TDEE, BMR, MFP Calories...oh my!

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Megmakesithappen
Megmakesithappen Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys! I've done one other similar post but I'm still a bit confused. I'm currently 195, my ultimate goal weight is 145 (with goal increments in between, which I've learned from my fellow MFP friends). I've seen some charts shared that say if you have 50 lbs or less to loss set MFP to 1.5 lbs a week and then when you have 40 lbs or less, down to 1 pound a week to get accurate calories. Great, that would put me at 1590 calories a day. However, when I go to the Scooby website I've seen many people mention to calculate my TDEE and BMR I get different figures. I'm not supposed to go below BMR, right? My BMR is 1827 which means MFP is dropping me below that. My TDEE is 2193 and 20% fat loss is 1754 (still below BMR). Which figure do I go with? How have you guys lost your weight throughout your journey? I want realistic goals that don't leave me feeling deprived but also get me results.
Thanks for the help!

Replies

  • lyndseydennis
    lyndseydennis Posts: 15
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    I have no idea but have the same questions so am following for replies! Thanks for posting!
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    MFP does not figure in exercise calories, and TDEE does. If you exercise regularly, I doubt your BMR and TDEE only have a 300 calorie difference. Your TDEE is probably higher.

    You can eat below your BMR at this stage because you have so much to lose, but it also means you can eat that number and still lose weight.

    I often advise people to make your calorie goal between your BMR and TDEE, and don't eat your exercise calories. It's simple. And it should be a wide enough range that you can adjust your calorie goal based on if you're losing or not, hungry, etc.
  • Megmakesithappen
    Megmakesithappen Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks for your opinion and experience. I guess my worry with the set daily calorie method with no workouts earning calories (and this may sound like I'm not that invested) is that I can't "earn" a night out with more calories and some drinks. I feel realistically I want to go to olive garden or something similar once and a while and eat the spaghetti and have a few drinks afterwards. I figured the way to do this was to use my workout calories?? I'm not working out very regularly right now (just some walks here and there) and I know I need to and I'm just wondering how that will factor in. So in both calculations I put little activity or no workouts to reflect what I'm doing now and hopefully compare apples to apples.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I see what you mean about the TDEE method not allowing you to "earn" rewards from exercise calories. Go to Olive Garden anyway, pre-plan what you're going to eat and drink, put the calories in at the beginning of the day, and plan the rest of your day around it. That way you will still stay under your goal and get to eat what you want for that meal.

    Or, you could have a "cheat" meal every so often, just make sure you log ALL OF IT so that way, if your weight loss stalls, you can see how much your cheat meals affect it and know immediately if you need to space them out more and if they're making you go over your goals.

    Sometimes I go over my calories by like 200 one day, if I'm really hungry but then the next couple days I'll even it all out, so my weekly average still shows the same deficit. I still lose weight that way, just be really accurate with your logging.
  • YorriaRaine
    YorriaRaine Posts: 370 Member
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    Take the time to read this guide:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    The link it will take you to in that guide is this one:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    Which explains everything you need to know.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    A TDEE calculator includes some estimate of your exercise activity in your overall calorie goal...MFP does not. MFP is NOT a TDEE calculator...MFP is a NEAT method calculator and assumes you are going to log your exercise calories and consume them. You also have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples loss rate goals...1.5 Lbs loss rate goal on MFP may not be TDEE - X% with a TDEE calculator...you have to compare apples to apples.

    Also, your BMR is lower than what the scooby site states...the methodology they use in determining BMR utilizes your body weight...a more accurate measure is a BMR calculator that only utilizes your LBM...even then, it's an estimate and I wouldn't worry about it a great deal unless you are substantially under eating and are in no way properly fueling your body.

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