Highly confused about TDEE!!!!

freemoney45
freemoney45 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been reading numerous posts on TDEE and researching on it and am still confused about it. I have read posts that state to lose weight you need to eat below your TDEE but not to dip below your BMR. My TDEE is 3000 and my BMR is 2000. Does TDEE already include your workouts based on your activity level?? Some posts have said to not go below your BMR and if you exercise. to eat those calories back so you don't drop below your BMR. Does this mean my TDEE is 3000 even on the days I take off and do absolutely no activity?? And if I'm trying to lose weight, on days I work out do I need to eat back the calories I burn or is it already included in TDEE?? Someone please enlighten me on this subject!!! -thanks

Replies

  • geordiegirl27
    geordiegirl27 Posts: 307 Member
    Hi there be worth you posting this in the eat more to lose weight group.

    I'm only just thinking if starting & my understanding is when you do the totals to get your BMR & TDEE you include your exercise so your daily calories include some exercise but I'm also picking up you may need to add other calories if you drop below BMR (but don't quote me on that)
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
    And if I'm trying to lose weight, on days I work out do I need to eat back the calories I burn or is it already included in TDEE??

    Activity level is already included in TDEE, so there is no eating back of calories.

    For weight loss start at 20% less than TDEE.

    This is just a starting point however, you need to find what works for you.
    Does this mean my TDEE is 3000 even on the days I take off and do absolutely no activity?? And if I'm trying to lose weight, on days I work out do I need to eat back the calories I burn or is it already included in TDEE??

    I eat the same calories every day, including my rest days, TDEE is your AVERAGE weekly activity level so there is no need to adjust based on small fluctuations in daily activity levels. Plus it just makes your life easier.
  • ruststar
    ruststar Posts: 489 Member
    TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure, so yes, that includes exercise and all your normal daily activities. BMR is your basal metabolic rate, so your bare minimum for keeping all your organs functioning. It sounds like you have 1000 calories between your BMR and TDEE, so plenty room to create a reasonable deficit. My understanding is if you are using your TDEE as your start point you don't worry about eating exercise calories (because they've already been factored in and averaged out over the week).

    For example, I regularly burn about 2800 calories for the week and I average that out to 400 extra per day. According to MFP my calories for losing 1 1/2 pounds a week is 1494, so I added 400 a day to my goals so I didn't have to think about eating back exercise calories. If I burn 700 one day and 250 the next I don't worry about it because it all evens out. The one day a week I don't exercise I may eat a little less, but I really don't worry about it too much. I find it easier to plan my days to be the same amount, but if I'm really hungry and had a good burn for the day, I might eat ~200 more.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    TDEE includes daily activity and workout calories. You should have entered this info when you plugged your numbers into the TDEE calculator. It is an average, so if your TDEE is 3000 based on working out 5 days per week, you eat the same amount every day to maintain weight, and do not eat more or less based on your exercise.

    If your TDEE is 3000, eating anywhere from 2000-2500 per day should be appropriate to lose 1-2 lbs/week. Don't worry about your BMR, just worry about your deficit from TDEE. It's not recommended to exceed a 1000 cal deficit. If you don't lose roughly 2 lbs per week eating 2000 cals per day, your TDEE estimation is probably off and you can tweak your numbers from there. Hope that helps.
  • freemoney45
    freemoney45 Posts: 8 Member
    Ok, thanks for the quick responses, I was just getting very confused about it. I saw people posting to eat back the calories you burned while you exercised. But then I thought, if I burn 2000 calories a day from BMR, and then I eat back the calories I burn from exercising, it seems that I would just maintain weight. Thanks for clarifiying
  • icculus19
    icculus19 Posts: 39
    your TDEE takes into account your BMR and activity level. your BMR is ONLY the calories your body needs to function ie. basic bodily functions (breathing, heart pumping, thinking, etc) is it unwise to go below your BMR yes and know. you can eat below your BMR but you cannot do it for to long ie one year. then your body will go into starvation mode. this typically happens with people who have VERY LOW body like 5% or less. so dont worry if you eat below your BMR.

