Down eight pounds in seven weeks. Sharing my TDEE spreadsheet.

DevilsFan1
DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
edited February 2018 in Success Stories
47M/5'10"/SW 189, CW 181, GW 170.

Thought I'd share a TDEE spreadsheet that I've been using to help lose weight. This is from the Reddit r/fitness sub. Blank sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s4KKCbmkvMwfk5eL_HjOanjVXdzwTMHSiIRU6vz1a10/edit?usp=sharing

You use this to track your weight and caloric intake daily. At the end of the week, the sheet will calculate your average weight and average daily caloric intake and will update your TDEE accordingly. After a few weeks, you will know approximately what your TDEE is and how many calories you can eat per day to hit your weight loss (or gain) target.

Here's my current spreadsheet for reference: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CrXUFlLqmzKJGrAuX2FEyglYPR_sNEy9gVB6uFo9EJw/edit?usp=sharing

Hope this helps someone out there. Happy losing!

* EDIT : You don't need edit permission to access the sheet. Simply save/download a copy to start editing your own.
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Replies

  • doctrk
    doctrk Posts: 27 Member
    Pretty cool tool.
    Thanks. Think I'll give it a try.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Great job :smile:
  • kcmsmith0405
    kcmsmith0405 Posts: 259 Member
    Wow - love this! Going to have to try it - thank you for sharing!
  • 25agirard
    25agirard Posts: 51 Member
    Thanks so much!! This is terrific! I had a months worth of data that I inputed --but before I didn't know how to calculate the TDEE so I was just using it as a reference-- i believe this is much better!
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    Hi
    Thanks for sharing! I just started playing with it and it looks really high. Is there a place to put in gender. activity and age or does it calculate on weight and history as you build it? Thanks
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    edited February 2018
    solieco1 wrote: »
    Hi
    Thanks for sharing! I just started playing with it and it looks really high. Is there a place to put in gender. activity and age or does it calculate on weight and history as you build it? Thanks

    It calculates solely from your weight and your caloric intake. You don't need to account for exercise calories (or anything else) with this method as long as you are accurate in your caloric intake. You do need to give it three weeks or so to become accurate.
  • skinnyjingbb
    skinnyjingbb Posts: 127 Member
    Your TDEE went up when weight went down, is that because you increased exercise?
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    edited February 2018
    Your TDEE went up when weight went down, is that because you increased exercise?

    The first few weeks are relatively inaccurate as the tool starts with an estimate and as water weight comes off. After a month or so the numbers get dialed in. I do exercise six days a week though, mostly strength training and some HIIT/LISS cardio, but it varies from week to week.

    The important thing is that it will give you an informed estimate of your TDEE. You can see that my goal has been 1 pound loss per week, and I am almost exactly at that (1.1). It's just another tool in your arsenal.
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    Also, my logging isn't always entirely accurate. I always round my calories up to the nearest 100 at the end of the day. That's going to throw the calculations off a bit from time to time.
  • dayzeyblue
    dayzeyblue Posts: 15 Member
    Hi, I want to try this spreadsheet, looks great...tho I do have a question.
    Some of your formulas are pulling from cells not shown on spreadsheet for example: =IF(AP12="","",IF(L12="","",AO12))
    What is in the Cells for AO and AP...etc for calculations?
  • megs_1985
    megs_1985 Posts: 199 Member
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    dayzeyblue wrote: »
    Hi, I want to try this spreadsheet, looks great...tho I do have a question.
    Some of your formulas are pulling from cells not shown on spreadsheet for example: =IF(AP12="","",IF(L12="","",AO12))
    What is in the Cells for AO and AP...etc for calculations?

    First, it's not my spreadsheet. It was made by a Reddit user on /r/fitness named nSuns. The original is at https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_step_1.3A_fixing_your_diet

    If you want to dig into the guts of the calculations, you can expand the hidden columns by selecting the arrow on the X column near the top of the spreadsheet.

  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    edited February 2018
    megs_1985 wrote: »
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.

    Your TDEE depends on your weight, age, gender and activity level. It is the total energy you expend in a day. It doesn't depend on your caloric intake. Your caloric intake determines your rate of weight change depending on your given TDEE. The sheet will calculate your TDEE but you need to be accurate and consistent in logging and weighing yourself.

    Can you share your sheet and I'll take a look? PM me if you don't want to post it.
  • marthamayhemmfp
    marthamayhemmfp Posts: 22 Member
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    megs_1985 wrote: »
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.

    Your TDEE depends on your weight, age, gender and activity level. It is the total energy you expend in a day. It doesn't depend on your caloric intake. Your caloric intake determines your rate of weight change depending on your given TDEE. The sheet will calculate your TDEE but you need to be accurate and consistent in logging and weighing yourself.

    Can you share your sheet and I'll take a look? PM me if you don't want to post it.

    I have the same problem. I entered in almost a year's worth of data, and the sheet says my TDEE is 1585 calories :/
    That doesn't seem likely. I'm a ridiculously accurate logger of both my weight and my food. I average 30k steps a day. Would you help me too, please? I PM'd you my sheet.
  • marthamayhemmfp
    marthamayhemmfp Posts: 22 Member
    edited February 2018
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    megs_1985 wrote: »
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.

