TDEE stories?
deneenae
Posts: 97 Member
I wanna know what kind of experience people have using the TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) minus 20% method. I'm amazed at how anyone can eat 1200 cals a day and still work out for an hour... As is the case with a lot of people in my group of MFP friends. I believe in not exhausting/punishing yourself and I wanna be healthy about losing weight. It'd be refreshing to know there are people out there doing the TDEE method.
Just FYI I am 5'6", female, currently 183lbs, and workout 30-40 mins 4-5x a week (2x strength and 2-3x cardio). Been working out like that for a few years consistently, but not really for weight loss. It just makes me feel better, mentally. Now I actually do wanna lose weight.
I had a BodPod assessment this week and they calculated my RMR as 1400 cals and my TDEE as 2145 cals to maintain. My body fat is 41%. So I'm eating about 1800 cals to lose and that's the calculation for a "lightly active" person. With what I do in the gym, I'm not sure if I should bump myself up to an "active" person. My TDEE would then be 2455 to maintain, but even with 20% less that seems like a lot of food... But if I can eat more, then that's cool too.
So tell me your story!! Any advice for me is welcome too.
Just FYI I am 5'6", female, currently 183lbs, and workout 30-40 mins 4-5x a week (2x strength and 2-3x cardio). Been working out like that for a few years consistently, but not really for weight loss. It just makes me feel better, mentally. Now I actually do wanna lose weight.
I had a BodPod assessment this week and they calculated my RMR as 1400 cals and my TDEE as 2145 cals to maintain. My body fat is 41%. So I'm eating about 1800 cals to lose and that's the calculation for a "lightly active" person. With what I do in the gym, I'm not sure if I should bump myself up to an "active" person. My TDEE would then be 2455 to maintain, but even with 20% less that seems like a lot of food... But if I can eat more, then that's cool too.
So tell me your story!! Any advice for me is welcome too.
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Replies
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Honestly, doing TDEE minus a % or using MFP's NEAT method should get you to about the same place, if you eat back your exercise calories on MFP.
The reason you see so many here with a 1200 cal goal is they just choose a goal of 2 lbs per week, even though it isn't appropriate for their situation. And many people don't understand that MFP expects them to eat back at least some of their exercise calories. And I'm probably insulting someone by saying this, but most people who say 1200 cals is plenty of food for them are usually not logging accurately and are eating far more
For comparisons sake, I'm 5'4" 130 lbs, I maintained over the winter and just switched back to a deficit to try to lose another 5-10 lbs. As a barely lightly active person, I found I maintained at @ 1700-1800 cals. Whether I use a TDEE calc or MFP plus Fitbit calories, I get @ 1550 to lose half a lb per week.
As far as if you should eat more, I think your best bet is to give it 4-6 weeks and see what happens! If you end up losing faster than you expected, then bump up your calories a little. No matter what formula you use to get a calorie target, the only true way to know is to see how your body responds
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Thanks Kimny72. I don't eat my exercise calories back since the TDEE already factors that in for me. Plus, I don't like focusing on calories burned because I just want to enjoy my workout. I do wear a hear rate band and it typically tells me I burn about 250-350 calories per session, but I don't log that number in on MFP. Yeah I'm weird like that. I don't wanna be specific, but I wanna be specific. It's crazy to see the difference when I see cardio machine estimates. Usually, the machine says I burn twice that amount! I use my HR monitor to check my heart rate while working out to see if should speed it up or slow it down. I'm not a good judge if I just use the "exertion scale".
4-6 weeks sounds good to me. I've just been at it for about 2 weeks. Ha! I know, I know... give it time. 2 -
I felt the same way. Back in 2012 I wrote In Place of a Roadmap on this forum and started helping people shed pounds using that method.
Sure there's a thousand ways to skin a cat but I believe you should diet on the most calories while maintaining fat loss.2 -
OP u didn't get the gist of @kimny72 comment. She wrote that all the formulas eventually amount to the same number one way or another. For MFP's formula to work properly you need to add exercise calories back that is due to MFP calculating your current maintenance calories and then deducting 500-1000 cals off that based on your desired weight loss, this is how MFP creates the deficit- therefore if you exercise you should eat majority of those cals back ( as not to take a double deficit and go down in cals too much)
TDEE also looks at your maintenance cals and your weekly activity then adds it all up together and then creates a deficit of 15% - 20% off that number. Bottom line is both formulas shave calories off if u want to lose weight and that is the bottom line to all these calculations : eat less move more taaaadaaaa = weight loss0 -
I love the TDEE method. I just do a 300 calorie deficit, not a percentage. And make sure to stay above my BMR.
I don't get how people can survive off 1200 calories either. But my BMR and TDEE is much less than yours so I'm eating at 1500 calories right now- so I guess it depends on the person and their stats... but if they aren't super short or sedentary I can't believe they can do such a low calorie intake for long (and most do end up bingeing or quitting).
