Calorie deficit...confused
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I put this in a separate post, so ignore it if you want.
TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure and includes all of the above and your intentional exercise. So if I did a regular 500 calorie a day exercise, I would add 500 cals to my neat calculation and be ~3000 cals a day. The n I would deduct what I want to lose (750 cals for 1.5 lbs) and eat 2250 but NOT eat back any exercise calories as I've already got them in my TDEE. Now if you look at TDEE calculators, they will say to eat your TDEE - 20% (or 25%) as the most aggressive loss. I'm not sure why they don't just stick with 500 cals or something relating to pounds lost, and no one has ever explained it to me clearly.
My problem is I don't do 500 cals of exercise per day, or a standard amount per week. I'm not consistent in what I do so TDEE doesn't work for me and MFP will have me eating different amounts every day based on what exercising I've done. If you are consistent week over week, than doing TDEE can make sense. But you then have to turn off tracking, set manual goals and basically force MFP to work how you want it to and not how it was designed.
My suggestion is to get comfortable with how MFP works and then see if TDEE works for you.
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Tacklewasher wrote: »@Charabz69
Are you still confused with how MFP works and how much you should be eating, or do you have more questions? Ignore the sidetrack, but if there is more you need help with, please ask.
I am now totally confused......TDEE?
I will google it!
I use a Myzone HRM which is where I get my 'calories burned' from, I do various types of exercise through the week, running, Spin, Body Attack, CX Works, Weights. I average 600 (I generally do 2 hours exercise, 5 days a week, 1 hour am and 1 hour pm), I realise that the calories burned is generally over-estimated on HRM and so as a rule I only 'eat back' 50%.
My main concern is that at 1200 a day I'm not actually 'fuelling' my body correctly and that is why I asked about the calorie deficit . I guess I need to pay more attention to macros?
Asked above, but will ask again. How much weight (total) are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you select when you set up your MFP profile?1 -
@Tacklewasher Great explanation
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I like TDEE, because I have a consistent workout routine and it works well for me. OP - it's all about personal preference and what you're comfortable with using. TDEE requires a little more 'work', since MFP isn't doing the math for you, but if you do better with patterns and routine, it's worth exploring because you eat the same amount of calories everyday, even on a 'rest day'. It makes meal planning much easier (for me).
Regardless of if you use MFP/NEAT or TDEE, it may take a month or so to really understand what your body is doing with your weight loss, but the cool thing is that if you log accurately and track workouts and weigh-ins consistently (to whatever degree you like), data is fun!1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »@Charabz69
Are you still confused with how MFP works and how much you should be eating, or do you have more questions? Ignore the sidetrack, but if there is more you need help with, please ask.
I am now totally confused......TDEE?
I will google it!
I use a Myzone HRM which is where I get my 'calories burned' from, I do various types of exercise through the week, running, Spin, Body Attack, CX Works, Weights. I average 600 (I generally do 2 hours exercise, 5 days a week, 1 hour am and 1 hour pm), I realise that the calories burned is generally over-estimated on HRM and so as a rule I only 'eat back' 50%.
My main concern is that at 1200 a day I'm not actually 'fuelling' my body correctly and that is why I asked about the calorie deficit . I guess I need to pay more attention to macros?
Asked above, but will ask again. How much weight (total) are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you select when you set up your MFP profile?
I'm down for 1.5lbs a week, I would like to lose about 10lbs. I try to stay away from weighing myself generally and go by measurements and I have always used MFP as a guide, but recently I have been eating far too much rubbish and really just wanted to rein myself in and decided to use MFP properly and I have really confused myself with TDEE/NEAT etc. Although they now all make more sense after all your comments.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it xx1 -
With only 10lb to lose you are better off dropping down your weight loss rate to 0.5-1lb per week and tightening up your logging. Better to lose it and keep it off 1
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tinkerbellang83 wrote: »With only 10lb to lose you are better off dropping down your weight loss rate to 0.5-1lb per week and tightening up your logging. Better to lose it and keep it off
Would that give me more that 1200 per day?0 -
It should really, unless you are particularly slim or short to start with, 0.5lb per week will give you a defict of your NEAT - 250 Calories per day and 1lb per week would be NEAT -500 calories per day. If you're currently set to 1.5lb per week it's your NEAT-750 calories per day (although if your NEAT is quite low it won't get any lower than 1200 calories).1
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From OP's post, it sounds like her workouts are consistent too... thus solidifying, even further, that a TDEE
How is saying " I work out most days, burning about 600+ calories" consistent?!?
