I feel like I MUST be making a huge mistake here

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honeylissabee
honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been trying the TDEE-20% method for 3 days now, and I just cannot comprehend that I can eat this much and still lose weight.

I currently have MFP set for my Sedentary TDEE-20% and then I plan on eating back all of the exercise calories from my Fitbit.

Friday, I ate 1846 calories, but had 115 remaining. Yesterday, I ate 2140 calories with 81 leftover. Today, I've eaten 1268 calories and I still have 928 left!

Coming from years and years of being told to stick to a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet as a female, I'm having a hard time accepting that I can eat over 2,000 calories a day and lose weight.
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Replies

  • action_figure
    action_figure Posts: 511 Member
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    I've been trying the TDEE-20% method for 3 days now, and I just cannot comprehend that I can eat this much and still lose weight.

    I currently have MFP set for my Sedentary TDEE-20% and then I plan on eating back all of the exercise calories from my Fitbit.

    Friday, I ate 1846 calories, but had 115 remaining. Yesterday, I ate 2140 calories with 81 leftover. Today, I've eaten 1268 calories and I still have 928 left!

    Coming from years and years of being told to stick to a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet as a female, I'm having a hard time accepting that I can eat over 2,000 calories a day and lose weight.
  • action_figure
    action_figure Posts: 511 Member
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    I've been trying the TDEE-20% method for 3 days now, and I just cannot comprehend that I can eat this much and still lose weight.

    I currently have MFP set for my Sedentary TDEE-20% and then I plan on eating back all of the exercise calories from my Fitbit.

    Friday, I ate 1846 calories, but had 115 remaining. Yesterday, I ate 2140 calories with 81 leftover. Today, I've eaten 1268 calories and I still have 928 left!

    Coming from years and years of being told to stick to a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet as a female, I'm having a hard time accepting that I can eat over 2,000 calories a day and lose weight.

    See how it works for you long term. You may not be able to consistently lose weight eating back that much. Just chart it and adapt your program as you go.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    believe it. this **** works.the end.

    just make sure your numbers and activity level are correct.
    and that you're not counting your calories burned twice, a common mistake for fitbit users.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    How many of the people that told you 1200-1500 have managed to keep the weight off permenantly?
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
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    first, you should be upping your calories by 100 per week, not jumping to 2000+ all at once, or you will definitely gain weight, just from the major change. start adding the calories more slowly. your weight should remain stable as you do that. Once you get to TDEE-20%, stay there. within a month, the weight should start dropping pretty quickly.
  • shadowkitty22
    shadowkitty22 Posts: 495 Member
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    Well I've learned that you definitely need to eat in order to lose weight but that you need to eat right. You should also give yourself a few weeks of eating at your current calorie settings to give your body time to adjust. Yes you'll probably see a gain in the beginning but just give it time and it should start to come off.
  • lunahbby
    lunahbby Posts: 18 Member
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    Eating back your calories is actually not a good idea, because caloric burn is typically way overestimated. In general, if you know you're exercising with some effort, stick to eating half of them back, not all of them, because chances are the number you see on MFP is higher than the number of calories you've actually burned, so you're just going above your limit. But yeah, everyone's individual ideal numbers are different. If you're very overweight, eating 1200 calories would make you lose more than 2lbs a week, which is generally a higher goal than is considered safe. What's more, losing 2lbs a week can be unsustainable and there's no reason to try to do it if you're in no rush. :)

    Edit: How tall are you, actually? I'm trying to calculator your TDEE as well.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    You just have to eat at a dificit to lose weight. 1200-1500 calories can be a big dificit for some people but not others. Might as well try to eat as much to lose weight, that way if you stall you can have some where to go to lose more. If your really active you probably can lose weight with 2000 calories or more.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    I've been trying the TDEE-20% method for 3 days now, and I just cannot comprehend that I can eat this much and still lose weight.

    Well, let's make it simple. Your body burns x amount of calories per day. If you eat x amount of calories, you will see no change in muscle or fat mass. If you eat less than x amount of calories per day, your body will begin breaking down muscle and fat mass to make up for the energy deficit.

