What is TDEE?? and how is it different from MFP?

Your question isn't dumb.


My Fitness Pal does the calculations for you but it’s important to understand the calculations, anyway.

What is BMR?
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day.

What is TDEE?
TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' groupings:

Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk
Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training

Once you determine your TDEE calories, you simply subtract anywhere from 10%-25%, where 25% is the extreme, and the results will be your daily amount of calories you should eat. The deficiency is the amount you subtract. Maximize your daily calorie amount by eating a variety of foods. Exercise and water will enhance your weight loss efforts.

Example: TDEE = 2000 – 20% (2000 x .80) = 1600 calories per day. Eat a variety of foods at 1600 calories a day, continue your exercise, and drink plenty of water.

Here is a site to calculate your TDEE: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

Track everything and do not guess on food.

TDEE adds exercise calories beforehand. My Fitness Pal add them afterwards.