Are you REALLY rating at TDEE?!

For me, I think eating at TDEE can be hard, because I know mine varies from day to day. I am a runner, and I know that my TDEE is high ( like 2500-2600 ) on days I do my long distances, 2000-2200 on moderate distances, and around 1900 with shorter distances. On "rest" days my TDEE can vary from 1700-1900. There isn't a real way to know, because I feel that most people's change from day to day depending on activity level. So maybe consider an average?

I didn't lose my weight by using TDEE. It was just eating at a deficit. I used MFP way and I ate back some of my exercise calories. I'm trying to maintain now, but I am trying to do it TDEE way. So I'm trying to think of a good average range to eat everyday that would be good for all my activity levels. It has to be enough to fuel my long runs, though, but also enough where everything balances out by the end of the week. I mean this because I will be "over" on rest days, but under on long run days.

Here's the deal with TDEE. In a perfect world, if you knew exactly what your TDEE was and your calorie calculations were 100% accurate and things like water retention didn't exist, you would lose exactly what you were supposed to over the long term. Unfortunately in the real world none of this is true. At best, even if you wear a calorie tracking device, your TDEE is an estimation with a decent margin of error. If you simply used an equation, it will be an estimation with a greater margin of error. Also know your TDEE is an every changing number. It goes down when you lose weight. If goes up when you are more active. You will never count calories 100% accurately. No one does. Some do a much better job than others but no one is perfect. Even if you weigh every morsel of food to the gram, the FDA still allows for rounding and discrepancies on nutritional information. Then there is water retention to consider. It's rare that in the short run you will lose weight at the rate you should on paper. The key is to be as consistent as possible with your calorie counting and workouts. This allows you to see trends in weight over time. If your goal is to lose weight then you should see a downward trend over time. If you don't see this trend or it is not fast enough for your preference you need to eat less, move more, or both (or reassess your expectations).

All that being said, throughout the many years of tracking calories, and a lot of trial and error, I have a pretty fair idea of my TDEE. I am also fairly accurate with my calorie counting. I tend to lose weight at about the speed I should be on paper. It does not show up on a week to week basis however. Water retention will prevent that from ever happening. If I compare month to month I usually lose about what I expect to. Again, if at any point I do not, it goes back to eat less, move more, or both.

Here's the deal with TDEE. In a perfect world, if you knew exactly what your TDEE was and your calorie calculations were 100% accurate and things like water retention didn't exist, you would lose exactly what you were supposed to over the long term. Unfortunately in the real world none of this is true. At best, even if you wear a calorie tracking device, your TDEE is an estimation with a decent margin of error. If you simply used an equation, it will be an estimation with a greater margin of error. Also know your TDEE is an every changing number. It goes down when you lose weight. If goes up when you are more active. You will never count calories 100% accurately. No one does. Some do a much better job than others but no one is perfect. Even if you weigh every morsel of food to the gram, the FDA still allows for rounding and discrepancies on nutritional information. Then there is water retention to consider. It's rare that in the short run you will lose weight at the rate you should on paper. The key is to be as consistent as possible with your calorie counting and workouts. This allows you to see trends in weight over time. If your goal is to lose weight then you should see a downward trend over time. If you don't see this trend or it is not fast enough for your preference you need to eat less, move more, or both (or reassess your expectations).

All that being said, throughout the many years of tracking calories, and a lot of trial and error, I have a pretty fair idea of my TDEE. I am also fairly accurate with my calorie counting. I tend to lose weight at about the speed I should be on paper. It does not show up on a week to week basis however. Water retention will prevent that from ever happening. If I compare month to month I usually lose about what I expect to. Again, if at any point I do not, it goes back to eat less, move more, or both.