-15% vs -500 cals from tdee?

toshie333
toshie333 Posts: 295 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone know why you subtract 15% from your tdee as opposed to subtracting 500 cals for a pound loss? What's the difference and what's best!

Replies

  • toshie333
    toshie333 Posts: 295 Member
    Bump
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    You can either do 15% or 20% whichever you prefer.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Percentage of TDEE will loosely take into account the individual's needs. Static subtraction does not.

    Example: I'm 4'6" and 98 lbs. My TDEE is 1406 because I'm so small and I sit in a chair all day watching dem pronos.

    If I were to subtract 500 calories from this and eat at 906, I'm very drastically cutting my intake (that's almost 40%)..

    Example 2: I'm a 420lb sumo wrestler and I've decided to take up marathon running. My TDEE is 6515. Sure I could eat 6015 per week and lose 1lb per week, but I have room to go lower than that, and 20% deficit would give me about a 1200 calorie/day deficit which would give me faster loss.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,297 Member
    Like sidesteal said. 500 cals may too much or not enough of a deficit based on your stats and goals. 15-20% off of TDEE gives you a better number based on your TDEE, not a static 500 cals/day for 1lb/week.

    The less you have to lose the smaller your deficit should be and if you weigh less your TDEE decreases so your deficit gets smaller on its own But if you are at 20% below, you may want to change to 15% when you get close to your goal as you are now.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories