Help! Trying to work out TDEE and very confused!

oh hell with it. I don't get Photobucket this early in the morning

trying again

I dont get setting the activity multiplier to 5-6 hours of strenuous exercise?? You say you work a desk job, didnt ya? 10 sessions with a personal trainer, doing wieghts would be far from strenuous IMO. Now if you were doing 1 hr per day of Intervals, that could be strenuous...

How are you coming up with that multiplier?

You might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Using TDEE You are better to set your activity to Sedentary, and just eat below the number it gives you. Exercise IS and will be just be an added health benefit. Dont eat these back. Most people overestimate, how much activity they do, or calories they eat, and this is the main cause of weight gain or no weight loss.

Or, use MFP, again set to sedentary or lightly active, and eat your exercise cals back.

Best of Luck!

See how your setting works out for you, cuz everyone is different, then adjust from there.

To the bolded part...NO
That is NEAT method and is what MFP uses anyway.

In the OP they said they bike 8 hours a week that is pretty good exercise and using TDEE is so you don't have to estimate burns, as for Lifting not being strenous...DYEL??????????

OP my TDEE is 2300 not from a website..but from my own data following this calculation

*this calculation only works if you are sure of your intake which means you weigh solids, measure liquids and log everything.

Total calories consumed+(pounds lost x 3500)/#days worth of data.

I dont get setting the activity multiplier to 5-6 hours of strenuous exercise?? You say you work a desk job, didnt ya? 10 sessions with a personal trainer, doing wieghts would be far from strenuous IMO. Now if you were doing 1 hr per day of Intervals, that could be strenuous...

How are you coming up with that multiplier?

You might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Using TDEE You are better to set your activity to Sedentary, and just eat below the number it gives you. Exercise IS and will be just be an added health benefit. Dont eat these back. Most people overestimate, how much activity they do, or calories they eat, and this is the main cause of weight gain or no weight loss.

Or, use MFP, again set to sedentary or lightly active, and eat your exercise cals back.

Best of Luck!

See how your setting works out for you, cuz everyone is different, then adjust from there.

She also said she bikes 8+ hours a week, DYER (do you even read)?

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

Thanks for your input everyone!

Phrick, thanks for uploading that image with the caluclations, what website did you get that from so I can adjust slightly? I would agree with scotty wor that my activity level would be sedentary, and I'm also better with 3 meals per day rather than 5/6 as I would find it hard to tie this in with my job.

Scottywor I would say 2 out of my 4/5 weekly cycles are intervals so they would be strenuous, the others are a mix of recovery and long distance cycles.

I will give TDEE a try for a month or so and see how I go, then I will switch to MFP if I dont see any progress.

Thanks

If you bike 8 hours a week (sometimes more) your activity level is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT (repeat, NOT NOT NOT) sedentary. Its just not. If you feel like you must pick sedentary then don't use TDEE, it won't work right for you.

You'll get it, don't worry

If you have a HRM (and assuming it's configured correctly), you can track your actual workouts and calories burned -- certainly much more accurately than an online equation can. TDEE is useful for people who //don't// have gadgets and gizmos because it gives them an average # of kcal to eat, after taking into account self-reported exercise and lifestyle habits. You work a desk job (sedentary), and you have an HRM to measure your exercise. So I say do as scottywor advised and set your MFP to Sedentary while inputting your exercise. If it's possible for your HRM to connect to MFP, you can even link accounts and have your exercise calories added back automatically.

(If you do end up using TDEE anyway, another thing I have to agree w scottywor on: biking eight times a week certainly isn't "strenuous". But you definitely wouldn't be sedentary, either! Thankfully you have an HRM, which in theory should take the guesswork out...)

Anyway, here's what I would do if I were you:

1. Figure out my body fat % (US Navy has simple charts online, only takes a few measurements)

2. Figure out my BMR using Katch-McArdle formula (BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM) <---- Where LBM = [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)] / 100 !!! make sure you convert lbs to kgs!!!

3. Use my HRM over the course of a few days to get an average of how many calories I burn in my sedentary life.

4. Use my HRM during workouts to calculate calories burned for each workout.

5. LOG EVERYTHING I EAT & DRINK.

*TDEE = (BMR + living-the-couch-potato-life-kcals + exercise kcals)

The # to eat at is = TDEE - 500kcals for around a pound of weightloss a week (though if you're lifting you might not see the scale move so much...)

