mode” (no your body isn’t actually starving)

I had calculated my BMR, TDEE and 20% of TDEE, I upped my calories and changed my goals ( using 20% of TDEE)…but I was still confused – to eat or not eat back calories…everyone had a different opinion.

After hearing from everyone, reading a lot of information, and coming near to the edge…this is what I am going to do. I re-set my calorie goal to my BMR – 1495 per this site…

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I will be eating back my exercise calories and trying my hardest to never drop below 1495 ( I need this just to function in a healthy way)

I am keeping in mind that if I go over – DO NOT FREAK OUT – so long as I am not OVER 20% of my TDEE which happens to be 1644.

Thus my calorie goal daily is at least 1495 & not over 1644.

I set my macro’s as well –

35% protein
45% carb
20% fat

I also watch my sodium (2500mg) & fiber(15g)

When I reviewed my diary after changing these goals it was very clear that I’ve consistently been eating under my BMR on 7 out of 9 days with or without exercise…
And that I need to be eating much, much more protein (never met goal).

I wanted to post this because it really did make me crazy and I know a lot of other people struggle with it too.
I’m NOT advocating this – just sharing.

If you really have your stuff together and see a problem in my theory please let me know. I welcome any suggestions.

If you are similar and want to be friends – add me.

In case you find this info useful;

I am 33, 5’5 and 160lbs w/ a goal of 135.

Oh, and one more article I found useful…

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/595473-why-the-scale-goes-up-with-a-new-workout-program-must-read

This is really helpful. It took me a while to figure out how to do things correctly, if I would've read this post last week it would've saved me loads of confusion! (And research!) :happy:

Thanks!

I'm happy that it helped....as you can see there is still a lot of debate but this is what I thought would work best for me. Good Luck!

1ConcreteGirl

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

... What? Why? You want a calorie deficit. You have to eat fewer calories than you use in a day to lose weight.

So what happens when your TDEE is only 300 calories over your BMR? My BMR is about 1728. What do I do when my TDEE is 2050? Eat 1728 anyway, instead of TDEE - 20% = 1640 (or, alternatively, TDEE - 500 = 1550)?

Why would I want to do that?

Again, BMR is the number of calories your body requires to function without doing anything else.

You get no applause for depriving your body of its required nutrients; this is foolish, not urbane, and I'm worried you'll snare someone into this same false perception.

TDEE-20% is not the gold standard for everyone. It depends on how much you are trying to lose. The closer you get to goal, the less you have to reduce from TDEE. Try TDEE-15% or TDEE-10%. The closer to goal you get, the closer you can eat to your TDEE.

jonnythan

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

... What? Why? You want a calorie deficit. You have to eat fewer calories than you use in a day to lose weight.

So what happens when your TDEE is only 300 calories over your BMR? My BMR is about 1728. What do I do when my TDEE is 2050? Eat 1728 anyway, instead of TDEE - 20% = 1640 (or, alternatively, TDEE - 500 = 1550)?

Why would I want to do that?

Again, BMR is the number of calories your body requires to function without doing anything else.

You get no applause for depriving your body of its required nutrients; this is foolish, not urbane, and I'm worried you'll snare someone into this same false perception.

TDEE-20% is not the gold standard for everyone. It depends on how much you are trying to lose. The closer you get to goal, the less you have to reduce from TDEE. Try TDEE-15% or TDEE-10%. The closer to goal you get, the closer you can eat to your TDEE.

You do realize that you need to eat fewer calories than your body requires in order to lose weight, right..?

TDEE-20% is a common, accepted, safe calorie deficit. Sometimes that number can come out to be lower than your BMR. There is nothing wrong with this.

FYI, I've long used TDEE - 500 to lose weight. That number is occasionally below BMR when I have a rather sedentary day. It happens, and it's fine.

strikerjb007

I don't know much, but I definitely DO understand TDEE.

From your original post, I wasn't sure if you totally understood why/why not someone might choose to eat back or not eat back exercise calories using TDEE-20%, so I just wanted to explain the reason in case it makes it easier for you to understand what you're doing.

There are two ways to calculate TDEE. You can (a) include your activity level OR (b) set your activity level at sedentary.

