TDEE - This can't be right!

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  • anachronicles
    anachronicles Posts: 109 Member
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    I'm 5'2 and maintaining at 1900
  • DanaHerro
    DanaHerro Posts: 186 Member
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    IT'S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!
    Eat the food, girlie!!
    I started at 5'5" 220 and ate 1950-2000 a day to start (Sedentary TDEE minus 20%)
    I average 1.5 lbs per week for a total of 70 lbs lost.
    Lowest amount I ever ate per day was 1650

    I now eat about 1950-2000 to maintain :)
  • QuiznatoddBidness
    QuiznatoddBidness Posts: 603 Member
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    jessicav1126 wrote: »
    Lol who knew math equations would get people mad? ;)

    ^^^ fyi I just reported this. No offense intended, but math equations - AND references to math equations - make me mad.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    The calculator seems to have a glitch...a 15% cut from your TDEE of 2032 would be 1727...that would be just right around 1/2 - 3/4 Lb per week weigh-loss.

    Being heavier, you can go faster than that if you like...but you don't have to starve yourself. A 15% cut from TDEE is very modest and usually the kind of cut that someone who is already pretty lean would do...it's going to be very slow going with that small of a cut.

    I would also recommend that you increase your activity and do some exercise...exercise will increase your TDEE number...lets say you went out and burned 300 calories per day...your new TDEE would be 2332...at that TDEE you could easily eat around 1800 calories per day and lose about 1 Lb per week or 1500 - 1600 calories per day and lose about 1.5 Lbs per week.
  • HawtTamale
    HawtTamale Posts: 35 Member
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    Thank you so much for all the replies.

    I had my personal trainer calculate my BF% using calipers and an electronic scale of some sort (all very fancy lookin'...). I think his numbers are pretty spot on, sadly :(

    Jessica, thank you for the thorough explanation. That helps immensely. I will take your advice and use 1751 as my number. I've always been of the mindset that less is more, so I was doing 1200-1400...and starving...and never stuck with it. But now @ 1700 calories I feel like I can manage to stay full on that easily.

    So one more question:

    Is is required to eat the appropriate amount of each macronutrient in order for this to be successful? If one day I eat more avocados than chicken, and my fat calories go up vs. my protein calories, but I still stay within my 1751 allotment, will it screw with anything?

    I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm still trying to come to terms with being able to eat that much and still lose weight!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Like others have said, there's a math error or glitch with the calculator. The TDEE number looks reasonable, although if you plan to exercise you'd normally include the exercise.

    What I do with TDEE calculators is check out a few to get the range (try a range of BF% if you don't know yours) and then subtract the amount that makes sense myself--say, 500 if you are going for a 1 lb loss, although I did a more aggressive deficit at first and don't think it hurt me.

    Once you have your own results and logs you can adjust. Now I have a good sense of what my maintenance should be based on results, so I just used the calculators to kind of see if what I was getting made sense.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2014
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    HawtTamale wrote: »
    Is is required to eat the appropriate amount of each macronutrient in order for this to be successful? If one day I eat more avocados than chicken, and my fat calories go up vs. my protein calories, but I still stay within my 1751 allotment, will it screw with anything?

    Nope, you don't have to stick to the macros suggested by that site and can reset them yourself. A lot of people think it's good to try to get 1 g of protein per lb of lean body mass (your weight minus your fat) when exercising at a deficit, and not to go too low on fat as people sometimes do, but it's pretty flexible and what works for you, so don't over complicate at the beginning.

    Macros have to do with how satisfied you feel and nutrition, as well as fueling exercise/preserving muscle mass, not with weight loss.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Yeah, don't stress too much about macros. Just log what you're eating, try to stay within the total calorie goal, and see how it goes. You might find yourself naturally adjusting to feel more satisfied within a certain calorie allotment. But it's not really all that important, as long as you're healthy and giving youself enough energy to fuel your exercise.
  • RibStabsHeart
    RibStabsHeart Posts: 71 Member
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    TDEE is a much more precise way of estimating your intake, and if you accurately log your daily exercise into it and know your body fat percentage, it's a very accurate way of figuring out your maintenance calories and how much you need to cut back to lose a little at a time.

    Personally (and this is somewhat controversial around here), I like to use MFP's suggested calorie goals and log in and eat my exercise calories back. That way if I can't hit the gym or don't do as much as I'd like, I can still eat a smaller amount and keep at my goal. I don't stress if I'm a little over my 1350 -- I know this is a pretty low amount for a dude -- but I keep losing even if I don't hit the gym and work off the extra calories (that I do eat if I work out).
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    I'm 45 yr old, 145 lb and 5'6". My TDEE is 2300 calories. And I lose on 2000 (just about 15% deficit). I don't see the point in eating less than I have to - I'd rather go slowly, eat my protein (minimum of 100 grams and usually more) and learn how to eat for life. More food is good!
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    Also note that most people under-estimate their activity level in these calculators - most of us start off as lightly active and so should go up even higher on the activity scale. Otherwise you have a much larger deficit than you need.
  • Chevy_Quest
    Chevy_Quest Posts: 2,012 Member
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    mymodernbabylon wrote: »
    I'm 45 yr old, 145 lb and 5'6". My TDEE is 2300 calories. And I lose on 2000 (just about 15% deficit). I don't see the point in eating less than I have to - I'd rather go slowly, eat my protein (minimum of 100 grams and usually more) and learn how to eat for life. More food is good!

    My thoughts exactly! :-)

  • mykaylis
    mykaylis Posts: 320 Member
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    i'm roughly the same size as you and most calculators i use list similar TDEE. suggested calorie deficits will vary. i'm using mfp's "2 lbs per week" goal myself, which is proving a little difficult and is not actually losing 2 lbs a week, so there's obviously some wiggle room to be expected.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Really important to also remember that the TDEE calculators are estimates and they may not apply to you!

    All the calculators out there estimate my sedentary TDEE at around 1450 and my lightly active TDEE at around 1650. Now, I'm trying to be better about being active, but realistically speaking, my activity level is probably somewhere in between those two.

    HOWEVER, seven weeks of diligent tracking, weighing, and some fancy Excel regression and moving weighted average formulas estimate my actual TDEE somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2100.

    Which, according to the calculator, should be impossible. And probably is impossible, as the start of a weight loss journey can involve some water weight drop and whatnot.

    But my true TDEE is probably somewhere in between the two numbers. And if I keep losing at this rate after the first 60 days, I'll probably increase my calories. Even though I'm quite full and satisfied at the end of a day, I still don't want to lose too quickly.

    So I suggest tracking and measuring and seeing what your body actually does at the given number of calories, and making adjustments.
  • DanaHerro
    DanaHerro Posts: 186 Member
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    I did NOT follow any macros. Calories only :)
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 272 Member
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    It's right. At 45% percent body fat, you've got 110 pounds of fat that doesn't burn any calories and 135 pounds of lean mass that's actually doing work and burning calories. TDEE is based off of what the lean mass is doing. If you weighed the same and had a lower body fat percent (i.e. more lean mass burning calories), your TDEE would be higher.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    At 245lbs, that's about what I would expect.
  • lavendah
    lavendah Posts: 126 Member
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    Erm no,that's surely erroneous.You should eat around 1600 calories if you'd like to lose 1 pound per week.

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