Need advice from veterans

How does TDEE include exercise by just stating how many days you exercise? Wouldn't it very if someone is doing light vs heavy effort? Does it just take an average for that number of days you state you exercise?

There's two main methods in use here:
1/ The MFP way - sets your calorie level to create a deficit you select (lbs/week), includes activity level (lifestyle/job) but excludes exercise. Then when you exercise you estimate the calories burned that day and "eat them back". Some people only back a proportion of their calorie estimates to leave some wiggle room for inaccuracies in calorie estimates.
2/ The TDEE minus a percentage way - includes everything including your estimated exercise calories for the week. You eat a flat amount every day.

Both methods work as they create a calorie deficit so it's personal preference which one suits you better. I prefer the MFP way as my calorie burns vary enormously from day to day and week to week (I cycle a lot...).

With both methods you need to be consistent with logging and estimating and make any adjustments based on actual results over a period of time.

The TDEE-20% calculation for me would be 2300
The MFP calculation for me would be 1550

Given the large variance between the two, is it just a matter of picking one and trying it and adjusting? 1550 seems really low, but that is what MFP suggested since I want to try and loose 2lbs/week.

But with MFP you would log and eat back exercise calories because they aren't included in your activity level...so say you went for a 3 mile run and burned 360 calories...you'd actually gross 1,910 calories after you ate back exercise calories. There is still a difference but that's because you're comparing apples to oranges in RE to your loss rate goal. With MFP you're selecting 2 Lbs per week...TDEE - 20% is usually around 1 Lb per week.

I'll give you an example from when I was losing...I'm 5'10" and started off at around 220. MFP's calorie goal to lose 1 Lb per week was 1850...on average I would gross 2,100 - 2,200 calories per day with exercise. I ultimately switched to the TDEE - 20% method...my TDEE is roughly 2,700 calories...my TDEE - 20% is roughly 2,160 calories. As you can see, it's apples to apples and basically 6 of 1 regardless of method.

Your biggest issue here is that you're selecting a more accelerated weight loss goal with MFP and slower with your TDEE calculation. Just my $.02...slower is a lot easier to adhere to long term...either way, it's a long haul and adherence to your calorie goals will be essential to your success. I started off at 2 Lbs per week and couldn't hang...I was extremely drained and was always thinking about food...when I switched to 1 Lb per week, things became much easier. It took awhile obviously, but it was very easy to adhere to my plan and the weight loss was consistent.

First of all, I want to thank all of you for the personal education. I am learning a ton!

Eric,

I adjusted the MFP goals:

1550 = 2lbs/week
2050 = 1lbs/week
2300 = .5lbs/week

So it seems that the .5lbs/week is closer to my TDEE-20% daily of 2300. To me however, I would like to have at least 1lb/week loss.

No not quite, your TDEE includes exercise, so your MFP goal should be much lower, but on workout days should be more cals than TDEE - 20%, and on rest days, less than TDEE-20%.

So often do you workout? And how much do you burn on regular? If it is 600 cals but you only workout 3 days/week, that would average 260 cals/day (600*3/7), so if TDEE -20% = 2300 then your MFP goal should be around 2040. If you workout more often, or burn more then your MFP goal would be even lower.
So if you MFP goal is 2050 then you would eat 2050 on days you don't workout and 2650 on days you burn 600 cals, or you could choose the TDEE - 20% method and just eat 2300 everyday, at the end of the week total cals consumed should be pretty close, provided you have the correct weekly weight loss goal.

I work out 3-4 days per week. I do 30min eliptical (~400 Cal) and 30min weights (~100 Cal)

so you would be close at the end of the week whether you ate 2300/day for 7 days = 16,100 cals, or if you followed MFP (with a 1 lb/week weight loss goal) and ate 2050+ exercise cals = 16,350 (2050*7+500*4), so for the week following MFP you would eat between 15,850 and 16,350, depending if you worked out for 3 or 4 days, and following TDEE you would have 16,100, pretty close either way, so pick your poison and stick with that method.

is a 100 or 200 cal difference between TDEE-20% and MFP not even something to be concerned with?

So, that means 100-200 cal difference/week would mean an extra lb loss every 17-35 weeks, essentially it will be in the margin of error of calculating cals in and cals out.

It should come down to lifestyle, do you think it would be easier to eat the same cals everyday, or more on days you workout and less on days you don't.

All of these calculators are just estimations. Probably the most accurate way to go about weight loss OR gaining muscle* would be to measure religiously what you eat for a week or two while maintaining weight. The average calorie consumption per day would be your caloric maintenance.

To lose weight, drop calories just enough to see weight lose of about 1-2lbs a week. Most people will use -500kcal/day because 3500kcal (aka week's worth of -500kcal/day) = about 1lbs of fat. Reduce your maintenance calories once again when it seems to have stalled (I usually drop it every 2-3weeks).

To gain weight, i'd recommend adding about 200-400kcal to your maintenance calories. This will ensure that most of the additional energy from the increase in calories will be used by the increased demand in your workouts.

So to sum things up, toss the online calculators and just measure what you consume to figure out YOUR SPECIFIC caloric maintenance. Then you can add and subtract calories as you please. Feel free to msg me if you had any questions :P


* You can't really do both at the same time inless you're completely new to lifting.