Tdee calculater and mfp estimated calories
Hannahjane123456
Posts: 116 Member
Why are tdee calculaters so high compared to mfp. I've put my details into ifym tdee calculater and it's saying I should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight at a 25 percent weight loss and on mfp it's a lot less.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
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Replies
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because a TDEE calculator includes exercise, and MFP doesn't.7
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Hannahjane123456 wrote: »Why are tdee calculaters so high compared to mfp. I've put my details into ifym tdee calculater and it's saying I should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight at a 25 percent weight loss and on mfp it's a lot less.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
you don't have enough weight to lose to do 25% cut from your TDEE, you want 10-15%, just like if you were using MFP you would go for 0.5lb per week loss.4 -
Agree with Tavistock, 10-15% deficit would be more ideal for you.1
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TavistockToad wrote: »Hannahjane123456 wrote: »Why are tdee calculaters so high compared to mfp. I've put my details into ifym tdee calculater and it's saying I should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight at a 25 percent weight loss and on mfp it's a lot less.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
you don't have enough weight to lose to do 25% cut from your TDEE, you want 10-15%, just like if you were using MFP you would go for 0.5lb per week loss.
Would I still lose half a pound a week though on so many calories? It just seems a lot.
Thank you0 -
1800 isn't alot when you're active despite being petite and a low weight. I'm slightly taller and if I ate only 1800 I'd be losing. I'm not as active as you either. Try it for a few weeks and see but 0.5lb loss a week is likely.2
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Hannahjane123456 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »Hannahjane123456 wrote: »Why are tdee calculaters so high compared to mfp. I've put my details into ifym tdee calculater and it's saying I should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight at a 25 percent weight loss and on mfp it's a lot less.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
you don't have enough weight to lose to do 25% cut from your TDEE, you want 10-15%, just like if you were using MFP you would go for 0.5lb per week loss.
Would I still lose half a pound a week though on so many calories? It just seems a lot.
Thank you
It's a lot for one meal - not a lot for a day with all that exercise!
Apart from the different ways of accounting for exercise MFP asks you to select a rate of loss not a percentage.
You are too petite with too little weight to lose to lose quickly - context matters, there's plenty of people on this site more than double your weight remember so one rate of loss doesn't suit everyone.
Both methods works - choose the method that suits you best, if you prefer a same every day goal which includes an average amount of exercise calories do the TDEE method. If you prefer a variable daily amount in line with that day's exercise expenditure choose the MFP goal + exercise calories method.
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Thank you for all your replies
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To be specific: MFP uses the M. st J. formula, which was developed by (accurately) measuring a cohort of men and women's resting metabolic rate (RMR) and then using a linear regression model to fit to age, weight, height for men and women, analyzed separately. (One issue being the assumption of a binary gender model.)
The activity level adjustment just takes the RMR number and multiplies it by an activity factor ranging from 1.20 to 2, truing to estimate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
You can either put in the minimum (sedentary) value, then use MFP to estimate added calories for working out, or you can try to estimate your average TDEE and stick to that every day. In the end, you'll only know for sure that it is working by watching what happens to your weight.
It sounds sketchy, but it all works pretty well. Here's a description of the M. st J. formula:
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html4 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »To be specific: MFP uses the M. st J. formula, which was developed by (accurately) measuring a cohort of men and women's resting metabolic rate (RMR) and then using a linear regression model to fit to age, weight, height for men and women, analyzed separately. (One issue being the assumption of a binary gender model.)
The activity level adjustment just takes the RMR number and multiplies it by an activity factor ranging from 1.20 to 2, truing to estimate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
You can either put in the minimum (sedentary) value, then use MFP to estimate added calories for working out, or you can try to estimate your average TDEE and stick to that every day. In the end, you'll only know for sure that it is working by watching what happens to your weight.
It sounds sketchy, but it all works pretty well. Here's a description of the M. st J. formula:
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
@Jthanmyfitnesspal
Remember MFP doesn't estimate TDEE.
Also remember eating back exercise calories isn't limited to sedentary people as you seem to suggest.2 -
@sijomial : I'm not sure I get your point. By adjusting the activity level in the MFP settings you estimate your TDEE. Whatever you select for your base activity setting, you can add additional for exercise. I think we're saying the same thing.
