Should I follow nurses diet or tdee

The nurse at my GP has put me on a 1500 cal diet recommended MFP but said don’t eat your exercise calories

The first 4 weeks I lost 5lb which was perfect.

I am concerned I am not eating enough calories
My BMR is 1717 benedict Harris or 1450 Katch McCardle

I put my activity as lightly active as I am mostly at home and my only exercise atm is walking the dog.
That gave me a TDEE of 2318 cals

I have alway believed in eating exercise calories if I eat a 1500 calories diet I will be eating at a deficit of about 800 cals. I am concerned I will not be eating enough to cover my body’s base needs

My stats are 45
Height. 5 ft 7in
Weight. 220lb
Body fat 50.2%
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Replies

  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
    1500 seems low and fairly random. How did they come up with that number?
    Our stats are similar (I'm 5'7" 209 and 46 years old) and MFP has me at 1700 (sedentary) to lose one pound a week.
    I would say unless there was some type of complex reasoning that got them to the 1500 number you'd be correct that you should still eat back exercise calories.
    Try for 2 weeks and see how you feel. You can always add the exercise calories if your energy levels are low or take them away if you're not losing
  • joannemgregory
    joannemgregory Posts: 8 Member
    Lorleee wrote: »
    It seems like you're losing at a healthy pace. If you don't trust the nurse are you able to see a Registered Dietician for a second opinion?
    We don’t have a dedicated dietitian at our practice I get the impression 1500 Seems to be the standard nurses give out in the UK. She didn’t ask anything about exercise etc when I asked about eating exercise calories she said it’s not recommended which seems old fashioned advice
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    I'm a bit older (56), but I use 1800 as my maintenance calories and 1500 as my reduction target. I set my activity as "sedentary" and then log even modest activity (e.g., walking the dog) because I have a tendency to overestimate my activity level otherwise.

    If I swim or do something else where I burn more than about 400 calories, then I will eat back 1/3 - 1/2 of those calories, but if I burn less than 400 calories in activity (walking around the block, grocery shopping) then I will not.

    Give it two weeks and see. You can always add or subtract 50 - 100 calories to your goal if things aren't working for you.
  • joannemgregory
    joannemgregory Posts: 8 Member
    jayemes wrote: »
    1500 seems low and fairly random. How did they come up with that number?
    Our stats are similar (I'm 5'7" 209 and 46 years old) and MFP has me at 1700 (sedentary) to lose one pound a week.
    I would say unless there was some type of complex reasoning that got them to the 1500 number you'd be correct that you should still eat back exercise calories.
    Try for 2 weeks and see how you feel. You can always add the exercise calories if your energy levels are low or take them away if you're not losing

    UK recommended calories for average female is 2000cals
    The 1500 cals is a 500 cal deficit to give you a lb a week loss

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,122 Member
    edited August 2019
    jayemes wrote: »
    1500 seems low and fairly random. How did they come up with that number?
    Our stats are similar (I'm 5'7" 209 and 46 years old) and MFP has me at 1700 (sedentary) to lose one pound a week.
    I would say unless there was some type of complex reasoning that got them to the 1500 number you'd be correct that you should still eat back exercise calories.
    Try for 2 weeks and see how you feel. You can always add the exercise calories if your energy levels are low or take them away if you're not losing

    UK recommended calories for average female is 2000cals
    The 1500 cals is a 500 cal deficit to give you a lb a week loss

    That's for an average healthy weight female though, not overweight/obese.

    I'm about 20lbs heavier than you, although I was down to 220lbs last year but with my level of activity due to walking/hiking/rowing/weight lifting, my TDEE at the time would have been around 3200 calories. So giving a blanket 1500 gross cal goal can be dangerous.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    Try it your way. If you gain, or aren’t losing, make adjustments. You do what is right for you. Medical professionals don’t always give good advice. I think she should have listened to your questions about the extra calories for exercising and your concern.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 1,979 Member
    Try it your way. If you gain, or aren’t losing, make adjustments. You do what is right for you.
    Medical professionals don’t always give good advice.
    
    I think she should have listened to your questions about the extra calories for exercising and your concern.

    ain't that the truth!

  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    If the first four weeks was perfect - weight loss at slightly over a pound a week - then I would stay the course, if it was me, IF 1) I am sleeping ok (disrupted sleep happens when the deficit gets too severe); 2) I feel ok during the day 3) weight loss continues at this moderate rate 4) I continue at the same lightly active daily "non-exercise activity" level.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Maybe start out with a compromise: set a target of 1500 calories but eat back exercise calories. If you end up losing too fast, you can always raise your calorie target.

    1500 is a cookie cutter number and not appropriate for everyone. If the nurse is familiar with MFP, she should familiarize herself with how MFP works.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Based on your results (which is not enough data yet) your average deficit has been about 625.

    In about 2 more weeks you should be able to tell even better but if you really believe this is creating a larger deficit for you you may need to tighten up your logging. Are you using a food scale to weigh all solid food? Are you using good database entries that you have verified for logging?

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,122 Member
    It depends on whether you want to closely monitor the numbers or whether you’re happy just getting favourable results. I’m eating 1500 cals and not eating back exercise calories (also in the uk, 1500 was the standard recommendation back in the 1980s when I was a teenager and I’m still following that! ) it’s working fine for me, my exercise levels are the same week to week, and not hugely energetic, if it varied more it might be more helpful to adjust calories to accommodate that. Your rate of loss is fine at the moment, my guess would be if you work out your TDEE and 500 cal deficit, then add back exercise it probably wouldn’t be a great difference. Could be useful data down the line if your weight loss stalls, but your results so far seem spot on.

    TDEE already includes exercise, so you wouldn't add back exercise on top of that.

    MFP uses NEAT not TDEE, so it would come out about the same.

    For example:
    • Using MFP and setting myself to Lightly Active (which accounts for non-exercise steps of around 5000 per my tracker) my calorie goal for 1 pound per week is around 1800 calories, I go rowing twice per week and strength train 1-2 times per week, so my exercise calories would add around 1100 calories per week. Which averaged across 7 days would put my gross calories at 2085.
    • Using TDEECalculator.net and choosing Light Exercise, as strength training doesn't burn a lot of calories, my TDEE comes out about 2650, less 500 calories for 1 pound per week that's gross calories of 2150.

    So not all that much difference. The MFP NEAT can be more beneficial than TDEE if your exercise patterns aren't consistently the same, like mine, if I am training for a race I might be rowing 4-5 times per week and doing more strength training for a couple of weeks, the week before the race I might be just doing some walking to rest.
  • MercuryForce
    MercuryForce Posts: 104 Member
    It could be she misunderstood how MFP is set up or what you were telling her. My nutritionist told me not to eat back my exercise calories. But, that is because she assumed I was eating all my calories and then using exercise to create the deficit. When I pointed out that I was already creating my deficit with my diet and exercise was creating extra deficit, she told met to go ahead and eat them....but maybe not all of them in case I'm overestimating calories burned or underestimating calories consumed.