The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

The easiest way to work out your actual (or near actual) TDEE as opposed to the guesstimate based on height, age and weight is to look at how much weight you are losing per week and what your average calorie intake is. For example, if you lose 1lb per week, you must be eating around 3500 cals less than your TDEE. So if over the whole week you eat 10000 cals, your TDEE would be 10000 + 3500 = 13500/7 = 1929 per day.

It would be interesting if those who routinely count calories were to work out their TDEE as I've suggested above. We could compare these "actual" values with the predicted values in the progess tracker to see how accurate it is.

According to the libra app I'm eating about 300 cals below my TDEE, which in the progress tracker is about 1800 and my calorie counting shows I'm averaging 1500 over the week, so 1500 + 300 = 1800, so the process tracker seems accurate for me anyway.

Yes mine are quite low as well BUT I am older AND shorter so I think it's right.

400 cals on a fast day seems to be working for me at the moment as does doing the fast days consecutively.

On fast days I drink a lot - fruit teas etc and eat a very large salad with perhaps a small portion of either cottage cheese, tuna or egg.

I must say that since I joined in January the site is coming on leaps and bounds and I send my congratulations to everyone involved for their dedication!!!! Fabulous.

When I get to my first goal - below 11st - I shall send you a £1 for every pound I've lost. I owe you £4 so far with another 7lbs to go.

HI Caroline

Not sure if my numbers will be easily used or not...

Here are my average calories consumed (net of exercise cals burned), and my weight and loss for the corresponding week

w/c avg cals weigh-in next week loss
start 150 lbs
21/1 1020 147 lbs 3 lb
28/1 1065 146 lbs 1 lb
4/2 990 143 lbs 3 lb
11/2 770 141 lbs 2 lb
18/2 1095 140 lbs 1 lb
25/2 510 138.5 lbs 1.5 lb
4/3 730 138.5 lbs -
11/3 1155 137.5 lbs 1 lb
18/3 965 134 lbs 2.5 lb
25/3 1185 133 lbs 1 lb
1/4 735 132.5 lbs 0.5 lb
8/4 750 131.5 lbs 1 lb
15/4 940 131.5 lbs -
22/4 1050 131.5 lbs -
29/4 620 130 lbs 1.5 lb


so most recently net cals consumed for the week 4340 resulted in 1.5 lb loss

4340 + 1.5*3500 = 9590 = 1370 TDEE and the tracker says 1443

It's interesting that this formula is one of the lower TDEE values - If I ate at the higher ones, my weight loss would definitely stall and I think this also ties in with frame size etc as per some of the other threads - I have a very slight frame and also, not sure if its relevant but my resting heart rate has come down to 54 bpm as a result of the running etc that I do, so could that have an impact on RMR and TDEE?

As it is a Guide I think it is very useful! And yes lots of factors can make a difference- in my case being post menopause- many of which one can add to the mix. I think some adjustments perhaps will be necessary when I stop losing the weight I want to, but in the meantime if you are losing and happy then enough said really!

[carorees]

so most recently net cals consumed for the week 4340 resulted in 1.5 lb loss

4340 + 1.5*3500 = 9590 = 1370 TDEE and the tracker says 1443

Not too far out then!

It does appear to be oddly low though in comparison to other calculations. However if most are basing their calculations on a sedentary lifestyle, I would bet that would account for the low numbers.

From what I understand a calculation based on a lightly active lifestyle would best represent most. Sedentary would capture those who are either bed-ridden, physically bound and the elderly (no offense to anyone). The difference is only a couple hundred calories if that, and I found it works for me. No way I could survive on anything less than 1400 even whist dieting lol.

It's all guesstimate more or less, play with the numbers añd adjust accordingly!

Most calculators give a very high number. I was given numbers like 1800, 1900 calories while I', 160cm, not overweight and I don't exercise...

