Question for TDEE people...

Alatariel75
Alatariel75 Posts: 18,230 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A question for out TDEE aficionados – I was bored and looking at various TDEE calculators and came across one which asks more detail than any other I’ve seen, and that gave me a very different TDEE result.

I picked the top 4 TDEE calculator results in Google and plugged in my stats (164 cm, 34, female, 111.3kg, lightly active).

Scooby said BMR 1858, TDEE 2555

IIFYM.com said BMR 1807, TDEE 2485

The Fast Diet said BMR 1807, TDEE 2485

Fitness Frog doesn’t have BMR but said TDEE 2552


And then there was this one: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

tdee_zpsc9ce5a1a.png

Now, they all have a very similar BMR, and I’m cool with that, and if one had gone very high with TDEE with the same questions asked, I’d think it was a glitch, but the one that returned the very high TDEE was the one that asks the most detail.

I’m really just curious to hear your thoughts…

Replies

  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
    you can also use this one which I like a lot: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    the problem with most tdee calculators that use an 'activity factors' which are so open to interpretation and ambiguous, like wtf does 'moderate activity' really mean? a lot of people don't realise how many calories NEAT and generally being active can truly burn, i have a bodymedia so pretty much know my exact maintenance and it is often a lot higher than the tdee calculators put it at if I am just active a lot that day with a lot of walking and moving about, that's why I like this calculator since you put what you do each hour of the day and I've found it to match up with my bodymedia a lot more accurately than the generic calculators that just use an activity factor

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    this article also helps http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-to-estimate-maintenance-caloric-intake.html
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,230 Member
    you can also use this one which I like a lot: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    the problem with most tdee calculators that use an 'activity factors' which are so open to interpretation and ambiguous, like wtf does 'moderate activity' really mean? a lot of people don't realise how many calories NEAT and generally being active can truly burn, i have a bodymedia so pretty much know my exact maintenance and it is often a lot higher than the tdee calculators put it at if I am just active a lot that day with a lot of walking and moving about, that's why I like this calculator since you put what you do each hour of the day and I've found it to match up with my bodymedia a lot more accurately than the generic calculators that just use an activity factor

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    Interesting, that says 1853 BMR but TDEE of 2270, even lower than any of the others, but more in line with what I'd actually expect as I'm fairly sedentary.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
    If this were me, I would ignore the (5th) option that is way different from the others.

    I would personally call it 2500 and take a 20% deficit from that for my TDEG.

    Then I would review after one week and adjust TDEG up or down if required. It might take a couple of weeks to get into a new groove if you are adjusting your TDEG greatly, so be patient and settle in to something you can keep up in the long term, after all it's a life long change that's about to take place!

    Best wishes :)
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
    I have an app on my iPad called CalPlus and put your numbers in that. It says BMR = 1826 and TDEE = 2510 for light activity (1-3 times per week).

    It's a good app, does exercise calories as well and TDEG for different weight loss goals.

    Hope that helps.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
    op have a read of this article too

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-to-estimate-maintenance-caloric-intake.html
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,230 Member
    Thanks guys, I'm more curious than anything, I have my cal levels and what I do seems to work, but I was just messing around with the calculators more to check my BmR and noticed the massive discrepancy. It's good to know, though, I might need to give it some more thought.
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    I used 3 different methods
    The Harris-Benedict
    The Katch-McArdle
    The Mifflin-St. Jeor

    All within about 5%

    I simply took the average of the 3 as I didn't know which to chose!
  • Shaky44
    Shaky44 Posts: 214 Member
    The last calculator is using the formula for "Extremely Active" exercise (1.9x BMR). The others are using light exercise (1.375x BMR). Here are the factors used:

    Sedentary: 1.2x BMR
    Light: 1.375 x BMR
    Moderate: 1.55x BMR
    Very Active: 1.725x BMR
    Extremely Active: 1.9x BMR

    http://www.superskinnyme.com/calculate-tdee.html
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I checked all those sites (well most of them) and the only one I find high for me is Scooby by about 150 more than what I calculated with my own numbers.

    Fast diet has me higher as well but only by 85

    Mayo clinic has me at 2100 which is where my own calculation put me...

    I would take the IIFYM ones (all three) and average them. It seems to be the closest.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I'd pick one and see what it does, you can always adjust your goal after a month if you're not losing at the rate you'd like.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    I took a look at a lot of different sites as well and found that they were actually all pretty close. The one I like the best is IIFMY, it seems as if it is most accurate and I like how the activity levels are set as how many times per week vs. "sedentary / active / etc..."

    I aired on the side of caution when setting my numbers so I under estimated my activity level a bit and I over estimated my weight a teeny bit, like ounces. The number it gave me was within five or ten of other sites.

    I took at look at their numbers for fat loss for 20% (aggressive) and 15% (recommended) and chose a calorie target kind of in the middle.

    I plugged all of the numbers into MFP and it gave me an estimate of around .5 or slightly higher per week loss.

    I've been doing it for only a couple of weeks so at the end of this week I'll weigh in and see where I am in terms of weight and body fat and maybe adjust slightly from there.

    But... so far so good :)

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