Help with determining TDEE and Macros

Use the MFP setup and use 1lbs goal per week. Everything higher is for people that are a lot heavier than you. The calculator you used demonstrates that you wanted too much too quickly.

Also, your weight fluctuates, up to 4-5lbs from day to day just due to hydration, water weight due to a hundred reasons (including cycle), digestive content, etc. None of this has anything to do with bodyfat. Which means it can take a while to see results.

mrvelasquez393 wrote: »

Hello! I'm female, 30, and currently weigh 172.5lba, I went up from yesterday which was 171.9. I started out at 180lbs.

I'm struggling to figure out my macros and tdee. I try to input my weight into a tdee calculator, but when it comes out, its below the recommended 1200 in deficient. I also don't know what macros to use.

I'm trying to stick to the 30/35/30 plan, or is it the 35/30/35? Anyways I need help. I am sedentary mainly. Also, if I put my fat% in I'm also way low in regards to calories.

So, if you really want an accurate TDEE you will need to do 2 things.
1. Go get a body scan or similar thing that will give you an accurate body fat measurement.
2. Have some sort of wearable that tracks your activity throughout the day.

The body fat will go into the more accurate of the calculations for your BMR, then you add your average calories burned from a week or two average on your wearable. This will give you your accurate TDEE you can then reduce calories from.

There are some threads on here about the suggested calories and such and how while MFP is decent at averaging them, it is still not a one size fits all. If the MFP recommended is working for you then keep with it. Also keep in mind there are a lot of things that will impact your weight day to day. Especially mensural cycles for women. Me as a guy I can flux 3-5lbs day to day due to water weight, so you really need to try and keep your sample time larger when looking at weight loss due to cycles.

As far as macros go, I don't get too far into it outside of eating what keeps me full (more protein and fiber) But I find the heavier I am on protein the less hungry I am and the easier it is to maintain my eating at a reasonable level.

cmriverside wrote: »

So, if you really want an accurate TDEE you will need to do 2 things.
1. Go get a body scan or similar thing that will give you an accurate body fat measurement.
2. Have some sort of wearable that tracks your activity throughout the day.

This is not necessary, and body scan is expensive and not really about TDEE..

Wearable devices are also expensive and not necessary - and not any more accurate than an online free calculator. They are guesstimates, all of them.

All you need is this (free) website and the ability to log food, and then two months of trending data. :drinker:

That's what I did. I lost 80ish pounds 16 years ago and I've kept it off. No devices or special tools. I did get a $20 digital food scale when I had 20 pounds left to lose, because that's when accuracy becomes much more important and I do have an old-school analog body weight scale. I use them both and log my food, exercise and weight.

I did not say it was necessary, but OP asked for ways to get a better TDEE. Yes a body scan depending on where can cost $25-200, and wearables are actually fairly decently priced nowadays. You don't need a $300 fitbit or iwatch. There are many that will work just fine. I was just giving the OP the info that was asked, not if it was necessary or not.

evileyefirefly wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

So, if you really want an accurate TDEE you will need to do 2 things.
1. Go get a body scan or similar thing that will give you an accurate body fat measurement.
2. Have some sort of wearable that tracks your activity throughout the day.

This is not necessary, and body scan is expensive and not really about TDEE..

Wearable devices are also expensive and not necessary - and not any more accurate than an online free calculator. They are guesstimates, all of them.

All you need is this (free) website and the ability to log food, and then two months of trending data. :drinker:

That's what I did. I lost 80ish pounds 16 years ago and I've kept it off. No devices or special tools. I did get a $20 digital food scale when I had 20 pounds left to lose, because that's when accuracy becomes much more important and I do have an old-school analog body weight scale. I use them both and log my food, exercise and weight.

I did not say it was necessary, but OP asked for ways to get a better TDEE. Yes a body scan depending on where can cost $25-200, and wearables are actually fairly decently priced nowadays. You don't need a $300 fitbit or iwatch. There are many that will work just fine. I was just giving the OP the info that was asked, not if it was necessary or not.

A scan does not determine TDEE as it involves activity and you just lay about for such test. It offers an estimate for BMR, provided the test is done properly.

And a smart watch or other device is also just offering an estimate, and even more so than a scan. In order to get half ok exercise calories you need to determine your maxHR because a deviation from the standard, which isn't uncommon will result in too high or low estimates. Also, how well a device guesses depends on how the producer implemented this. HR is not really a way to estimate workout calories. For me, walking is both grossly overstated on Garmin and Fitbit, running quite ok on Garmin and cycling possibly too low. But this will be different for everyone.

EDIT: very important type corrected.

evileyefirefly wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

So, if you really want an accurate TDEE you will need to do 2 things.
1. Go get a body scan or similar thing that will give you an accurate body fat measurement.
2. Have some sort of wearable that tracks your activity throughout the day.

This is not necessary, and body scan is expensive and not really about TDEE..

Wearable devices are also expensive and not necessary - and not any more accurate than an online free calculator. They are guesstimates, all of them.

All you need is this (free) website and the ability to log food, and then two months of trending data. :drinker:

That's what I did. I lost 80ish pounds 16 years ago and I've kept it off. No devices or special tools. I did get a $20 digital food scale when I had 20 pounds left to lose, because that's when accuracy becomes much more important and I do have an old-school analog body weight scale. I use them both and log my food, exercise and weight.

I did not say it was necessary, but OP asked for ways to get a better TDEE. Yes a body scan depending on where can cost $25-200, and wearables are actually fairly decently priced nowadays. You don't need a $300 fitbit or iwatch. There are many that will work just fine. I was just giving the OP the info that was asked, not if it was necessary or not.

Following a calorie goal for 4-6 weeks (or whole menstrual cycle, for those who have them), then adjusting calorie goal based on the average results over the whole time: That's more accurate than any so-called calculator or tracker.

Using either the MFP method (eat back exercise separately) or TDEE method (average in exercise), or taking a calorie deficit off a good fitness tracker's all-day calorie estimate: Yes, any of those are good starting point to use for that initial trial period.

The question isn't so much whether trackers are accurate, it's whether individual people are close to average in calorie needs or not. MFP, TDEE calculators, or fitness trackers all produce estimates based on statistical averages. Most people are close to average, a few are noticeably off average (high or low), and a rare few are surprisingly far off (still in either direction).

I've counted calories quite meticulously for 8+ years now. MFP and my good brand/model fitness tracker (one that gives reasonable estimates for others) is 25-30% off daily. That's around 500 or so calories. Is the tracker or MFP inaccurate? No, I'm not average. Once I quantified how non-average I am - i.e., got an experience-based estimate of my calorie needs - my weight loss and maintenance became very predictable (in multi-week average terms).

As long as a person logs carefully, runs a solid multi-week experiment, then adjusts, any of these methods can work fine.

P.S. Body scans give BMR estimates, too, not measurements. There's a lab-based resting metabolism rate (RMR) estimating method that involves measuring exhaled gases under controlled conditions that would likely be more accurate than a scan-based estimate, though still just a point in time estimate. (RMR is very close to BMR.) If a person uses the "trial period" method, they don't need any explicit personalized, expensive estimate of BMR/RMR at all. (There will be a BMR estimate built into the algorithms of MFP, TDEE calculators, or a fitness tracker. That'll be close enough, for a starting point. It's zero cash outlay.)

cmriverside wrote: »

It offers an estimate for BMI, provided the test is done properly.

or...is it BMR?

Woops, that one! Nearly the same, no? 😬🙈 Thanks a lot @cmriverside