Which calorie count would you use?

I have been losing weight using MyFitnessPal for over a year now (31F, 5’2” SW: 171 CW:130 GW:115) but am switching to MyNetDiary. I compared my maintenance calories from that app to TDEEcalculator.net using the same stats on both and there is quite a difference in the maintenance calorie count. https://i.imgur.com/1HLnau7.jpg Which would you use? TDEEcalculator.net is on the left (which is closer to what MFP says) and MyNetDiary is on the right. MND says I can eat nearly 300 calories more per day and still lose one pound a week. The only difference I can see is that MND is adding in my exercise, but that still doesn’t completely make up the difference.

Answer

No online calculator is going to be exact. I would do what you’ve been doing (because it’s working).

If you want to play with it, slowly add some calories and see how it affects your weight loss. That’s really the only way to truly know how many calories you need to keep losing weight, and how many calories you will eventually need for maintenance.

Answer

They are using two different equations to estimate your TDEE from your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity levels. TDEEcalculator.net uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and My Net Diary uses the Estimated Energy Requirements equation.

I don’t know which equation is generally considered more accurate. Mifflin-St Jeor has been found to be better than some other equations, but I don’t know if it’s ever been directly compared to the EER equation.

Both equations are only estimates, based on population measurements. You as an individual person might have a slightly higher or lower TDEE than the predicted population average for someone of your age, sex, height, weight.