Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

[RangerDanger830]

This is a fairly old idea to me but the actually formula to calculate it is new to me. I stumbled upon this and realized I have never heard of it before, no one seems to talk about this much and no one talks about it much on here it seems after a brief search.

The idea behind it is you take 10% of your TDEE, or 15% for a high protein diet, and add it to your TDEE to account for the calories you burn digesting food.

What does everyone think of this? Do you use it? Does it matter? Mine came out to be 300 something calories. This worries me because if I am only eating 300 over my TDEE then I will not be truly bulking since I would technically be eating at TDEE if this were true.

[Times Roman]

I've been using the standard TDEE formula which utilizes and activity level multiplier. During my recomp over the last 3 months, I have stayed neutral with my weight gain/loss. I did this to test the accuracy of the TDEE formula (amongst other reasons) and I found I only needed to tweak my activity level beyond moderate (1.55x) by a slight amount (now at 1.613).

So the BMR calculate that we use already accounts for the TEF. When multiplied by a reasonable activity level, we get a reasonable approximation of TDEE.

In short, I think we already got the bases covered.

Thanks mate!
---Roman

[RangerDanger830]

I understand your reasoning and see no fault in it so I guess I will exclude that from my TDEE. I have been using a 1.5 multiplier since getting out of the military and becoming more sedentary in my new job, but it seemed to have worked out well for me during my last bulk I did last year.

[Times Roman]

no matter what you do or who you are, the activity multiplier is only an estimate, and one would reasonably expect adjustments need to be made. The best way that I've found to get the right multiplier is to eat at TDEE and see what happens to your weight. If you gain, then reduce the multiplier slightly. If you lose, increase the multiplier slightly.

There is no need for a second variable in the formula.

However, the assumption once you find an accurate multiplier, is that your actual activity levels are constant.