    Also, 3 days is NOT long enough to say whether a diet is working or not.
    I currently have MFP set for my Sedentary TDEE-20% and then I plan on eating back all of the exercise calories from my Fitbit.

    Friday, I ate 1846 calories, but had 115 remaining. Yesterday, I ate 2140 calories with 81 leftover. Today, I've eaten 1268 calories and I still have 928 left!

    Coming from years and years of being told to stick to a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet as a female, I'm having a hard time accepting that I can eat over 2,000 calories a day and lose weight.

    We call this brainwashing. You've been brainwashed into thinking one way, but it isn't logically true. Saying all women should eat 1,200-1,500 calories is like saying all vehicles, from a moped to a tank, should have the same MPG.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
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    Eating back your calories is actually not a good idea, because caloric burn is typically way overestimated. In general, if you know you're exercising with some effort, stick to eating half of them back, not all of them, because chances are the number you see on MFP is higher than the number of calories you've actually burned, so you're just going above your limit. But yeah, everyone's individual ideal numbers are different. If you're very overweight, eating 1200 calories would make you lose more than 2lbs a week, which is generally a higher goal than is considered safe. What's more, losing 2lbs a week can be unsustainable and there's no reason to try to do it if you're in no rush. :)

    Edit: How tall are you, actually? I'm trying to calculator your TDEE as well.

    If she is set at sedentary, then yes, eating back exercise calories is necessary, particularly since it is more likely that she is lightly active and should be eating exercise calories back on top of that. The fitbit method is generally accepted as accurate.

    As another poster mentioned, just keep at it. If you don't add your calories slowly in, you will see a small weight gain initially (which is why I encourage people who are switching to this method to add 100 calories per week). Doing that also lets your hunger hormone, called leptin, adjust to your new intake so that you don't feel like you are stuffing yourself.
  • suzy1220
    suzy1220 Posts: 118 Member
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    I guess you'll know when you weigh in if those caloric numbers are working for you! :smile: I have a fitbit too and I try not to eat back all of my exercise calories. Most days I eat around 1500-1800 calories and I exercise 6 days a week and have been consistently losing without being hungry. After the initial 2-3 weeks on the plan my constant hunger went away and now I eat when I'm hungry, smaller portions and try to make better choices. Remember, this is for life, not for 'just now' so you have to do what works best for you. Good luck!
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
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    I'm 5'5"

    Fitbit gives an adjustment based on my activity. If Fitbit says I burned an estimated 2,500 calories per day and MFP originally estimated my burn to be 2,000, then it adds 500 calories to my goal. If I do a workout that my Fitbit doesn't track well, I put in the time and it will override the Fitbit data for that time period with the custom entry.

    Thing is, with my constant binges, I probably was consuming well over 3,000-4,000 calories more often than not, so it's not like I've been on a 1,200 calorie diet for very long.In fact, I do know that I lost about 2.5 pounds overnight just because I pretty much drank the entire content of fresh water on the planet AND I was just getting off a major binge.

    Because my activity levels vary SO much, I determined that I would just initially set my goal based on being sedentary and let the Fitbit adjustment make up the difference. That also helps me by giving me an incentive to get in an extra little workout if I go over my goal (like yesterday when I went to California Pizza Kitchen), and it also keeps me motivated to move more overall. If I know I might be going out, I won't sit still as much because I'll want the extra calories to help cover half a dessert or some frozen yogurt. (I've also been eating more nuts and drinking more milk than before).
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
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    Yep, it works. Due to my high activity levels, I eat at around 2000 calories a day to lose.

    I do use a scale to weigh my food (the food that isn't prepackaged, anyway), that way I know I'm being as accurate as I can be. When I eyeball it, my portions become more generous than they should be.
  • maiaroman18
    maiaroman18 Posts: 460 Member
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    I've been trying the TDEE-20% method for 3 days now, and I just cannot comprehend that I can eat this much and still lose weight.

    I currently have MFP set for my Sedentary TDEE-20% and then I plan on eating back all of the exercise calories from my Fitbit.

