MFP vs. TDEE

mnmike1973
mnmike1973 Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 39 years old, 6'4" and 227 lbs currently. I lost 13 lbs within the first 6 days of eating the 1620 calories that MFP recommended. I have now gained 2lbs over the last 5 days. I know this is proababaly normal with adding an exercice routine, but I want to make sure I am doing the right thing from here on out.

MFP says I need to net 1620 calories today to lose 2 lbs per week. My TDEE is is is about 2400 at the sedentary activity level. I have recently began doing cardio work for 60 minutes 5+ times per week. I am really just trying to get some input on what I should be doing to lose the weight I would like to.

I know that no one wants to hear this, but, I would rather dunk my head in a boiling vat of asphalt than lift weights, but that's just me.

Any honest help and/or feedback would be appreciated

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    MFP does math, it doesn't make recommendations. Whatever you put in, it will spew something back out and it's only restriction is that it won't give a number under 1200. Take your TDEE and subtract 20% at most to find out what you should be eating.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    What you should be doing is taking a deep breath. You are 11 days in. All in all, there's negligible differene between netting (not just eating-but netting) the number mfp gave you and using TDEE-20%. Changing the number that shows up as a calorie goal isn't going to make a vast difference. Patience will. This is a long road-some weeks you'll lose, some you won't, some you'll gain. Keep on the path for the long haul and you'll be fine.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    If you're doing cardio 5 days a week, you aren't sedentary. But if you're using that calculation, you need to be eating back your exercise calories (same with MFP since that's how it was designed).

    Still having problems believing the boiling asphalt over lifting. Do you realize how much it would hurt when they peeled most of the skin off of your face?! And you'd be blind, have no hair, and would likely be dead. I'd rather live personally. That said, you don't have to lift weights if you think it will kill you.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    6'4", 227 pounds, and you're only eating 1620? That is way too low to start with, and I hope you have been eating another 500 calories for your exercise days?

    Here: this will answer your question...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • mnmike1973
    mnmike1973 Posts: 7
    I don't believe lifiting weights will kill me, but I just really hate lifting weights. I don't mind physical labor that would consist of lifting heavier than normal objects, I just don't like lifting weights.
  • mnmike1973
    mnmike1973 Posts: 7
    6'4", 227 pounds, and you're only eating 1620? That is way too low to start with, and I hope you have been eating another 500 calories for your exercise days?

    Here: this will answer your question...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    I have not been eating an extra 500 on exercise days. I am pretty clueless when it comes to how to lose weight properly. That is what I am here asking for assistance.
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    Wow! You're almost a foot taller than me, and 40 pounds heavier.....and you're eating at a caloie level I'm eating at. (I'm also going to assume you're male vs my being female.)

    If you use MFP calculations, and you entered sedentary (which if you are working out that much you are not) you should be eating back exercise calories.
  • mnmike1973
    mnmike1973 Posts: 7
    MFP does math, it doesn't make recommendations. Whatever you put in, it will spew something back out and it's only restriction is that it won't give a number under 1200. Take your TDEE and subtract 20% at most to find out what you should be eating.

    If I take off 20% of the TDEE, and I am doing cardio for 60 minutes, 5 times a week, with an average heart rate of 160. Which calculation should I begin using to determine my TDEE? I just want to get this right and any help and support would be appreciated.

    Sedentary - 2414
    Light - 2767
    Moderate - 3119
    Very - 3471
    Extreme - 3823
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    MFP does math, it doesn't make recommendations. Whatever you put in, it will spew something back out and it's only restriction is that it won't give a number under 1200. Take your TDEE and subtract 20% at most to find out what you should be eating.

    If I take off 20% of the TDEE, and I am doing cardio for 60 minutes, 5 times a week, with an average heart rate of 160. Which calculation should I begin using to determine my TDEE? I just want to get this right and any help and support would be appreciated.

    Sedentary - 2414
    Light - 2767
    Moderate - 3119
    Very - 3471
    Extreme - 3823

    Try eating at around 2500 a day....don't add more eating for exercise if you are going to use that method. Read that link I posted above.
  • cedarghost
    cedarghost Posts: 621 Member
    You're not eating enough. I am 6'5" 219 pounds, 41 years old. I am a teacher, but I only work 20 hours a week. My bmr is 2059 (measured by my doctor and damned close to what every calculator on the internet tells me).
    My TDEE when not exercising is 2650 calories and my tdee when I am lifting 3 days a week is 2950).
    We are damned near the same age, height and size. Our bmr should be damned near the same. Don't eat below it. I am cutting about 15% off my TDEE or slightly lower because I don't have a lot left to lose. My goal weight for now is 210. It may end up being 195 or 200. That depends on what I look like when I get there.
    You're not Sedentary and setting mfp at sedentary or figuring your tdee at sedentary isn't going to help you lose weight any faster. Everyone gets in such a hurry.
    You shouldn't be too far off from your goal weigh if it is realistic, so don't try to lose more than a pound a week. Depending on how long your have been starving yourself, you may have to reset your metabolism by eating at maintenance for a while. But if your metabolism is ok, I guarantee if you eat at 2100 to 2300 a day, you will lose consistently.
    Or be stubborn and impatient and starve and stall. It's your choice.
  • mnmike1973
    mnmike1973 Posts: 7
    You're not eating enough. I am 6'5" 219 pounds, 41 years old. I am a teacher, but I only work 20 hours a week. My bmr is 2059 (measured by my doctor and damned close to what every calculator on the internet tells me).
    My TDEE when not exercising is 2650 calories and my tdee when I am lifting 3 days a week is 2950).
    We are damned near the same age, height and size. Our bmr should be damned near the same. Don't eat below it. I am cutting about 15% off my TDEE or slightly lower because I don't have a lot left to lose. My goal weight for now is 210. It may end up being 195 or 200. That depends on what I look like when I get there.
    You're not Sedentary and setting mfp at sedentary or figuring your tdee at sedentary isn't going to help you lose weight any faster. Everyone gets in such a hurry.
    You shouldn't be too far off from your goal weigh if it is realistic, so don't try to lose more than a pound a week. Depending on how long your have been starving yourself, you may have to reset your metabolism by eating at maintenance for a while. But if your metabolism is ok, I guarantee if you eat at 2100 to 2300 a day, you will lose consistently.
    Or be stubborn and impatient and starve and stall. It's your choice.

    I definitely do not want to starve and I do really apprecaite all the input that has been given to me.

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