Question

RealFoodisGood
RealFoodisGood Posts: 121 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Using an online calculator, I calculated my TDEE at 2300 for exercising 3 x per week. I also calculated my TDEE at 2800 for exercising every day very intensely (which is not the case) just out of curiosity.

I eat alot. Typical day for last 2 years: About the equivalent of 200g of macadamia nuts per day (whole bag), a couple of fatty lamb chops for dinner with a salad with generous olive oil and grassfed cheese, about 60 g dark chocolate per day, a decent sized wild salmon steak baked in coconut oil for lunch with a whole cucumber and hummous, 3 duck eggs for breakfast fried in 1 tsp of ghee, a green banana, a handful of wild blueberries, and snacks include an avocado with olive oil, a couple of TBSP of raw almond butter, a few slices of grassfed cheese. I'm probably forgetting something but you get the drift.

I did a few representative entries in the MFP calculator and it averaged 3800-4300 cals per day.

I stopped b/c logging so much food is kinda tiring. I'd rather spend the time eating the food.

Am I missing something? If I've eaten this way for 2 years, doing 3 short 10 minute lifting workouts per week given my TDEE above, why did my weight go from 165 to 160 lbs over that 2 years? Am I doing 5 hours of power cleans in my sleep? I'm worried about that. That could be dangerous.

Sure one can say I don't log accurately, and they would be right.... I log LESS than I eat for sure... b/c I'm eating constantly... and some of the foods don't have a pre-set value in the calculator, b/c the calculator hasn't heard of them before so I just didn't log them.

And I tried every way possible to "increase" my TDEE using those calculators, including increasing my height to Shaquille O'Neil's. Still can't get a deficit, only a surplus. Do I just have a magical mysterious TDEE of 5000?

Replies

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  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    There isn't a 100% accuracy when it comes to TDEE but there are a couple ways.

    You can go the old school pain in the *kitten* method:

    - Eat at a certain amount of calories per day. You'll have to take a guess. Do this for a few weeks. See if your weight drops or raises. I would start with 2000 calories a day.

    Or the easier way but it will require some money spent.

    - Go buy a Fitbit or a Bodymedia FIT device which goes around your arm and you keep it on there all day long except when you shower and after about 2 weeks you'll have an accurate number for your TDEE.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2015
    The calculators are just estimates based on averages.
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  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    Everyone's metabolism is different, and also it depends on how active you are aside from your exercise regimen. What do you do for work? How active are you at home? Those things can make a big difference in how many calories your body needs to sustain you, not counting intended exercise.
    My son can't sit still, even as an adult, and is always moving. He requires a lot of calories, even when he's not exercising regularly. My husband, on the other hand, has a pretty slow metabolism, and is pretty happy being in one spot and not moving around much, once he's settled in and comfortable at home. He doesn't need nearly as many calories. Their TDEEs are quite different.
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  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,324 Member
    I don't know your height, but 2300 sounds like a low TDEE for a man. Are you including all your regular daily activity, in addition to your workouts? My health is fairly up and down, and changing from completely sedentary to just basic daily activity (walking around, light cleaning, etc.,) can add 700-800 calories to my overall calorie burn. I am basing this on my actual weight changes, not MFP calculations.

    Do you think you may have become more active naturally since changing the way you eat and that increased your calorie burn? If I eat junk food all day, I pretty much don't want to get off the couch, but lots of fresh fruits and veggies tends to make me feel much more energized, regardless of caloric intake (well, within the bounds of my actual experience; I am sure there is a lower limit, I just haven't found it)

    You might try going to a gym to have your metabolic rate tested if there is one near you with the technology, though I guess it still wouldn't really tell you why your burn what you do.

    Hopefully you find the answer to your question, but in the meantime, just enjoy all that food ;)
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  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    RealFoodisGood wrote: »
    joejccva71 wrote: »
    There isn't a 100% accuracy when it comes to TDEE but there are a couple ways.

    You can go the old school pain in the *kitten* method:

    - Eat at a certain amount of calories per day. You'll have to take a guess. Do this for a few weeks. See if your weight drops or raises. I would start with 2000 calories a day.

    Or the easier way but it will require some money spent.

    - Go buy a Fitbit or a Bodymedia FIT device which goes around your arm and you keep it on there all day long except when you shower and after about 2 weeks you'll have an accurate number for your TDEE.

    So by this method, you just see if your weight stays stable at a constant calorie intake and by definition that calorie intake that maintened your weight over 2 weeks is your TDEE?

    My calorie intake is roughly 4000 per day on average (prob due to the high quantity of nuts and other fats). Is it even possible to have a TDEE of 4000? b/c I've been very stable over 2 years... 5 lbs loss over 2 yrs (I actually wanted to stay the same not lose). Is that unheard of?

    Yea it depends on your active lifestyle.

    I had a roommate that did construction and he burned in upwards of about 7000 calories a day. He came to me asking why he couldn't gain weight. I told him to go get a few milkshakes at McDonalds every day.

    It's very possible to burn 4000 a day easily, just depends on what you're doing.

    An average middle-aged male that has a desk job and trains 3-5 days a week will burn an AVERAGE of about 2800-3000 calories a day.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I can't find the actual source but apparently some nuts don't properly get digested. I looked but only found articles saying it's a study from July 2012 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/96/1.toc Doesn't look like it though.
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