Just need reassurance(spelling)

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Figs318
Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone, so i am usually not someone who posts on the forums but i just need a little bit of reassurance(SP). I currently weigh 238 pounds and I am 5'10". I am doing the TDEE -20% method and when i figure out my numbers they just seem really high. I workout at least 5-6 times a week for about 30-45 minutes per workout. My TDEE with the activity level set to active says im at 3472 TDEE, if i do 20 percent minus that number i come up with 2777. My questions is does this seem right? To me it seems like a lot of calories to consume. I just need some reassurance that what I am doing is correct.

Thanks in advance everyone.

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  • Figs318
    Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
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    bump.. anyone?
  • anotherYRwiser
    anotherYRwiser Posts: 20
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    I'm not sure what TDEE is? But that does seem like an awful high calorie intake...

    Sorry I'm not much help!
  • Figs318
    Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
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    I'm not sure what TDEE is? But that does seem like an awful high calorie intake...

    Sorry I'm not much help!

    Yea its seems that way to me as well, this is why i was hoping one of the many intelligent people on this site could help me.
  • Figs318
    Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
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    Can anyone help out that knows a thing or two about the TDEE.......
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    How active are you during your normal life.. not including exercise?

    I may be wrong but exercise 5-6 times per week at only about 40 mins each time would not be active depending on how active you are in your daily life.

    Sometimes you have to mess with the numbers a bit to get your good spot. What you can do is eat the amount you got for a few weeks.. give it about a month at least.. and see what happens. If you were eating less before you may see a bit of a gain due to the increase in food. If after 4-6 weeks you don't really see a change than try to lower your calories a bit (like 250 cals) and see if that works after a few weeks. It takes a bit of experimentation to find what works best.
  • Figs318
    Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
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    How active are you during your normal life.. not including exercise?

    I may be wrong but exercise 5-6 times per week at only about 40 mins each time would not be active depending on how active you are in your daily life.

    Sometimes you have to mess with the numbers a bit to get your good spot. What you can do is eat the amount you got for a few weeks.. give it about a month at least.. and see what happens. If you were eating less before you may see a bit of a gain due to the increase in food. If after 4-6 weeks you don't really see a change than try to lower your calories a bit (like 250 cals) and see if that works after a few weeks. It takes a bit of experimentation to find what works best.

    @NEW i work a desk job, so aside from my workouts not very active. I should point out that i normally workout twice a day. Out of a seven day week i will work out twice on 4-5 of those days. The only reason i said i was active was cuz that is what i took from the site when i was looking at my TDEE......
  • kerricolby
    kerricolby Posts: 232 Member
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    What activity level did you set yourself at?
  • LondonEliza
    LondonEliza Posts: 456 Member
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    This is a great post on how (and why) to work out your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)

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

    It is also a great place to get support if you have any questions about the amount you should be eating and has lots of examples of success stories to give you the reassurance you need

    This is also a great calculator to help you workout what you should be eating:
    http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/


    Best of luck!
  • kerricolby
    kerricolby Posts: 232 Member
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    I have my activity level set at moderately active and that gives me about 2200 calories a day. I sit all day at work but I work out 6 days/week.
  • evereadysmile
    evereadysmile Posts: 137
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    I suggest putting your info into MFP, setting it at "sedentary" and adding your exercise in for a week and seeing how many calories that gives you. Or alternately if you are using the "road map" set it up with light activity and then add exercise calories back in as you need too.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    I'm assuming you used Scooby's calculator since I got the same exact result for your stats when I tried it. I used his calculator and found that it was just about perfect for me. I hit my goal weight and have been maintaining since late summer/early fall 2012.

    Keep in mind that those are the calories BEFORE exercise. MFP gives you a goal that is the calories AFTER exercise.

    How many calories are you burning through exercise? I assume that with your height/weight and level of exercise, it's quite a bit. If you factor that in, 2777 doesn't actually seem like a lot.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    Also....MFP had me at WAYYY too low of a calorie level. I upped my calories per Scooby's recommendation and lost the weight as I had hoped without feeling constantly tired/hungry/cranky.
  • Iron_Duchess
    Iron_Duchess Posts: 429 Member
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    Sorry that your post is getting a little lost in the traffic, but the title is deceiving. Now, the thing with the TDEE is that you need to be careful when you include your exercise and activity level. As far as I know MFP calculates a number for you, you eat that amount of calories, and if you exercise then you get to eat more. With the TDEE you are calculating for an activity that you have been doing or are planning to do. It’s like logging ahead of time because you planed for it, but what happens if for some reason you don’t get to exercise the six days but only two? You will be eating and retaining calories that you are supposed to burn through exercise. Now, and this is my opinion, if you want to use the TDEE method lower your activity level to moderate or lightly active. Eat that number every day and if you exercise more, eat some of the calories back until you net your BMR. If you are still unsure, try posting in the “Eat, Train, Progress” group, they are great and like helping others. (Also try to write TDEE in the title, it helps) Good Luck.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    One more thing to consider: Any time you lose significant weight (I would suggest 5lbs), you should recalculate your TDEE and adjust your calorie goals. Your #s are high right now partially due to your weight and should be high so that you're not losing weight too quickly, which is unsafe.

    And to address what a previous poster said about you basically pre logging your exercise. I worried about this too. I found out that my typical burn during a workout is 330 calories. So I took my goal from Scooby, subtracted out 330 calories and that's what I set in MFP. That way, if I exercise, I eat those calories and if I don't, I eat the lesser amount.
  • Figs318
    Figs318 Posts: 67 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your kind words and advice. I will continue to monitor my progress and adjust accordingly for it.
    Thanks again to everyone

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