(For those who don't know, TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure: your average daily calorie requirement, including all activities. Some people choose to pick a fixed daily number and stick to it, rather than account for "exercise calories" on certain days.)1 -
@JthanmyfitnesspalJthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »@sijomial : I'm not sure I get your point. By adjusting the activity level in the MFP settings you estimate your TDEE. Whatever you select for your base activity setting, you can add additional for exercise. I think we're saying the same thing.
(For those who don't know, TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure: your average daily calorie requirement, including all activities. Some people choose to pick a fixed daily number and stick to it, rather than account for "exercise calories" on certain days.)
Exercise is part of someone's TDEE and exercise is not part of MFP activity settings, it's specifically excluded.
Your statement "By adjusting the activity level in the MFP settings you estimate your TDEE" would be true ONLY if someone does no exercise at all.
If you go to a TDEE calculator site their activity settings include both lifestyle and exercise - it's a different way of accounting for exercise (averaged v. variable).6 -
@sijomial: Most sites are using exactly the same M. St. J. formula as MFP, regardless of whether they label their estimate "TDEE" or not. My comment stands that you can use the MFP setting to estimate your TDEE. You can also compare it to any number of other estimates from various web sites or clinics.
But: I found the MFP estimates to work pretty well. I select "sedentary" then add additional calories for activities. It doesn't mean that I'm actually sedentary, but it does give the most conservative estimate of daily needs. I lost weight predictably and now have been on maintenance for many months.
The bottom line is that, when you get it right, your weight will do what you expect. If it's not working even with good logging, then you need to adjust your plan.
(Now, go ahead and have the last word, if you like.)3 -
MFP uses NEAT as it's way of calculating calories. I think what @Jthanmyfitnesspal is suggesting is not using MFP as designed, but using the activity level setting to estimate both your activity and exercise calories by increasing the activity level over to include both, and therefore giving you your TDEE estimate.
Not how MFP is designed to work but also seems a perfectly reasonable way to use it, assuming fairly consistent exercise levels. As always, adjust as needed once you see what your weight loss is.2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »MFP uses NEAT as it's way of calculating calories. I think what @Jthanmyfitnesspal is suggesting is not using MFP as designed, but using the activity level setting to estimate both your activity and exercise calories by increasing the activity level over to include both, and therefore giving you your TDEE estimate.
Not how MFP is designed to work but also seems a perfectly reasonable way to use it, assuming fairly consistent exercise levels. As always, adjust as needed once you see what your weight loss is.
@Tacklewasher
If that's what they are suggesting then they should do it far more clearly!
Have my doubts though as my points were very, very simple:
TDEE has one meaning, just the one.
Suggesting someone select sedentary without any attempt to determine their actual activity level doesn't fill me with confidence they have thought it through.
TDEE is of course a valid method but the sensible way to use it is use a TDEE site to estimate the number, so that it uses the correct multipliers (combined exercise and activity multipliers, which are different and higher compared to the multipliers MFP uses..) and simply manually set that as a goal.
Using a tool in a way it's not designed to be used is a choice, but it has drawbacks.4 -
Hannahjane123456 wrote: »Why are tdee calculaters so high compared to mfp. I've put my details into ifym tdee calculater and it's saying I should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight at a 25 percent weight loss and on mfp it's a lot less.
My stats are 4 foot 11 and 110 pounds, in 27 and I'm lifting weights heavy weights 6 days a week for 1 hour and doing hiit 5x a week and I'm doing bike for a hour a day. So i should be eating 1800 calories then to lose weight at this rate? I read a thread on here saying to lose belly fat follow the ifym calculater on tdee and take 20 percent from the number you get.
Because MFP uses the NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) method and not the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) method. With MFP, you don't include exercise in your overall activity level...you log exercise and earn additional calories to eat back to account for that activity. A TDEE calculator includes exercise given that it is Total Energy Expenditure...thus calories to account for that activity are included up front in your calorie target.
