TDDE and Eating back calories

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joandue
joandue Posts: 84 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I decided to figure out my TDDE and it worked out to 2032 at sedentary and 20% less = 1626. I changed setting in MFP to sedentary and put in 3-30 min work outs even though I know I do more and put weight loss at 1 lb per week. My calories are now almost 1600. Question is... do I just eat 1600 or do I eat the calories I earned from cardio/fitbit? Any ideas?

Replies

  • frangrann
    frangrann Posts: 219 Member
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    Lots of people do eat back the calories earned from exercise. I personally don't. I guess you know your own body and if you are starving at 1600 then eat back the earned ones. Make good food choices. Good luck!
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
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    when you do TDEE, you don't eat back exercise calories.
  • DeadliftAddict
    DeadliftAddict Posts: 746 Member
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    Lots of people do eat back the calories earned from exercise. I personally don't. I guess you know your own body and if you are starving at 1600 then eat back the earned ones. Make good food choices. Good luck!

    This i guess.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If you want to work out your TDEE you have to include your planned exercise otherwise it isn't your TDEE!!

    What are you trying to achieve?

    Do one method or the other but do them as designed.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
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    So I decided to figure out my TDDE and it worked out to 2032 at sedentary and 20% less = 1626.
    I changed setting in MFP to sedentary and put in 3-30 min work outs even though I know I do more and put weight loss at 1 lb per week. My calories are now almost 1600.

    Not sure I really understand what you are saying but I'm assuming the MPF setting at sedentary was something lower, like 1400 calories. Then your workouts gave you about 200 calories back for the day. Please confirm, just so you get better answers.
    Question is... do I just eat 1600 or do I eat the calories I earned from cardio/fitbit? Any ideas?

    Really no right or wrong answer as it is more a matter of personal preference. As you have found out, all the numbers kind of come out the same if you put the same information into them.
  • joandue
    joandue Posts: 84 Member
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    I trying to get the weight loss moving again but MFP was giving me 1300 calories and I am earning back anywhere from 200 to 800 calories through HRM and/or fitbit. It gets so confusing. I thought if I just used TDDE then I wouldn't have to worry.
  • LH85DC
    LH85DC Posts: 231 Member
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    Lots of people do eat back the calories earned from exercise. I personally don't. I guess you know your own body and if you are starving at 1600 then eat back the earned ones. Make good food choices. Good luck!

    This i guess.

    Well, in theory you don't eat back exercise calories when you do TDEE. Why did you put in sedentary when you calculated TDEE? Are your workouts irregular (i.e. do you often plan them but then skip them?)? Most people that do TDEE use it because they get to eat the same amount every day because they've already factored in their exercise. If you figured your TDEE as sedentary, it should be the equivalent of just using the traditional MFP setup. In that case there's probably no benefit to using TDEE over MFP.

    But long story short- normally you don't eat exercise calories doing the TDEE method. But if you calculated for sedentary and then plan to work out three times a week, then yes, you would want to eat some calories back.
  • JoeyIbz
    JoeyIbz Posts: 13 Member
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    Eat the 1626 of your "TDEE minus 20%" and stick to it. The exercise is already included in the TDEE calculation.. So you should set MFP to 1626 from the custom goals section...

    You can also tweak your macros per gram with the help of this "hack"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9VE6OWY4k
  • LH85DC
    LH85DC Posts: 231 Member
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    If you want to work out your TDEE you have to include your planned exercise otherwise it isn't your TDEE!!

    What are you trying to achieve?

    Do one method or the other but do them as designed.

    and this ^^^
  • CorlissaEats
    CorlissaEats Posts: 493 Member
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    Normally you would stick with TDEE minus 20% but you used your sedentary TDEE. In that case I would eat back 80% of your exercise, or I would re-do the calculation to account for your exercise. The TDEE method, I believe, assumes the true/max energy expenditure in the calc.

    You want a deficit but not one so great it puts undue stress on your body. If you get overly hungry, weak, grumpy, tired, etc then listen to your body and eat more than 1600 calories. Don't eat less on days you arent hungry, try to be consistent...

