Stupid Question, looking for simple answer :-)

According to calculations my BMR is 1494 and my TDEE is 2054, lightly active. My question(s) is, since I don't really understand these numbers, if I eat 1800 calories a day, I should lose weight, correct? Also, I am a runner. I run 4-5 days a week, 20-30 miles a week. Should I still track my exercise calories even though I kind of calculated them already in my tdee with the lightly active setting? Should I eat those calories, as well? I honestly don't care how long it takes me to lose the weight. I figure I have 52 weeks to lose 25 lbs. I'm hoping that is do-able at 1800 cal a day. I've tried 1500-1600 and I just get too darn hungry. Thanks for your insight in advance!

Assuming those numbers are accurate if you ate 1800 calories you would be at a deficit of 250 calories per day which would put you at 1/2 pound lost per week with no exercise.

If you exercise then the amount you burn gets added to your TDEE so your TDEE would no longer be 2054 it would be 2054+ whatever you burned.

What you want to do is figure out your average burn in exercise in a given week, divide that by 7 and add that number to 2054. Then decide on what kind of deficit you want. Want to lose 1 pound a week? Then you would want a deficit of 500 calories per day which would be:

(2054 + exercise burn - 500 = amount you would eat every day).

As long as that final number is at or above your BMR you are doing well.

To give you more examples lets say you went for a run 4 days a week and you figure that each run you burn 400 calories. That would mean you burn 1600 calories per week in exercise and with 7 days in the week you would average to a burn of ~225 calories per day.

The 2054 value is not your TDEE it is actually your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) which is basically your BMR plus calories burned from normal activity). To get your TDEE you would add 225 to your NEAT based on the above example so your TDEE would be around 2280. This is the amount you would have to eat to maintain your weight.

Now lets say you want to lose 1 pound a week so you would subtract 500 and that would be 2280-500 = 1780 calories per day. You would eat that amount regardless if you exercised that day and it would even out over the course of the week. That value is well above your BMR and within 20% of your TDEE so it is a healthy amount of weight loss assuming you are overweight. If you only need to lose 1/2 a pound a week then you would subtract 250 from your TDEE so you could eat 2000 calories a day then.

Now what you have to do is make your own calculations and estimates of your burn and add it to your NEAT of 2054 to figure out what kind of deficit you can reasonably run. Does that make sense OP?

To answer your question my guess is you would easily drop 25 pounds in 52 weeks eating 1800 calories being as active as you are.

If you counted your exercise into your TDEE you do not eat them back. !lb is 3500 calories so every 13.7 days you would lose a lb. if you ate at 1554 you would be set for 1lb per week.

2054 isn't her TDEE she misused the term, TDEE is her NEAT...she didn't add in her exercise to get that value.

Although so many people swear by TDEE, I still have question about its accuracy. First of all it's a calculated number based on a set of number you input. How accurate are these numbers to begin with? not to mention how accurate the algorithm is...

Plus, that "lightly active", "moderate" really doesn't say much to me. The way I do insanity is no the same as my sister does, can we both use the same active level? I guess it's still a process of trial and errror. The depressing part about this process is it takes really long time before we can make a more objective call on our progress.

Although so many people swear by TEDD, I still have question about its accuracy. First of all it's a calculated number based on a set of number you input. How accurate are these numbers to begin with? not to mention how accurate the algorithm is...

Plus, that "lightly active", "moderate" really doesn't say much to me. The way I do insanity is no the same as my sister does, can we both use the same active level? I guess it's still a process of trial and errror. The depressing part about this process is it takes really long time before we can make a more objective call on our progress.

This is very true. Take any TDEE calculation with a grain of salt OP. To figure this out you can use these calculators as a starting point but the next step is to follow it consistently for probably at least 6 weeks tracking your progress (weight, tape measure). After you get a feel for your progress over about 2 months you can adjust as needed. Maybe with your body you might have to eat a little more or a little less.

The calculators are just going to be an average, might not fit you personally exactly. As long as you realize that and are willing to adjust you will be fine.

I do realize that. Thanks again. I know it's not a perfect calculator. And I actually try to log a few more calories than I actually eat and log fewer in the way of exercise than what should be "average" for me just to be safe. My exercise is really regular, as I'm training for several 1/2 marathons and 25k's from now through October. Love the idea of eating a regular amount of calories throughout the week, not only for recovery, as Aaron said, but also to keep my energy level on an even keel for my long run days. It has sucked to run a 5 miler one day and not get to fuel up that day knowing the next day I have a 10-12 miler. Feels like I'm running on empty those days. I think this way will work much better for me. I really only want to lose the weight to feel better on my runs and hopefully make me a bit faster like I was a couple years ago before gaining this 25 lbs. Ugh! Stupid! Crept up on me but I want to get it off. Thanks again for your help and I'll keep you posted.

Honestly if you calculate your TDEE (including exercise burned) and set yourself at a deficit to lose 1/2 a pound a week (which is all you need to lose 25 pounds in a year) you will probably find you will be eating like 2000 calories a day.

Although so many people swear by TDEE, I still have question about its accuracy. First of all it's a calculated number based on a set of number you input. How accurate are these numbers to begin with? not to mention how accurate the algorithm is...

Plus, that "lightly active", "moderate" really doesn't say much to me. The way I do insanity is no the same as my sister does, can we both use the same active level? I guess it's still a process of trial and errror. The depressing part about this process is it takes really long time before we can make a more objective call on our progress.

My TDEE is accurate...I didn't use a website tho.

total calories consumed +(pounds lost x 3500)/21 (21days worth of data)

When I first calculated it Sept 8th 2013 it was 1995...I did TDEE-15%...I lost on average 3/4lb a week since then.

I have recently recalculated as I have lost 10lbs since then (gained 5.5 so had to relose it :bigsmile: ) and it was 2287 and since I am so close to maintenance i am upping my calories now.

So for me it worked exactly as it should have....mind you the websites all give me on average 100 calories more...:grumble:

ETA: this calculation works if you are 99% accurate with logging...I weigh even prepackaged food and bread etc. Any entries you see that aren't in weight is either eating out or something I can't weight (individual yogurt even tho I tested it and it was 100g frequently) or I have scanned it in with my phone app. and even then I sometimes tweak it or make an entry of my own in weight only.

Why so much math? Holy crap.

Really though. There are a million different ways to figure a number. Or you can follow the TDEE formula, pick the appropriate activity level and go from there.
In the end, they are all just starting points. Give it a few weeks and adjust from there.