Very high TDEE - help!

I feel your pain. I just recently started exercising and it's really pushed up how many calories I am supposed to eat. I am not worried for now, but I can see it could become an issue if I start losing too fast, like 4 lbs a week would freak me out, too much too soon sort of thing. My plan if that day comes is to eat avocados and nuts and lots of peanut butter. Healthy fats another words and possibly more protein rich foods.

Yep. My husband is 6'2" and around 285 right now. He loses well when he eats about 2600 calories daily. As a 37 year old 5'7" woman I lost weight eating 2100 calories/day. Here's what I recommend:

Eat full fat foods
Eat real sugar and not artificial sweeteners
Eat meat for protein - beef is particularly high in calories
Eat nuts and nut butter
Enjoy fruits and cheeses
Eat healthy fats and oils
Enjoy junk food as long as it fits your macro targets

Oh an on the topic of macros, I recommend aiming for 260g protein and not worrying about carbs and fats... but you'll get all kinds of other suggestions.

My husband is 6'7", started out at 269 lbs, and was given 2880 by MFP to lose 1 pound a week. He also is a night stock person at Walmart, so is lifting a lot at work, so he put down that his daily activity is higher. Today he ate over 3000 calories because he burned over an additional 1000 calories doing Just Dance 4 and walking. He's losing weight every week. So far in 5 weeks he's lost around 14 or so pounds.

BUMP!, I would like to know as well!, I am aiming between 1300-1600 cals a day, and I am losing fine, but when I increased my cals to around 1800, I stopped losing weight during those 2 weeks (I'm 6' tall and obese), my TDEE was something close to yours somewhere around 3128, so minus the 20%=2502.4, umm, IDK, maybe it's cause of my hypothyroidism?, I am taking the proper meds..is it possible I just have a really slow metabolism?, as when I started counting my cals before I decided to start losing weight, 2500 cals was about the max amount I was already eating in a day...it's not the fact that I couldnt manage to eat that much, but the fact that I wouldn't lose the weight at the number...or maybe the TDEE -20% formula doesn't work for tall and big people? lol!, sorry if I sound ignorant :S

BUMP!, I would like to know as well!, I am aiming between 1300-1600 cals a day, and I am losing fine, but when I increased my cals to around 1800, I stopped losing weight during those 2 weeks (I'm 6' tall and obese), my TDEE was something close to yours somewhere around 3128, so minus the 20%=2502.4, umm, IDK, maybe it's cause of my hypothyroidism?, I am taking the proper meds..is it possible I just have a really slow metabolism?, as when I started counting my cals before I decided to start losing weight, 2500 cals was about the max amount I was already eating in a day...it's not the fact that I couldnt manage to eat that much, but the fact that I wouldn't lose the weight at the number...or maybe the TDEE -20% formula doesn't work for tall and big people? lol!, sorry if I sound ignorant :S

What was your BMR? I found eating BMR+100+Exercise calories worked well for me. All my caloric deficit came from my non-exercise activity in a day.

You should be able to lose weight eating at the higher numbers... Here's a blog I wrote that might make this easier to understand: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/mrsbigmack/view/finding-the-sweet-spot-452184

you realize that if you add more exercise you have to add even more calories, right?

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can help me out with this one - I've been on MFP for about 6 weeks now and losing weight slowly, eating between 1500-1700 cals/day (which was well below what was recommended). I've been reading a lot of posts about TDEE-20% so I put my numbers into the IIFYM Calculator - I'm 24, 6'3" and 310lbs.

I received two different results
1. Mifflin-St Jeor: TDEE=3425, After I take 20% = 2740
2. Harris-Benedict: TDEE=3824, After I take 20% = 3074

My problem is, these seems like really high numbers and I'm definitely going to struggle eating that much without resorting to greasy fast food every day.

Can anyone offer any assistance?

Thanks

Use the Mifflin-St. Jeor and take in 2425 a day to lose 2lbs a week. You don't HAVE to eat greasy fast food to reach your goal, but higher fat foods (like nuts and avocados) can easily get you there. Peanut butter too.

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1500 would be extremely low at 310 bro at the minimum you should be eating 200 and you're the same height as me so that's even a higher rate than the avg mfp.

you realize that if you add more exercise you have to add even more calories, right?

In that case, I'll stick to what I'm currently doing - about 3-4 hours a week.

I used this calculator
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/#projectedweightloss

And it recommended about 2700 calories - I'll give that go

If you are using the calculator correctly on scoobys and are inputting roughly your correct level of exercise and putting in step 6 your goal (say -20%) then the TDEE that comes out at the bottom based on your goal in step 6 does take into account both your activity levels and your weight loss. Theoretically if you eat the amount of calories it tells you according to step 6 at the bottom of that table you should lose fat at roughly the amount it tells you in the right hand column - DO NOT take an extra 20% off this figure, this figure has already reduced your maintenance calories by your goal (say 20%) based on your activity level and personal information.

It doesn't really matter which method you use (they are all estimates) but the Mifflin-St. Jeor one tends to suggest a lower TDEE than the Harris-Benedict one from what I can gather (according to that method my TDEE is about 150kcal lower than the Harris-Benedict method) so if you were to use this one you will lose more weight being that it suggests you eat less.

Of course as you lose weight you do need to readjust your TDEE, I have been told it is best to do this every 5-10lbs depending on how heavy you are.

If you feel fine eating less, then do it. A formula can't possible take into account every variable in every single person. Some people have slower metabolisms than others.

P.S. Scooby's calculator has me eat 1940 calories to maintain weight. That would make me gain slowly. I cut at about 20% under that number for a mild 1/2 lb loss every week or two.