Final note: one thing to keep in mind is that being short and not having much weight to lose means there's a LOT less room for error kcal wise. Our BMRs start small and our weight is low, which means that even moving -- or not moving -- as much as other people, we burn less fuel. It's the cold, hard truth...

*feel like I should note that I slightly simplified it before I'm beheaded

you can get your TDEE from various websites such as iifym.com, scooby tdee...you just input your data and it gives you an estimate.

and with TDEE you do not eat your exercise calories back.

If you're following the TDEE method while in maintenance do you eat your calories burned back then? I use a chest strap to be more accurate.

I have no help- I am here in a similar boat, though. 5'-3"...around 142 with 10-15 lbs I would liek to lose. I haven't really lost any weight, but my measurements have gotten smaller and I look smaller....and and buying smaller clothes.

But when I do Scooby vs TDEE, I get vastly different numers (Scooby has be eating 300 calories more per day than TDEE does)...and at our height, I just don't know what to do! I am going with the lwoer number for now...

Sorry to have opened my mouth, and confused and offended 2 people, 3 including the OP, I should have read your post again. Make a mistake and people jump all over ya... It wont happen again. Ill leave it to the pros out there.

Thanks Yalllah, and yes good thing you specified *simplified in your post, because it doesnt take much of anything around here to get beheaded lately.

Really, scottywor?
I thought your post was the only one to contain useful advice.
All the others seem to be wrapping dieting in some sort of pseudo science crap.

To the OP, it doesn't matter what figure you pick, don't get wrapped up in irrelevant details.
Pick a figure, stick to it for 2 weeks, measure yourself and adjust the kcals accordingly.
You'll get there eventually.

Really, scottywor?
I thought your post was the only one to contain useful advice.
All the others seem to be wrapping dieting in some sort of pseudo science crap.

To the OP, it doesn't matter what figure you pick, don't get wrapped up in irrelevant details.
Pick a figure, stick to it for 2 weeks, measure yourself and adjust the kcals accordingly.
You'll get there eventually.

Thank you very much.

Sorry to have opened my mouth, and confused and offended 2 people, 3 including the OP, I should have read your post again. Make a mistake and people jump all over ya... It wont happen again. Ill leave it to the pros out there.

Thanks Yalllah, and yes good thing you specified *simplified in your post, because it doesnt take much of anything around here to get beheaded lately.

I wasn't offended, but your post was full of misinformation and posts like that just add to confusion for new people.

TDEE at sedentary and eating calories back is NEAT...so call it that.

Edited because I could.

TDEE @ sedentary is NEAT...if you exercise, Which the OP does...hence my comment. And no you didn't say eat them back but your suggestion...to set TDEE to sedentary when the OP exercises ...well you have to admit was not good advice..you admitted it later..


ETA: and saying weight lifting doesn't burn a lot is misinformation as well.

This entire thread has done a great job of confusing me.

This entire thread has done a great job of confusing me.

Basically... either use MFP calories and eat back your exercise calories. OR use the TDEE calories which already account for your exercise (via a website like this: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and do NOT eat your exercise calories back


I have very similar stats to you, OP, as well as similar exercise goals. I am trying out the TDEE method now myself and am so far feeling great but haven't been on it long enough to tell if it's working well for me or not. Good luck to you

This entire thread has done a great job of confusing me.

Basically... either use MFP calories and eat back your exercise calories. OR use the TDEE calories which already account for your exercise (via a website like this: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and do NOT eat your exercise calories back


I have very similar stats to you, OP, as well as similar exercise goals. I am trying out the TDEE method now myself and am so far feeling great but haven't been on it long enough to tell if it's working well for me or not. Good luck to you

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it. Both come up with the same numbers, more or less. It's the whole 'put in sedentary' part ... why would I do that if I'm not sedentary? I eat within a range of cals anyways, so my body doesn't go all "oh, we're having cottage cheese and pineapple again today, are we? Staying at 1400 cals again, are we? Same exercise again, eh? Well, we'll just slow everything down here and just . . . . hum". lol

For MFP most people put in sedentary...when they really aren't..most are lightly active...without exercise. Then with MFP you log exercise...MFP would give me about 1400 calories...

TDEE you include your exercise...for example I do 3-5 hours of moderate activty so I add that in and TDEE-15% is 1800...so they are both basically the same number...if I eat my exercise calories back.

If you aren't sedentary you don't use it...and you should never use it doing TDEE unless you do no exercise and then there is no point cause you get the same numbers MFP gave you.