Any success stories using the TDEE-20% (15%) method?

bren3345

So if you're using the TDEE method, you shouldn't log your exercise?

I'm using the TDEE but then logging (and eating back) my exercise calories as well. I know it's not exactly how it's designed to be used but it seems to be working ok so far (it's only been 2 weeks since I changed this). I figure that if I build enough movement into my every day life then I can afford to log the actual exercise.

Every body is different, I think the best thing to do is experiment and figure out what works for you. For me I enjoy the motivation of knowing I can eat back my exercise calories.

Yea i ate back my exercise calories today and feel fine. I'm pretty good at listening to my body and knowing when to eat, when not to eat so I definitely don't feel like I was overdoing it. You're right though - I need to figure out what works for me.

holliwood97

I only started December 11, and I got a little side tracked with the holidays. But, started taking progress pics once a month in January. I also started stronglifts in January. I'm currently eating at TDEE-25%

you look amazing!!

Jemmuno

What's your age, height, weight? If your running that much I think you have your activity level set wrong. MFP always puts ppl at too low of calories, assuming that they will workout and eat back their calories. Also, most people say they are sedentary when they are not.

I'm 27, 5'1, 120. I have it set on sedentary because I have a desk job. But I'm very active so maybe I should change it.

Yea I think you should!

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

go here and plug in your info. When you calculate remember your TDEE is the most you should be eating and BMR is the least you should be eating. I always try to attain what I calculated as my deficit, so for example I eat no less than 1850 (my 20%deficit) and no more than 2300 (my TDEE).

You should calculate how many hours on average you work out a week and pick your activity level based on that. Then you don't have to worry about keeping track of exercise calories. I think they are a pain to keep track of.

Hope this helps!!

Thank you so much! It finally clicked! My BMR is 1,330, TDEE is 2,294 and my daily calories are 1,835 so I will try to stay around that. I appreciate you explaining it to me!

Yea so just stay in between 1835 and 2294, but always make sure to eat up to your 1835. So if you still feel hungry when you reach 1835 your still fine to eat more. Just try to stay below 2294.

lina011

my BMR is about 1600 cal to just function but when i do the road map and do not eat back my calories its 1300 cal so im eating under my BMR?? on MFP im just eating my BMR calories which is 1600?? help

Thisisnotadiet

TDEE-15% and looking good so far

determinedbutlazy

TDEE - 20 and losing just fine

bviv89

I'm barely losing 1/2 pound a week - I'm scared to up my intake by 400 calories per day for TDEE - 20%...

dangerousdumpling

I'm barely losing 1/2 pound a week - I'm scared to up my intake by 400 calories per day for TDEE - 20%...

I know how you feel but I figured if I'm going to lose weight slowly on 1200-1400 calories I might as well see what happens if I eat more. I'm starting tomorrow.

Ascolti_la_musica

I'm barely losing 1/2 pound a week - I'm scared to up my intake by 400 calories per day for TDEE - 20%...

I know how you feel but I figured if I'm going to lose weight slowly on 1200-1400 calories I might as well see what happens if I eat more. I'm starting tomorrow.

What will happen is that you will have more energy and feel more motivated. I did not believe this, no matter how many time I read it, until I tried it myself. If you have been eating at a deficit for a long time, you might gain a little at first, as your metabolism catches up. In the end, though, you will feel SO MUCH BETTER!

taso42

Worked for me
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/727591-taso-s-cut-log

carfamily08

TDEE-20% (and now -15%) since last fall (with extra calories added in for nursing too). Losing every week, hoping to hit 40lbs. lost in the next week or two

neandermagnon

copied and pasted from an earlier post where someone asked about counting calories:

I went from obese to 22% body fat using the TDEE -x% method. I started off with I think TDEE -20% but as I got leaner I made the deficit smaller

when I was obese and first starting out I was eating 1300 cals/day
I upped that to 1400 cals/day along the way
then up to 1500 cals/day as I approached a healthy body fat %

Currently eating 1850 cals/day for maintenance, although I'm checking at the moment whether that's really maintenance, or a very small deficit. (i.e. it's my current calorie goal and I'm sticking to it for a couple of weeks to see if my weight is stable, or very slowly going down)

I also did heavy lifting throughout.... although now I'm at maintenance I'm focusing on getting stronger more than on what I look like, but I am aiming to slowly lower my body fat percentage to the 18-20% range (although it's a particular look that I'm after, more than a specific body fat percentage) and I'm also aiming to increase my lean body mass to 105lb+ (cycling between eating at a deficit and a surplus to achieve this)

I'm 5'1" 130lb (approx 100lb lean body mass/approx 22% body fat)

Yes TDEE - x% worked for me. I'm planning on using it for bulking and cutting to keep improving my body composition, probably going to be cutting at TDEE - 10%, not sure about bulking, if I'll go with the same percentage or not. But it's the same concept, i.e. TDEE + x% to gain muscle.

shst07

I only started December 11, and I got a little side tracked with the holidays. But, started taking progress pics once a month in January. I also started stronglifts in January. I'm currently eating at TDEE-25%

Congratulations! You look amazing!

shst07

Thank you everyone for your input! Very motivational! I'm looking forward to having success with this method too.

Koldnomore

I do it in a more modified way because my exercise is not always the same. I work my TDEE based on NO exercise and then I eat back on days that I am more active. I just recently got a fitbit which shows my TDEE is around 2600 on a 'work day' but just barely above my BMR on a lazy day. I used to just do it based on TDEE but then I end up overeating too often.

