I'm supposed to be eating HOW MUCH?!

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sabrafox
sabrafox Posts: 70 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Okay so I'm new to this whole TDEE thing but my calories and macros in the calculator are SO DIFFERENT from what I've been eating on MFP. Am I doing this right?
Can anyone with more experience help?

I am a 30 yo female whose current weight is 242.4. I'm 5'5" and working out 5-6 days a week, a mixture of zumba, C25K, and heavy lifting.
According to THIS calculator http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

My results are as follows:
BMR: 1821
TDEE: 2663
20% deficit: 2130

Daily Macros in grams:
Carbs: 72.7
Protein: 242
Fat: 96.8
Fiber: 48-61

This is just so drastically different from what MFP has had me doing that I'm questioning it. Do any of you with more experience have any advice for me? Would you tweak it? If so, how?

Replies

  • shivles
    shivles Posts: 468 Member
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    I did it for mine and it was pretty much the same? :/
  • emmalouc93
    emmalouc93 Posts: 328 Member
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    Mine recommends 1859 for 'aggresive' weight loss. I eat 1500 most days before exercise according to MFP.

    There is a lot of variation, hard to know for sure!

    Not sure which to follow except whatever feels right and works for you!
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
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    GET IT
    Doesn't it feel good to be able to actually eat?
    Give it a try for a month. Unless you have metabolic damage or a medical condition you WILL lose weight.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    Why so low carb?

    The calorie amount seems good. I started on MFP at 180 lbs and was losing on 2100 calories/day on average. That was MFP's net 1600 plus my exercise calories.

    With a TDEE of 2600-ish that should give you a pound a week. That's a great rate of loss.
  • laurenz2501
    laurenz2501 Posts: 839 Member
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    Same here. MFP is totally different. I'm 29 years old.

    According to this calculator: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    My results are as follows:
    BMR: 1653
    TDEE: 1984
    15% deficit (Suggested) : 1686

    Daily Macros in grams:
    Carbs: 96.6
    Protein: 171
    Fat: 68.4
    Fiber: 34-43

    According to MFP:

    Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,340 Calories / Day
    Carbs / Day 184 g
    Fat / Day 45 g
    Protein / Day 50 g

    :noway: wtf...
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
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    If you're exercising, you would eat back those calories - I bet it would come pretty close to the TDEE figure.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    First the IIFYM calculator takes exercise into account. MFP doesn't. You are supposed to eat back your exercise calories with MFP, so the gap isn't that huge at all (at least with 25% less than your TDEE).

    Second, you have to find the right activity level for you. If you workout 7 days a week for one hour but sit on your butt the rest of the day, and you select '7 days a week' for activity, it will overstimate your TDEE by a lot. I walk 5 miles pretty much every day, do bodypump twice a week, and I have to select '5 days a week' for it to be close to what my fitbit says in average (even adding bodypump calories). 6 is a bit too high. 7 is 200 calories higher than my average. That's the main issue with TDEE calculators and why I'm really glad I bought a fitbit, so I was able to adjust my activity level properly.

    Third, macros - the 'zone diet' setting is arguably the best to lose weight, and better than the default ratio from MFP (which you can adjust too).

    Personally I just do TDEE-20% with 40/30/30 for macros.
  • seinfeldlove
    seinfeldlove Posts: 17 Member
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    Confusing, yes. I put my stats into the TDEE calculator on IIFYM and get one set of numbers when I use the drop down menu for activity, (3 times a week, 5 times, everyday, etc), a MUCH higher TDEE calorie recommendation than when I used the 'enter activity level'. The BMR and TDEE are the same number, after entering 30 minutes a day for biking (heavy) workout. How can the number be the same? Even better, neither of the widely divergent numbers come close to MFP recommendations. I'm lost.
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
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    Same here. MFP is totally different. I'm 29 years old.

    According to this calculator: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    My results are as follows:
    BMR: 1653
    TDEE: 1984
    15% deficit (Suggested) : 1686

    Daily Macros in grams:
    Carbs: 96.6
    Protein: 171
    Fat: 68.4
    Fiber: 34-43

    According to MFP:

    Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,340 Calories / Day
    Carbs / Day 184 g
    Fat / Day 45 g
    Protein / Day 50 g

    :noway: wtf...

    The macros are a bit subjective - people often change those up from MFP, usually because they want more protein than what MFP sets your goal to.

    But your calories aren't THAT different. I would first make sure you have MFP set to lose .5 a week (which is what that TDEE calculation is for). But if your TDEE is 1686, that includes exercise. MFP says 1,340. If you log 346 calories of exercise, it's the same thing. Even if your burn is 250/day, that's a difference of less than 100 calories. I thought it seemed 'off' at first when I did the TDEE calculator. But when you eat back your exercise calories (which is how MFP is designed), I found that the numbers were very similar.
  • laurenz2501
    laurenz2501 Posts: 839 Member
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    Same here. MFP is totally different. I'm 29 years old.

    According to this calculator: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    My results are as follows:
    BMR: 1653
    TDEE: 1984
    15% deficit (Suggested) : 1686

    Daily Macros in grams:
    Carbs: 96.6
    Protein: 171
    Fat: 68.4
    Fiber: 34-43

    According to MFP:

    Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,340 Calories / Day
    Carbs / Day 184 g
    Fat / Day 45 g
    Protein / Day 50 g

    :noway: wtf...

    The macros are a bit subjective - people often change those up from MFP, usually because they want more protein than what MFP sets your goal to.

    But your calories aren't THAT different. I would first make sure you have MFP set to lose .5 a week (which is what that TDEE calculation is for). But if your TDEE is 1686, that includes exercise. MFP says 1,340. If you log 346 calories of exercise, it's the same thing. Even if your burn is 250/day, that's a difference of less than 100 calories. I thought it seemed 'off' at first when I did the TDEE calculator. But when you eat back your exercise calories (which is how MFP is designed), I found that the numbers were very similar.

    The calculations based on the other website does include a "Sedentary/Desk Job" Lifestyle which is what I chose which is no exercise. I also picked Sedentary for MFP so they are still both way off. MFP says I should eat 1340 calories WITHOUT exercise and the other calculator says 1686 WITHOUT exercise (because most of the time I don't and if I do it might be 30 mins a day a few times a week). So of course if I do exercise I would eat those calories back..but yeah. Still way off.

    ETA: On MFP I do have my goal set to 1lb per week though. Do you think that's the difference?

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