Scooby's TDEE vs. MFP
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knittingbee928
Posts: 50 Member
Okay, I'm confused.
I went on Scooby's to determine my TDEE and it gave me the following stats:
BMR: 1214
TDEE: 1881
Daily calories to lose fat (20% calorie reduction): 1505
MFP, however, says my daily goal should be 1200. I'm shooting for 1200, but I usually go over to 1300 and sometimes 1500.
I'm using MFP's goal and I'm losing weight, and almost at my target. But I'm confused - how can Scooby's be so high? I set it to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise, since I spend most mornings at the gym and also walk for about 1/2 hour at least twice a week.
I'm 5'0, 103 lbs, and work a desk job, but again, I'm at the gym almost every morning.
Anyone else have high numbers with Scooby's? I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just wondering why it's so much higher than MFP.
I went on Scooby's to determine my TDEE and it gave me the following stats:
BMR: 1214
TDEE: 1881
Daily calories to lose fat (20% calorie reduction): 1505
MFP, however, says my daily goal should be 1200. I'm shooting for 1200, but I usually go over to 1300 and sometimes 1500.
I'm using MFP's goal and I'm losing weight, and almost at my target. But I'm confused - how can Scooby's be so high? I set it to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise, since I spend most mornings at the gym and also walk for about 1/2 hour at least twice a week.
I'm 5'0, 103 lbs, and work a desk job, but again, I'm at the gym almost every morning.
Anyone else have high numbers with Scooby's? I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just wondering why it's so much higher than MFP.
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Replies
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You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.0
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Uhh...at 5'3 and 103 pounds, how much weight are you looking to lose?1
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MFP is not a TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator, it uses the NEAT (Non exercise activity Thermogenesis) method.
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
NEAT does not.
MFP expects you to log your exercise and eat back the earned calories it will give you, although many feel that this number is overly learge and only eat back 50-75% of this number.
Can't compare apples to oranges, or TDEE to NEAT2 -
What is your goal weight if you are 5'3"? You are 103, so slightly underweight by BMI. Are you trying to lose or gain? If you don't like your shape, I'd say eat to maintain your pounds (so eat the TDEE of 1881 not less) and change your workouts to reshape your body, maybe land around 105.1
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Uhh...at 5'3 and 103 pounds, how much weight are you looking to lose?
As I said in my post, I'm close to my target pre-surgery weight of 100.0 -
What is your goal weight if you are 5'3"? You are 103, so slightly underweight by BMI. Are you trying to lose or gain? If you don't like your shape, I'd say eat to maintain your pounds (so eat the TDEE of 1881 not less) and change your workouts to reshape your body, maybe land around 105.
Oh, I'm 5'0, not 5'3
And, again, close to my target.0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
This ^ OP. MFP's number is with no exercise, you are supposed to log your exercise and eat back those calories. And with so little to lose, make sure you are set to lose one-half pound per week.0 -
knittingbee928 wrote: »Okay, I'm confused.
I went on Scooby's to determine my TDEE and it gave me the following stats:
BMR: 1214
TDEE: 1881
Daily calories to lose fat (20% calorie reduction): 1505
MFP, however, says my daily goal should be 1200. I'm shooting for 1200, but I usually go over to 1300 and sometimes 1500.
I'm using MFP's goal and I'm losing weight, and almost at my target. But I'm confused - how can Scooby's be so high? I set it to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise, since I spend most mornings at the gym and also walk for about 1/2 hour at least twice a week.
I'm 5'0, 103 lbs, and work a desk job, but again, I'm at the gym almost every morning.
Anyone else have high numbers with Scooby's? I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just wondering why it's so much higher than MFP.
Scooby's calculation takes into account any exercise you will be doing. This method gives you one constant calorie goal.
MFP doesn't include exercise into it's calculation and then gives you extra calories when you workout. This method has you eating less on rest days and more on workout days. So in your case it would be 1200 on rest days and 1200+ exercise on workout days.0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
That's what I thought, but on the days I exercise, I eat 1350-1400 calories at most, which isn't close to the TDEE that Scooby gives me. Scooby's is way higher.
