I Need Help Please!!! (TDEE and BMR related)

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Ashleyxjamie
Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I recently calculated my TDEE and stated that I am lightly active. I workout 5 times a week for about an hour. So based on being lightly active and my stats (age-25, weight-190, height-5'7.5") it states my BMR is 1675, TDEE to MAINTAIN weight is 2597, and my TDEE less 20% is 2077 DAILY. so my question is this: based on this information, should I eat 2077 calories a day then when I workout, SUBRACT my exercise calories and eat back some to make sure my net is AT LEAST more than my BMR which is 1675? so for example: I eat 2077 calories. I go to the gym and burn 600 calories (GO ME!! lol). that means 2077-600 = 1477 Calories. So does this mean I should eat back at least 198 to reach my BMR of 1675? Or should I eat up to my 2077 TDEE calorie intake? To me it seems odd to eat them all back and it is WAY too much for me to eat in the run of a day. I am new at this whole "EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS" thing. I was on a strict 1300 calorie diet and now i'm a bit confused. Please don't send me any links explaining the TDEE and BMR as I've been reading so many articles lately and I just want a straight answer if possible :)

P.S feel free to add me on here, and check out my profile's "about me" section to read about my weight problems and story.
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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    You would eat 2077 calories daily (every day, even on none workout days). You don't even need to track exercise.
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    Yes, but if I record my exercise, which I do just to keep track, would I need to eat anything back?
  • goodtimezzzz
    goodtimezzzz Posts: 640 Member
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    Everyone complicates this..by the way you are looking great! keep going:)....you would eat around 2000 calories BUT NOT DAILY!
    this is important the body doesnt like sameness when it comes to killing your last pounds..you have to vary your calories...
  • Ninhydrin
    Ninhydrin Posts: 18 Member
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    The TDEE method uses your activity levels to calculate what your "total daily energy expenditure" is, therefore you shouldn't eat back any exercise calories - because they're already worked in to the calculation.

    Just eat at TDEE-20% (ie. roughly 2000 calories a day) and go from there. If you find you aren't losing any weight, then perhaps your BMR is over-estimated, then cut until you do start seeing a loss.

    5 times a week for about an hour is a actually fair bit of activity, so you need energy for that. 2000 calories per day sounds reasonable given your stats.

    If I were you I would also adjust my macros so that you're eating around 190g (1 g for every lb you weigh) of protein a day and no more than 50g of fat, with the rest being carb. That's just what works for me though.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    Yes, but if I record my exercise, which I do just to keep track, would I need to eat anything back?

    Just eat 2077 calories a day. When you track exercise, change it to 1 calorie burn. That is how the TDEE method works. Exercise is included in your TDEE. Adding exercise would double count exercise.
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    Everyone complicates this..by the way you are looking great! keep going:)....you would eat around 2000 calories BUT NOT DAILY!
    this is important the body doesnt like sameness when it comes to killing your last pounds..you have to vary your calories...

    what do you mean by not daily? should I eat around 1800 on days that I do not exercise and 2000 on days that I do? I'm lost now lol.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    Everyone complicates this..by the way you are looking great! keep going:)....you would eat around 2000 calories BUT NOT DAILY!
    this is important the body doesnt like sameness when it comes to killing your last pounds..you have to vary your calories...

    what do you mean by not daily? should I eat around 1800 on days that I do not exercise and 2000 on days that I do? I'm lost now lol.

    It was probably a typo. Eat 2000 daily.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Yes, but if I record my exercise, which I do just to keep track, would I need to eat anything back?

    No, those exercise calories are supposed to be included in your TDEE. So, I would reconsider your assessment of yourself as "lightly active" if you're working out 5 days a week. Moderate at least would be more reasonable. Then eat your -10-20% of that every day (how much do you have to lose? If you're close to your goal -20% can be too aggressive). You don't eat your exercise calories back on top of that using the TDEE approach, because they're already included.

    I keep track of my exercise and my burns, but on MFP I log the burn as "1" calorie (it's the minimum it'll let you do), and record the actual burn in the notes section and on my own excel spreadsheet.
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    The TDEE method uses your activity levels to calculate what your "total daily energy expenditure" is, therefore you shouldn't eat back any exercise calories - because they're already worked in to the calculation.

    Just eat at TDEE-20% (ie. roughly 2000 calories a day) and go from there. If you find you aren't losing any weight, then perhaps your BMR is over-estimated, then cut until you do start seeing a loss.

