TDEE vs. MFP Calorie Goals...convince me

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  • larovers
    larovers Posts: 100
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    So should I be just eating back my exercise calories then? I thought this was not a good thing to do. I have my calorie goal for the day set to 1500 calories a day but I always go over it...but I exercise. Is it best to just use the MFP method and eat back calories to lose weight faster? confused.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    So should I be just eating back my exercise calories then? I thought this was not a good thing to do. I have my calorie goal for the day set to 1500 calories a day but I always go over it...but I exercise. Is it best to just use the MFP method and eat back calories to lose weight faster? confused.

    MFP give you a number of cals to eat based on your lifestyle (most people do NOT include exercise in their lifestyle). Then, with MFP, you log your exercise and eat back those cals. That's the way it is intended to work.

    The TDEE approach factors in exercise to your daily calorie goal, so you do nto log them and do not eat them back. So it would work something like this...

    With MFP you eat a baseline of 1500 cals per day. ON workout days you eat an additional 500 cals to replenish what you burned when exercising. Say you workout 3-4 days per week, so you AVERAGE 1750 cals per day.

    With the TDEE approach, you set your TDEE based on lifestyle and exercise, reduce it by 20ish% for weight loss, and it gives you a daily calorie goal of 1750.

    See what happened there? You end up with the same calories regardless of the method you use. People get confused when they set things up differently (tell MFP they want to lose 2lbs per week, but have TDEE calculate a slower weight loss), or when they don't use the method as intended (like not eating back exercise cals with MFP).
  • larovers
    larovers Posts: 100
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    okay! I just came back from an intense fitness camp where I exercised 4 hours a day and only ate 1500 calories (did not eat back calories) and lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks and only 2 lbs of muscle so it was very effective (I lost much more fat that muscle because they gave us a lot of protein with every meal/snack). While I don't think that is real life AT ALL (who can work out that long every day) I still don't see how eating back your calories would work. I do get your point about the difference between TDEE and MFP basically being the same overall when done correctly.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    okay! I just came back from an intense fitness camp where I exercised 4 hours a day and only ate 1500 calories (did not eat back calories) and lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks and only 2 lbs of muscle so it was very effective (I lost much more fat that muscle because they gave us a lot of protein with every meal/snack). While I don't think that is real life AT ALL (who can work out that long every day) I still don't see how eating back your calories would work. I do get your point about the difference between TDEE and MFP basically being the same overall when done correctly.

    Because MFP calculates a deficit (which is what causes the weight loss) assuming no exercise. When you exercise, your body needs more cals, thus MFP has you eat more.

    The point is to keep your deficit reasonably small. This allows for steady weight loss, helps minimize muscle loss, but is less restrictive which helps with long term sustainability.
  • Justkeepswimmin
    Justkeepswimmin Posts: 777 Member
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    Assuming you make reasonable/appropriate selections for activity level and such, both methods should give about the same calories per day.

    MFP would be something like 1500 cals + exercise... you eat 1500 cals, burn 250 during exercise and eat those back for a daily total of 1750.

    TDEE includes exercise, so it would give you 1750 cals per day, you eat those 1750 and you're done.


    Both methods get to the same endpoint, they just do it differently. So it really comes down to how you want to log and whether or not you want to eat different amounts on rest days than you do on exercise days.

    The confusion comes when people screw up their settings. They'll tell MFP that they want to lose 2lbs per week, but TDEE-20% is only calculating 1lb per week (for example). In this scenario, the daily calories will be fairly different, and people will wonder why, wonder which method is better, and end up generally confused.



    So in conclusion... both methods do the same thing assuming you set them up (calculate) correctly. Picking one over the other is a matter of preference based on how you want to eat and what you want to log.

    Exactly!!! So this is why I am more motivated to work out and use the method where I eat less on rest days. If I go over 100 or so on those days I don't worry about it so much though ... anymore.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Assuming you make reasonable/appropriate selections for activity level and such, both methods should give about the same calories per day.

    MFP would be something like 1500 cals + exercise... you eat 1500 cals, burn 250 during exercise and eat those back for a daily total of 1750.

    TDEE includes exercise, so it would give you 1750 cals per day, you eat those 1750 and you're done.


    Both methods get to the same endpoint, they just do it differently. So it really comes down to how you want to log and whether or not you want to eat different amounts on rest days than you do on exercise days.

    The confusion comes when people screw up their settings. They'll tell MFP that they want to lose 2lbs per week, but TDEE-20% is only calculating 1lb per week (for example). In this scenario, the daily calories will be fairly different, and people will wonder why, wonder which method is better, and end up generally confused.



    So in conclusion... both methods do the same thing assuming you set them up (calculate) correctly. Picking one over the other is a matter of preference based on how you want to eat and what you want to log.

    This ^^
  • jody664
    jody664 Posts: 397 Member
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    I agree with the methods being about the same if you eat your calories back on MFP then don't for TDEE.

    I choose TDEE because I don't work out til the end of the day.... so if I am trying to plan out my meal for the day but I'm not sure how much I'll need to eat back (without estimation) then I get stuck with maybe 600+ calories to eat after 7pm. I prefer to eat bigger meals throughout the day to prep for my work out, then finish off the day with a lighter meal.

    ^^This. I work out at night and would estimate my exercise calories burned so I could spread them over the course of the day. But occasionally I would get stuck at work with an emergency and have to skip my workout. Then I'd already overeaten for the day. So far I'm liking the TDEE-20% much better. And it's something my personal trainer endorses, so I feel like I'm more compliant too. LOL.

    I have to say, "eating exercise calories" was a big motivator for me, though. I knew on workout days, I'd get an extra 300-600 calories. But I feel more consistent with TDEE-20% and less likely to "blow" those extra calories on cupcakes or something. Plus I'm not super hungry anymore on non-workout days.
  • Jerrypeoples
    Jerrypeoples Posts: 1,541 Member
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    bumpity bump bump
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Here is an example that if you have the right weekly weight loss goal it should workout to the same net cals/week:

    Say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout that day or not, but is based on how much you workout in a given week.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
  • ktrn0312
    ktrn0312 Posts: 723 Member
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    bump
  • lcvaughn520
    lcvaughn520 Posts: 219 Member
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    [/quote]

    Exactly!!! So this is why I am more motivated to work out and use the method where I eat less on rest days. If I go over 100 or so on those days I don't worry about it so much though ... anymore.

    [/quote]

    ETA: ^^ This was supposed to be a quote from a previous poster. Not sure why it's not showing up that way!!

    Yeah - I actually started out with this mentality - like "if I know I will get to eat more when I work out, I'll work out more." And I think this worked for me for a bit, but I'm just finding that on the days I don't work out, 1500 calories is just not cutting it. So I think I'm gonna try TDEE. That way, even if I consume the same number of calories each week, I won't have days where I feel so ravenous.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    Stick to a caloric range that works for you. One of the reasons I dont like MFP is because it only gives you one set caloric goal. If the goal you got is between 1500-1800 I'd hover in there somewhere.

    Some calculators are a bit more accurate but they all have some degree of error, and being an active organism with a changing but homeostatic system it's all just one big guess.

    If you choose the lower end range and find you are hungry and fatigued then you know you need to increase it to the higher end range because your estimate of activity is higher.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    I'm in the same boat!

    I started 10 weeks ago at 144lbs. Using MFP, it suggested I net 1500 cal to lose 1 lbs a week. I got down to 133 then gained 3 lbs back.

    I've been stuck at 136 for 3 weeks now. My exercise has increased a lot since I started MFP and I've been reading a lot about TDEE- 20% being a better way to lose weight.

    My TDEE - 20% is around 1800cal.

    I'm also hungry a lot of the time when I have already hit my 1500 cal goal on MFP. I've been thinking about trying TDEE because (1) it would be much easier to do (2) keeping consistent with MFP has lead me to a plateau as well.

    I figure I'll give it a shot and as long as I don't gain weight, it hasn't hurt to try.

    My allowed calorie from MFP is only 1290. Why is it so low. I also have 1 pound a week as a goal.
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I'm in the same boat!

    I started 10 weeks ago at 144lbs. Using MFP, it suggested I net 1500 cal to lose 1 lbs a week. I got down to 133 then gained 3 lbs back.

    I've been stuck at 136 for 3 weeks now. My exercise has increased a lot since I started MFP and I've been reading a lot about TDEE- 20% being a better way to lose weight.

