I addressed your concerns over my TDEE by stating both instances occurred under the same level of activity and general conditions. In both instances, I lost about the same amount of weight weekly as well. I've also been counting calories for longer than 10 years and at that time I had a spreadsheet with such granular detail I could track the average duration and quantity of protein still within my gut based on average timing, etc.
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Actually...empirical works as well. I think anecdotal is just the latest trend.
Empirical
based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.
"they provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument"
You didn’t originally say that you lost weight at the same rate, making your statement almost meaningless. Now that you’ve added that statement, I honestly just don’t believe your assessment. This isn’t a judgement call and I’m not questioning your truthfulness. I simply think your observation was either biased, incomplete, or insufficient.
My gut says you did this for too short of a period of time for the results to be meaningful, or else that you’ve left out something meaningful, or that you simply didn’t accurately measure your caloric intake. If you were losing weight on 3500 calories/day, then your TDEE was north of 3500. If you dropped to 900 calories, you’d be in a 2600 calorie/day deficit without even accounting for whatever deficit you were in initially. I don’t care if that was all HFCS, you’d be losing over 5 pounds a week. That’s major weight loss and I don’t believe you saw the same weight loss at 3500 calories and 900 calories for an extended period of time. It simply doesn’t work from a physical standpoint.
“Empirical” to me implies a level of data that you don’t get from a singular anecdote.
You're right, I didn't say I lost weight at the same rate. Oh well.
Cool? It seems you're mostly interested in your own opinions - both with regards to my empirical evidence and your connotation of the word. I'm not interested in either.
Also, your analysis of my losing weight on 3500 calories requiring my TDEE to be >3500 is drastically marred by your clear assumption that a calorie = a calorie. You're incapable of accepting anything that doesn't fall into line with that assumption. Strong bias.
Please provide any evidence that a carb calorie counts for nearly 4 protein calories and I’ll take your anecdote a lot more seriously. You’re making an extraordinary claim with no evidence. Why would I accept your anecdote over my “assumption” that dietary scientists weren’t all completely incompetent when they agreed that a calorie is roughly a calorie? How is it that you calculated a 4:1 conversion and everyone with an actual lab doesn’t?
If you told me that one time your car got 120 mpg because you switched to premium fuel, I’d likewise not believe you. I’m much more likely to think your gauge is faulty or you misread your actual results.
As much as you might want your personal anecdote to be compelling, it just isn’t. I’m not going to give your anecdote the same weight that I give the broad scientific consensus.
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Actually...empirical works as well. I think anecdotal is just the latest trend.
Empirical
based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic. "they provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument"