TDEE Math...good grief help me!

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aakokopelli7
aakokopelli7 Posts: 196 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So.... MFP has me eating 1690. But, like a lot of people I have been reading to only do 20% of your TDEE.
My TDEE is 2286, -20% of that is 1828. Right? So.... should I really be eating 1828, or stay with the 1690? I have been losing on 1690 and working out 3 to 4 times a week, but I am afraid that it isn't enough and I will stall out.

I'm 5'4'' 193lbs

Someone tell me this is correct math in plain English, the TDEE for dummies version. :sad:

Replies

  • hthrhrpr
    hthrhrpr Posts: 29 Member
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    I'm right there with you! I have NO IDEA what I should be eating in calories :( I lost 5 pounds, and guess what... stopped losing, and now at the same weight for 2-3 weeks :( BLAH, I wish I could understand this. And I'm not even hungry eating my 1200, so if I have to up it, I don't know what I'm going to do.
  • rcolours7
    rcolours7 Posts: 69
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    another friend gave me this link - it will help explain some of this & just figured it out myself w/the article & my friend's help. here's the link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    if u need extra help - just PM the guy who wrote the post.

    have a great day
  • aakokopelli7
    aakokopelli7 Posts: 196 Member
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    another friend gave me this link - it will help explain some of this & just figured it out myself w/the article & my friend's help. here's the link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    if u need extra help - just PM the guy who wrote the post.

    have a great day

    That is the exact article that has made me second guess myself for the past two weeks,lol Some people say just do what MFP says then this says to do all this Math yourself and then customize this and that, and I am just not that savy with this site or math.
  • suemcmurry
    suemcmurry Posts: 188 Member
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    OK, what does TDEE stand for???? New to site and little confused....
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Are you getting exercise? MFP means for you to eat back your exercise, with TDEE, you don't.

    There is only 140 calorie difference per day. If you do a light workout per day or a moderate workout every other day, the two numbers are actually the same.
  • aakokopelli7
    aakokopelli7 Posts: 196 Member
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    OK, what does TDEE stand for???? New to site and little confused....

    total daily energy expenditure, yeah..... Now you see where I am totally stumped, HAHA
  • pspetralia
    pspetralia Posts: 963 Member
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    OK, what does TDEE stand for???? New to site and little confused....
    read the link rcoulors posted above and it will explain what TDEE is and how to figure it out.
  • pspetralia
    pspetralia Posts: 963 Member
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    another friend gave me this link - it will help explain some of this & just figured it out myself w/the article & my friend's help. here's the link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    if u need extra help - just PM the guy who wrote the post.

    have a great day
    Follow the link!
    That is the exact article that has made me second guess myself for the past two weeks,lol Some people say just do what MFP says then this says to do all this Math yourself and then customize this and that, and I am just not that savy with this site or math.
  • aakokopelli7
    aakokopelli7 Posts: 196 Member
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    Are you getting exercise? MFP means for you to eat back your exercise, with TDEE, you don't.

    There is only 140 calorie difference per day. If you do a light workout per day or a moderate workout every other day, the two numbers are actually the same.

    Yes I do exercise. I do eat back my calories but it's total is somewhere around 1975, so even then it's above my other figure.
  • daylily2005
    daylily2005 Posts: 203 Member
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    The basic gist of each of those methods is the same: create a calorie deficit. With MFP, you are supposed to eat back your exercise cals. With the TDEE version, you don't. Assuming that you are counting everything correctly and you aren't at the lowest MFP of 1200, either way should work for you. they should be pretty even if you look at cal intakes for a whole week instead of day by day.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Are you getting exercise? MFP means for you to eat back your exercise, with TDEE, you don't.

    There is only 140 calorie difference per day. If you do a light workout per day or a moderate workout every other day, the two numbers are actually the same.

    Yes I do exercise. I do eat back my calories but it's total is somewhere around 1975, so even then it's above my other figure.

    So assuming you exercise 3-5 days per week, you are eating about 1975 on exercise days and about 1690 on non exercise days. If you exercise 4 days per week you are averaging 1852 calories per day using MFP's setup. Using TDEE - 20% you would be eating 1828/day. This difference is negligible.

    Either method is fine provided you are eating back a portion of your exercise calories.
  • aakokopelli7
    aakokopelli7 Posts: 196 Member
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    SideSteel,

    THANK YOU!! This is what I needed to hear! :flowerforyou:
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    THANK YOU!! This is what I needed to hear! :flowerforyou:

    You nailed it exactly. If the MFP process was followed exactly, and honest selection of Activity Level chosen, and 1 lb weekly loss selected, you'd be hitting the same thing almost always.

    The only big difference is if your BMR by a more accurate look at bodyfat% was like 200-400 below the inflated BMR that MFP is using.

    That would slow you down too. And those are probably the folks that have success not eating back exercise calories, they are just making up the difference for an inflated value.

    So if you did the Roadmap, you might compare the BMR values they show you, Harris as least accurate, Katch as most accurate, and compare to the one MFP is using of Mifflin BMR.

    If Katch is within 100, you got it.
  • Alexc2013
    Alexc2013 Posts: 7 Member
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    Hi, just read your post & couldn't help but feel your frustration. I too lost weight for the first 2 weeks (approx 3 lbs) then I stopped losing the weight. After doing more research, I came to the conclusion that MFP had me on too few calories. I found this great website that will help explain things to you. The website is fat2fitradio.com. Click on All Calculators, Use the Military Body Fat Calculator, Enter your measurements (this will give you your body fat % - write this % number down). After you have your body fat %, go back to All Calculators, click on BMR, enter your info (including the body fat %)... down below pops up a table detailing the amount of calories you should consume, depending on your activity level, per week in order to loose a pound / week. This table includes your caloric deficit. Please reall all the info. on this page. It explains things really well. MFP had me on 1200 calories per day, This website has me on 1800... huge difference. I'd be really interested in knowing how many calories you should be consuming in comparison to MFP's. I hope this helps clear things for you. Please let me know if this helps. Have a great evening.:smile:

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