Going Over Calories

As you saw, the different TDEE calculators use different methods and come up with different numbers -- not radically different but different. I used to use several and average them. Now I just use one. In any event, all of them are just estimates.

Arguably, you will gain weight if you consume more calories than you expend. The trick is knowing how much you expend. TDEE is a best guess of that but it's a guess for the "average person" with your stats. Only you can figure out a closer estimate and you can only determine that by trial and error. Of course, since you do not have the same daily experiences, day in day out, you can't determine a precise TDEE because it varies with the variance of your daily life.

If you consistently "go over" your TDEE, whatever that is, you will gain weight. If you consistently eat less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. If you consistently and on average eat the same as your average TDEE, which we can't really know precisely, you will neither gain nor lose weight.

So, go up a hundred calories. If you find over the course of a few weeks that you have gained weight, you have your answer.

Nysportsred wrote: »

I try to stick to a 2000 calorie a day limit. How do I find out how many calories I can go over without gaining weight? I have checked on different sites calculators, but each of them are so far apart in what they come up with.

It depends on your height and weight.
You chose to give us 0 info on anything and you expect an answer

Stick to what mfp recommends and depending on exercise calories you may have a little leg room to eat back a little of those exercise calories

MFP has a chart of your last 7 days of calories. It gives you an average of how many calories you are over or under based on your daily calorie goal. I use this info to see how many calories I can eat the following day to hit my goal more or less. It really works well and it prompts me to automatically cut back the day after I've gone over the calorie limit.

Nysportsred wrote: »

I put in to lose .5 pounds a week which gives me 2000 calories. If I go to maintenance (lose 0 pounds a week) it says I am allowed 2110 calories daily. The 110 extra is way below what any of the calculator sites said. Is the MFP more accurate? I know MYF is usually off a lot when it gives me my workout calories and I have to lower it, but I'm not sure how accurate it is here.

I am 34, 5'10, 183lbs.

I am 5'10", 180 lbs and train 3-5 days per week. My maintenance calories are around 2600 calories, give or take.

So with no exercise 2110 sounds reasonable...

Have you been losing half a pound a week on 2000cals consistently? If so your TDEE will be 2250, it's very strange it only gave you 2110 unless you changed your activity level or some other stat compared to when you first put in the deficit.

animatorswearbras wrote: »

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html I think this ones pretty good (at least I think it matches my TDEE quite well) and I'm sure must use a similar formula to MFP which also seems to be fairly close to my true TDEE.

That's fairly on point.

Nysportsred wrote: »

I didn't change activity or anything. Just the amount per week. On .5 lbs a week I go between 181-183 a lot.

If you are hovering up and down between 181 - 183 without any consistent losses (over how long?) then you probably are already on maintenance at your current intake. How accurate is your logging (food, drink and exercise)

Edit: I will add though my maintenance is 2000 because of my level of activity (which is somewhere between light and moderate taking into account my exercise) and I'm 5'5" same age and 136 so it does sound quite low for a taller heavier dude.

AliceDark wrote: »

Any site or calculator is going to give you an estimate, which you'd then need to adjust based on your observed results. Or, you can use the observed results that you already have to figure out something specific for you.

Over the last 4-6 weeks, what is your average weekly intake, and what has your weight been doing? Every pound gained or lost is roughly equivalent to 3500 calories, so if you've been steadily losing 0.5 pounds, for example, add 1750 calories to your weekly intake (or 250 calories to your daily intake) to get your maintenance.

Ding ding ding: We have a winner!

This is the correct answer.

Calculators provide estimates based in research studies of large numbers of people. The calculators give you the average from the studies. Most of us are close to average (in statistical terms, the standard deviation is small). But a few of us may be up to several hundred calories per day different from average, in either direction.

The calculators are just a starting point. Your own results give you the best estimate, but it takes 6 weeks or so of decent tracking to achieve that.

Source: https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/