need tdee help, ive read the posts but very confused.

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  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    this is why i am confused. THe hospital body scan says my bmr is 1445. Other calculators say its 1600-1700. and then the tdee difference is over 200 so i really have no clue where i am at. i've tried 1900 1700 1300 1500 and i can't find the perfect place yet. and i have tried eating all my exercise calories, eating only some and eating none, and i seem to get the same result, initial loss and then stagnant. it's just so frustrating really. and then some people say eat all your calories, my doctor says eat a straight 1700 and up to 1800 if i work out. and then some say eat only some calories.

    ONe doctor told me i should only eat 800 calories a day. This was unsolicited advice when i did my health check a year ago. He had me in tears. He treated me as if i didn't know how to lose weight. i said to him eating 800 calories a day is not a great way to lose weight and i couldn't do it.

    A hospital body scan didn't say your BMR was 1445.
    It told you your % of bodyfat likely.

    What was that? BF%.

    That will help nail your BMR better, and indeed, as other posts have shown, BMR based on age, weight, height, you have less LBM than expected, so your BMR is lower than those other estimates, so your TDEE would be lower, so you would eat less.

    Use the spreadsheet linked here that will use your bodyfat% they scanned you with, or get it from them, don't accept their BMR number, because usually they hand out an RMR number even, which is actually 150-250 more than BMR.

    Plug in your real activity times at the different levels, be honest if on your feet.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

    Read the descriptions of BMR/TDEE if not really understanding it, otherwise skip to the bottom for the link.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I have lost 70 pounds in 4 months and I haven't crunched any numbers or gotten any scans. Don't look into this too much. Burn more calories than you consume and you will lose weight. Use MFP to determine your needs and have patience.

    But you are crunching the numbers on one side of the equation - food eaten.

    Why wouldn't you crunch the numbers on the other side - calories burned?

    Most people would be very sadly shocked how much unnecessary muscle is being lost if they don't actually estimate the burned side of the equation just as well as the eating side.

    You might be lucking out if doing enough strength training to retain muscle, and that's our lucky male genetics at help there.
  • mrs520
    mrs520 Posts: 1
    It can take up to 30 days for your body to adjust from eating too low of calories. If you had been eating way below your calorie recommendations, what happens is your body slows it's metablolism to try to counter that to keep you from becoming malnourished. It can take up to 30 days before you will start seeing results after adding in the neccessary calories. Just keep it up! If you are still not seeing results in January I would speak to your doctor about rethinking the 1800 calories. So stick with the 1800 calories and just be consistent. This is a long, long, long, process and it is easy to get discouraged when that scale is not budging. So I would also recomend getting rid of the scale, and only way yourself when you check in with your doctor.

    As far as fat is concerned, don't worry about it too much. I would check to be sure you are not over your carb limit though. Sugar, and high starchy foods can also deter weight loss. More fresh produce is always a good way to go.

    Hope this helps.

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