TDEE, BMR and calorie intake - a query

PoshDinosaur
PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone,

This contains a bit of maths, and I'm prepared to admit I may have got some of it wrong. If you can handle the ramblings of someone who tries to understand this, please read on! Or skip to the general queries at the end.

I'm confused. Plugging my age, height and weight into TDEE calculators gives me a result of 3902. The BMR will be 2518. I work out 3-4 times a week (roughly 50/50 split between cardio and weight training). So if I understand right, I should be aiming for no less than TDEE-20% (3121).

My calorific intake rarely goes north of 2500 - I'm often below 50% of TDEE. My gross calorie intake is often even below BMR, even before inputting exercise calories. I eat decently - in terms of balance between carbs, protein and fats and getting other nutrients. My current MFP calorie allowance is 2120 (54% of TDEE).

The reason I've spent so much time with this (made a special spreadsheet and everything) is that my weight loss seems to have stalled in terms of pounds lost, and the other measurements. Yes, I look thinner, there are muscles where previously there were not, and I feel much better, but am worried I'm either not doing this optimally, or damaging my progress in some way.

So, my questions are these.
1) Is this an accurate TDEE? I'm a fairly tall guy (6'9") and find that calculations like this are often just not 'for me.' My height tends to confuse things. 3902 calories seems like a lot.
2) From my readings about TDEE and BMR, eating below TDEE-20% is not a good thing. So why does MFP recommend a calorie goal at roughly TDEE-45%?
3) Is this a case of eat-more-to-lose-more? I can see the logic here - muscle growth, cell repair etc. I don't think I have the symptoms of water retention. Though I'm averse to eating more for two reasons. One, I spend so much less on food since starting the loss, and two, I'd be the least supportive boyfriend ever if I was sat there eating 1 pint of ice cream a day.

Thanks in advance for the replies.

Replies

  • PoshDinosaur
    PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
    A gratuitous self bump... Though I know it's hard to encourage people to read the wall o' text.
  • suessetulpe73
    suessetulpe73 Posts: 4
    bump!
  • elephant_in_the_room
    elephant_in_the_room Posts: 145 Member
    Hello,
    Thanks for the post and the maths. I find it a bit sad that there are so few responses. I think the problem is that this is really unusual. I'd like to make it a question - how many on MFP have a recommendation of eating 2000 calories per day or more? For most, it seems to be under 1400, and I personally am a bit incredulous. I do wonder, like you, whether this recommendation is way off because your height range is just not seen very often around here....
    I find it hard to make a judgement without knowing more. But I have my weight loss only progressing very very slowly, as well. I can't believe that at That level, it's 'eat more to lose weight'... But this is totally out of my league.

    So well, all I can recommend is: use MFP in observation mode. Eat as much as you think is right and maybe somewhere around MFP's recommendation, if that is good for you, exercise, weigh yourself, and record everything over time, at least for a few weeks. From that, find out how your weight responds to your net calories.

    Sorry I can't be more helpful!
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    I would say that the TDEE estimation is fairly accurate. As you say you are tall so it stands to reason you need a higher intake than someone of average height.

    I'm a 5'8'' female and my TDEE is 2800 so it's perfectly reasonable for yours to be heading towards 4000 cals.

    The MFP goal does not take into account your exercise cals so when you eat those back you will be nearer TDEE -20% than you would be if you were only to eat 2120 and not eat back your exercise cals.
  • PoshDinosaur
    PoshDinosaur Posts: 49 Member
    Thanks for these!

    @baborka - I like your idea. Perhaps patience, consistency and some self-discipline are things I lack. Over my first month, I've shed roughly 22 pounds which seems extreme. I had worried about any lasting changes I was maybe putting into my metabolism, so putting some extra thought into it seems healthy.

    @karenjanine - so MFPs idea is to subtract the exercise and then eat it back, so net intake would be higher? I see. I'm a sod for not eating those back - I eat well in terms of nutrients, and eating calories just to get them back is something I struggle with. That said, I do make sure to chomp back some protein immediately post-gym and my meal servings are fairly sizeable.

    Thanks again, this helps me.

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