Idiots Guide to TDEE & BMR

sallymason88
sallymason88 Posts: 69 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello. Can someone help in very simple terms regarding the above. I think I understand it, but I am not sure. I am not sure where the deficit comes in, which figure should be lowered. I worked out that my BMR is a shade over 1400 and my TDEE is a shade over 2000. I am working out most days and i am eating between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. Mostly the higher amount. Am I on the right track. I think my BMR is due to (without exercise) a very sedentary lifestyle and my age (54). I am 163 pounds and 5 ft 4 tall. I lost 2 stone (28 lbs) but I am stuck now on the final stone (14 lbs). I am walking and doing metabolic training I think they call it. (Jillian Michaels with as heavy weight as i can manage). I am thinking if I eat 1400 calories a day, and do not eat my exercise calories, I will be in the right amount of deficit. Is that right.

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    edited February 2016
    You should eat above your BMR but below your TDEE to lose weight.
  • sallymason88
    sallymason88 Posts: 69 Member
    thank you.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Your BMR is more or less the energy you use if you lived in your bed and did nothing. TDEE includes moving about, eating, exercise.

    Correct. If your TDEE is about 2000 and you are eating 1400 then you should see weight loss.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,488 Member
    Your BMR is the basic amount of calories you need to survive.

    Your TDEE sedentary is 1591 to maintain.
    2055 to maintain at moderately active. Exercising consistently 60 min 6 days a week.

    If you have a mainly sedentary lifestyle and are not consistent with your exercise you may be better using the MFP NEAT method where your basic calories taken from your daily activity level only, sedentary for you.

    The deficit you chose would be built in to that, probably .5 lbs a week would be good, and then you log and eat back the calories when you do exercise. Eat 50-75% of your exercise calories as MFP over estimates.

    For each 250 cal deficit you will lose .5 lbs a week.


    Here is a simple TDEE calculator to play with. Be honest about the amount of exercise you do.
    https://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator

    Fitnessfrog.com also has a good calculator as does IIFYM.com.

    Chose one set of numbers, TDEE or NEAT, and run with them for 4-6 weeks to observe the results. Tweak as needed after that. All calculators are just estimates.

    Weigh and measure everything for the best results.

    Cheers, h.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    sallymason88 wrote: »
    Hello. Can someone help in very simple terms regarding the above. I think I understand it, but I am not sure. I am not sure where the deficit comes in, which figure should be lowered. I worked out that my BMR is a shade over 1400 and my TDEE is a shade over 2000.

    The TDEE of 2000 is the number you need to eat under to create a deficit.

    2000 is quite high from a BMR of 1400, sedentary would be a TDEE of 1680.

    But in any case you subtract the deficit from the TDEE and the BMR is just a (large) component of the TDEE - it isn't a goal in itself.
  • sallymason88
    sallymason88 Posts: 69 Member
    Thanks for all replies. You have made it more understandable for me. I am calorie counting using a HRM and whilst I record all, I only really believe half. I did a 2 hour walk yestserday, for example, full on as fast as I could to a beat to keep me in check. According to my HRM i burned 750. I thought that was too high a number, I "believed" around 500, but I try not to eat them back because my lifestyle is so sedentary. I work nights, seated all night, then I sleep half the day, then I exercise and do a few things, then I eat evening meal before sitting before going to work to sit !! That is 5 nights a week, and obviously sleep goes into the 6th day. I genuinely do exercise 6 days a week. The minimum is 30 mins, perhaps once a week. Most days I do the 30 min Jillian Michaels thing then an hour power walk, or two, depending on time. Thanks for all replies and for keeping it simple, for my simple mind :smile:

    @yarwell .. reading your explanation gave me a "light bulb" moment. When you say that 2000 is quite high from a BMR of 1400. I can see why now. If you dont believe your exercise calories (which I certainly dont, even though I do "put my back into it") then achieving 600 a day every day is quite difficult. I think I can see why I have hit a slump, my deficit isnt that great realistically,when you bear in mind my lifestyle is sloth like due to my job and time of working. I am thinking I should perhaps lower my calories to 1300. MFP gave me 1200 to start with, but because I genuinely do exercise 6 days a week, I thought it perhaps wasnt enough, after reading stuff on here, so put it up to 1400. maybe I should have gone for the 1300. I think I will tweek it and see.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    You don't "eat back" exercise calories in the sense that you do on MFP if you are using TDEE. You need to choose one method.

