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TDEE vs. MFP calories

I just read another post about the low calories MFP says you should have per day, and it got me thinking about mine. MPF says I should have 1330 / day (trying to lose 2 lb/week). I checked my TDEE with fitnessfrog.com, and it is 2440. Subtracting 20% brings me to 1952, 30% brings me to 1708. Is 1330 way too low? It's very hard for me to stay that low but I've been doing it most days if I exercise, but I don't want to make my body hold onto the fat because it thinks I'm starving! I'm thinking I should go to around 1500 cal/day. Any input on this?

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  • anyone?
  • Posts: 4,885 Member
    because you told MFP that you want to lose 2lb/wk, which equates to a 1000 calorie deficit. Try 1lb/wk or even .5lb/wk and I think you will get a number closer to what fitness frog says.
  • Posts: 12,294 Member
    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

    Safe deficit.
    Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • Posts: 21 Member
    Try the TDEE-20% for a couple of weeks and see if you get a loss. If not, maybe reduce the calories gradually until you start losing, slowly and consistently.

    I eat 1200 a day but my TDEE-20% is 1577; I find it hard to lose at anything about 1200, from experience. But I'm a 5ft 1" female at 137.2lbs so I don't need as many calories; I'm only trying to lose about 15lbs.
  • Posts: 1,121 Member
    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

    Safe deficit.
    Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    ^^ Great explanation. I struggled with the calories MFP suggested for me when I first joined a long time ago too and eventually stopped logging because I didn't understand it. Now that I understand this go round and I'm using other tools with MFP it makes more sense and it's working.
  • Posts: 270 Member
    I've done something quite different with the TDEE numbers. I've calculated the TDEE for the weight I want to be, i.e. 'ultimate goal' and my daily calorie goal is set to that. I don't worry about eating back exercise calories unless its an exceptionally large 'burn' and I'm exceptionally ravenous. Trying to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied....The Journey continues...
  • Posts: 26,371 Member
    2lbs a week is too much, that's why. 1lb a week is the healthy way. If you exercise, add your exercise on top of that, and you'll be close to TDEE-20%.

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