all this tdee bmr talk has me confused....

giddybutterfly
giddybutterfly Posts: 24
edited December 16 in Health and Weight Loss
I get the reasoning but am I on the right track?

I am 5'7" tall - I weigh 156 pounds (female)
Acoridng to the trainer I have
42 lbs body fat
114 pounbds lean body mass
My BMR is calculated at 1224
she told me that my Total energy (is this tdee?) is about 1836 plus my exercise calories per day.
So - saying I exercise 300 calories a day
Should I be eating about 2100 calories to maintain?
And to lose about 1600?

And..assuming that this is about healthy living - Im guessing that the 1600 should be clean foods, good foods and not cookies and chips? Right? Does it matter what kind of calories?
Also I was told more protein - when going from 1200 to 1600 I should be adding protein calories is this accurate?

Any advice - or direction because I am confused!
Thank you --

Replies

  • Sandytoes71
    Sandytoes71 Posts: 463 Member
    I thought we were supposed to multiply TDEE by 20% and that's what we were supposed to eat. Or if either we were supposed to eat 500 cals below our BMR. I'm thoroughly confused too!!I calculated both and came out with two COMPLETELY different numbers! So what do I go by?????? Oh, I really hope someone answers our confusion :)

    Please, if someone knows the answer, here are my numbers.....

    TDEE is 1916
    TDEE x 20% = 1533

    BMR is 1601
    BMR - 500 = 1101

    SOOOOOOO, do I eat 1101(bmr) or 1533(tdee) ???
  • freezerburn2012
    freezerburn2012 Posts: 273 Member
    Eat somewhere between BMR and TDEE; not below your BMR.
  • lisa28115
    lisa28115 Posts: 17,271 Member
    I get the reasoning but am I on the right track?

    I am 5'7" tall - I weigh 156 pounds (female)
    Acoridng to the trainer I have
    42 lbs body fat
    114 pounbds lean body mass
    My BMR is calculated at 1224
    she told me that my Total energy (is this tdee?) is about 1836 plus my exercise calories per day.
    So - saying I exercise 300 calories a day
    Should I be eating about 2100 calories to maintain?
    And to lose about 1600?

    And..assuming that this is about healthy living - Im guessing that the 1600 should be clean foods, good foods and not cookies and chips? Right? Does it matter what kind of calories?
    Also I was told more protein - when going from 1200 to 1600 I should be adding protein calories is this accurate?

    Any advice - or direction because I am confused!
    Thank you --

    YES ...YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK
    1836 WOULD BE YOUR TDEE
    U SHOULD NEVER EAT BELOW YOUR BMR
  • lisa28115
    lisa28115 Posts: 17,271 Member
    I thought we were supposed to multiply TDEE by 20% and that's what we were supposed to eat. Or if either we were supposed to eat 500 cals below our BMR. I'm thoroughly confused too!!I calculated both and came out with two COMPLETELY different numbers! So what do I go by?????? Oh, I really hope someone answers our confusion :)

    Please, if someone knows the answer, here are my numbers.....

    TDEE is 1916
    TDEE x 20% = 1533

    BMR is 1601
    BMR - 500 = 1101

    SOOOOOOO, do I eat 1101(bmr) or 1533(tdee) ???

    NEVER EAT BELOW YOUR BMR

    I EAT 1800 CALORIES PER DAY NO MATTER WHAT:bigsmile:
  • Gary1977
    Gary1977 Posts: 804 Member
    I get the reasoning but am I on the right track?

    I am 5'7" tall - I weigh 156 pounds (female)
    Acoridng to the trainer I have
    42 lbs body fat
    114 pounbds lean body mass
    My BMR is calculated at 1224
    she told me that my Total energy (is this tdee?) is about 1836 plus my exercise calories per day.
    So - saying I exercise 300 calories a day
    Should I be eating about 2100 calories to maintain?
    And to lose about 1600?

    And..assuming that this is about healthy living - Im guessing that the 1600 should be clean foods, good foods and not cookies and chips? Right? Does it matter what kind of calories?
    Also I was told more protein - when going from 1200 to 1600 I should be adding protein calories is this accurate?

    Any advice - or direction because I am confused!
    Thank you --

    YES ...YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK
    1836 WOULD BE YOUR TDEE
    U SHOULD NEVER EAT BELOW YOUR BMR

    My BMR is nearly 2800 calories....Don't think I could do that anymore....the old me could have easily doubled that
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    It can get pretty tricky and if you aren't up to all the maths, another way is to keep it simple and let MFP do the calculating for you!

    To set yourself up with a moderate calorie deficit, enter all your details into the Goals page, choose "lose 1/2 pound per week" and set your activity level according to what you do in your regular day (excluding exercise like going to the gym etc). Most people aren't sedentary, there's a good chance you will be "lightly active".