    If you choose MFP's method, you just enter your stats and it will give you a calorie goal to lose weight. Then you enter exercise and eat some/all of those calories back (many people start with 50-75% to account for inaccuracies; some people eat 100% because the burn numbers are accurate for them).

    If you choose TDEE, that number already includes calories for your exercise, so in a sense you're eating them, they're just up front rather than after the fact, if that makes sense? TDEE is great for those who have a consistent exercise routine. I think MFP's method is good for those who don't. MFP doesn't believe a person will do exercise until they enter it and then it can say - okay, you exercised today, I'm going to up your goal so you can appropriately fuel your body.

    Use one method and stick with for 4-6 weeks. Tweak from there.
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
    middlehaitch wrote: »
    Your BMR is the basic amount of calories you need to survive.

    Your TDEE sedentary is 1591 to maintain.
    2055 to maintain at moderately active. Exercising consistently 60 min 6 days a week.

    If you have a mainly sedentary lifestyle and are not consistent with your exercise you may be better using the MFP NEAT method where your basic calories taken from your daily activity level only, sedentary for you.

    The deficit you chose would be built in to that, probably .5 lbs a week would be good, and then you log and eat back the calories when you do exercise. Eat 50-75% of your exercise calories as MFP over estimates.

    For each 250 cal deficit you will lose .5 lbs a week.


    Here is a simple TDEE calculator to play with. Be honest about the amount of exercise you do.
    https://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator

    Fitnessfrog.com also has a good calculator as does IIFYM.com.

    Chose one set of numbers, TDEE or NEAT, and run with them for 4-6 weeks to observe the results. Tweak as needed after that. All calculators are just estimates.

    Weigh and measure everything for the best results.

    Cheers, h.

    Using the healthy eater calculator I put in age 60, 130 (weight), 64 inches, lightly active, to figure maintenance. I got 1576 for tdee. I'd like to transition into maintenance slowly, so I subtracted 250 from that, (half lb loss still) for a few weeks. Is this a bad idea? I'm concerned about a cushion for that immediate water weight.
  • sallymason88
    sallymason88 Posts: 69 Member
    edited February 2016


    @veganbaum perfect. i can see my confusion now. I now understand i need to pick one and why. Thanks to everyone, and no one made me sound like an idiot :smile: . I once posed a question on sugar... it didnt end well, there were people all around the world arguing ! I left them to it
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,488 Member
    Hi @swim777. Those numbers sound good for your stats. I am assuming you are working your way up from 1200.
    If that is the case try adding 50-100 cals a day over a number of weeks. Week 1 =1200, w2=1250, w3=1300, etc. you will gain a little extra water because you are eating more, but it won't be as visible.

    As calculators are only estimates, keep an eye on the scale and if it looks like you are starting to gain, back down your calories by 50 and stay there for a week or two extra to see what happens.

    And of course, if your exercise decreases, decrease your calories too.

    Cheers, h.
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
    middlehaitch wrote: »
    Hi @swim777. Those numbers sound good for your stats. I am assuming you are working your way up from 1200.
    If that is the case try adding 50-100 cals a day over a number of weeks. Week 1 =1200, w2=1250, w3=1300, etc. you will gain a little extra water because you are eating more, but it won't be as visible.

    As calculators are only estimates, keep an eye on the scale and if it looks like you are starting to gain, back down your calories by 50 and stay there for a week or two extra to see what happens.

    And of course, if your exercise decreases, decrease your calories too.

    Cheers, h.

    Thanks!!
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