TDEE - 20%: Goal or Net Calories?

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kell2116
kell2116 Posts: 77 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi folks,

I have a quick question regarding using IPOARM to set calories on MFP.

My BMR is 1400 and my TDEE minus 20% is 1680 calories. I have reset my daily calories on MFP as 1680.

Does this mean that (seeing as TDEE already incorporates my activity level) that I should be eating 1680 or under regardless of my calorie burn each day? Or is 1680 my NET calorie goal?

I'd really appreciate if someone could set me straight on this, please.

Thanks! :flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • Dare2Believe
    Dare2Believe Posts: 140 Member
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    The way I understand it is, when using TDEE (in your case 1680 calories) those are the amount of calories you should eat in a day regardless of how much activity you do. You ignore MFP's recommendation to eat back calories. If however you start exercising more than normal you would want to recalculate your TDEE. You also want to recalculate it after every 5-10 pounds you lose.
  • kell2116
    kell2116 Posts: 77 Member
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    Thanks, Dare2Believe - that was my understanding from reading the threads on IPOARM.

    What confused me a bit was that on someone's profile they stated that they would never NET below their BMR. I wonder why this is? It doesn't seem to make sense as activity is already calculated in, no?
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
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    BMR is what you would need if say you where in a coma in order for your body to function properly. Going below that is dangerous and unhealthy.
  • kell2116
    kell2116 Posts: 77 Member
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    But does that mean going below that NET? E.g. if my BMR is 1400 and I burn 200 calories from exercise one day, should my minimum calorie intake that day be 1400 (BMR) or 1600 (NET BMR)?
  • snowmaniac
    snowmaniac Posts: 600 Member
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    If you set your activity level at anything other than sedentary, the calculation is taking your estimated calorie burn from exercise into account so your calorie goal for the day is what it is and you don't need to eat back exercise calories. That means if you are logging any cardio in mfp, you should put in 1 for calories burned (it will make you put in a number when logging), or else mfp will show you that you need to eat more.

    Personally, I calculate my TDEE as sedentary because I have a desk job and a long commute and then I wear a heart rate monitor to get my approximate calorie burn and I eat anywhere from 50% to 100% of that back. Just a matter of preference.

    Edit: Looking at your photo, you look pretty lean already. Listen to your body as 20% may be too big of a deficit depending on your activity level. If you find yourself feeling tired or drained you may want to bump it to a 10% deficit. See how it goes.
  • kell2116
    kell2116 Posts: 77 Member
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    Thanks, Snowmaniac. Using sedentary TDEE and eating back exercise cals sounds much more up my street.

    Christmas happened since that photo was taken, but I take your point. Will be alert to any adverse physical response.

    Very much obliged! :smile:
  • SrJoben
    SrJoben Posts: 484 Member
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    Hi folks,

    I have a quick question regarding using IPOARM to set calories on MFP.

    My BMR is 1400 and my TDEE minus 20% is 1680 calories. I have reset my daily calories on MFP as 1680.

    Does this mean that (seeing as TDEE already incorporates my activity level) that I should be eating 1680 or under regardless of my calorie burn each day? Or is 1680 my NET calorie goal?

    I'd really appreciate if someone could set me straight on this, please.

    Thanks! :flowerforyou:

    Yes that's the point of TDEE. It's already an average of your daily expenditure so you just eat the same amount whether it's a workout day or not.

    Lets say someone works out three days a week burning 500 calories. If they follow the MFP Eat Back strategy they might eat 2000 calories on workout days, and 1500 on rest days. At the end of the week they have eaten 12000 calories and done say 4 hours of exercise.

    TDEE looks at the average of your daily expenditure. So with that they would just eat 1715 per day every day. At the end of the week that's 12000 calories too. But if they "Ate back" on workout days they'd be taking credit for those workouts twice, adding 1500 calories per week to their diet. Resulting in eating 13500 calories and still doing 4 hours of exercise.
  • ssime1980
    ssime1980 Posts: 20 Member
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx
  • BostonStrong617
    BostonStrong617 Posts: 117
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx


    Oh well in that case you need to read up on TDEE because you are not doing it right. Your not going to calculate it correctly if you're not actually accurately portraying your activity level...

    Do it again & put in the right info, then rework your calorie goal. Once you have your actual TDEE minus 20 percent THEN you don't eat back to those exercise calories but right now because you didn't do it correctly it's likely you would be eating too much of a deficit.

    If body recomp is your goal then it would really negatively effect that.
  • ssime1980
    ssime1980 Posts: 20 Member
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx


    Oh well in that case you need to read up on TDEE because you are not doing it right. Your not going to calculate it correctly if you're not actually accurately portraying your activity level...

    Do it again & put in the right info, then rework your calorie goal. Once you have your actual TDEE minus 20 percent THEN you don't eat back to those exercise calories but right now because you didn't do it correctly it's likely you would be eating too much of a deficit.

    If body recomp is your goal then it would really negatively effect that.

    My post says that I DO eat back the calories I burn while exercising.... I use a HRM so that I have a more accurate guide to how many calories Im burning while working out rather than a vague number from a TDEE calculator! But thanks for your encouraging & supportive response!!! F*nny!
  • kell2116
    kell2116 Posts: 77 Member
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    Thank you, Ssime1980 - that makes sense to me :)
  • ssime1980
    ssime1980 Posts: 20 Member
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    Thank you, Ssime1980 - that makes sense to me :)

    Thanks :) Some wks I exercise x3 other wks I exercise x0 so I cant rely on a TDEE calculator that is working on averages! Whatever works for each person.... one size doesn't fit all in this game! x
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx

    Since you didn't seem to understand the first time...

    You are doing it wrong

    Using TDEE you don't eat back exercise calories...

    If you want that option go with the standard MFP way.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    But does that mean going below that NET? E.g. if my BMR is 1400 and I burn 200 calories from exercise one day, should my minimum calorie intake that day be 1400 (BMR) or 1600 (NET BMR)?
    See the explanation of BMR directly above your question. Unless the person in the example is burning 200 calories from exercise while also in a coma, the additional calories are part of your budget.
  • snowmaniac
    snowmaniac Posts: 600 Member
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx

    Since you didn't seem to understand the first time...

    You are doing it wrong

    Using TDEE you don't eat back exercise calories...

    If you want that option go with the standard MFP way.

    Tell me I'm doing it wrong when I do the exact same thing and have dropped 15 pounds of body fat to 1 pound of lean body mass over two months and have the DXA scans to back it up.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    When I calculated my TDEE -20% I said a was sedentary and so when I do exercise I know that I can eat back those calories. xx

    Since you didn't seem to understand the first time...

    You are doing it wrong

    Using TDEE you don't eat back exercise calories...

    If you want that option go with the standard MFP way.

    Tell me I'm doing it wrong when I do the exact same thing and have dropped 15 pounds of body fat to 1 pound of lean body mass over two months and have the DXA scans to back it up.

    You are doing TDEE method wrong if you are eating back exercise calories.

    doesn't mean you aren't at a deficet..

    If you are calculating you TDEE and using sedentary when you are not are sedentary you are not doing TDEE...you are using the MFP method which I believe is called NEAT.

    TDEE=Total daily Expenditure.

    Doing NEAT I at appx 1360 calories a day and burned appx 250 a day doing exercise...therefore I at around 1600-...if I exercised.

    Now I do TDEE and I eat 1600-1700 even if I don't exercise. That's TDEE. I take 15-20% off and lose .1/2 - .8 lbs a week.

    ETA: there is a calculation for TDEE if you don't want to use the scooby site or another one

    Choose a time period (3 weeks lets say)

    Total calories consumed +(3500*lbs lost)/# days=TDEE...that way it is your TDEE not an estimate.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    The way I understand it is, when using TDEE (in your case 1680 calories) those are the amount of calories you should eat in a day regardless of how much activity you do.

    This is correct...
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    You are doing TDEE method wrong if you are eating back exercise calories.

    Yep... TDEE has exercise calories factored in ahead of time.
  • togmo
    togmo Posts: 257
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    There are many different ways to lose weight and to determine how much food you should eat to do so.

    What they are doing Stef is fine although technically a little bit around the wrong way. In some respects they are doing it more precisely because they are better determining their activity level rather than guesstimating how active they are in any given week but they are only counting calories I assume during workout periods. This works since they are estimating their TDEE initially to cover their sedentary lifestyle. It can be more motivational for some people to do it this way too because they feel that the exercise they do is rewarded with extra food.

    You are right Stef in saying that technically speaking with TDEE you determine your BMR (height, age, weight etc) then guesstimate activity levels which gives you your TDEE and THEN you decide how much weight to lose and reduce your calories by a percentage or an amount to meet this goal - i.e. 20% but as I said there are many different ways to lose weight.
  • togmo
    togmo Posts: 257
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    Oh and the simplest and easiest calculator I have found online is at scoobys.

    Punch your numbers in and see what it tells you.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/


    If you know more about yourself and how it all works you might want to use a more accurate calculator - again at scoobys.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

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