Also, a lot of people don't do an apples to apples comparison when looking at MFP vs TDEE...typically they will pick something like 2 Lbs per week with MFP...most TDEE calculators will recommend a 15% cut from TDEE which is typically less than 2 Lbs per week and usually closer to 1 Lb per week...thus more calories in your target with a TDEE calculator.
ETA: 1800 calories isn't really a lot if you're very active...though I would recommend ensuring you put your stats in correctly...when I put your stats into the Scooby calculator and went with 5-6 hrs strenuous exercise per week I get 1,653 calories with a 25% cut (aggressive). I get 1821 if I put 7-21 hours strenous exercise...personally I'd error on the side of being a big more conservative than 7-21 hours...that's a pretty big gap. Also, given that you're already pretty small at 110, I wouldn't do as aggressive a cut...15% at the most.2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »MFP uses NEAT as it's way of calculating calories. I think what @Jthanmyfitnesspal is suggesting is not using MFP as designed, but using the activity level setting to estimate both your activity and exercise calories by increasing the activity level over to include both, and therefore giving you your TDEE estimate.
Not how MFP is designed to work but also seems a perfectly reasonable way to use it, assuming fairly consistent exercise levels. As always, adjust as needed once you see what your weight loss is.
MFP "is designed" to be used either way according to user preference. While somewhat less popular, there have been tons of posts from people who have taken a "TDEE" approach, which just means you select a daily calorie goal and stick to it. (I think using the term "TDEE" makes it sound more complicated than it is.) Or you can select a baseline calorie goal and add in for workouts. (Calling that "NEAT" is a jargon-y way of saying the same thing).
Estimating TDEE is somewhat difficult, particularly for active people. The BMR estimates provided by the MstJ formula are pretty good. (BMR being the number of calories you'd burn lying in bed all day.) Adding in for your activity level is a bit of a guess, and in the end, they are just increasing the BMR by a percentage. I point out that assigning calories for exercise is always somewhat of a guess. Even the activity trackers seem rather inaccurate, in my experience.
But, don't fret, even though these numbers are all estimates, the process usually works! You will certainly find out quickly just by monitoring your weight trend!4 -
I like how mfp calculates ur calories without extra activity accounted for because u can then choose to add those calories or not.2
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MFP activity factors are 1.25, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 and different than the ones used by tdee calculators because deliberate exercise is expected to be added on top.
Also, as someone mentioned, people tend to choose too high of a rate of loss on MFP.
While 25% deficits may be ok for people with the fat stores associated with an obese+ classification, people closer to overweight or normal weight may do better on 10% to 20% deficits.
Of course with smaller deficits monitoring weight level changes using a trending weight app becomes necessary given how many people misinterpret day to day water weight variation for underlying weight level changes.
For the op a deficit in the sub 20% range sounds appropriate. If tdee is sub 2k then the MFP setting would be between 0.25 and 0.5 lbs a week, which probanly means a custom goal or on the fly mental adjustments between selected and real goals.4 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »But: I found the MFP estimates to work pretty well. I select "sedentary" then add additional calories for activities. It doesn't mean that I'm actually sedentary, but it does give the most conservative estimate of daily needs. I lost weight predictably and now have been on maintenance for many months.
The bottom line is that, when you get it right, your weight will do what you expect. If it's not working even with good logging, then you need to adjust your plan.
This has been my practice and experience as well.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »MFP uses NEAT as it's way of calculating calories. I think what @Jthanmyfitnesspal is suggesting is not using MFP as designed, but using the activity level setting to estimate both your activity and exercise calories by increasing the activity level over to include both, and therefore giving you your TDEE estimate.
Not how MFP is designed to work but also seems a perfectly reasonable way to use it, assuming fairly consistent exercise levels. As always, adjust as needed once you see what your weight loss is.
MFP "is designed" to be used either way according to user preference. While somewhat less popular, there have been tons of posts from people who have taken a "TDEE" approach, which just means you select a daily calorie goal and stick to it. (I think using the term "TDEE" makes it sound more complicated than it is.) Or you can select a baseline calorie goal and add in for workouts. (Calling that "NEAT" is a jargon-y way of saying the same thing).
Agreed3
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