TDEE and defecit question

halmsafit
halmsafit Posts: 47 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
I have calculated my BMR, TDEE and subtracted 500 calories to get to a defecit. However If I eat that much then workout and burn example 400 calories.. do I eat those back? Since then I'd only have gotten 1200 calories. I just don't understand what to do!

Replies

  • MossiO
    MossiO Posts: 164 Member
    Yes, or maybe just half of the exercise calories since it's very easy to overestimate calories burned. MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories back--you just need to make sure it's an accurate count as much as possible.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    No, not if you actually have calculated your TDEE. TDEE includes exercise calories. How did you find that number? If you got it from MFP, it's not your TDEE. MFP calculates NEAT, which does not include exercise calories. So if you're using a number from MFP, you eat your exercise calories back. But if you got a TDEE number from some other calculator, you don't eat your exercise calories back.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    If you are using MFP, yes. If you are using TDEE Method, your exercise is factored in. So, no.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    halmsafit wrote: »
    I have calculated my BMR, TDEE and subtracted 500 calories to get to a defecit. However If I eat that much then workout and burn example 400 calories.. do I eat those back? Since then I'd only have gotten 1200 calories. I just don't understand what to do!

    Your TDEE is only 1700?? Doesn't sound right. What are your stats?
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    mmapags wrote: »
    halmsafit wrote: »
    I have calculated my BMR, TDEE and subtracted 500 calories to get to a defecit. However If I eat that much then workout and burn example 400 calories.. do I eat those back? Since then I'd only have gotten 1200 calories. I just don't understand what to do!

    Your TDEE is only 1700?? Doesn't sound right. What are your stats?

    I think what OP is saying that after exercise, she's netting 1200 calories. Which would mean that her TDEE (if what she calculated really was her TDEE) was 2100 (1200 + the 400 exercise calories + the 500 calories she subtracted to get her daily calorie goal = 2100).
  • halmsafit
    halmsafit Posts: 47 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    halmsafit wrote: »
    I have calculated my BMR, TDEE and subtracted 500 calories to get to a defecit. However If I eat that much then workout and burn example 400 calories.. do I eat those back? Since then I'd only have gotten 1200 calories. I just don't understand what to do!

    Your TDEE is only 1700?? Doesn't sound right. What are your stats?

    I think what OP is saying that after exercise, she's netting 1200 calories. Which would mean that her TDEE (if what she calculated really was her TDEE) was 2100 (1200 + the 400 exercise calories + the 500 calories she subtracted to get her daily calorie goal = 2100).

    YES this is what I meant! So I'm not sure if I eat the 400 calories back?
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    halmsafit wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    halmsafit wrote: »
    I have calculated my BMR, TDEE and subtracted 500 calories to get to a defecit. However If I eat that much then workout and burn example 400 calories.. do I eat those back? Since then I'd only have gotten 1200 calories. I just don't understand what to do!

    Your TDEE is only 1700?? Doesn't sound right. What are your stats?

    I think what OP is saying that after exercise, she's netting 1200 calories. Which would mean that her TDEE (if what she calculated really was her TDEE) was 2100 (1200 + the 400 exercise calories + the 500 calories she subtracted to get her daily calorie goal = 2100).

    YES this is what I meant! So I'm not sure if I eat the 400 calories back?

    First you need to tell us where you got the number you're calling your TDEE. If it really is your TDEE from some other site, no, don't eat exercise calories back. If it's the number you got on this site (MFP), it's not your TDEE, it doesn't include exercise calories, and you should eat at least some of your exercise calories back.
  • halmsafit
    halmsafit Posts: 47 Member
    I got the tdee from the katie hearn website. It has an equation. I also just googled how to find my bmr and tdee.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    halmsafit wrote: »
    I got the tdee from the katie hearn website. It has an equation. I also just googled how to find my bmr and tdee.

    If you calculated your TDEE, and you were accurate in your exercise levels when you did that (AKA, you didn't say you were sedentary when you actually work out X days a week), then no, you do not eat those back. TDEE is different from the method MFP uses to calculate your goals. So just ignore those exercise calories if *and only if* you are using TDEE instead.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    Then it sounds like it's your TDEE and you shouldn't eat back your exercise calories.

    Is there some reason why you don't want to just use the MFP site/app as it's designed, by letting it calculate your NEAT and eating back your exercise calories? I'm not saying the other approach isn't perfectly valid, but since doing something different has left you confused (and vulnerable to getting bad advice from other users who don't know that you're not using it as intended), maybe you should wait to try to customize the system until you have a better understanding of how it's supposed to work when you're using it in the way that's intended?
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