Which calorie count to use? MFP or ScoobysWorkshop?

They are two different methods. Done properly and comparing apples to apples loss rate goals, they come out about 6 of 1.

TDEE method (Scooby) assumes some estimate of your exercise upfront in your activity level and thus some estimate of required caloric intake to accommodate that activity is included in your calorie goal.

The NEAT method (MFP) gives you a calorie goal based on you day to day hum drum...exercise is extra activity that needs to be logged separately which is when you get credit for those calories and get them to "eat back."

You also have to compare apples to apples loss rate goals...most people compare a 2 Lb per week loss rate goal with MFP to a TDEE - 20% goal with a TDEE calculator and don't do the math to realize that they're usually comparing roughly a 1 Lb difference in loss rate.

You also have to compare apples to apples loss rate goals...most people compare a 2 Lb per week loss rate goal with MFP to a TDEE - 20% goal with a TDEE calculator and don't do the math to realize that they're usually comparing roughly a 1 Lb difference in loss rate.

This makes sense, it wouldn't let me go past 20% when doing the TDEE. I don't really feel hungry and I'm hitting my goal very consistently...I exercise hard on the weekends ( I have horses so riding and barn work and training) and some evenings per week but have a 9-5 desk job so my weekly log is erratic. But I'm only really eating back what I exercise out and haven't seemed to see much difference. I like the idea of "eating back calories" than just having a total number to stay under. Makes me exercise more and think about what I'm eating...how much will I have to "pay" for that, etc. I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track. Thanks!

that's one of the advantages of the MFP method I think...it was the same for me. Getting calories to eat back was definitely motivation for me to go exercise in the beginning. It also taught me the importance of fueling my fitness.

The downside to this method is that people tend to overestimate their calorie burn from exercise and don't make an allowance for estimation error...it is pretty difficult to accurately measure calorie burn from a given activity, but people tend to take calculators, HRMs, data bases, etc as gospel and they aren't. Couple that with a general tendency to underestimate intake and this is why a lot of people don't see results.

That said, if one is using some basic common sense and realizes that there is going to be estimation error in both intake and output and they make appropriate adjustments for those things, MFP method works just fine...I used it for the vast majority of my weight loss and didn't really switch over to TDEE until much later when I had become very consistent in my fitness and dietary habits in general.

At this point I've been maintaining now for over a year and I don't log...I am mindful of what I'm eating from both a quality and quantity perspective and while I might not be bang on my calories all of the time, I'm obviously estimating them pretty good without actually logging them.

My MFP calculator gave me 1430 but http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ told me to eat 2400. That is a big difference. I have lost a few pounds but not nearly what I think I should for the calories I'm eating. I am also exercising and I KNOW I am eating a significant amount less than I was before I started tracking. I am putting on some muscle but my clothes are still fitting the same too...could I be eating too few calories at 1430? I am hitting that goal almost 100% with exercise. Thanks in advance!

You aren't putting on muscle eating 1400 calories.

I wouldn't trust any calorie counting from a cartoon dog.