TDEE - 20%(15% or whatever) is best for people who are active to about the same level every day. If you aren't then you are better to calculate it from your sedentary TDEE and eat back calories.

kegbail

bump for later

Hbazzell

I'm new. Can some tell me what this means TDEE-%(15%).

Total Daily Estimated Expenditure (of calories)

shannonsky

I do it in a more modified way because my exercise is not always the same. I work my TDEE based on NO exercise and then I eat back on days that I am more active. I just recently got a fitbit which shows my TDEE is around 2600 on a 'work day' but just barely above my BMR on a lazy day. I used to just do it based on TDEE but then I end up overeating too often.

TDEE - 20%(15% or whatever) is best for people who are active to about the same level every day. If you aren't then you are better to calculate it from your sedentary TDEE and eat back calories.

This is actually what I do, too. I keep forgetting it's not the norm lol. Without working out, I'm "lightly active", I have 2 young kids to chase around all day. Working out, I either lift heavy, which is not a lot of cals, or run far, which is. So my daily calorie needs are pretty variable right now. If I wasn't working out, or was ONLY running or ONLY lifting, or whatever, nearly every day, I'd use the standard TDEE with exercise factored in.

Marie_25

I'm doing TDEE-20% and have been for about 8 weeks now. I'm steadily losing my predicted loss of 0.9lb per week (sometimes more, never less) and am very happy with this, and I know I can maintain this without feeling hungry. I do however eat my exercise calories back, and set my Activity level to Sedintary to get my TDEE, my exercise can be sporadic so I find this better. Also, I find that the calories burned given by MFP are too high and work on the basis that 1 hour moderate exercise is around 200 calories, rather than the 389 MFP says it is.

Anyone new I would suggest looking up Dans Roadmap, and checking out what HeyBales has to say, they produced a spreadsheet that works everything out for you, I found it really useful when I couldn't make head or tail of the various numbers I was getting.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

ladyraven68

my BMR is about 1600 cal to just function but when i do the road map and do not eat back my calories its 1300 cal so im eating under my BMR?? on MFP im just eating my BMR calories which is 1600?? help

If your BMR is 1600m your TDEE - 20% cannot be 1300. You appear to have have deducted the 20% from your BMR, not your TDEE.

fbranch7

I have the same questions. Bump for later!

DonM46

I didn't know what TDEE was until I started reading the forum.
I STILL don't know what mine is.
Never bothered to calculate it.
I just used MFP's numbers.
Why complicate things?

taso42

I didn't know what TDEE was until I started reading the forum.
I STILL don't know what mine is.
Never bothered to calculate it.
I just used MFP's numbers.
Why complicate things?

It's a simplification, not a complication. It takes away the need to itemize exercise calories, and keeps one's calorie targer constant every day.

kblu0816

Have been on MFP for a few years and am at a stand still with my weight loss. I was always trying to match MFP's goals of 1200 calories + exercise calories but was always still hungry and making bad choices at the end of the day. Read about TDEE-20% a week ago and decided to give it a shot. Haven't seen the scale move (up or down which is good for me lol) but it's only been a week so we'll see what happens. I've already noticed progress at the gym. Made it 4x last week and wasn't totally burnt out by the end of the week.

Can't wait to start heavy lifting, right now I'm just doing light weights and lots of HIIT workouts. I have sciatica so I need to get some of the pounds off and strengthen my core before I start trying to lift heavy again. Tried a month or so ago and hurt my back again so hopefully this method will help.

montlucia

I hit a plateau and pretty much started more or less eating at TDEE - 20% and have been doing so for 4 weeks. I've lost 8 pounds during that time and had been at the same weight for months before so it definitely works. Plus I have much more energy in my workouts. There are days when I don't get much exercise and don't reach my target because I'm not hungry enough to eat that much, especially while upping protein. I eat back my exercise calories but I estimate the calories conservatively because I don't have a HRM.

I found the Scooby Workshop Calorie Counter, that someone here linked me to, pretty helpful. It gave me a daily calorie intake based on my weekly exercise and macros. So whether I'm exercising that day or not, it gives me flexibility so I don't have to be excessively strict all the time and can eat pretty much the same on lazy days. Relaxing a little and eating more (but cleaner) has resulted in more weight loss.

Actually I don't know whether getting over my plateau has more to do with eating more protein or with upping my calorie intake.

dangerousdumpling

I do it in a more modified way because my exercise is not always the same. I work my TDEE based on NO exercise and then I eat back on days that I am more active. I just recently got a fitbit which shows my TDEE is around 2600 on a 'work day' but just barely above my BMR on a lazy day. I used to just do it based on TDEE but then I end up overeating too often.

TDEE - 20%(15% or whatever) is best for people who are active to about the same level every day. If you aren't then you are better to calculate it from your sedentary TDEE and eat back calories.

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering if this might work for me, too. My rest days are pretty lazy.

dazzo62

I am trying it for the first time - just upped my calories and will see how it goes. Kind of a joy to eat more!

kimimila86

I started doing TDEE -20% almost 3 weeks ago and I was seeing progress, but TOM is here and now it's all screwed up. I'm going to just trust the process and put in the work and see what happens in a couple weeks. I've promised to not weigh myself every week, but once a month (and include measurements as well).

TlOwens1123

So if you're using the TDEE method, you shouldn't log your exercise?

You can log them just don't eat back the calories.

TlOwens1123

You can log them just don't eat back the calories.