TDEE People... what would you do??? (not losing!)

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  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    I switched over to the TDEE method a month ago from eating a vegan diet ala mcdougall. I eat a pretty clean diet, with a few exceptions now an then. However, my calories are always at or slightly under 1700 (my tdee -20%) Yet, since starting TDEE my weight loss has slowed, from a steady 1-2lbs a week to nada after an initial loss. I have actually put on weight (it has fluctuated from 263.4 to 268.8 lbs this last week or so) So how long should I put up with this before giving up? I'm so fustrated. I have about 30lbs more I want to loose, but would really be happy with loosing the last 15 or so to get me in the "normal" bmi range. Maybe TDEE is not for me???

    If you used to eat low cal for a long time you may need to give it a little longer for your body to adjust. Your metabolism may have been suppressed.
  • Nissi51
    Nissi51 Posts: 381 Member
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    Www.hussmanfitness.org

    Use his BMR calculator. He uses the Harris B, however will give you range of calories to eat within for fat loss, muscle gain, maintenance. I do not eat back exercise calories, I have never understood this. As you lose recalculate and adjust

    I have lost over 100 lbs this way..currently eating slightly below his calculation, but only because training for competition in future.

    I also took out the goals on MFP and just log my food.

    Plan, do, check, adjust...you will figure out why works for you!

    A
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    I am curious to know everyone's feedback as I recently switched to TDEE as well. So far it seems like a LOT to eat :/

    TDEE is the amount where you would not gain or lose weight, it is your maintenance calories. So, obviously you ate a LOT more than TDEE -20% to have gained weight. TDEE - 20% is really not a lot. You are just used to the "diet mentality" that says you have to eat like a bird to lose any weight.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    I'm simply stating what is working from me and 5 real world friends, I am hardly an expert.

    We use a modified version of TDEE-20. We calculated our TDEE's using sedimentary and took 20% off of this for our daily number and then we record and eat back at least half of our real exercise. Personally I eat it ALL back but some of the others only eat 1/2 to 2/3 of it.

    The reason we did this is because we were all overly optimistic about our FUTURE exercise plans. Then we looked back and realized that none of us exercised as much as we had hoped to. Among the 6 of us we have all been losing steadily.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    How many calories a day were you eating before the switch? And why switch if you were losing steadily at a good rate?
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    For example, over the last week my tdee has been 3453, 3546, 3709, 3220, 4265, 2841 and today its on pace for 3355, but i plan on walking my dog later so that will go up a bit. As you can see, if i was eating my tdee-20%, that amount varies each day. I think that is why people have so much trouble with tdee. But it realllllly works if you can at lease somewhat accurately track it.

    If you had an average TDEE estimate of 3,500 then 20% cut would be a calorie goal of 2,800 per day. That would average out over those days. On all those days you would be eating under your TDEE and would therefore lose weight. You would not have to accurately track calorie burn to try to figure out how much to eat exactly every day.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    When MFP bumped me down to 1210 it was just not enoug for me, even eating back every calorie I could exercsie into my allowance. I worked out my TDEE -20% and it looked a scary lot of calories, plus I knew if I didn't log ALL my exercise then a few bits might get forgotten (too tired, busy day, did a class yesterday.... I've got a full set of fat girl excuses to hand!):wink:

    So I compromised on 1400 and eating back my exercise. Its not been a month quite, I've not lost any weight (but not gained) and my measurements look the same. BUT all of a sudden a whole load of clothes are just too big to wear, and a few colleagues have stopped me to say how good I'm looking.

    So I'm keeping going and hopefully something will come off soon. Or I might bump down to 1300 again. Or not.:ohwell:
  • thinking_thinly
    thinking_thinly Posts: 143 Member
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    OP, What did you set your activity level to when calculating your TDEE?

    Lightly active. I don't workout, as I work a full time job, and am always on my feet.
  • thinking_thinly
    thinking_thinly Posts: 143 Member
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    How many calories a day were you eating before the switch? And why switch if you were losing steadily at a good rate?

    About 1200... somedays +/- 100 cals
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    How many calories a day were you eating before the switch? And why switch if you were losing steadily at a good rate?

    About 1200... somedays +/- 100 cals

    What's your height/weight and how much exercise do you do?
  • Labouffecestbon
    Labouffecestbon Posts: 182 Member
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    I am curious to know everyone's feedback as I recently switched to TDEE as well. So far it seems like a LOT to eat :/
    It always seems like a lot at the beginning but don't worry, you'll get used to it. You've trained your body to eat less; with proper training, it will learn to eat more. At some point, you might even feel like it's not enough! :smile:
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    When MFP bumped me down to 1210 it was just not enoug for me, even eating back every calorie I could exercsie into my allowance. I worked out my TDEE -20% and it looked a scary lot of calories, plus I knew if I didn't log ALL my exercise then a few bits might get forgotten (too tired, busy day, did a class yesterday.... I've got a full set of fat girl excuses to hand!):wink:

    So I compromised on 1400 and eating back my exercise. Its not been a month quite, I've not lost any weight (but not gained) and my measurements look the same. BUT all of a sudden a whole load of clothes are just too big to wear, and a few colleagues have stopped me to say how good I'm looking.

    So I'm keeping going and hopefully something will come off soon. Or I might bump down to 1300 again. Or not.:ohwell:

    You would probably find that a **properly set** MFP cal goal + exercise calories would be somewhere in the same ballpark of a properly calculated TDEE - 20%.

    Example: MFP sets you to 1300 + you burned 500 exercise = 1800. TDEE - 20% is probably somewhere near 1800.
  • xstarxdustx
    xstarxdustx Posts: 591 Member
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    bump.
  • clareyoung80
    clareyoung80 Posts: 177 Member
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    I'm eating at my TDEE -20%. Yeah, at first, I was either losing nothing or gaining. But then, I had gone from eating 1200 cals a day for about 6 months.

    A month in, and I found that as long as I do reasonably intense cardio 6x a week (for me, 45 min Jillian Michaels DVD) as well as my weight exercises, then I'm fine. I have enough energy for my exercises, and I lose weight. I've also found that 'cycling' my calories - eating a bit more on some days, and a bit less on others, also revs up my weight loss to around 2lbs a week.

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