Consistent: acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate
Some "most days" and "600+" are statements that show lack of consistency.
Also, we do not know what her exercise is. If she runs a 5K every day, that is consistent. If she does pilates one day, runs the next, walks one day, she is not being consistent.
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WinoGelato wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »@Charabz69
Are you still confused with how MFP works and how much you should be eating, or do you have more questions? Ignore the sidetrack, but if there is more you need help with, please ask.
I am now totally confused......TDEE?
I will google it!
I use a Myzone HRM which is where I get my 'calories burned' from, I do various types of exercise through the week, running, Spin, Body Attack, CX Works, Weights. I average 600 (I generally do 2 hours exercise, 5 days a week, 1 hour am and 1 hour pm), I realise that the calories burned is generally over-estimated on HRM and so as a rule I only 'eat back' 50%.
My main concern is that at 1200 a day I'm not actually 'fuelling' my body correctly and that is why I asked about the calorie deficit . I guess I need to pay more attention to macros?
Asked above, but will ask again. How much weight (total) are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you select when you set up your MFP profile?
I'm down for 1.5lbs a week, I would like to lose about 10lbs. I try to stay away from weighing myself generally and go by measurements and I have always used MFP as a guide, but recently I have been eating far too much rubbish and really just wanted to rein myself in and decided to use MFP properly and I have really confused myself with TDEE/NEAT etc. Although they now all make more sense after all your comments.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it xx
It's easy to get confused and overwhelmed with all the different advice here. If you are only trying to lose 10 lbs, 0.5 lb/week is a more appropriate rate of loss for you. This will give you more calories to begin with, and help ensure that the weight you lose is not so rapid that when you add back in calories you gain it back, it preserves lean body mass, etc. I would readjust for that rate of loss, then log as accurately as possible and eat back at least a portion of those calorie burns from exercise, monitor and adjust after about 6-8 weeks when you should be nearly halfway to your goal.3 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »It should really, unless you are particularly slim or short to start with, 0.5lb per week will give you a defict of your NEAT - 250 Calories per day and 1lb per week would be NEAT -500 calories per day. If you're currently set to 1.5lb per week it's your NEAT-750 calories per day (although if your NEAT is quite low it won't get any lower than 1200 calories).
I'm 5ft 3" and small frame!0 -
From OP's post, it sounds like her workouts are consistent too... thus solidifying, even further, that a TDEE
How is saying " I work out most days, burning about 600+ calories" consistent?!?
Consistent: acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate
Some "most days" and "600+" are statements that show lack of consistency.
Also, we do not know what her exercise is. If she runs a 5K every day, that is consistent. If she does pilates one day, runs the next, walks one day, she is not being consistent.
My work outs are consistent week to week as I do the same classes every week. Some days my HRM is showing over 1000 calories burned (I run a 10K on a Tuesday + a class in the morning). 0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »@Charabz69
Are you still confused with how MFP works and how much you should be eating, or do you have more questions? Ignore the sidetrack, but if there is more you need help with, please ask.
I am now totally confused......TDEE?
I will google it!
I use a Myzone HRM which is where I get my 'calories burned' from, I do various types of exercise through the week, running, Spin, Body Attack, CX Works, Weights. I average 600 (I generally do 2 hours exercise, 5 days a week, 1 hour am and 1 hour pm), I realise that the calories burned is generally over-estimated on HRM and so as a rule I only 'eat back' 50%.
