Spreadsheet for BMR/TDEE Deficit calcs, MFP Tweaks, HRM

Tagging to look at later - thanks

Well shoot, I meant to get your comments during beta trials! I forgot, got some of the regulars, but obviously missed a few.

Thanks for putting all the work into this.
So as I understand, we shouldn't combine 2 different methods? For example, if I do use TDEE-15% (or whatever other percentage), I shouldn't log in and eat my exercise calories, because I already set my level of activity to Very Active?
And if I do use an HRM and track my exercise calories and want to eat them back, I should use the MFP Tweak tab and set my activity level to Sedentary and track my exercise and eat my exercise calories back?
What I was doing before: I set my net calories to TDEE-15% and I was tracking exercise and eating all the exercise calories back. So that was wrong?

Correct, can't combine MFP method and TDEE deficit method. Well, kinda can, if you select Sedentary and take 15% deficit off non-exercise TDEE basically. Then eat back exercise calories.

There is space in the spreadsheet to combine HRM and estimate of non-exercise activity level. Statement on the left says that actually. Just noticed on Excel conversion, the text is messed up for formating, but you can see where it asks for exercise calories.
And while your exercise calorie burns may change slightly, there is still probably a decent avg you could put into the table to get a better TDEE estimate, if you do similar workouts each week.
You'll get a bigger deficit that way. 15% off 1600, or 15% off 2000? Yep, better to include it and then deficit.

But if you do that, or the method of just selecting a level, you've already included exercise, and therefore don't eat it back.

If your workout is variable enough you only want to eat it back when done, then yes indeed the MFP tweak tab. I'd suggest setting to what is given after you enter your stats. Which probably won't be Sedentary.

Yes, that was wrong, and was probably causing you to eat at a surplus by math. In reality, the TDEE activity levels give very little calorie burn credit for the hours estimate, so you probably still had a deficit, just not as great since you ate them back.

That's why the TDEE Deficit method works so great, even without the 15% deficit, any exercise is actually creating a deficit anyway. I mean, who doesn't burn way more than 150 cal an hour in exercise!