Too much information! - Simple advice please on cal intake

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pinkbananashoes
pinkbananashoes Posts: 21
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys,
I really could do with some help - I've managed to totally confuse myself reading about all the different ways to calculate my calorie intake.

Can it be as simply as calculating my TDEE - minus 20% for weight loss, setting my calories higher on here and seeing what happens? I know this topic has been covered a million times but that's where I've got confused reading too many posts!

Any advice much appreciated!
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Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Your TDEE is your maintenance calories. You set your calories LOWER to lose weight.
  • pinkbananashoes
    pinkbananashoes Posts: 21
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    Oh man, I meant to put that. EDITED! Thanks
  • howardheilweil
    howardheilweil Posts: 604 Member
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    Simple as that.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    Its all an estimation.. you have to play around with your numbers the calculators are just a general guide. But yes TDEE is what your body needs to not gain, or lose any weight.. so reducing calories from your TDEE would make your body drop weight.. or if you eat over it, gain weight.. its up to you to find that number (or stay under/above it for your goals) depending on your activity.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    It's as simple as that. Calculate your TDEE-20% (got to be careful though, figuring out your activity level is the tricky part as it doesn't account for what you do during the day), and eat that, and make sure you weigh all your food.
  • pinkbananashoes
    pinkbananashoes Posts: 21
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    Thanks guys, I don't know why there's so much confusion out there but there definitely is! I'm going to play around and see what happens. x
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Or just use MFP.....
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
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    I set my MFP to sedentary (desk job)
    -Eat at or under that
    -Exercise - if I exercise I eat back about half of those calories
    (I found that for me exercising 6 days a week helps TREMENDOUSLY with toning and wt loss)

    That is all.
  • qtgonewild
    qtgonewild Posts: 1,930 Member
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    mfp numbers work for me
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Thanks guys, I don't know why there's so much confusion out there but there definitely is! I'm going to play around and see what happens. x

    Because while that way works, it isn't the way MFP is designed so you get a lot of different information mixed in that references MFPs way, and lots of information that references TDEE, combined with the millions of other "ways" people do it. You have to be able to separate them all.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    mfp numbers work for me

    MFP + exercise should be pretty close to TDEE less a percent ......WHEN people use appropriate weight loss goals. The problem is sometimes people put in goals that are way too agressive. MFP then gives them the lowest "default" value - 1200 for women.

    "Net" calories add to the confusion when people don't understand the function of eating back exercise calories in MFP.
  • Gee_24
    Gee_24 Posts: 359 Member
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    I was eating at 1200 at first. I inputed my exercise cals manually via MFP. .Adding work exercise gave me about 500-600 extra cals a day with MFP. But then I read MFP very often over estimates cals burned during workouts

    So, not trusting THAT I tried TDEE. Found out my TDEE is 2000 and I took away 20% giving me 1600. I was VERY unsure of my activity level. So I couldn't decide on Active or Moderately Active. So thats what gave me the TDEE of 2000 on Scooby, Had I inputted very active I would have gotten a TDEE of 2300.

    Just got a fitbit and am happy to say I burn up to 2300 cals on work days.

    I will now eat at 1800+.

    TDEE and MFP are all near enough, but you may never be sure until you get some sort of HRM. Thats the only way I was able to ease me mind. If I had just trusted that I work my *kitten* off and chosen the right activity level on Scooby, the TDEE method would have been within 30 cals of being spot on.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,871 Member
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    Thanks guys, I don't know why there's so much confusion out there but there definitely is! I'm going to play around and see what happens. x

    People like to over complicate what is not complicated....it's basically a 5th grade mathematical formula

    Also, MFP method and TDEE method are pretty much 6 of 1 if you're doing them correctly. The only difference between the two formulas is where exercise is accounted for. With TDEE, you account for exercise activity in your activity level...it is accounted for up front. With MFP, exercise is accounted for after the fact on the backside of the formula when you log it...that is why MFP gives you extra calories when you log exercise.

    Both methods have there positives and negatives. With TDEE it is very important that you maintain whatever level of exercise activity you use as an input...if that level of output changes, your formula is no longer valid. That's one of the positive aspects of MFP...if you neglect your fitness, you aren't punished for it because your weight loss formula doesn't take into account any exercise...that activity is tacked on only when you perform it, giving you more calories to eat. Of course the biggest drawback to MFP's method is that it is very easy to overestimate calorie burn from exercise. In either case it is common to underestimate intake which is why weighing and measuring is so important.

    Also note that TDEE - 20% is usually closer to a 1 Lb per week loss goal...when people compare the two methods, they often overlook the fact that they're often comparing a 2 Lb per week loss goal (because people tend to go with the most aggressive approach) with MFP to a 1 Lb per week loss goal with TDEE - 20%. But really, like I said...all 6 of 1, half dozen of the other if you're comparing apples to apples.

