TDEE what level of fitness am i?

If you are meticulously entering every workout in your exercise log, you might have better results setting your activity to sedentary. Any level above that assumes that you are not entering in your base level of activity and it gives you a generic calorie adjustment based on what mfp assumes that level of activity should have. If you want the most accurate results, enter all your activities yourself in your exercise diary and leave your activity level at sedentary.

I would say that you're activity level is moderate. Understand that TDEE is an estimate. Set your number, carefully track for 6-8 weeks and then make adjustments to your calorie intake if needed. With some diligence and experimentation you can find your actual TDEE.

If you are meticulously entering every workout in your exercise log...

I agree, I set my activity level to sedentary and add my exercises separately.

The OP is using TDEE to calculate calorie requirements. TDEE works off an estimated amount of exercise, meaning you don't log every single activity. You have a fixed calorie goal every day.

MFP uses the NEAT method to calculate calorie needs. This requires the user to enter all activities. The calorie goal for the day will vary depending on the amount of activity logged.

Using TDEE or NEAT is a matter of personal preference.

I highly prefer TDEE, unfortunately I think MFP WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY overestimates calories burned on a lot of excercies. Have a hard time believing that walking at a 3.0 mph pace (which is actually quite slow, 1 mile in 20 minutes) can burn over 300 calories.


My suggestion (because this is what I did) would be to just put in Light Activity and just track and see how you do on the scale and how you feel then adjust accordingly if you don't like the results. You are obviously doing something so setting it to sedetary would almost 100% guarantee weigh loss, it may leave you hungry or not feeling well. Plus if you eat enough you will be able to perform better athletically.

Personally I like using TDEE and under estimating how much activity I get. I may easily qualify as moderately active or even more, but under light activity I feel like my calorie limit is more than enough food and I don't have to hope that the MFP calculation for running/hiking or whatever the hell I do is correct.

If your exercise is fairly consistent, you can set moderate activity and then not log your exercise, or set sedentary and log your exercise. Whatever is the most convenient for you!

Have a hard time believing that walking at a 3.0 mph pace (which is actually quite slow, 1 mile in 20 minutes) can burn over 300 calories.

How many calories you burn depends on how long you do that. It takes 45 minutes for me.

Its calculations for moving at a constant pace on a level surface are based on formulae that should be pretty accurate. At least for me, MFP and exercise machines and my heart rate monitor are very close in such cases. IMHO, it's when there are more variables (hills, backpacks, etc.) that MyFitnessPal is going to be greatly inferior to the other ways of measuring calories burned.

As you might imagine - 1 hr of walking is not the same as 1 hr running as 1 hr lifting - so why would they count the same even in a rough 5 level TDEE chart?

Just use the formula the chart is based on for infinite levels.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1018768-better-rough-estimate-of-tdee-than-5-level-chart

But if you aren't going to do true TDEE deficit method where you include exercise, then just do it the MFP way.

The difference is 20% off TDEE is likely more reasonable than selecting 2 lb weight loss on MFP method.
So select a MFP weight loss goal amount that is reasonable, and closer to the 20% amount.

Whether or not you say Moderate Exercise or light Exercise doesn't matter. The Exercise diary gives you the opportunity to register you routines separately and tell you what calories you have burned during each individual exercise. Remember. Muscle tone can weigh the same as fat and that weight loss is NOT always the first priority when it comes to health and fitness.:bigsmile:

Does everyone not understand TDEE on here or am I just losing my mind? I am not directing this statement at the OP, just the responses.

I have face palmed myself so much reading this that I have two black eyes.

Set it to moderate. If you don't lose anything or gain anything in two weeks, assume you're a little too high and the calories down by another 10%. Or if you feel really uncomfortable, get your moderate number and your sedentary number now and come up with your own customized # in the middle.

Sedentary and moderate are not the same in TDEE. It's not like MFP. TDEE is supposed to be you adding up all your daily activities on average and not going up and down every day with exercise calories like on MFP.

OMG. I'm as well giving up. You guys are like speaking a foreign language to me.
I'll never fit in here

Does everyone not understand TDEE on here or am I just losing my mind? I am not directing this statement at the OP, just the responses.

I have face palmed myself so much reading this that I have two black eyes.

Set it to moderate. If you don't lose anything or gain anything in two weeks, assume you're a little too high and the calories down by another 10%. Or if you feel really uncomfortable, get your moderate number and your sedentary number now and come up with your own customized # in the middle.

Sedentary and moderate are not the same in TDEE. It's not like MFP. TDEE is supposed to be you adding up all your daily activities on average and not going up and down every day with exercise calories like on MFP.

TDEE is just total daily energy expenditure. So Sedentary would be the energy spent being... sedentary. Which WOULD be the same every day. So I think you can get pretty accurate by always using a sedentary TDEE and calculating your exercise calories yourself.

It's exactly the same as using the BMR and multiplying by a factor.

•If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So I always use BMR * 1.2 and calculate calories burned myself.

Yes you can do it that way, but it is not TDEE. By definition includes exercise. It causes a lot of confusion here when people ask questions about using TDEE but aren't actually including exercise. TDEE a sedentary with exercise figured separately is NEAT - non exercise activity thermogenesis - the same method MFP uses.