    Then eat these calories plus the calories you burn off from exercise.
    Simple.
  • kkwillis1
    kkwillis1 Posts: 16
    OK, now I'm confused too lol how did any of you all find these numbers? What does tdee stand for and what does bmr stand for? What are these calculations? You have to excuse me I'm new but also need help
  • lisa28115
    lisa28115 Posts: 17,271 Member
    OK, now I'm confused too lol how did any of you all find these numbers? What does tdee stand for and what does bmr stand for? What are these calculations? You have to excuse me I'm new but also need help

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

    GO TO THIS SITE AND U WILL FIND YOUR BMR - BASAL METOBOLIC RATE AND YOUR TDEE -TOTAL DAILY ENERGY EXPEDITURE

    WHEN YOU GET YOUR BMR ADD 20% TO THAT NUMBER AND THAT IS YOUR TDEE

    SET YOUR CALORIES BETWEEN YOUR BMR AND TDEE AND PUT YOUR MACROS ON 40% CARB 30%FAT AND 30% PROTEIN

    ADD STRENGTH TRAINING TO YOUR ROUTINE OF EXERCISE - IT IS IMPORTANT MUSCLE MASS BURNS CALORIES
    FAT IS JUST FAT:bigsmile:
  • kkwillis1
    kkwillis1 Posts: 16
    Thanks so much for the help!
    OK, now I'm confused too lol how did any of you all find these numbers? What does tdee stand for and what does bmr stand for? What are these calculations? You have to excuse me I'm new but also need help

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

    GO TO THIS SITE AND U WILL FIND YOUR BMR - BASAL METOBOLIC RATE AND YOUR TDEE -TOTAL DAILY ENERGY EXPEDITURE

    WHEN YOU GET YOUR BMR ADD 20% TO THAT NUMBER AND THAT IS YOUR TDEE

    SET YOUR CALORIES BETWEEN YOUR BMR AND TDEE AND PUT YOUR MACROS ON 40% CARB 30%FAT AND 30% PROTEIN

    ADD STRENGTH TRAINING TO YOUR ROUTINE OF EXERCISE - IT IS IMPORTANT MUSCLE MASS BURNS CALORIES
    FAT IS JUST FAT:bigsmile:
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    I get the reasoning but am I on the right track?

    I am 5'7" tall - I weigh 156 pounds (female)
    Acoridng to the trainer I have
    42 lbs body fat
    114 pounbds lean body mass
    My BMR is calculated at 1224
    she told me that my Total energy (is this tdee?) is about 1836 plus my exercise calories per day.
    So - saying I exercise 300 calories a day
    Should I be eating about 2100 calories to maintain?
    And to lose about 1600?

    And..assuming that this is about healthy living - Im guessing that the 1600 should be clean foods, good foods and not cookies and chips? Right? Does it matter what kind of calories?
    Also I was told more protein - when going from 1200 to 1600 I should be adding protein calories is this accurate?

    Any advice - or direction because I am confused!
    Thank you --
    Simple answer. Yes. Your math is correct. 1800+300 is TDEE+exercise. Subtract 500 for a one pound per week loss and you're about 1600. On days you don't exercise you should eat closer to 1300, to maintain a consistent deficit.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    OK, now I'm confused too lol how did any of you all find these numbers? What does tdee stand for and what does bmr stand for? What are these calculations? You have to excuse me I'm new but also need help

    BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate. It's essentially the number of calories your body burns for vital functions, it's what you would burn if you were comatose, no physical movements at all (a lot of people say it's what you burn laying in bed all day, but that's incorrect, because when lounging in bed, or even sleeping, you still fidget and move around.)

    TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Basically this is the total number of calories you would burn in a day in order to maintain your weight. It's usually calculated as BMR multiplied by an activity factor, based on how active you are on a daily basis. Depending on the activity factor used, TDEE may or may not include exercise.
  • kkwillis1
    kkwillis1 Posts: 16
    So my bmr is 1540 and my tdee is 1848? Does that sound right?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    If you're sedentary, then yes. That would be your TDEE, but that won't include exercise. So you would manually add in your exercise calories (if you burn 200, your TDEE would be 2048, for example.)

    Generally you should eat TDEE-500 or BMR, whichever is higher, for safe weight loss.

    I'd suggest eating 1600 a day, that will put you just above BMR, and then burning about 250 calories a day exercising should give you right around a pound a week of weight loss.
  • JonathonMars
    JonathonMars Posts: 358 Member
    Wow. I'm amazed and shocked. Apparently I should be eating 2100+ calories a day. I really cannot imagine doing that. I mean, I can. It just involves double servings of everything.
  • lisa28115
    lisa28115 Posts: 17,271 Member
    If you're sedentary, then yes. That would be your TDEE, but that won't include exercise. So you would manually add in your exercise calories (if you burn 200, your TDEE would be 2048, for example.)

    Generally you should eat TDEE-500 or BMR, whichever is higher, for safe weight loss.

    I'd suggest eating 1600 a day, that will put you just above BMR, and then burning about 250 calories a day exercising should give you right around a pound a week of weight loss.

    THIS IS WHAT I AM DOING :bigsmile:
    I JUST STARTED ON THIS HIGHER PLAN ABOUT A MONTH AGO
    AND JUST STARTED ADDING STRENGTH TRAINING
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    Pasted from the "TDEE is everything" post - I can't find the original post or author but I kept it for future reference.

