Help CONFUSED!!

PeterrJames

Hi Guys,

Im really really confused right now, i just read a thread about your TDEE and how your goal calorie should be 20-25% below it if you want to loose weight..

I understand that 3.5K Cal is 1 Pound of fat..

Now the thing im confused about; Im 5ft 11 - 6ft Male 101KG and i go to gym 5 days a week..my goal weight is 82kg which is 19kg loss i need equivalent too 41.5 Lbs.

Now i calculated my TDEE and apperntley i burn 3444 KCALS a day. My target goal on MFP is 1590 KCAL and using the 20% less forumla it says i should be eating 2755 KCALS.

So which one do i use and take? So confused haha.

Vailara

There are quite a few threads out there about this. I find this one http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm fairly simple.

You can get your calculations a bit more precise if you know your body fat %, and can be exact about your activity level (I find that difficult! For instance, a gym visit isn't necessarily an hour of exercise, depending on what you do. Maybe you walk to work, etc.).

I tried putting your stats into the calculator at http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ and it gave me rather lower figures than you worked out. For 5' 11.5", 101 kg and moderately active the Mifflin St-Jeor figure is 3186 TDEE, and you would then eat TDEE - 20% which is 2548. For strenous exercise you'd come out at 3545 TDEE, and you would eat 2836. It depends on your body fat % too - if it's lower you can eat more.

But yes, once you've got a figure, it SHOULD work. If you eat anything less than you burn, you should lose weight. What you can do is try it and see if you're losing at the rate you expect. For instance, if you take the first figures I gave you would have a deficit of 638, so you should lose roughly just over a pound a week (given that 3500 should be about 1 lb weight loss - although not necessarily all fat, unfortunately!).

If I was you, I'd use TDEE - 20% and eat somewhere around the 2600 - 2800 mark, depending on which calculation you feel is most accurate. Set your goal calories on MFP to the figure you choose. Ignore your exercise calories (they're already included), monitor your weight and see if it works. You can lower the deficit to 15% or 10% as you get closer to goal. Good luck!

I have very different stats to you but I've found that TDEE - 20% works very well for me.

HatherM

tell me about it, it's confusing I know I asked my friends on here yesterday & have decided to work to my TDEE at a set number of cals per day, as this already accounts for your exercise.

MFP works it out so that if you exercise you get more cals to make up to the right net number of cals.

Basically I was advised to pick one way & trial it for a month to see what works for me, hope that helps... maybe, or at least expalin why there's a difference! Good luck on your journey

Vailara

To be honest, I don't think there is a huge difference. I lot of people seem to end up eating a lot more when they start doing TDEE - 20%, but I think that's sometimes because they'd set a larger deficit on MFP. If you set MFP at 2lb loss a week, you should have a deficit of 1000 calories. To have a deficit of 1000 calories on TDEE - 20%, you'd need to have a TDEE of 5000! But for those of us, like me, who had set a smaller deficit on MFP, there isn't necessarily a big difference in the calories we can eat between the two systems.

I prefer TDEE - 20% because I feel it's more accurate. It takes body fat % into consideration, and I've read that the MFP calorie burn estimates can be off. I also prefer eating roughly the same amount every day. Supposedly TDEE - 20 preserves muscle compared to MFP, but I don't know how true that is if your MFP calories are much the same.

sijomial

Peter - you are comparing apples and oranges!
The MFP way is completely different from calculating your TDEE and taking a cut from that.

MFP - sets a deficit in relation to your stats and activity level at rate of 500/day for a 1lb a week loss. It does not take into account any exercise on top of your activity level. That's why you are supposed to eat back exercise calories.

IMHO the MFP way is better if your exercise varies from day to day / week to week. If you are able to predict your exercise accurately and it's roughly consistent then the TDEE way of eating the same calories each day is probably more simple.

Personally I worked out my TDEE minus exercise and custom set that as a goal so I can follow the MFP way of eating back - my calories burned per day varies from zero to 3000 so eating the same every day wouldn't work for me at all.

kendrafallon

^^ I agree. And yes it is confusing, but stick with it and work through it until you understand which method is best for you. Me personally am using TDEE-20% rather than MFP goals and it's working for me.

Another forum post you might want to read is:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013