Help me understand my TDEE numbers

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9Rounder
9Rounder Posts: 40 Member
edited February 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I went online and answered a few questions to get my TDEE number (2542) and my BMR number (1640). My question is, can someone explain what exactly I do with these numbers in relation to My Fitness Pal and exercising? Thank you!

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Eat less than your TDEE, usually about 20%.
  • DarrelBirkett
    DarrelBirkett Posts: 221 Member
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    9Rounder wrote: »
    Hi! I went online and answered a few questions to get my TDEE number (2542) and my BMR number (1640). My question is, can someone explain what exactly I do with these numbers in relation to My Fitness Pal and exercising? Thank you!

    If your TDEE is 2542 that is how much you should eat to keep a neutral energy balance (ish). So to lose weight as said, you eat under this. 20% is a popular target for those wanting fairly aggressive fat loss. If you were concerned about muscle loss while at 20% under you would train usually consuming BCAA's in a pre workout and even being 10% under then 15% and so on.

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited February 2015
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    DarrelBirkett wrote: »
    9Rounder wrote: »
    Hi! I went online and answered a few questions to get my TDEE number (2542) and my BMR number (1640). My question is, can someone explain what exactly I do with these numbers in relation to My Fitness Pal and exercising? Thank you!

    If your TDEE is 2542 that is how much you should eat to keep a neutral energy balance (ish). So to lose weight as said, you eat under this. 20% is a popular target for those wanting fairly aggressive fat loss. If you were concerned about muscle loss while at 20% under you would train usually consuming BCAA's in a pre workout and even being 10% under then 15% and so on.

    This (except for consuming BCAA's in a pre workout(sounds like a sales pitch to me)) along with if you use TDEE-20% do not record exercise calories on MFP as that is your Total Daily energy expenditure which includes exercise per your answers. If you want to record your exercise change it to 1 calorie on MFP.




  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    So basically if you eat tdee -20% = 2034 calories

    Or tdee -15% = 2161...

    You don't eat your exercise calories back.
  • leooftheyear
    leooftheyear Posts: 429 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Your TDEE is the total number calories you'd eat to maintain your weight, it includes exercise.
    To lose weight cut 5%-20% off of your TDEE. Right now i am at TDEE-10% but it depends on your goals, as you get closer to goal weight you should be cutting less off your TDEE
    Your BMR is the number of calories you should be eating each day to keep your body functioning correctly.

    Check out the Eat More to Weigh Less group for more information http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
  • 9Rounder
    9Rounder Posts: 40 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Thanks for the answers! When I go into MFP to get my daily calorie estimate to lose 2 pounds a week, I get 1,200 calories. I've been eating 1,500 and doing about 340 calories of cardio (according to my HRM that I wear when I exercise). Seems like the math is off.

    I should be eating 2,034 calories? Seems so high to me.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    MFP uses the NEAT method, which does not account for exercise, whereas TDEE does. As well, 2 pounds a week is a bit aggressive for what you have to lose. I have nearly the same amount and am losing on 1830 calories a day from a TDEE around 2300.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    MFP gave you 1200 because you have 55lbs to lose..you should be aiming for 1lb a week until you have 25lbs then move it to 1/2 lb...your goals are too agressive.

    1200 is the lowest it will let you go....if you are currently eating 1500 and exercising 340 you are at 1160 which is too low.

    Depending on your stats and what site you used for TDEE is could be a bit high.

    When I started my TDEE was 2000 so I ate 1600 and lost 1lb a week, now that I am at maitenance I eat 2000 a day in the winter, in the summer when I am outside doing cardio and still weight lifting my TDEE goes to 2400 and higher...I am 42 and 5 ft 7 female and lift 3-4x a week but it's not "hard" exercise either...spring/summer/fall is when my TDEE is high....

    If I were you I would go back to MFP change your goals to 1lb a week and eat what they recommend for calories, eat back exercise calories and see how it goes esp since you are new and need to understand the numbers before jumping into the unknown of TDEE etc as there are others things to take into account with TDEE such as consistent exercise etc.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »

    This (except for consuming BCAA's in a pre workout(sounds like a sales pitch to me)) along with if you use TDEE-20% do not record exercise calories on MFP as that is your Total Daily energy expenditure which includes exercise per your answers. If you want to record your exercise change it to 1 calorie on MFP.

    BCAAs are actually meant to be beneficial whilst cutting to help you retain as much muscle as possible, however, to what extent the benefit is seems to be undefined.