    5 times a week for about an hour is a actually fair bit of activity, so you need energy for that. 2000 calories per day sounds reasonable given your stats.

    If I were you I would also adjust my macros so that you're eating around 190g (1 g for every lb you weigh) of protein a day and no more than 50g of fat, with the rest being carb. That's just what works for me though.

    Thanks for replying! But if I workout and burn more than 500 calories that means my daily intake of calories (my net) will be les than my BMR (1675) so should I at least make sure I net this amount?
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Everyone complicates this..by the way you are looking great! keep going:)....you would eat around 2000 calories BUT NOT DAILY!
    this is important the body doesnt like sameness when it comes to killing your last pounds..you have to vary your calories...

    what do you mean by not daily? should I eat around 1800 on days that I do not exercise and 2000 on days that I do? I'm lost now lol.

    It was probably a typo. Eat 2000 daily.

    He might have meant to "stagger" your intake...something like 1600 on non-workout days and 2400 on workout days, to average out to 2000/day for the week...
  • goodtimezzzz
    goodtimezzzz Posts: 640 Member
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    well Ashley once you eat consistantly at around 2000 the game is over the body quickly ADAPTS...by "roller coasting" yoiu cals as i like to say you speed up the process depending on your daily activity type of activity..example..weights , yoga running tennis cardio etc. so 2000 , 1500, 2400, 2800 on a killer power lifting type day...getting it?? it works like a charm!
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    Okay so I will switch up my calories daily. So I should at least be netting my BMR which is 1675 AFTER exercise right?
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
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    Don't worry about your exercise calories at all. With TDEE you don't have to.

    As long as you're eating TDEE w/ deficit you don't have to worry about counting exercise calories, logging exercise calories or nets. Just eat under your TDEE, whatever % you feel is good for your goals.

    *yes, you're not supposed to eat below your BMR.
  • footiechick82
    footiechick82 Posts: 1,203 Member
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    In simple terms, you don't eat back your exercise calories.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Just eat your 2077 everyday. If after 4-6 weeks you are not getting the results you are looking for then change something up. No need to eat dif amount everyday. That is one method but should average the same for the week, the same intake daily is the easiest to follow though.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    goodtimezzzz is unnecessarily complicating things. Eat your TDEE. Don't worry too much about BMR. Start with the formula that has worked for hundreds of people, don't worry about eating back anything or cycling calories. If you find after giving it a fair, 5-6 weeks trial, that it isn't working for you, then reassess. Simple.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Okay so I will switch up my calories daily. So I should at least be netting my BMR which is 1675 AFTER exercise right?

    some say that, but it really isn't an issue whether you eat a bit above or below your BMR - a number you don't actually know in the first place (you have an estimate +/- 10% or worse).
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    thank you for the replies everyone!! Here is what I concluded:

    *I will eat between 1800-2000 calories daily

    *I will workout 5x a week to burn on average 500 calories each workout

    *I will log my exercise JUST to keep track but I will NOT eat back exercise calories if I eat 2000 calories that day. If I eat around 1800 I will have a small snack to up my calories to 2000 on days that I workout

    *I will do this for about a month and track my result :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    well Ashley once you eat consistantly at around 2000 the game is over the body quickly ADAPTS...by "roller coasting" yoiu cals as i like to say you speed up the process depending on your daily activity type of activity..example..weights , yoga running tennis cardio etc. so 2000 , 1500, 2400, 2800 on a killer power lifting type day...getting it?? it works like a charm!
    How does cycling calories speed up the process? A 3500 calorie deficit over a week is still a 3500 calorie deficit regardless of how you stack it. It will still equate to 1 lb per week. And most of the evidence on calorie cycling is so anecdotal.

    BTW, the body will not adapt to calories otherwise, I would have been screwed along time ago. I consistently lose 1 lb per week without issue.
  • Ashleyxjamie
    Ashleyxjamie Posts: 223 Member
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    SOME MATH

    So this equals ( for my own stats that I posted in my earlier posts)

    CONSUMED CALORIES: 2000 calories (x 5 days) + 1800 calories (x 2 days) = 13600

    SUBTRACT my deficits: 797 calories (x 2 days) + 1097 calories (x 5 days) - this is from my daily deficit of 597 calories + 500 calorie workout

    = Weekly deficit of 7052 a week which is about 2 pounds!!

    IS THIS RIGHT? Someone please tell me it is because my brain hurts lol

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