TDEE Calculation

nicolejaycee
nicolejaycee Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone.

I am trying to calculate my TDEE, but I have been pondering the following for quite some time now:

It asks my activity level. When I track my caloric intake and energy level on myfitnesspal, I always add the calories lost through exercise, and I exercise about 3-5 times per week.

So say when I am calculating my TDEE, I choose my activity level as moderately active (3-5x/week). It then gives me a caloric intake of 2100 cals/day. Is this already taking into account my daily exercise, or is this just for the sake of calculating my BMR? Specifically, should I still be tracking the calories lost through exercise?

Alternatively, is it better for me to choose a "sedentary" activity level when calculating my TDEE, and then add in my exercise on top of that in order to get a more accurate picture of how many calories I should be intaking?

I hope that makes sense.

Replies

  • ingasmile2
    ingasmile2 Posts: 43 Member
    TDEE already has exercise/activity factored in so you just eat the calories it tells you and do not adjust or "eat back" your exercise calories.
  • Kita328
    Kita328 Posts: 370 Member
    The way I do TDEE is I selected the activity level and the amount of percent of weight loss I would like (use the recomended) then the calories it gives me I eat. Everyday- NO MATTER IF I WORKED OUT.

    For me this works best because i dont have to configure and guess at what exercise calories are. I dont log my exercise minutes anymroe or calories burned durring exercise. I just give it my all(working out) 3-4 days a week and then stay true to my calories (everyday) and macros.
  • rachelrb85
    rachelrb85 Posts: 579 Member
    TDEE already has exercise/activity factored in so you just eat the calories it tells you and do not adjust or "eat back" your exercise calories.

    This. I do this so when I log my exercise as only 1 calorie burned so I do not eat back my exercise calories.

    If you are not consistent with your workouts, you could always calculate your TDEE at sedentary and eat back your calories. I used to do that too until I started working out consistently.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    TDEE includes exercise. Full stop. Total daily energy expenditure. It is averaged over the week so you eat the same amount everyday.

    Figuring it at sedentary then adding in exercise, as MFP does, is NEAT - non exercise activity thermogenesis.

    It causes a lot of confusion on the boards when people refer to that as TDEE.
  • nicolejaycee
    nicolejaycee Posts: 2
    Thanks everyone! That really clears it all up.

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