    Here's an example of my numbers. My TDEE is 2700 calories. My TDEE - 20% is 2,160 calories to lose roughly 1 Lb per week. My MFP goal to lose 1 Lb per week was 1850 NET calories...on average I burn about 350 calories per day with exercise...that gives me roughly 2200 gross calories per day to consume. As you can see, there is a negligible 40 calorie difference between the two methods. If you are having issues, I wouldn't look so much to the method as I would your own adherence to diet and your estimations of calorie intake and calorie output.
  • pinkbananashoes
    pinkbananashoes Posts: 21
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    I was eating at 1200 at first. I inputed my exercise cals manually via MFP. .Adding work exercise gave me about 500-600 extra cals a day with MFP. But then I read MFP very often over estimates cals burned during workouts

    So, not trusting THAT I tried TDEE. Found out my TDEE is 2000 and I took away 20% giving me 1600. I was VERY unsure of my activity level. So I couldn't decide on Active or Moderately Active. So thats what gave me the TDEE of 2000 on Scooby, Had I inputted very active I would have gotten a TDEE of 2300.

    Just got a fitbit and am happy to say I burn up to 2300 cals on work days.

    I will now eat at 1800+.

    TDEE and MFP are all near enough, but you may never be sure until you get some sort of HRM. Thats the only way I was able to ease me mind. If I had just trusted that I work my *kitten* off and chosen the right activity level on Scooby, the TDEE method would have been within 30 cals of being spot on.


    Thanks really helpful! I definitely didn't realise about eating back the cals your burn with the mfp, maybe if i'd known that I wouldn't have had so many issues, now I know about TDEE though I think I'm going to give it a try. X
  • jeffkendall
    jeffkendall Posts: 1
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    I have found mfp gives too much credit for exercise and I stayed stuck at the same weight for a week using mfp recommendations. Also mfp doesn't know what to do with meal replacement shakes. A 200 cal meal replacement shake is intended to impart about 1500 calories worth of nutrition. While I wouldn't go to nothing but a shake all day, this helps me know how to ignore all those mfp warnings that my body is in starvation mode! I should be able to resume losing weight by following mfp guidlines, minus the calories that are replaced by meal replacement shakes!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    I just allowed MFP to calculate my calories. I put lightly active because sedentary pretty much means you don't do anything at all all day long. In my experience, that is not true even for a desk job. At .5 pound loss a week for the last 10 pounds, I have been eating between 1,600 and 1,800 calories a day (I've been on it too short of a time to see if I've lost that half pound). However, all along I have been losing weight consistently.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    mfp numbers work for me

    MFP + exercise should be pretty close to TDEE less a percent ......WHEN people use appropriate weight loss goals. The problem is sometimes people put in goals that are way too agressive. MFP then gives them the lowest "default" value - 1200 for women.

    "Net" calories add to the confusion when people don't understand the function of eating back exercise calories in MFP.

    Amen. I guess MFP does this because it wants to encourage people to exercise so they can eat more, but using this odd method in addition to not guiding people in how to choose a deficit does lead to confusion.
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,051 Member
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    I have found mfp gives too much credit for exercise and I stayed stuck at the same weight for a week using mfp recommendations. Also mfp doesn't know what to do with meal replacement shakes. A 200 cal meal replacement shake is intended to impart about 1500 calories worth of nutrition. While I wouldn't go to nothing but a shake all day, this helps me know how to ignore all those mfp warnings that my body is in starvation mode! I should be able to resume losing weight by following mfp guidlines, minus the calories that are replaced by meal replacement shakes!


    hmmm I've never heard this before... I know meal replacements often have much more protein, which keeps you full longer... I took it at that and just worked it into my day.

    Anyone else know anything of this?
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
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    ...A 200 cal meal replacement shake is intended to impart about 1500 calories worth of nutrition.

    What? Are you referring to vitamins and minerals?
  • EHisCDN
    EHisCDN Posts: 480 Member
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    I think the method you choose to follow is also in large part about your own personal mentality towards weight loss. When I started out I got the 1200 calories/day + exercise calories. It was fine for days I exercises and got to eat back my calories. But on days when I didn't exercise 1200 seemed impossible. That approach to weight loss, it worked, but didn't seem sustainable to me. It did give me incentive to exercise more - which is a good thing - but I didn't see myself following that lifestyle forever.
    So I tried out the TDEE method. For me personally it works because I get to eat the same amount of calories a day. I don't deprive myself on non-exercise days and it just seems sustainable long term to me. I'm happier with this approach because it fits me better. Not everyone is the same. I hope you have success with either approach you try :)

    I should also note that with TDEE I haven't hit any "plateaus" like I did when I was undereating at the beginning. I thought I needed to just eat less and didn't realize the other factors to consider when losing weight. The only days when I don't lose as much as expected are weeks when I eat over my calories on a regular basis.

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