    When dieting and either trying to lose weight or even gain weight if you are bulking, the most important aspect of your plan is knowing your TDEE. You cannot proceed forward and make progress for the long term without knowing what this is, how to obtain it, and what to do with it. 

    TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expedenture 

    TDEE is basically how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period. This is all of your activity including exercises, eating, sleeping, driving a car and yelling at stupid drivers on the highway...whatever it is. If you're doing something, you're burning calories. In all actuality even if you're just sitting down at a desk you're still burning, just not as much. 

    In order to avoid making this thread a TL;DR thread, I'll be quick and simple. (no snide comments please and you know who you are) 

    Example to lose weight: 

    Take a weekly average of your TDEE. Let's pretend you use a Bodymedia FIT and you burn 3000 calories on your workout days (5 days a week), and 2500 calories on your rest days (2 days a week). This would be a weekly average of 20,000 calories for the week. 

    For the mathematically challenged that's: 3000x5 = 15,000 and 2500x2 = 5000 which equals 20,000. (Yes I really had to break this down for some people) 

    Moving on.... 

    You are burning 20,000 calories per week. This is your WEEKLY TDEE. Let's pretend you want to lose 1lb a week. Since 1lb is 3,500 calories then you do the math (again): 

    20,000 - 3,500 = 16,500 

    This means that you need to eat 16,500 calories PER WEEK in order to lose 1lb for that week. If you are really bored and just don't care, you could technically eat 16,500 calories in ONE DAY and not eat anything the rest of the week and still lose 1lb although you will be completely miserable and you'd probably end up extremely sick if not comatose...but anyways. 

    Normal people will break this down to eating roughly 2350 calories per day and they will still lose 1lb a week. In order to minimize muscle loss you will need to eat approximately 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, or if you don't know what that is, you can just use bodyweight. Also, you need to do some sort of resistance weight training and lift heavy to minimize muscle loss as well. 

    As I typed this, I realized it's not as "short" as I wanted it to be, but I figured I'm making a comeback on the forums so ..... =) 

    Anyways, take this explanation for what it's worth and above all, you don't need any "diet pills" to lose weight. 

    Stay disciplined, stick to your plan, make sure you document your food and the weight will come off. 
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Please turn off the caps lock, there's no need to keep yelling.
  • DataBased
    DataBased Posts: 513 Member
    Wow. I'm amazed and shocked. Apparently I should be eating 2100+ calories a day. I really cannot imagine doing that. I mean, I can. It just involves double servings of everything.
    You can also choose to include more healthy calories in the foods you already eat. For example, adding slivered almonds to your oatmeal in the morning, or adding avocado (a very healthy fat) to your salads and omelettes.

    Also consider eating more times each day rather than having two or three big meals.

    :-)
  • JonathonMars
    JonathonMars Posts: 358 Member
    Thanks for the suggestions DataBased--I just feel like I'll be so full all the time--fuller than when I eat unhealthy. I've been eating three big meals and snacking on things a few times a day so far, and not really sure my schedule is conducive to eating more times/day, which is sad. I shudder to think about how many calories I have been eating to get to this weight.
  • Sandytoes71
    Sandytoes71 Posts: 463 Member
    So is this how mfp calculates things? It goes by TDEE and not BMR?
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    So is this how mfp calculates things? It goes by TDEE and not BMR?

    Yes
  • hnsiler
    hnsiler Posts: 25 Member
    bump
  • cindyj7
    cindyj7 Posts: 339 Member
    :flowerforyou: Let me start by saying that I am so thankful to have so many knowledgeable folks on this site.

    That said, I'm trying figure out what my calorie intake should be - would someone please help? I went on fat2fitradio for the calculations:

    48-yr-old female
    5'2"
    CW 167
    GW 135
    BMI - 30.54
    BMR - 1442
    TDEE - 1982

    MFP has me at 1200 cal/day. Is that where I should be? Thanks in advance for your help.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    Be confused no more...
    http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/
  • KilikiMom
    KilikiMom Posts: 237 Member
    im still confused.....

    but cgwatson LOVE firefly :)


    anyways MFP has me at 1480 calories to consume without exercise...i exercise about 400-600 calories a day (just depends on the day) so that puts me roughly around 2000

    i am 5'9 and 149lbs
  • kdiment
    kdiment Posts: 31
    All right, I'm confused as well, so I'm just going to leave stats in hopes that someone will help me out.

    According to the Fat 2 Fit Radio, I am:

    5'3"
    Female
    22 Years old
    CW: 140
    GW: 125
    BMR: 1457

    I've been eating 1200 a day using MyFitnessPal. I know I should be eating more than this, but I'm not sure how much. I work out 5-6 days a week, burning anywhere from 300-500 calories on these days.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Eat 1457 + your exercise calories.
  • kdiment
    kdiment Posts: 31
    Thank you! Seems like an awful lot but I'm not complaining! I'll eat 1957 calories of healthier foods and see where that takes me!
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