    BCAAs while cutting IF you have a lot of cash to spare, otherwise don't bother!!
  • kozinskey
    kozinskey Posts: 176 Member
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    9Rounder wrote: »
    Thanks for the answers! When I go into MFP to get my daily calorie estimate to lose 2 pounds a week, I get 1,200 calories. I've been eating 1,500 and doing about 340 calories of cardio (according to my HRM that I wear when I exercise). Seems like the math is off.

    I should be eating 2,034 calories? Seems so high to me.

    Yeah, I get about 1900 calories for a daily goal, plus I eat back most of my exercise calories. It does seem high, but I appreciate that it's enough food that I'm not exhausted all the time and I don't get bingey. I'd rather eat more and lose slowly with a healthy metabolism than engage in a daily strugglefest to keep my calories low.

    Also, if I eat more than 2300 calories, I feel pretty gross the next day, even if I was technically within my limits with daily goal + exercise calories.
  • DarrelBirkett
    DarrelBirkett Posts: 221 Member
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    Yes, if you calculated your TDEE that already factors in your work so you must not eat calories back.

  • 9Rounder
    9Rounder Posts: 40 Member
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    Thanks for the feedback! I am 44 years old, 5'6" and do want to lose 55 pounds. I work out kickboxing for 30 minutes 5x a week at a 9Round gym. I try not to eat back my exercise calories burned to give me a little extra deficit. But I will go back in to MFP and reevaluate my goals, probably change to 1 pound a week. Maybe ignore the TDEE numbers for now?
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    9Rounder wrote: »
    Thanks for the feedback! I am 44 years old, 5'6" and do want to lose 55 pounds. I work out kickboxing for 30 minutes 5x a week at a 9Round gym. I try not to eat back my exercise calories burned to give me a little extra deficit. But I will go back in to MFP and reevaluate my goals, probably change to 1 pound a week. Maybe ignore the TDEE numbers for now?

    Sounds like a good plan all around.

    And if you're ignoring TDEE and using MFP at 1lb/week, make sure to eat back at least some of those exercise calories so you don't end up in too steep a deficit! The last thing you'd want to do would be to undo all that hard work by depriving your body of essential nutrition and energy, or to drop hard-won muscle mass because you're losing too aggressively.
  • 9Rounder
    9Rounder Posts: 40 Member
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    I want to say that this is a really good site with sound, polite advice. I used to belong to Weight Watchers and found the message boards there to be very clicky and rude and accusatory. Glad I found a home here!
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
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    alyhuggan wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »

    This (except for consuming BCAA's in a pre workout(sounds like a sales pitch to me)) along with if you use TDEE-20% do not record exercise calories on MFP as that is your Total Daily energy expenditure which includes exercise per your answers. If you want to record your exercise change it to 1 calorie on MFP.

    BCAAs are actually meant to be beneficial whilst cutting to help you retain as much muscle as possible, however, to what extent the benefit is seems to be undefined.

    BCAAs while cutting IF you have a lot of cash to spare, otherwise don't bother!!

    If we are talking about branched chain amino acids, they are in my Whey Protein powder. Meeting my protein macro from protein powder is actually cheaper than from other sources ($54 for 71 servings of 24 g protein each, compared to about $1/24g protein from yogurt or almost $2/24g serving protein from chicken).
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    kyta32 wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »

    This (except for consuming BCAA's in a pre workout(sounds like a sales pitch to me)) along with if you use TDEE-20% do not record exercise calories on MFP as that is your Total Daily energy expenditure which includes exercise per your answers. If you want to record your exercise change it to 1 calorie on MFP.

    BCAAs are actually meant to be beneficial whilst cutting to help you retain as much muscle as possible, however, to what extent the benefit is seems to be undefined.

    BCAAs while cutting IF you have a lot of cash to spare, otherwise don't bother!!

    If we are talking about branched chain amino acids, they are in my Whey Protein powder. Meeting my protein macro from protein powder is actually cheaper than from other sources ($54 for 71 servings of 24 g protein each, compared to about $1/24g protein from yogurt or almost $2/24g serving protein from chicken).

    Yes I know but timing of eating whatever has yet to be proven really...

    As for meeting Protein Macro my goal is 125 grams a day I typically manage with eggs, fish, cheese, yogurt, chicken, turkey, pork (all forms esp bacon/ham), beef etc. The only time I turn to protein powder is in the summer when I drink fruit smoothies for breakfast but I don't make sure it's right before a workout just throughout the day.

  • gmax69
    gmax69 Posts: 18 Member
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    For me personally, I don't like using TDEE because it's an estimate of a daily average. I prefer to use my BMR (which I got tested) which is 1622 and I eat that plus 10% at minimum. I add in my exercise and eat some of it back. Simply said I eat according to my daily activity which varies from sedentary to 50+ km runs.

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