MyFitnessPal Calorie Deficit/TDEE

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eblakes93
eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hola amigos.

I've been logging for 10 days now and am really enjoying it. I feel really empowered. However, MyFitnessPal had me on 1700 calories a day based on what I had input. I've been doing some reading about TDEE and using a whole bunch of different calculators, including those on iifym, and have found most of them to average my TDEE at 2400. I want to lose about a pound a week, which would put me at 1900.

I switched my goal to 1800 yesterday. Should I increase it again? I kind of feel bad doing it, especially since I had a bad eating day once this week.

Also, do all of you always come in at a deficit on your app? There have been times when I've been 5-70 calories over for the day. Do you think that will become a big impediment over time?

Replies

  • missmegan831
    missmegan831 Posts: 824 Member
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    I believe when using the MFP settings it does not include your exercise calories so if you burn 500 calories you are able to eat them back... and the TDEE - 20% the exercise calories are figured into the TDEE #... so depending on your workouts and have consistent they are you might be better off following the MFP guidelines vs the other calculators.. I personally switch back and forth when I reach a plateau and its working for me... best wishes :)
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    Are you currently eating your exercise calories back?

    When you set up MFP, you're not supposed to include exercise. So when you do exercise, you eat those calories back. With the TDEE method, you factor exercise into your TDEE to figure out your calorie goal. When you exercise, you don't eat anything extra.

    So, eating 1700 calories via MFP and then burning 200 and eating those back, would be the same as eating 1900 on the TDEE method. Hopefully that makes sense, haha.

    Anyway, if I were you I'd stay at the 1800 (per TDEE method) for a week or two and see what happens. If you keep losing, then maybe increase again to the 1900.

    And as for your other question, it's totally fine to go a little over sometimes :) Your calorie goal is just a general guideline. As long as you're usually coming within 100 calories of it in either direction, you'll be fine. It's also okay to have days where you go way over your goal - obviously I don't recommend doing that often, but don't stress yourself out if it happens occasionally!
  • elvensnow
    elvensnow Posts: 154 Member
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    Basically what the above poster said.

    TDEE calculators include your activity level. So if they say to eat 1900, you eat that every day whether you exercise or not. MFP expects you to "eat back" exercise calories. So they set the deficit accordingly. So if they gave you 1700 and expect you to earn ~200 calories of exercise, you'd be eating roughly the same on either method.

    I however like TDEE calculation better, since it removes a bit of the guess work - it's really hard to estimate you exercise calories unless you use a HRM or other devices.

    I think increasing to 1900 won't hurt. If you stop losing for a couple weeks you can always go lower.

    Best of luck.
  • eblakes93
    eblakes93 Posts: 372 Member
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    Thank you! That was helpful!

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