Using Your TDEE to Lose Weight

Using Your TDEE to Lose Weight

Calculating your TDEE gives you an estimation on how many calories you burn per day. This is some handy information to have if you want to make consistent progress towards your fat loss goal.

In order to lose weight after you calculate your TDEE, you're going to need to start logging your food and holding yourself accountable. Ideally, most of your food should come from nutritious sources, but simply sticking to logging your food and eating smaller portions is a good start.

As you start logging your food, you can start slowly decreasing the calories you eat per day, exercising more, or a combination of both. Start by decreasing your daily calorie intake by 250 calories and assess your progress. Consistency is important, so a slow decrease in calories makes the change sustainable.

If your calculated TDEE is 2,000 calories, start logging your food and maintaining a 2,000 calorie diet. After a couple of weeks of not going over your calories, start eating 1,750 calories and maintaining that.

If you are having trouble getting enough nutritious foods into your diet, you'll need to upgrade your cooking skills and start utilizing an 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule is where 20% of the calories for the day can come from anything you'd like — ice cream, some tortilla chips and cheese, whatever — and 80% comes from nutritious whole foods.