My main concern is that at 1200 a day I'm not actually 'fuelling' my body correctly and that is why I asked about the calorie deficit . I guess I need to pay more attention to macros?
Asked above, but will ask again. How much weight (total) are you trying to lose? What rate of loss did you select when you set up your MFP profile?
I'm down for 1.5lbs a week, I would like to lose about 10lbs. I try to stay away from weighing myself generally and go by measurements and I have always used MFP as a guide, but recently I have been eating far too much rubbish and really just wanted to rein myself in and decided to use MFP properly and I have really confused myself with TDEE/NEAT etc. Although they now all make more sense after all your comments.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it xx
It's easy to get confused and overwhelmed with all the different advice here. If you are only trying to lose 10 lbs, 0.5 lb/week is a more appropriate rate of loss for you. This will give you more calories to begin with, and help ensure that the weight you lose is not so rapid that when you add back in calories you gain it back, it preserves lean body mass, etc. I would readjust for that rate of loss, then log as accurately as possible and eat back at least a portion of those calorie burns from exercise, monitor and adjust after about 6-8 weeks when you should be nearly halfway to your goal.
Thank you for that I will go and change it to 0.5lbs. I appreciate your help. x1 -
From OP's post, it sounds like her workouts are consistent too... thus solidifying, even further, that a TDEE
How is saying " I work out most days, burning about 600+ calories" consistent?!?
Consistent: acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate
Some "most days" and "600+" are statements that show lack of consistency.
Also, we do not know what her exercise is. If she runs a 5K every day, that is consistent. If she does pilates one day, runs the next, walks one day, she is not being consistent.
My work outs are consistent week to week as I do the same classes every week. Some days my HRM is showing over 1000 calories burned (I run a 10K on a Tuesday + a class in the morning).
Do you run a 10k everyday? Because if not your workouts aren't consistent every day. You would need to be burning roughly the same amount daily to benefit from using the TDEE method. Personally, I would just stick to MFP's NEAT method for now and monitor it for a month, now that you've changed your settings to 0.5lb per week, eating either all of your calories back or a fixed percentage of them and reviewing at the end of the month to see if you're losing at the expected rate and adjust accordingly.2 -
Another thing to think about is what you are eating and why you are still hungry -- when you add the exercise calories back in. Some people seem to do better on high fat / high protein and low carb / sugar in terms of satiety.
See this website for a list: http://paleoiq.com/best-paleo-diet-blogs/ for ideas.
It took several months of tweaking before I finally found my "sweet spot" in terms of balance between carbs and protein and (since January I have lost about 30 pounds). And... I am only complaint calorie wise about 75% - 80% of the time. I have some health issues and can't really exercise. Despite this and being tied to a desk all day, I have lost and continue to lose weight. For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:- I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
- My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
- By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.
Just a thought...1 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
From OP's post, it sounds like her workouts are consistent too... thus solidifying, even further, that a TDEE
How is saying " I work out most days, burning about 600+ calories" consistent?!?
Consistent: acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate
Some "most days" and "600+" are statements that show lack of consistency.
Also, we do not know what her exercise is. If she runs a 5K every day, that is consistent. If she does pilates one day, runs the next, walks one day, she is not being consistent.
My work outs are consistent week to week as I do the same classes every week. Some days my HRM is showing over 1000 calories burned (I run a 10K on a Tuesday + a class in the morning).
Do you run a 10k everyday? Because if not your workouts aren't consistent every day. You would need to be burning roughly the same amount daily to benefit from using the TDEE method. Personally, I would just stick to MFP's NEAT method for now and monitor it for a month, now that you've changed your settings to 0.5lb per week, eating either all of your calories back or a fixed percentage of them and reviewing at the end of the month to see if you're losing at the expected rate and adjust accordingly.
No, I only run 10K on a Tuesday (I'm in a running club) x0 -
Agree on going down to 0.5 lbs per week, maybe 1 at most.
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