Confused!! MFP is diff than TDEE-20%.....which do I follow?

karajulie
karajulie Posts: 40 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi, according to MFP I should be eating 1200 cals.....up'd to 1489 adding my daily workout. I am still hungry after this. There is a lot of talk on here about eating 20% of your TDEE, which would be 1806. And that they started losing more when they ate more. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.......idk what to follow? I am not weighing myself, no scale, but am measuring. I am losing inches, but would rather not be hungry. Advise?

Replies

  • Craigamears
    Craigamears Posts: 65 Member
    Kara, you wll be asked for your specific information like height & weight and what activity level you gave so that the forum members can intelligently respond. 1200 calories is the minimum you will ever see MFP give even if you are 90 lbs and you want to lose 2 lbs per week.
  • shmoony
    shmoony Posts: 237 Member
    Not 20% of your TDEE, 20% under your TDEE. What is your TDEE?
  • shmoony
    shmoony Posts: 237 Member
    At 1806, this means your TDEE is 2257 if you are eating 80% of that. You probably have your MFP to 2 lbs./week which would mean a deficit of 7000 calories (1000 a day). This would make sense since 2257 - 1000 is 1257. The TDEE - 20% is a slower more moderate approach to weight loss, and one that most people here would agree is healthier and more "permanent".
    As a general guideline, just eat what a person at the weight you want to be would eat. If you want to be 150 pounds, eat the maintanance diet of a 150 pound person. This will take a long time to acheive, but the point is that by the time you reach 150 pounds, you will be so used to eating that amount of calories that you will stick to it and never yoyo. This will probably be onlya couple hundred under your current TDEE and the closer you get, the closer you will get to eating your TDEE. It may take you a year or more to get there, but that's the whole point of this being a lifestyle change, not a diet. Make sense?
  • madibu
    madibu Posts: 10
    You should not be hungry during the process. You may need to eat a few more calories at first. The key obviously is to get your calories from the right foods (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, meats, etc.). All whole natural foods and no processed foods including sugar, margarine, etc.

    Eat less amounts but more often throughout the day. Most at breakfast, a little for morning snack, medium lunch, light afternoon snack, and small dinner. And if room for it a small snack in the evening but try not to eat three hours prior to bedtime.

    If you are not counting exercise in this then work out more to allow for more food up front and cut back a little at a time. It is better to be successful in the long run than unsuccessful trying to rush the results. I hope you do well on your journey, good luck.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    How many pounds per week did you tell MFP you want to lose?

    MFP will subract 500 calories a day if you choose 1 pound a week, or 1,000 calories a day if you choose 2 pounds a week, regardless of your TDEE. Adjust that accordingly.

    Or, you can set your goal manually to TDEE - 20% and not eat back any exercise cals.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Hi, according to MFP I should be eating 1200 cals.....up'd to 1489 adding my daily workout. I am still hungry after this. There is a lot of talk on here about eating 20% of your TDEE, which would be 1806. And that they started losing more when they ate more. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.......idk what to follow? I am not weighing myself, no scale, but am measuring. I am losing inches, but would rather not be hungry. Advise?

    A couple things to keep in mind. Different TDEE calculators take into account different things. For example, MFP only takes into account your average daily activity...no exercise. So any exercise you do would be in addition to your other daily activity. Other calculators do take exercise into account...so you always need to make sure you're doing apples to apples.

    I take the 20% of maintenance TDEE approach...the calculator I use does not take into account exercise, so I still eat those calories back as 20%...it is only slightly different than what MFP would calculate for me sedentary. I took the approach I did because MFP had me slightly below my BMR and I didn't want to do that even for a short time.

    The 1,200 calorie thing is generally 2 Lbs or thereabouts per week. Generally speaking 20% of maintenance TDEE is about 1 Lb per week give or take...for me it's like .8 Lbs. I initially tried to do 2 Lbs per week in the beginning and it was only 1,440 calories for me which is significantly below my BMR and I was miserable. I want to lose weight, but I don't want to be miserable doing it and I want to lose it in a safe and healthy way that is sustainable long term. All in all, it's going to take me just shy of a year.

Categories