    Your TDEE depends on your weight, age, gender and activity level. It is the total energy you expend in a day. It doesn't depend on your caloric intake. Your caloric intake determines your rate of weight change depending on your given TDEE. The sheet will calculate your TDEE but you need to be accurate and consistent in logging and weighing yourself.

    Can you share your sheet and I'll take a look? PM me if you don't want to post it.

    I have the same problem. I entered in almost a year's worth of data, and the sheet says my TDEE is 1585 calories :/
    That doesn't seem likely. I'm a ridiculously accurate logger of both my weight and my food. I average 30k steps a day. Would you help me too, please? I PM'd you my sheet.

    Just to save anyone who might see this, if you already track your food, weight, and activity here or on another website or app, this spreadsheet has nothing new to offer. After I entered a year's worth of data, the sheet computed my TDEE to be 1585 calories. It does not factor in activity levels at all. I take 30k+ steps a day, so I'm very active. I was hoping that the spreadsheet would see my past activity level (based on weight and calories eaten) and give me a *PERSONALIZED* TDEE needed to maintain for my weight. I get the same calculated number just using MFP or any other calculator, without the extra work of entering in data. :/
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    megs_1985 wrote: »
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.

    Your TDEE depends on your weight, age, gender and activity level. It is the total energy you expend in a day. It doesn't depend on your caloric intake. Your caloric intake determines your rate of weight change depending on your given TDEE. The sheet will calculate your TDEE but you need to be accurate and consistent in logging and weighing yourself.

    Can you share your sheet and I'll take a look? PM me if you don't want to post it.

    I have the same problem. I entered in almost a year's worth of data, and the sheet says my TDEE is 1585 calories :/
    That doesn't seem likely. I'm a ridiculously accurate logger of both my weight and my food. I average 30k steps a day. Would you help me too, please? I PM'd you my sheet.

    Just to save anyone who might see this, if you already track your food, weight, and activity here or on another website or app, this spreadsheet has nothing new to offer. After I entered a year's worth of data, the sheet computed my TDEE to be 1585 calories. It does not factor in activity levels at all. I take 30k+ steps a day, so I'm very active. I was hoping that the spreadsheet would see my past activity level (based on weight and calories eaten) and give me a *PERSONALIZED* TDEE needed to maintain for my weight. I get the same calculated number just using MFP or any other calculator, without the extra work of entering in data. :/

    That isn't true. Perhaps it didn't give you the number you were expecting, but this does take activity into account because it uses nothing other than weight and calorie intake to determine your TDEE. If you search through the Reddit r/fitness sub you'll find hundreds of people who have used this sheet to track their weight and determine TDEE. You may choose to use it or not but please don't spread misinformation.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    It seems more useful retrospectively than prospectively, but perhaps I don't understand it quite yet.
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    The sheet uses the data you input to calculate your current TDEE. Using this, it reports the recommend daily caloric intake to lose weight at your desired rate. It's simply a tracking tool like anything else.
  • runningforthetrain
    runningforthetrain Posts: 1,037 Member
    Thank you for sharing this. I think it can be very helpful.
  • marthamayhemmfp
    marthamayhemmfp Posts: 22 Member
    edited February 2018
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    megs_1985 wrote: »
    I use this too though since I’m already eating a deficit it shows my TDEE being really low. (Kind of an average of my caloric intake). So then it shows to subtract 500 to lose a lb a week but that would put me at 1000 calories/day. So though I like the idea of it it seems to be off in calculating TDEE if your already at a deficit. Or maybe I’m just not understanding it.

    Your TDEE depends on your weight, age, gender and activity level. It is the total energy you expend in a day. It doesn't depend on your caloric intake. Your caloric intake determines your rate of weight change depending on your given TDEE. The sheet will calculate your TDEE but you need to be accurate and consistent in logging and weighing yourself.

    Can you share your sheet and I'll take a look? PM me if you don't want to post it.

    I have the same problem. I entered in almost a year's worth of data, and the sheet says my TDEE is 1585 calories :/
    That doesn't seem likely. I'm a ridiculously accurate logger of both my weight and my food. I average 30k steps a day. Would you help me too, please? I PM'd you my sheet.

    Just to save anyone who might see this, if you already track your food, weight, and activity here or on another website or app, this spreadsheet has nothing new to offer. After I entered a year's worth of data, the sheet computed my TDEE to be 1585 calories. It does not factor in activity levels at all. I take 30k+ steps a day, so I'm very active. I was hoping that the spreadsheet would see my past activity level (based on weight and calories eaten) and give me a *PERSONALIZED* TDEE needed to maintain for my weight. I get the same calculated number just using MFP or any other calculator, without the extra work of entering in data. :/

    That isn't true. Perhaps it didn't give you the number you were expecting, but this does take activity into account because it uses nothing other than weight and calorie intake to determine your TDEE. If you search through the Reddit r/fitness sub you'll find hundreds of people who have used this sheet to track their weight and determine TDEE. You may choose to use it or not but please don't spread misinformation.

    Interesting. I'll search what others say about it. I remain skeptical for now though. There's no way maintenance at 30k+ steps a day is 1585 calories. I wonder what about my numbers threw off the calculations.
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