TDEE

JDRGirl
JDRGirl Posts: 21 Member
in Getting Started
So silly question..what is the "TDEE method"..I've perused different conversations and topics, and people talk about the MFP method( I think can deduce what that is :P) and this other one..i know it has something to do with calories..and thats about about lol..commence laughing :)

Replies

  • tworthen79
    tworthen79 Posts: 1,173 Member
    Scooby workshop and IIFYM are the two most used sites. I would start there. You fill out your information, and they give you your TDEE which is how many calories your body needs daily for your activity level. Then you have the option to deduct a percentage from that to get your daily calorie intake to lose x amount of weight. Usually people minus 20% from their total TDEE. And you don't eat back burnt calories from your workouts, since those calculations have already been tallied into your TDEE.
  • braves1girl
    braves1girl Posts: 189 Member
    It is your total daily exercise expenditure..or something close to that! Go to scoobyworkshop.com and they have a great calorie calculator there. It is based on how many HOURS of exercise a week you do. Then, there is a group called Eat More 2 Weigh Less on MFP that has a TON of information(stickies) for you to read and it explains it very well. IMO, it's the healthiest way to lose weight while maintaining muscle. Good luck!
  • JLHNU212
    JLHNU212 Posts: 169 Member
    BUMP!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's the number of calories you burn in a day and also the number of calories you should be able to eat to maintain your current weight.

    The TDEE method of weight loss involves calculating your TDEE (websites only give an estimate, but it's a good starting place) and taking a percentage from that number to get your calorie goal (usually around 20%).

    With this method, your exercise is factored into your TDEE so you do not eat back any additional calories after you workout.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure. TDEE calculators determine your maintenance level of calories as per statistical averages of individuals of similar stats and activity levels. TDEE incorporates all manner of activity into your activity level, including exercise to arrive at this number and then takes a cut from that number for weight loss.

    Conversely, MFP is a NEAT method calculator (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). As with a TDEE calculator, a NEAT method calculator will use statistical averages of individuals of similar stats to determine your NON EXERCISE maintenance number...your maintenance number for just being alive and going to work and cooking and cleaning, etc. It then takes a cut from that number for weight loss...any exercise you do is then added in after the fact as that activity is unaccounted for in your activity level with a NEAT method calculator...this is why you get those calories to "eat back" from exercise.

    The difference between the two methods is simply where you account for exercise activity in the equation...either upfront with TDEE or on the *kitten* end of the formula with NEAT.
  • dont_tap_my_aces
    dont_tap_my_aces Posts: 125 Member
    as the others have already suggested, find a decent online TDEE estimator (google, or use scooby/IIFYM sites) and follow it's suggestion for 2 weeks. track everything you consume during these 2 weeks (even if you cheat, track it) and at the end depending on how much weight you lost/gained compared to your total calories consumed, you can get your accurate TDEE. 3500kcals = 1lbs so if you lost 3lbs in the 2 week period, thats 1.5 lbs a week or 5250 kcals less than your TWEE. take the 5250 and divide by 7 and you see your total daily deficit. add that back to what you ate each day on average and you have your most accurate TDEE.
  • JDRGirl
    JDRGirl Posts: 21 Member
    Awesome, thanks guys :)..what if activity levels vary from day to day...I'm a stay at home mom, and I try to work in my home workouts, walks, jogs etc. on top of house work and cooking and whatnot, but some days are more hectic than others..am I better off sicking with the MFP, or TDEE...or should I do both everyday..sorry, your explanations were very straight forward, I'm just getting in my own head I guess :)
  • CLDeyette
    CLDeyette Posts: 28 Member
    Bump
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Awesome, thanks guys :)..what if activity levels vary from day to day...I'm a stay at home mom, and I try to work in my home workouts, walks, jogs etc. on top of house work and cooking and whatnot, but some days are more hectic than others..am I better off sicking with the MFP, or TDEE...or should I do both everyday..sorry, your explanations were very straight forward, I'm just getting in my own head I guess :)

    Everyone's activity levels vary from day to day...with TDEE it is about balancing everything out over the course of a week. I'm currently maintaining but I have days where I'm eating in a surplus and days when I'm in a deficit and days when I'm probably pretty close to right on...the net result over these past 12 months is that I'm maintaining.

    Keep in mind, these calculators aren't gospel..they are meant to give you a good starting point and that is all...nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories. You still have to make adjustments per your real world results here. You will most likely find that you have an acceptable range of intake to lose as well as maintain once you get there.

    Personally I only found the MFP method valuable when I was very sporadic and inconsistent in my exercise...once I became consistent throughout most given weeks I switched to TDEE. I would also add that another aspect of NEAT and MFP which I find annoying is that it gets people overly focused on the minutia of day to day rather than looking at the bigger picture over time. This gets people all stressed out and what not when it comes holiday time or birthdays or whatever...they're so wrapped up in the day to day minutia that they can't see that one day or a handful of days throughout the year is pretty irrelevant to the whole.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I've followed the info & tools for TDEE in this topic for the past two years with great success: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13
  • JDRGirl
    JDRGirl Posts: 21 Member
    That pretty much describes my issues right now lol I do ten to stress easily over what i eat and how much..I find with MFP its more helping with my portion control, which is HUGE for me as I tend to over-indulge..especially if im sitting around not really doing anything..now Im trying to just go for water if i get a hankering for junk.
  • scubasuenc
    scubasuenc Posts: 626 Member
    I have found TDEE to be helpful because my activity level varies from day to day. Most days I have about 300 calories of exercise, but some days it is 700+. On the 700+ days, many of the calories are often late in the day. I'm just not that hungry for the extra calories that late in the day.