If you include your activity level, you WOULD NOT eat back exercise calories, because those are included in the calculation of your TDEE. If you do this, log your exercise as 1 calorie burned and it will not affect your net intake.

If you set activity level at sedentary, you WOULD eat back exercise calories, because they are not included in the calculation. If you do this, log all your exercise calories, and eat them back, resulting in the same net intake as the first method.

The net intake doing either of this is the same. I personally use the second method because I like seeing all my calories burned; it is motivating to me. If your exercise is at all inconsistent, week to week, the second method also makes sure you don't accidentally go over on calories for the week, because you don't have a set number of exercise calories accounted for.

Hope this helps!

Can we make this a forum sticky so no one ever argues about this stuff anymore? Pretty straight forward.

bpotts44

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

... What? Why? You want a calorie deficit. You have to eat fewer calories than you use in a day to lose weight.

So what happens when your TDEE is only 300 calories over your BMR? My BMR is about 1728. What do I do when my TDEE is 2050? Eat 1728 anyway, instead of TDEE - 20% = 1640 (or, alternatively, TDEE - 500 = 1550)?

Why would I want to do that?

Again, BMR is the number of calories your body requires to function without doing anything else.

You get no applause for depriving your body of its required nutrients; this is foolish, not urbane, and I'm worried you'll snare someone into this same false perception.

TDEE-20% is not the gold standard for everyone. It depends on how much you are trying to lose. The closer you get to goal, the less you have to reduce from TDEE. Try TDEE-15% or TDEE-10%. The closer to goal you get, the closer you can eat to your TDEE.

Its perfectly okay to eat below your BMR as long as you have calculated TDEE - 500 for your deficit. BMR is the amount of calories your body burns a day at total rest. If you were to rest all day and eat below your BMR you would lose weight. Just because you go below BMR does not mean you are doing any type of damage to your body. For smaller and inactive people their TDEE is very close to BMR and they really need to get below BMR to lose weight.

1ConcreteGirl

This is completely incorrect.

BMR is the number of calories that your body takes merely to exist without doing additional work. Work does not mean exercise here, it means things as simple as walking around.

Always eat above BMR. ALWAYS.

... What? Why? You want a calorie deficit. You have to eat fewer calories than you use in a day to lose weight.

So what happens when your TDEE is only 300 calories over your BMR? My BMR is about 1728. What do I do when my TDEE is 2050? Eat 1728 anyway, instead of TDEE - 20% = 1640 (or, alternatively, TDEE - 500 = 1550)?

Why would I want to do that?

Again, BMR is the number of calories your body requires to function without doing anything else.

You get no applause for depriving your body of its required nutrients; this is foolish, not urbane, and I'm worried you'll snare someone into this same false perception.

TDEE-20% is not the gold standard for everyone. It depends on how much you are trying to lose. The closer you get to goal, the less you have to reduce from TDEE. Try TDEE-15% or TDEE-10%. The closer to goal you get, the closer you can eat to your TDEE.

You do realize that you need to eat fewer calories than your body requires in order to lose weight, right..?

TDEE-20% is a common, accepted, safe calorie deficit. Sometimes that number can come out to be lower than your BMR. There is nothing wrong with this.

All of your posts indicate a lack of complete understanding as to what BMR is, functionally.

If you were to lie in bed all day, BMR is the number of calories you would burn merely by existing. It takes more calories than your BMR to walk around, talk to people, go to work, etc. TDEE includes BMR + however many extra calories you burn during your daily activity.

In order to lose weight, you must eat less than your body requires, true, but not less than it requires to exist.

Thus, eat above BMR and below TDEE to lose weight.

With only 15 lbs to lose, you should be eating at a small deficit: TDEE-10% would put your intake at 1845 on a daily basis and result in about a 0.5 lb loss per week.

Incidentally, 0.5 lbs is basically the maximum amount of fat that YOUR body (15 lbs from goal) can oxidize in a 7-10 day period without losing Lean Body Mass. This is a desireable rate of loss that keeps your body functioning efficiently and also results in weight loss at a sustainable rate with maximum preservation of muscle.

bfitnbfab

bump