TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure
I talk lots (and lots!) about understanding our energy balance equation and the difference between a calorie surplus (enables weight gain), calorie deficit (weight loss) and calorie balance (maintaining weight). These are all made up of 2 elements.....energy in versus energy out. Our energy in is in the form of calories consumed through out diet. Energy out is the number of calories we burn in a day - and this is called our Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Our TDEE is made up of 4 key components - and the split and proportion of these components might not be what we think. The ley components are:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Our BMR is the number of calories we burn each day just to stay alive. It doesn't include any form of physical activity and is the absolute minimum calories we need to stay alive. If we stayed in bed all day long, didn't move, didn't eat, didn't drink - this is the energy we would still use.
BMR varies from person to person and is determined by our biological make up - gender, age, height, body composition etc. On average BMR makes up 70% of our overall TDEE.
Thermal Effect of Food (TEF)
This is my favourite one lol - it's what we want to happen all the time and sounds too good to be true - but we actually burn calories when we eat! The macronutrients that we eat (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) need to be broken down so our bodies can use them effectively. The process of breaking down requires energy, and in doing so we burn calories.
TEF makes up about 10% of our overall TDEE (if only it was 100% lol!). Proteins require more energy to break them down than carbs and fats - so again, this is another reason why I always focus on my protein intake. Value for money wise (energy used for breaking down food that we consume) we're getting a much better deal with protein - so try and eat lots of it.
Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
This is the calories that we burn through movement - but that we don't consider as exercise. This is things like everyday tasks, talking the stairs, general movement etc.
This can vary greatly from person to person - an office worker sitting at a desk all day compared to a construction worker will have vastly different amounts of NEAT. In general though this make up about 15% of our TDEE.
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
EAT is the calories we burn through exercise - walking, running, resistance training, swimming, HIIT etc.
Again this can vary greatly person to person depending on levels of exercise. This is probably the most surprising one though - because on average EAT only makes up 5% of our total TDEE.
This 5% is a very important for a number of reasons. Firstly it backs up that we shouldn't focus on exercise as a way of burning calories. It does for sure - but as a proportion it's a very small amount of our overall TDEE. Instead we should exercise for the benefits of exercise - to keep us fit and healthy, to help us age slower, and to help us live longer. It's also good news for when we're wanting to lose weight but maybe can't exercise, or have periods off because of injury etc. From a weight loss perspective (energy in versus energy out) exercise will only make up 5% of one side of the equation. Therefore we should focus instead on the other side on the equation for weight loss - which is energy in (and we can always do that, with or without exercise).