FYI try this TDEE calculator- it separates your daily activity from your exercise so it's a bit more accurate:
http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
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I do something similar to the TDEE method, but I use my FitBit data instead of a calculator. (The calculators don't work for my lifestyle; I have to pretend to be a manual labourer to get the right results.) I just aim for a 500 calorie deficit every day relative to my average TDEE. That's pretty close to a TDEE-20% goal. It works well for me.
Even before I had a fitness tracker, I preferred this general approach. Futzing about with logging exercise and having different goals every day is just a pain in the butt.
Doesn't mean I don't have higher days and lower days. They're just not dictated by that day's exercise (or lack thereof). I only care about weekly/monthly averages.3 -
My numbers work out the same for TDEE or MFP method - as they should - but i prefer having more calories to go at on days i have done lots of exercise.
I started on 1200 cals way back when i first found MFP - lost 12lbs in 12 weeks with 1200 cals and a cheat day once a week. i wasnt doing as strenuous exercise then as i do now, but i'm still not quite sure how i managed it!!!1 -
I did TDEE-20% and ended up eating around 1700 calories the whole time I was losing. Lost 80 lbs that way.1
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I do TDEE but am focusing on performance, so closer to maintaining and I avg about 2150 a day (my RD just upped my protein for me and tweaked my fats) - I'm steady at 150lbs and 5'3"0
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lemonychild wrote: »OP u didn't get the gist of @kimny72 comment. She wrote that all the formulas eventually amount to the same number one way or another. For MFP's formula to work properly you need to add exercise calories back that is due to MFP calculating your current maintenance calories and then deducting 500-1000 cals off that based on your desired weight loss, this is how MFP creates the deficit- therefore if you exercise you should eat majority of those cals back ( as not to take a double deficit and go down in cals too much)
TDEE also looks at your maintenance cals and your weekly activity then adds it all up together and then creates a deficit of 15% - 20% off that number. Bottom line is both formulas shave calories off if u want to lose weight and that is the bottom line to all these calculations : eat less move more taaaadaaaa = weight loss
I got the gist thanks: More than 2 ways to skin a cat. I just prefer not to record exercise cals burned, the way MFP wants me to. Its a little too tedious for me. Which is why I do TDEE. I like having a consistent calorie goal so I'm not trying to run around and find an extra 100 (or what ever I burned) calories to eat. I set my calorie goal manually and record minutes of exercise, with cal burned as "1".
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Oh, BTW I lost 1.6 lbs in the past week, so yay!!! Just need to remind myself to stay consistent...10
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SusanMFindlay wrote: »I do something similar to the TDEE method, but I use my FitBit data instead of a calculator. (The calculators don't work for my lifestyle; I have to pretend to be a manual labourer to get the right results.) I just aim for a 500 calorie deficit every day relative to my average TDEE. That's pretty close to a TDEE-20% goal. It works well for me.
Even before I had a fitness tracker, I preferred this general approach. Futzing about with logging exercise and having different goals every day is just a pain in the butt.
Doesn't mean I don't have higher days and lower days. They're just not dictated by that day's exercise (or lack thereof). I only care about weekly/monthly averages.
Yes, I prefer that too. I don't enjoy doing the math everyday of what I can eat and what not based on my exercise. Thanks for your story.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »My numbers work out the same for TDEE or MFP method - as they should - but i prefer having more calories to go at on days i have done lots of exercise.
I started on 1200 cals way back when i first found MFP - lost 12lbs in 12 weeks with 1200 cals and a cheat day once a week. i wasnt doing as strenuous exercise then as i do now, but i'm still not quite sure how i managed it!!!
Nice. Sometimes it is nice to have a little extra if you burned a little extra. What kind of exercise do you do now?
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TDEE is not a method, it is the absolute energy expenditure in a day.
Whether you eat paleo, low fat, in a 500cal deficit, 20% deficit or anything, it is all based off your TDEE.3 -
trigden1991 wrote: »TDEE is not a method, it is the absolute energy expenditure in a day.
Whether you eat paleo, low fat, in a 500cal deficit, 20% deficit or anything, it is all based off your TDEE.
Thank you for your knowledge. I get that TDEE is a culmination of resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and physical activity... I.e. energy expenditure. I'm not trying to debate calorie deficit methods (yes, all those you listed are methods(ways) to get to calorie deficit), I just wanna see what kind of success people have had using their personal TDEE calculation to their advantage, regardless of macronutrient distribution.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »My numbers work out the same for TDEE or MFP method - as they should - but i prefer having more calories to go at on days i have done lots of exercise.
I started on 1200 cals way back when i first found MFP - lost 12lbs in 12 weeks with 1200 cals and a cheat day once a week. i wasnt doing as strenuous exercise then as i do now, but i'm still not quite sure how i managed it!!!
Nice. Sometimes it is nice to have a little extra if you burned a little extra. What kind of exercise do you do now?
at the moment i am half marathon training, so get an extra 700 cals + on long run days
back when i started on MFP, it was just a bit of aerobics, some weights and maybe a little running but not more than 2 miles at a time
ETA, i also follow IIFYM0 -
trigden1991 wrote: »TDEE is not a method, it is the absolute energy expenditure in a day.