    My TDEE - 20% is around 1800cal.

    I'm also hungry a lot of the time when I have already hit my 1500 cal goal on MFP. I've been thinking about trying TDEE because (1) it would be much easier to do (2) keeping consistent with MFP has lead me to a plateau as well.

    I figure I'll give it a shot and as long as I don't gain weight, it hasn't hurt to try.

    My allowed calorie from MFP is only 1290. Why is it so low. I also have 1 pound a week as a goal.
    Do you have MFP set to sedentary?
  • karenmi
    karenmi Posts: 242 Member
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    Assuming you make reasonable/appropriate selections for activity level and such, both methods should give about the same calories per day.

    MFP would be something like 1500 cals + exercise... you eat 1500 cals, burn 250 during exercise and eat those back for a daily total of 1750.

    TDEE includes exercise, so it would give you 1750 cals per day, you eat those 1750 and you're done.


    Both methods get to the same endpoint, they just do it differently. So it really comes down to how you want to log and whether or not you want to eat different amounts on rest days than you do on exercise days.

    The confusion comes when people screw up their settings. They'll tell MFP that they want to lose 2lbs per week, but TDEE-20% is only calculating 1lb per week (for example). In this scenario, the daily calories will be fairly different, and people will wonder why, wonder which method is better, and end up generally confused.



    So in conclusion... both methods do the same thing assuming you set them up (calculate) correctly. Picking one over the other is a matter of preference based on how you want to eat and what you want to log.

    ^^^ He and others convinced me to try it last week, so I am going to until the end of May and see what happens. It's hard to wrap my head around it after doing MFP 1200/day for the past 3+ years, but I'm convinced it will work!
  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Assuming you make reasonable/appropriate selections for activity level and such, both methods should give about the same calories per day.

    MFP would be something like 1500 cals + exercise... you eat 1500 cals, burn 250 during exercise and eat those back for a daily total of 1750.

    TDEE includes exercise, so it would give you 1750 cals per day, you eat those 1750 and you're done.


    Both methods get to the same endpoint, they just do it differently. So it really comes down to how you want to log and whether or not you want to eat different amounts on rest days than you do on exercise days.

    The confusion comes when people screw up their settings. They'll tell MFP that they want to lose 2lbs per week, but TDEE-20% is only calculating 1lb per week (for example). In this scenario, the daily calories will be fairly different, and people will wonder why, wonder which method is better, and end up generally confused.



    So in conclusion... both methods do the same thing assuming you set them up (calculate) correctly. Picking one over the other is a matter of preference based on how you want to eat and what you want to log.

    ^^^ He and others convinced me to try it last week, so I am going to until the end of May and see what happens. It's hard to wrap my head around it after doing MFP 1200/day for the past 3+ years, but I'm convinced it will work!

    I see you don't have that much left to lose.. make sure you use a smaller deficit than 20%.
  • SEC_RULES
    SEC_RULES Posts: 63 Member
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    BUMP
  • karenmi
    karenmi Posts: 242 Member
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    Assuming you make reasonable/appropriate selections for activity level and such, both methods should give about the same calories per day.

    MFP would be something like 1500 cals + exercise... you eat 1500 cals, burn 250 during exercise and eat those back for a daily total of 1750.

    TDEE includes exercise, so it would give you 1750 cals per day, you eat those 1750 and you're done.


    Both methods get to the same endpoint, they just do it differently. So it really comes down to how you want to log and whether or not you want to eat different amounts on rest days than you do on exercise days.

    The confusion comes when people screw up their settings. They'll tell MFP that they want to lose 2lbs per week, but TDEE-20% is only calculating 1lb per week (for example). In this scenario, the daily calories will be fairly different, and people will wonder why, wonder which method is better, and end up generally confused.



    So in conclusion... both methods do the same thing assuming you set them up (calculate) correctly. Picking one over the other is a matter of preference based on how you want to eat and what you want to log.

    ^^^ He and others convinced me to try it last week, so I am going to until the end of May and see what happens. It's hard to wrap my head around it after doing MFP 1200/day for the past 3+ years, but I'm convinced it will work!

    I see you don't have that much left to lose.. make sure you use a smaller deficit than 20%.

    Yes, I am using 15%.

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