    TDEE takes into account your BMR and your activity level. your TDEE telss you how many calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight while doing your current activities. basically if your TDEE is 3000 and you want to cut weight you can run a cal deficit of anywhere from 500-1000 cals per day. i know it is recommende that you only run a 500 cal deficit per day but i am impaitient.

    if you take days off i would eat at or below your BMR. the days you work out you do not want to eat the cals you burn off b/c then you will not be running a calorie deficit. the only way you can lose weight is to to burn off more cals then you take in.

    what you do want to do is to add more protien to your diet and reduce your carbs and fat. by upping your protien you will prevent muscle loss and maintain your current muscle mass. by reducing youur carbs your body will burn through them quicker and start burning fat as fuel faster (this is what you want) really the only fats you should be eating are dietary fats (where is a big list google it) also stay away from foods that are high in both carbs and fat.

    you may want to try a diet based on 2500 cals on your work out days and 1500 on your rest days. your macros for both days can be 45/30/25 that is 45% pro 30% carbs 25% fats. so work out days you will need 1125 cals from pro or 281g, 750 cals from carbs or 188g and
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    You eat back the calories you burn if you use the MFP method, which is different from the TDEE method in that exercise calories are not included in the calculations up front. MFP gives you a daily allowance based on no exercise so if you exercise you are supposed to eat more in order to keep your deficit the same. It's best to pick one method and stick with it, but they both work out pretty much the same in the end.
  • waldenlev
    waldenlev Posts: 102 Member
    Does TDEE already include your workouts based on your activity level??

    Don't know, did you account for your exercise when you set your activity level?

    There are two ways you can do this, you can account for your average exercise in your TDEE calculation, and in that case you do NOT eat back exercise (you've already accounted for it) OR you exclude exercise in the activity level and just account for "normal" activity in you TDEE. In that case you may need to eat back your exercise or you'll send your calorie intake for the day too low.

    General rules are don't drop below BMR and never below 1200, but those are massive generalizations and you need to experiment some to see what works best for you.
  • BeantownSooner
    BeantownSooner Posts: 254
    Does TDEE already include your workouts based on your activity level??

    Yes it can depending on what activity level corresponds to the 3,000 number.


    Does this mean my TDEE is 3000 even on the days I take off and do absolutely no activity??

    No, this would be closer to your BMR number but would be higher than that figure.


    And if I'm trying to lose weight, on days I work out do I need to eat back the calories I burn or is it already included in TDEE??

    Depends on how you approach it really. If you selected a TDEE target that consists of "Very Active" (i.e. a higher calorie count) then you don't need to eat them back since it's already factored into that number. The other way of doing it is using a "Sedentary Setting" (i.e. lower calorie count) and if you exercise then eat the calories back. Some like to do it this way as it keeps you away from eating more on those non-workout days.


    Here's my example:

    My BMR = 1,823 calories (this is laying in bed all day basically)

    Sedentary TDEE = 2,076 calories
    Lightly Active TDEE = 2,379 calories
    Moderately Active TDEE = 2,682 calories
    Very Active TDEE = 2,984 calories
    Extremely Active TDEE = 3,287 calories

    These are based on my goal weight target and are from www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr


    What I use is the 2,682 calories as my target since I'm currently doing Insanity and I burn anywhere from 500 - 900 calories per workout. On off days, I use Sedentary number as my target. By using the goal weight numbers there's a built in calorie deficit already in those numbers I don't need to take out 500 or 1000 from these numbers. Just as example, if I wanted to maintain my current weight (I do not) that number is 3,069 (~400 calorie deficit). Lastly, since I have over 40 lbs to go I simply use the 2,682 as my top number but never below 2,379 (except on my day off). I believe it's better to have a target range (2300 - 2600) so allow for daily changes in what I eat.

    We seem to have very similar calorie needs so hope that helps out a little bit.
  • macsgirl526
    macsgirl526 Posts: 80
    Ok.Please help a poor girl here. I should 20% below my TDEE to see weight loss as opposed to the regular calorie cut back? Thats giving me almost 500 more calories extra day going with the TDEE.Which is better?
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    MFP gives you your calorie allowance based on the rate you tell it you want to lose -- the faster you set it to lose, the less it gives you. TDEE -20% might be more than this becaue the deficit is smaller and rate of weight loss would be slower. The difference could also be that with MFP you are supposed to eat additional exercise calories, so if you burn on average 500 per day and eat them back, then they are the same.

    Which is better depends on a lot of factors, including how much you have to lose and how aggressive of a deficit you want.
  • freemoney45
    freemoney45 Posts: 8 Member
    Ok thanks very much!! Just wanted to make sure I'm eating the right amount of calories.

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