Whether you eat paleo, low fat, in a 500cal deficit, 20% deficit or anything, it is all based off your TDEE.
Thank you for your knowledge. I get that TDEE is a culmination of resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and physical activity... I.e. energy expenditure. I'm not trying to debate calorie deficit methods (yes, all those you listed are methods(ways) to get to calorie deficit), I just wanna see what kind of success people have had using their personal TDEE calculation to their advantage, regardless of macronutrient distribution.
I lost my first 30-something pounds without counting calories. Once I started counting calories, I did some of it by using MFP's goal and adding/eating the exercise and some just by taking 20% off of TDEE. As has been stated, it's the same thing in the end. I prefer just lopping calories off of TDEE.0 -
trigden1991 wrote: »TDEE is not a method, it is the absolute energy expenditure in a day.
Whether you eat paleo, low fat, in a 500cal deficit, 20% deficit or anything, it is all based off your TDEE.
Thank you for your knowledge. I get that TDEE is a culmination of resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and physical activity... I.e. energy expenditure. I'm not trying to debate calorie deficit methods (yes, all those you listed are methods(ways) to get to calorie deficit), I just wanna see what kind of success people have had using their personal TDEE calculation to their advantage, regardless of macronutrient distribution.
Anyone that has lost/gained/maintained weight has "taken advantage" of TDEE. I'm struggling to see what you're asking.2 -
trigden1991 wrote: »TDEE is not a method, it is the absolute energy expenditure in a day.
Whether you eat paleo, low fat, in a 500cal deficit, 20% deficit or anything, it is all based off your TDEE.
Thank you for your knowledge. I get that TDEE is a culmination of resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and physical activity... I.e. energy expenditure. I'm not trying to debate calorie deficit methods (yes, all those you listed are methods(ways) to get to calorie deficit), I just wanna see what kind of success people have had using their personal TDEE calculation to their advantage, regardless of macronutrient distribution.
TDEE method has been working great for me (TDEE minus a mild deficit), but macronutrients are important too, particularly consuming adequate protein. And weight lifting has really improved my physique, posture, and overall health.
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Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.1
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courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
You look great!3 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
You look great!
Thank you!0 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
That's so awesome!1 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
That's so awesome!
Can't wait to see your before and afters! You can do it too! Don't forget to take those before photos.
Edit- oh you've been at this for a little while already! Hope you took some at the beginning. Great job so far!0 -
courtneyfabulous wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
That's so awesome!
Can't wait to see your before and afters! You can do it too! Don't forget to take those before photos.
Edit- oh you've been at this for a little while already! Hope you took some at the beginning. Great job so far!
Ha! No I didn't take pics... I tried to avoid the mirror at all costs, let alone take a picture! I have been here for a while and I usually change my starting weight to keep me motivated. In total I lost about 50 lbs, but my profile now says 6. When I saw that big cumulative number, I started to slack. I know I have old regular pictures during vacations and stuff somewhere that I can use for comparison.1 -
lemonychild wrote: »OP u didn't get the gist of @kimny72 comment. She wrote that all the formulas eventually amount to the same number one way or another. For MFP's formula to work properly you need to add exercise calories back that is due to MFP calculating your current maintenance calories and then deducting 500-1000 cals off that based on your desired weight loss, this is how MFP creates the deficit- therefore if you exercise you should eat majority of those cals back ( as not to take a double deficit and go down in cals too much)
TDEE also looks at your maintenance cals and your weekly activity then adds it all up together and then creates a deficit of 15% - 20% off that number. Bottom line is both formulas shave calories off if u want to lose weight and that is the bottom line to all these calculations : eat less move more taaaadaaaa = weight loss
I got the gist thanks: More than 2 ways to skin a cat. I just prefer not to record exercise cals burned, the way MFP wants me to. Its a little too tedious for me. Which is why I do TDEE. I like having a consistent calorie goal so I'm not trying to run around and find an extra 100 (or what ever I burned) calories to eat. I set my calorie goal manually and record minutes of exercise, with cal burned as "1".
So much this!!! It's so much easier to just know I have to hit 1960 calories per day, rather than 1500 today and 2100 tomorrow.
As for results, I don't have super current photos, but I do have this...
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courtneyfabulous wrote: »courtneyfabulous wrote: »Still have a little more body fat to lose but very close to my goal.
That's so awesome!
Can't wait to see your before and afters! You can do it too! Don't forget to take those before photos.
Edit- oh you've been at this for a little while already! Hope you took some at the beginning. Great job so far!
Ha! No I didn't take pics... I tried to avoid the mirror at all costs, let alone take a picture! I have been here for a while and I usually change my starting weight to keep me motivated. In total I lost about 50 lbs, but my profile now says 6. When I saw that big cumulative number, I started to slack. I know I have old regular pictures during vacations and stuff somewhere that I can use for comparison.
Oh wow!! That's awesome!0
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