Is a daily calorie goal....

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butterfly_2019
butterfly_2019 Posts: 44 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just your TDEE minus a percentage (15%, 20% etc) which in turn puts you in a deficit?

MFP tells me if I want to maintain my weight with lightly active lifestyle then I’d have a goal of 1980 - is that my TDEE?

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  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited May 2019
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    if i am not mistaken TDEE INCLUDES estimated exercise.

    MFP does NOT include purposeful exercise. So you would need to add your purposeful exercise to the 1980 given by MFP.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    MFP uses the NEAT formula, which stands for "Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis". Basically NEAT takes into account your activity level from regular daily activity that is not deliberate exercise, but deliberate exercise is separate. TDEE takes into account your exercise. So they are different formulas. If you are using MFP to generate your calorie goal, you should eat back the calories you burn from exercise in addition to it.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    Panini911 wrote: »
    if i am not mistaken TDEE INCLUDES estimated exercise.

    MFP does NOT include purposeful exercise. So you would need to add your purposeful exercise to the 1980 given by MFF.

    Correct.
  • butterfly_2019
    butterfly_2019 Posts: 44 Member
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    Oh haha! So even though I selected Lightly Active (I walk approx 12k steps per day but have a desk job) and to maintain, the 1980 is NOT including say my weight sessions or my cardio workouts that I might do?

    I’ve disconnected my fitbit from MFP and just wanted to work out my TDEE then minus say 20% to give me a calorie goal bjt now I think I’ve confused myself
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    butterfly_2019 wrote: »
    Oh haha! So even though I selected Lightly Active (I walk approx 12k steps per day but have a desk job) and to maintain, the 1980 is NOT including say my weight sessions or my cardio workouts that I might do?

    I’ve disconnected my fitbit from MFP and just wanted to work out my TDEE then minus say 20% to give me a calorie goal bjt now I think I’ve confused myself

    Well if you walk 12k steps a day (outside of cardio session), then you are most likely active rather than lightly active. But yes, it is separate from your weight workout and cardio sessions. How often do you exercise a week?
  • butterfly_2019
    butterfly_2019 Posts: 44 Member
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    I’ve been doing weights 4x a week and cardio workout 1-2 a week.....

    I do school run then walk to work which is 45mins then 30mins walk home after work!

    MFP was giving me 1480 at lightly active and losing 1lb a week but as I’ve disconnected my fitbit I thought maybe workout my goal using a TDEE then minus say 20%!
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    butterfly_2019 wrote: »
    I’ve been doing weights 4x a week and cardio workout 1-2 a week.....

    I do school run then walk to work which is 45mins then 30mins walk home after work!

    MFP was giving me 1480 at lightly active and losing 1lb a week but as I’ve disconnected my fitbit I thought maybe workout my goal using a TDEE then minus say 20%!

    If you want to use TDEE, you can use a TDEE calculator. You can use https://tdeecalculator.net/index.php and maybe split the difference between moderate exercise and heavy exercise for your activity level. Then you can do TDEE -20% from there.
  • butterfly_2019
    butterfly_2019 Posts: 44 Member
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    Wow my TDEE is 2,200 - I’m 74.4kg and 5ft 3in and I selected moderate exercise 3-5 days per week which means my calorie goal would be 1700 (minus a 500 deficit) - this seems like way high! Maybe because I’m so used to eating so little but I’m also not losing either, I frit between 11.8lb - 11st 10lb! I log, I weigh my foods, I drink plenty of water....

  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited May 2019
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    butterfly_2019 wrote: »
    Wow my TDEE is 2,200 - I’m 74.4kg and 5ft 3in and I selected moderate exercise 3-5 days per week which means my calorie goal would be 1700 (minus a 500 deficit) - this seems like way high! Maybe because I’m so used to eating so little but I’m also not losing either, I frit between 11.8lb - 11st 10lb! I log, I weigh my foods, I drink plenty of water....

    do you use a food scale for all foods? are you logging daily?

    2200 does not seem crazy higj
  • butterfly_2019
    butterfly_2019 Posts: 44 Member
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    Yep I use a food scale...digital one

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