BMR, calories etc. How MFP works question

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jennygarofalo
jennygarofalo Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
MFP has me at 1250 calories as goal. BMR is 1481. Daily cal needs is 1721 from another site.

So I am 5'10 and 149. I do try to exercise every day ranging from 200-900 calories burned.

To do this healthy I should at least eat my BMR on days I exercise, and maybe a percentage back to not go into starvation mode/lose muscle/plateau? Yesterday I burned 811 calories from exercise and ate about 1590, So total net was 779 cal. Is this good or am I setting myself up for future problems?

Thanks!

Replies

  • SwitzEngine
    SwitzEngine Posts: 3,418 Member
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    I do the same
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    First, it doesn't matter if you eat less than BMR. Throughout the day, we burn calories in various ways. BMR is just a way to account for some of them. Generally, women need at least 1200 calories and men at least 1500 calories to be healthy. Other than that, the question is how big is your deficit. There is a limit to how quickly the body can get energy from fat, so having a deficit that is too large can cause problems. MFP wants you to have a deficit of 1000 or less. So netting a low number could put you at too large a deficit. But MFP doesn't combine exercise calories and normal activity calories very well, so you may see a low net and still be at a good calorie deficit.
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
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    What is your weight loss goal set at? With only 6 lbs to go, it should be at 0.5 lbs a week. 1250 sounds too low to me at your height with a healthy BMI. Set your goal to 0.5 lbs a week and eat back about half of your exercise calories if you are using the MFP database to calculate and see how it goes.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    mirrim52 wrote: »
    What is your weight loss goal set at? With only 6 lbs to go, it should be at 0.5 lbs a week. 1250 sounds too low to me at your height with a healthy BMI. Set your goal to 0.5 lbs a week and eat back about half of your exercise calories if you are using the MFP database to calculate and see how it goes.
    This - set your loss goal to .5 pound a week and you should get more cals. Also remember that MFP is designed that you should eat back your burned cals - your daily NET cals should be at or very near your original goal.

    Personally, I never eat below my BMR - I like food, and I like being well fueled. I know my BMR and my TDEE, and I aim to eat in between those numbers. By doing so I have lost the weight and have kept it off for about three years now.

    I am also in my 40's and an inch shorter than you, and I eat and lose on 1800-2000 cals a day, so I'm guessing that 1250 is too low for you, especially if you're really active.
  • Nuke_64
    Nuke_64 Posts: 406 Member
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    AmyRhubarb wrote: »
    MFP is designed that you should eat back your burned cals - your daily NET cals should be at or very near your original goal.

    Is this true? Can you point this out somewhere? I have basically the same question as the OP and have search this site and find many people do not do that, including the first responded to the OP.

    I previously used another website/tracking tool (Spark People) where no calorie credit was given for exercise. Plus the amount of calories burned is likely in accurate so I don't think your daily goal should be hitting a net calorie number but I would like to know what the MFP view is.

    For me, I eat 5 meals a day, 3 are around 200 calories, 2 are around 400. My exercise of choice is mountain biking which according to my HRM, I burn 700-1000 calories. If I had to replace them all that day, I would have to eat 2 or 3 more meals. I like food as well, but for me yo-yo'ing between days I need to eat extra will erode by ability to eat reasonably on days I do not ride. What I do do though, is bank some of those burned calories for an splurge event.

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