    Friday, I ate 1846 calories, but had 115 remaining. Yesterday, I ate 2140 calories with 81 leftover. Today, I've eaten 1268 calories and I still have 928 left!

    Coming from years and years of being told to stick to a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet as a female, I'm having a hard time accepting that I can eat over 2,000 calories a day and lose weight.
    I eat over 2500 calories a day. And I'm still losing weight.
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
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    I was on Weight Watchers for about 2 weeks, went on a 2 day binge and then continued for another 4 weeks or so when I switched to MFP (using their goals). I did that for less than a week before going on a 3-4 day binge (eating more than 4,000 calories some days) and then switching to this method- and I had more than my fair share of days where I overate on WW, so I'm not really concerned about needing to up my calories gradually.
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
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    Yep, it works. Due to my high activity levels, I eat at around 2000 calories a day to lose.

    I do use a scale to weigh my food (the food that isn't prepackaged, anyway), that way I know I'm being as accurate as I can be. When I eyeball it, my portions become more generous than they should be.

    I weigh my food too, though I'm comfortable eyeballing certain foods when out. I'll count out cherry tomatoes from a veggie tray or estimate the size of a banana.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    if you are doing TDEE why are you eating back exercise cals..? or am I missing something?
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    It works. Just ask the last 15lbs I dropped off my *kitten* since January using TDEE-20%.
  • lunahbby
    lunahbby Posts: 18 Member
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    Eating back your calories is actually not a good idea, because caloric burn is typically way overestimated. In general, if you know you're exercising with some effort, stick to eating half of them back, not all of them, because chances are the number you see on MFP is higher than the number of calories you've actually burned, so you're just going above your limit. But yeah, everyone's individual ideal numbers are different. If you're very overweight, eating 1200 calories would make you lose more than 2lbs a week, which is generally a higher goal than is considered safe. What's more, losing 2lbs a week can be unsustainable and there's no reason to try to do it if you're in no rush. :)

    Edit: How tall are you, actually? I'm trying to calculator your TDEE as well.

    If she is set at sedentary, then yes, eating back exercise calories is necessary, particularly since it is more likely that she is lightly active and should be eating exercise calories back on top of that. The fitbit method is generally accepted as accurate.

    As another poster mentioned, just keep at it. If you don't add your calories slowly in, you will see a small weight gain initially (which is why I encourage people who are switching to this method to add 100 calories per week). Doing that also lets your hunger hormone, called leptin, adjust to your new intake so that you don't feel like you are stuffing yourself.

    No way. If she's sedentary she definitely SHOULDN'T be eating back calories, and most people tend to OVERESTIMATE their activity levels, so it's highly unlikely she's underestimating.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
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    Eating back your calories is actually not a good idea, because caloric burn is typically way overestimated. In general, if you know you're exercising with some effort, stick to eating half of them back, not all of them, because chances are the number you see on MFP is higher than the number of calories you've actually burned, so you're just going above your limit. But yeah, everyone's individual ideal numbers are different. If you're very overweight, eating 1200 calories would make you lose more than 2lbs a week, which is generally a higher goal than is considered safe. What's more, losing 2lbs a week can be unsustainable and there's no reason to try to do it if you're in no rush. :)

    Edit: How tall are you, actually? I'm trying to calculator your TDEE as well.

    If she is set at sedentary, then yes, eating back exercise calories is necessary, particularly since it is more likely that she is lightly active and should be eating exercise calories back on top of that. The fitbit method is generally accepted as accurate.

    As another poster mentioned, just keep at it. If you don't add your calories slowly in, you will see a small weight gain initially (which is why I encourage people who are switching to this method to add 100 calories per week). Doing that also lets your hunger hormone, called leptin, adjust to your new intake so that you don't feel like you are stuffing yourself.

    No way. If she's sedentary she definitely SHOULDN'T be eating back calories, and most people tend to OVERESTIMATE their activity levels, so it's highly unlikely she's underestimating.

    She is not actually sedentary. She simply has her activity set at sedentary for easier calculation. Many people (including me) do it this way. You did not understand the OP.

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