BecomingBane pointed out that:
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
but I'm confused, because if TDEE includes calculations for exercise, the MFP calculation after exercise be close to the TDEE?
I guess I don't see how they are different. Or, more importantly, which one I should go by.
Also, I'm thinking about this because I'm close to my target and will soon want to eat to maintain, but not gain, so I'm trying to figure it out.
Thanks everyone.0 -
knittingbee928 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
That's what I thought, but on the days I exercise, I eat 1350-1400 calories at most, which isn't close to the TDEE that Scooby gives me. Scooby's is way higher.
BecomingBane pointed out that:
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
but I'm confused, because if TDEE includes calculations for exercise, the MFP calculation after exercise be close to the TDEE?
I guess I don't see how they are different. Or, more importantly, which one I should go by.
Also, I'm thinking about this because I'm close to my target and will soon want to eat to maintain, but not gain, so I'm trying to figure it out.
Thanks everyone.
No, MFP's number would be close to your TDEE minus your deficit. So the 1500 that scooby gave you.2 -
knittingbee928 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
That's what I thought, but on the days I exercise, I eat 1350-1400 calories at most, which isn't close to the TDEE that Scooby gives me. Scooby's is way higher.
BecomingBane pointed out that:
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
but I'm confused, because if TDEE includes calculations for exercise, the MFP calculation after exercise be close to the TDEE?
I guess I don't see how they are different. Or, more importantly, which one I should go by.
Also, I'm thinking about this because I'm close to my target and will soon want to eat to maintain, but not gain, so I'm trying to figure it out.
Thanks everyone.
No, MFP's number would be close to your TDEE minus your deficit. So the 1500 that scooby gave you.
Yep, this. TDEE does not take a deficit into account. MFP+exercise still includes your required deficit.0 -
BecomingBane wrote: »knittingbee928 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
That's what I thought, but on the days I exercise, I eat 1350-1400 calories at most, which isn't close to the TDEE that Scooby gives me. Scooby's is way higher.
BecomingBane pointed out that:
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
but I'm confused, because if TDEE includes calculations for exercise, the MFP calculation after exercise be close to the TDEE?
I guess I don't see how they are different. Or, more importantly, which one I should go by.
Also, I'm thinking about this because I'm close to my target and will soon want to eat to maintain, but not gain, so I'm trying to figure it out.
Thanks everyone.
No, MFP's number would be close to your TDEE minus your deficit. So the 1500 that scooby gave you.
Yep, this. TDEE does not take a deficit into account. MFP+exercise still includes your required deficit.
I understand how NEAT vs. TDEE works now. I still don't get why all of the TDEE calculators say I should eat around 1500 calories a day, which seems like too much when I compare it to MFP's "BMR+exercise" estimate (1200 BMR) plus exercise (150 to 200). MFP, on my most challenging exercise days, says I should only eat about 1400 calories after exercise. That's quite a difference from the TDEE estimate of 1500, and I'd imagine that MFP is more accurate because it's more specific to the exercise and # of minutes. I would think MFP+exercise should be within the range of the TDEE #, but it's not. Scooby's is 1669, minus 200 calories of exercise would be 1469, which isn't close to the 1200 that MFP gives me.
I probably overestimated exercise intensity on the TDEE calculators. I have a desk job, but spend an hour at the gym 4-5x/week. So it's a little tough to estimate.
Thank you, everyone, for the good explanations.0 -
@knittingbee928 - What did you select as your deficit on MFP?
20% of 1881 is about 1505 (1504.8 to be exact) which is only a 376 calorie deficit.
If your deficit on MFP is for:
1 lb per week = deficit would be 124 calories larger than TDEE method (124 fewer calories from MFP to eat)
1.5 lb per week = deficit would be 374 calories larger than TDEE method (374 fewer calories from MFP to eat)0 -
knittingbee928 wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »You eat back exercise calories on MFP, and not on TDEE. Therefore, after you eat back exercise calories, you would probably end up around the same number.
That's what I thought, but on the days I exercise, I eat 1350-1400 calories at most, which isn't close to the TDEE that Scooby gives me. Scooby's is way higher.
BecomingBane pointed out that:
The main difference is TDEE includes calculations for exercise.
but I'm confused, because if TDEE includes calculations for exercise, the MFP calculation after exercise be close to the TDEE?
I guess I don't see how they are different. Or, more importantly, which one I should go by.
Also, I'm thinking about this because I'm close to my target and will soon want to eat to maintain, but not gain, so I'm trying to figure it out.
Thanks everyone.
The reason MFP's is so close to the TDEE calculation at this point is that MFPs minimum calorie base is 1200. Even if you set it to lose 2 lbs per week, which would require a much larger deficit at your current height/weight (and isn't recommended..at this point it should only be about .5 per week with so little to lose), it's still only going to go as low as 1200, and never below that.
Hopefully that helps make a little more sense.0 -
shadow2soul wrote: »@knittingbee928 - What did you select as your deficit on MFP?
I didn't know you could select a deficit. I'm using the free version of MFP, so I'm not sure if I have the option to change that. I looked in a few places and couldn't find the setting. I bet that's it, though. MFP might be taking away too much.
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knittingbee928 wrote: »shadow2soul wrote: »@knittingbee928 - What did you select as your deficit on MFP?
I didn't know you could select a deficit. I'm using the free version of MFP, so I'm not sure if I have the option to change that. I looked in a few places and couldn't find the setting. I bet that's it, though. MFP might be taking away too much.
When you tell it how much you want to lose per week you are selecting the deficit.
0.5 lb per week = 250 cal deficit
1 lb per week = 500 cal deficit
1.5 lb per week = 750 cal deficit
2 lb per week = 1000 cal deficit
That said MFP bottoms out at 1200. So if you maintain on 1600, the largest deficit MFP will give you is 400 calories.0 -
Personally I'd stick with the MFP numbers everyone already said why they're different but my advice is to keep with MFP, with the Scooby numbers if you miss a workout you're going over. At least with MFP if you miss a day it's going to already be at the proper calories.0
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This is pretty helpful because I was also wondering why I always ended up at 1200 lol0
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knittingbee928 wrote: »Okay, I'm confused.
I went on Scooby's to determine my TDEE and it gave me the following stats:
BMR: 1214
TDEE: 1881
Daily calories to lose fat (20% calorie reduction): 1505
MFP, however, says my daily goal should be 1200. I'm shooting for 1200, but I usually go over to 1300 and sometimes 1500.
I'm using MFP's goal and I'm losing weight, and almost at my target. But I'm confused - how can Scooby's be so high? I set it to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise, since I spend most mornings at the gym and also walk for about 1/2 hour at least twice a week.
I'm 5'0, 103 lbs, and work a desk job, but again, I'm at the gym almost every morning.
Anyone else have high numbers with Scooby's? I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just wondering why it's so much higher than MFP.
You have to compare apples to apples loss rate goals...when you select to lose X Lbs per week with MFP, you are establishing how large a deficit you intend to have..most people go with 2 Lbs...your 20% cut from TDEE is far less aggressive...you also have to factor in where exercise is accounted for...with MFP, you're supposed to add them in after the fact.
When you compare apples to apples, the numbers should be relatively close...but you also have to keep in mind that MFP has a floor of 1200 calories...your TDEE would actually indicate that you would need to eat closer to 800 calories per day to actually lose 2 Lbs per week which is why a 2 Lb per week rate of loss is simply not a healthy rate for many women unless they have a substantial amount of weight to lose.0 -
knittingbee928 wrote: »When you tell it how much you want to lose per week you are selecting the deficit.
0.5 lb per week = 250 cal deficit
1 lb per week = 500 cal deficit
1.5 lb per week = 750 cal deficit
2 lb per week = 1000 cal deficit
That said MFP bottoms out at 1200. So if you maintain on 1600, the largest deficit MFP will give you is 400 calories.
That's it! I didn't realize that when you select the pounds per week, MFP correlates that with # of calories.
At this point, I'm not looking to lose - actually to maintain, but I'm not sure how much I should add back. How do you guys figure out what # of calories you maintain at, without messing it up and gaining it back? Do you add back a little at a time? I guess I don't trust the calculator
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