BMR and TDEE Explained for Those Needing a Guide

LaLa482 · September 2013

Lightbulb moment! Energy saving lightbulb perhaps, as it's been gradually coming clear over the past few weeks.

I lost a good chunk of weight 2 years ago with MFP, but it felt restrictive and was basically a diet. I came away with not much idea of what I really needed calorie-wise.

Now I think I get it, and hope that eating a steady 1800kcal will shift a few stubborn lbs and get me on track for good.

Thanks so much for your well-written post. The body fat calculator has helped me see sense.

BUMP! Just had my light bulb moment!

RonKay · September 2013

bump

nacj96 · September 2013

Great post. I've never heard of TDEE until today. I read on another thread though that these online calculators aren't very accurate??? That you should calculate it yourself. My bathroom scale says my body fat % is 38% and that Fat2fit.com one says it's 31.3% I don't know how to determine which one is more accurate. That seems like a pretty big discrepancy. Based on the 31.3% calculation with light activity I should be eating 1463 calories a day which is roughly close to what I would be eating if I ate my exercise calories back.... i think.

1butchieboy · October 2013

Bump to read later

coffee4me57 · October 2013

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melonice21 · October 2013

Bump

kailexx · November 2013

bumpity

jennipooh0324 · December 2013

What a GREAT read, and explanation!
Perhaps I haven't been eating enough, and that's why I felt hungry quite often.

MFP had me eating 1410 a day (and I rarely ate my activity calories back) but now I have realized that I wasn't even eating enough to cover my BMR.

Correct me if I am wrong, but my BMR that I calculate on Fat2Fit website is 1815 calories.
I workout at least 3 times a week, and hopefully more like 5. I also run a home daycare, so am on my feet, up and the stairs quite a bit.
So when i look at the MODERATE ACTIVITY it says I should eat 2361 calories.

My current weight is 232 lbs and my GOAL weight is 165lbs. So i take 20% away from the 2361 calories giving me a DAILY CALORIC INTAKE of 1889.

I eat this amount of calories regardless of whether I worked out that day or not ( as that number reflects the 3-5 times I said I was going to workout).
My workouts are around 30-60 mins each time (including strength and cardio) so does that still fit in the moderate activity, or should i go based on light activity??

I think I am going to give this a try and see if it helps with the weight loss.

redlipsticklyfe · December 2013

bump

altarimage · December 2013

bump

Dayala06 · December 2013

I'm 28, 5'9, 231 lbs. I set my goal weight as 185lbs. Now what I'm trying to figure out is if I did it all correctly it said my BMR is 2191. I exercise minimum of 3 days a week and max of 5, so I chose the lightly active factor which was 1.375. So 2191 x 1.375 = 3012. So by what I'm reading if I want to lose weight, from the 3012 I do 3012 x 20% = 2410. So 2410 is my daily calorie intake? Did I do this right? Anyone please!

Working_My_Butt_Off · December 2013

Great explanation !

laura6009 · December 2013

Thank you xxx

FoogooFish · January 2014

What a wonderful post! Thank you.

linka411 · January 2014

This is great! Thank you so much! I just joined and have been doing the 1200 calorie thing for 2 weeks-and have wound up going to bed starving every night because of it XD. Now with this I feel a lot better about eating to stay full through the day

. I do have a few questions though about the calculations you measured.

I don't move a lot, but i do plan to hit the gym more when my fitbit comes in hopefully next week. So let's say I do light exercise. If I did this correctly, with putting in the goal weight, my BMR should be 1870. At my current weight, so TDEE, it should be 1906.
Since I only have 6 pounds left to lose, I take 10% from 1906...and get 1715. It's lower than the TDEE and the BMR. Based on your explanation it should be somewhere in between, correct? What am I doing wrong?

Also, let's say that this is now fixed and I have the right calories to eat. How much protein, sugar, fat and carbs should I be consuming? I find that MFP calculates the numbers for you, but my problem is that I always go over (and I'm really trying to eat more veggies and good foods and dodge the pasta) on those stats even when I hit my caloric intake. If I don't go over on those, I don't eat enough calories. Where/how can I calculate the right amounts for these numbers?

P.S. Please forgive me if these questions are dumb or sound like I don't know what I'm talking about. This is why I'm seeking help.