    Good luck!
  • joandue
    joandue Posts: 84 Member
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    Lots of people do eat back the calories earned from exercise. I personally don't. I guess you know your own body and if you are starving at 1600 then eat back the earned ones. Make good food choices. Good luck!

    This i guess.

    Well, in theory you don't eat back exercise calories when you do TDEE. Why did you put in sedentary when you calculated TDEE? Are your workouts irregular (i.e. do you often plan them but then skip them?)? Most people that do TDEE use it because they get to eat the same amount every day because they've already factored in their exercise. If you figured your TDEE as sedentary, it should be the equivalent of just using the traditional MFP setup. In that case there's probably no benefit to using TDEE over MFP.

    But long story short- normally you don't eat exercise calories doing the TDEE method. But if you calculated for sedentary and then plan to work out three times a week, then yes, you would want to eat some calories back.

    I work out regularly but it seems everyone seems to caution about the intensity of the work outs. Sedentary doesn't always meaning sitting around, it just means, not super intense. That's why I'm sedentary. I work out but not as intense as others I think.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
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    I trying to get the weight loss moving again but MFP was giving me 1300 calories and I am earning back anywhere from 200 to 800 calories through HRM and/or fitbit. It gets so confusing. I thought if I just used TDDE then I wouldn't have to worry.

    TDEE approach is more consistent - you just eat the same amount every day. It works well if your exercise routine is consistent. If your activity is irregular, the MFP type approach where you track activity and eat back to cover those calories might get you better results.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    So I decided to figure out my TDDE and it worked out to 2032 at sedentary and 20% less = 1626. I changed setting in MFP to sedentary and put in 3-30 min work outs even though I know I do more and put weight loss at 1 lb per week. My calories are now almost 1600. Question is... do I just eat 1600 or do I eat the calories I earned from cardio/fitbit? Any ideas?


    MFP is a calculator with zero exercise built in. MFP uses "I want to lose XX pounds per week" to find your number. You log exercise (MFP calorie burns are known to be "generous.") Then you eat calories back.


    TDEE- total daily energy expenditure - should include exercise up front.....then you take 20% off. With TDEE you DON'T eat calories back as they are included up front. The beauty of TDEE....you can eat the same calories everyday....because everything is averaged out. If you want to "log" exercise.....over ride the burn value to 1.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
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    I work out regularly but it seems everyone seems to caution about the intensity of the work outs. Sedentary doesn't always meaning sitting around, it just means, not super intense. That's why I'm sedentary. I work out but not as intense as others I think.

    If you are using the guided goal setting feature of MFP, that is only asking for your daily activity level. So it is sedentary if you work an office job, for example. When using the MFP goal setting, sedentary has nothing to do with your workouts.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    So you are merely doing it MFP style anyway, but taking a % instead of a block of say 250 calories.

    Also, during your goal setup for diet and fitness - the fitness goals have NO bearing on the diet goals.

    You could enter whatever you wanted to under fitness goal and doesn't change the net eating goal.

    Just go back to normal setup and let MFP select your net eating goal - but select 1 lb goal loss weekly.

    Then eat back all your exercise calories to keep that 1lb goal loss.

    If those are inflated calories, then you've hit the 20% off TDEE goal you were originally thinking of.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Wait a minute - I just caught that you said you have Fitbit.

    Why are you even trying to estimate TDEE level from 5 rough choices when you have a tool you bought for supposedly helping to you better know your TDEE, or maintenance?

    Sync up your accounts for positive and negative.
    Log any workouts that are NOT step based like lifting or cycling.

    Meet your daily eating goal.

    Simple as that, don't make it too complex unless you really want a single daily goal for ease of planning.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Sedentary doesn't always meaning sitting around, it just means, not super intense. That's why I'm sedentary. I work out but not as intense as others I think.
    No you are wrong sedentary does have a specific meaning - seated or mostly sitting down.

    Please just follow Heybale's advice, you are over-thinking this and making it far more complicated than it needs to be!

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