    With the TDEE method, I eat the same amount on the light activity and heavy activity days. It helps me plan my food much better and allows me to be consistent from day to day. I also find I tend to be hungrier the day after heavy exercise than I am the day of the exercise, so the TDEE method helps deal with that issue too.

    If you are logging your exercise calories accurately, the MFP NEAT + Exercise method and the TDEE method should work out to about the same number of calories per week if you have the same deficit goal (say 1lb per week).
  • Fit_Content
    Fit_Content Posts: 29 Member
    bump
  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
    I've been reading as much as I can regarding TDEE and especially benefitted from the stickies in the Eat More to Weigh Less Group, as well as the discussions there. When I first started using MFP I considered myself sedentary because I drive bus and did not do regular exercise.

    Now a few months later I know I'm moving more than I realized and because I do some additional part time work as well as regular outside exercise, I know my TDEE is higher than I thought -- this is confirmed by the weight loss amount from week to week. So, what I did thanks to haybale's great spreadsheet available for download, was determine I was NOT eating enough. I suspected this as I was beginning to get a bit hungry some days.

    So I decided to follow that Groups' advice and 1) upped my daily calorie amount, 2) changed my fitness level to lightly active instead of sedentary which accounts for 3 days a week of 20-30 minutes of exercise in my case plus 3) I now only add in exercise calories if I do MORE than those 3 days a week that are accounted for in my TDEE minus 15-20 percent. This means that on days when I am hungrier I can go above my exercise goals and earn a few more calories to eat, yet still lose without tracking every bit of exercise I do. I do log those extra exercise calories and eat them, in other words.

    It is working for me. It did take about 10 days at the higher calorie goal to lose again, but I did. I intend to up my calories a bit more in about a week. I'm looking for the perfect amount of calories that still allow me to lose about a pound a week. I realize it will fluctuate a bit.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    That pretty much describes my issues right now lol I do ten to stress easily over what i eat and how much..I find with MFP its more helping with my portion control, which is HUGE for me as I tend to over-indulge..especially if im sitting around not really doing anything..now Im trying to just go for water if i get a hankering for junk.

    The TDEE method usually makes ones take a more reasonable deficit too, even 20% (which may be high when little to lose), is many times less than the self-selected block of calories from weight loss goal.

    But you can match that method with MFP method by selecting reasonable goal amount, from honest selection of non-exerise activity level. So you are Lightly Active with your daily routine - not sedentary. Hope you selected honestly.
    Over 40 lbs to lose, 2 lb weekly with 4-5 days of exercise is reasonable.
    20-40 - 1.5 weekly.
    10-20 - 1
    Under 10 - 0.5

    The motivational factor too.
    Are you inspired to do your workout because you want to eat more? But you'll lose even if you don't.
    Or would you be more inspired knowing that if you don't, you don't lose as much, so you better do it?

    The planning that many mentioned, I've heard from many that have the crazy non-consistent type days are exactly the ones that benefit from a set daily eating goal to plan around better. It's the crazy days that can lead to poor food choices, or forgetting to eat.
    So what you could do there is TDEE method for the exercise you are sure you can get done in the week, and then extra exercise you get done gives extra eating that day you do it.
  • 4daluvof_candice
    4daluvof_candice Posts: 483 Member
    1. Calculate BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
    Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in yrs)
    Men BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in yrs)


    Note: Multiply the number in brackets first, then you can add and subtract.

    For example:

    1.Female
    2.Age: 27 years
    3.Height: 178 cm (5’10’’)
    4.Weight: 69kg (151lbs.)
    Therefore,

    BMR = 665 + (9.6 X 69) + (1.8 x 178) – (4.7 x 27)
    = 1520.9 calories/ day

    2. Calculate Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
    TDEE = BMR x Activity Factor
    Determine your activity factor from the table below and multiply this number by the BMR you just calculated above, to determine your TDEE.

    Activity Factor Table
    Amount of Exercise/Activity Description TDEE/ Maintenance
    Sedentary Little or no Exercise/ desk job TDEE = 1.2 x BMR
    Lightly active Light exercise/ sports 1 – 3 days/ week TDEE = 1.375 x BMR
    Moderately active Moderate Exercise, sports 3 – 5 days/ week TDEE = 1.55 x BMR
    Very active Heavy Exercise/ sports 6 – 7 days/ week TDEE = 1.725 x BMR
    Extremely active Very heavy exercise/ physical job/ training 2 x/ day TDEE = 1.9 x BMR

    Depending on how much weight you have to lose, if you want to lose 1lb/week -3500 calories from TDEE, etc.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Oh, that Harris BMR calc is the worst when overweight, really inflated.

    Easier than that, shoot, MFP uses the better Mifflin BMR - under Apps. Just get your BMR that way.

    Also gotta be careful on those TDEE levels (which came from the same Harris study in 1919).

    Notice the assumed work level is sedentary, and only exercise is built on top of that.
    What if you are mailman 35 hrs weekly walking with 10-20 lb load. And then also running 3 hrs weekly?

    Is someone doing 30 min walking 3 x weekly the same as someone doing 2 hr run 3 x weekly?

    Even the charts that say hours a week - is 1 hr walking the same as 1 hr running as 1 hr lifting?

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