Thanks All, after I stopped hyperventilating I totted up the calories for tonight's planned dinner of baked fish and salad. It came in at 224 calories, so loads left for my evening jelly and hot chocolate. Because I hadn't been counting I had no idea that I was already eating that low. I'll stop moaning now! Sorry and thanks for listening

Mine shows two numbers, 2188 and 2735, the first seems pretty low and the second pretty high. I do workout 3-4 times per week for about 40-50 minutes with an elevated heart rate in the high end of the cardio range (75-85% of max) for most of that time, so I'd assume I should be closer to the top number.

I don't track my calories on feed days, though, and I target 600 on repair days, so while I could estimate my average caloric deficit by the weight tracker, I couldn't use that to estimate my TDEE.

What I did early on was to pretend that I was at my target weight and (moderate) activity and calculated a TDEE of almost exactly 2400 and figured if I stuck close to that on a weekly basis I would have a caloric deficit until I hit that weight, and then I wouldn't need to lose weight any longer. I'm not sure if that's the right way to go about it, though, because longer term might that just train my body to lower its metabolism, making my maintenance TDEE lower than 2400 once I reach my goal?

HI Caroline

Not sure if my numbers will be easily used or not...

Here are my average calories consumed (net of exercise cals burned), and my weight and loss for the corresponding week
so most recently net cals consumed for the week 4340 resulted in 1.5 lb loss

4340 + 1.5*3500 = 9590 = 1370 TDEE and the tracker says 1443

It's interesting that this formula is one of the lower TDEE values - If I ate at the higher ones, my weight loss would definitely stall and I think this also ties in with frame size etc as per some of the other threads - I have a very slight frame and also, not sure if its relevant but my resting heart rate has come down to 54 bpm as a result of the running etc that I do, so could that have an impact on RMR and TDEE?

The mean TDEE is 1540 and the median 1565 from the above data. There's an element of confusion / error from using "net calories" as it depends how the exercise calories are accounted for.

I didn't even see this until I saw this post on TDEE. Surprised too mine was so low....but feel it is correct for me. I have been cutting back on what I thought my TDEE was anyway and have had success. I do moderate exercise too that helps.
But thank you....adding this to the progress chart was VERY helpful and eye opening.
Appreciate all this updating work on the sight!!

Looking back now at the calculations I think its about right. However there's some variance as to what my calorie intake should be when I look online if attempting to base it off my activity level.

What works for me is simply estimating my overall exercise output over a week- so average of around 1500kcals and dividing that over seven days = 214kcal/day. Which I then add to my estimated sedentary calorie requirements.

So 1500+214= 1714; which according to calculators equates to a lightly active lifestyle.

This formula works for me in most instances as I tend to fluctuate depending on the amount of exercise I engage in over a course of a week, however the 1700 kcal works as a great baseline.

It's honestly real confusing at times, but I like numbers, and sticking to a calorie average intake over the week makes it interesting and a lot easier.

Just in case anyone is interested and missed it there was another thread on this subject :

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4231

I have used My Fitness Pal - have never really calorie-counted as such so wanted to get an idea of how many calories I was consuming, plus I find that it makes me more mindful of what I eat if I log it on MFP. I have recalculated my TDEE there every week as my weight has dropped, and the current figure is only 62 calories more than the figure I get here so I'm happy with that. I use the sedentary value, I do some exercise (yoga and walking) but regard that as a possible bonus. So far in 8 weeks I have lost 8.5 kg so it's working well for me.

The best guide to your correct TDEE is how many calories you can actually eat and maintain your weight. The calculators (and there are several) give an estimate. If you are losing weight with your current estimate, I wouldn't change it.

I'm glad the TDEE calculation is in the progress tracker. A lot of people are unaware that theirs may be below the one-size-fits-all estimate of 2000. It's especially useful if you're not losing weight, and a helpful reminder to those losing weight that one reward is a lower TDEE.

As for the 25% of TDEE for fast days, is there anything more than anecdotal evidence for this particular number? If you TDEE is quite low and you eat 30% on fast days instead, might you still reap the benefits of this diet?

Edit: I should have learned my lesson about posting on my iPhone. I missed 1.5 pages of posts before the above. Should probably just delete it but it took me an hour to type!