BMR/TDEE Help

prettyleelee

I have been reading all over about BMR/TDEE however I am still so confused. I have been eating about 1300-1500 calories a day. I have no clue if this is to much/not enough to lose my 2lbs a week. Is anyone able to help me get a better understanding. Here are my states

F
31
234lbs
5'4
BMI 40
BMR is 1764 (I work out 6 days a week)
TDEE is 2657

I have a goal of losing 2lbs a week can anyone help me understand what my calorie intake should be for this goal.

DemoraFairy

To lose 2lbs a week you need to eat 1000 calories less than your TDEE, so 1657 calories a day. (Bear in mind if you eat this you DON'T add your exercise calories back like you do if you use MyFitnessPal's recommended calories, as MFP doesn't include the fact that you work out 6 days a week)

juggernaut1974

2 lbs per week means a daily calorie deficit averaging 1,000 per day.

So subtract 1,000 from your TDEE of 2657 and that's your daily goal (1,657).

Note - that since you're using a TDEE method, don't eat back any calories you earn from exercise. The 1,657 calculation includes exercise.

futuremanda

You need a deficit of 1000 calories per day to lose 2 lbs a week. (3500 x 2)/7

If your TDEE is 2657, then that is how much you burn in a day, in total. (Remembering that everything is an estimate, but that's fine -- that's a starting point.)

2657 - 1000 = 1657 per day.

Using TDEE, you do NOT eat back exercise calories. Since they were counted in calculating your TDEE, you'd be counting them a second time if you did.

So eat 1600-1700 a day, and work out as planned.

Re-evaluate in a month or so to get an average weekly loss.

Remember to recalculate TDEE periodically as you lose also -- smaller bodies burn fewer calories, so you'll need to adjust your calories down over time (or become more active).

futuremanda

Just adding:

BMR is a largely irrelevant number. You will read a lot of myths about it -- like to never eat below it, or to subtract from it. Ignore. BMR is the number of calories your body would burn if it were in a coma (i.e. keep your heart pumping etc but 0 other movement). It is a number that factors into equations to help get numbers that ARE useful (like TDEE), but it is not a number YOU need to pay attention to.

peachyfuzzle

You shouldn't eat below your BMR, so 2lbs/week might be a little aggressive as that works out to -1000cal/day.

Your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive, so if you were in a vegetative state, this is the amount of calories you'd burn per day.

Your TDEE is your BMR + all daily activity, so the more you move, the higher your TDEE goes, but your BMR stays the same until you either gain, or lose weight.

1lb of fat is roughly equivalent to 3500 calories, so a 1000cal/day deficit from your TDEE is equal to 7000cal/week deficit from your TDEE which is about 2lb/week loss. However, since your body needs a minimum calorie allotment of your BMR just to keep itself alive, you shouldn't be eating less than that amount because of possible adverse health effects.

If I were you, I'd shoot for something lower like 1lb - 1.5lb/week so that you're taking anywhere from 500 - 750 calories off daily, meaning you'd be ingesting between 1900 - 2150cals/day. This way you're only digging into your activity calories, and not the calories your body needs to stay alive.

Remember, any equipment that has a calorie burn on it is usually severely incorrect, so it is generally better to take half of that estimate.

It takes at least a few weeks to see anything on the scale, so you'll have to keep your log as accurate as possible, and adjust accordingly as any calorie estimation including BMR/TDEE is only an estimate. Your body may need more, or less calories, and you can only figure out how much more, or less by trial, and error.

TimothyFish

peachyfuzzle wrote: »

You shouldn't eat below your BMR, so 2lbs/week might be a little aggressive as that works out to -1000cal/day.

Your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive, so if you were in a vegetative state, this is the amount of calories you'd burn per day.

Your TDEE is your BMR + all daily activity, so the more you move, the higher your TDEE goes, but your BMR stays the same until you either gain, or lose weight.

1lb of fat is roughly equivalent to 3500 calories, so a 1000cal/day deficit from your TDEE is equal to 7000cal/week deficit from your TDEE which is about 2lb/week loss. However, since your body needs a minimum calorie allotment of your BMR just to keep itself alive, you shouldn't be eating less than that amount because of possible adverse health effects.

If I were you, I'd shoot for something lower like 1lb - 1.5lb/week so that you're taking anywhere from 500 - 750 calories off daily, meaning you'd be ingesting between 1900 - 2150cals/day. This way you're only digging into your activity calories, and not the calories your body needs to stay alive.

Remember, any equipment that has a calorie burn on it is usually severely incorrect, so it is generally better to take half of that estimate. If you decide to eat any of those calories back, then only eat a quarter of the estimate.

It takes at least a few weeks to see anything on the scale, so you'll have to keep your log as accurate as possible, and adjust accordingly as any calorie estimation including BMR/TDEE is only an estimate. Your body may need more, or less calories, and you can only figure out how much more, or less by trial, and error.

BMR is just a number. It doesn't matter if you eat below BMR or not. In fact, if you were lying in bed all day, the only way you would be able to lose weight is by eating below your BMR. I'm all for people being active, but people who aren't are going to end up eating below their BMR.

prettyleelee

Ok I have been doing 1240 and only eating about 100 back after entering my workouts. I am down 20lbs but I know I am not eating enough. Since I am trying to change my habits I want to be able to keep a sustainable amount and I don't think 1240 is sustainable 1650 is more sustainable for me. I really didn't know and thank you for telling me to NOT eat my workout calories back I won't even track them then. This info is a lot of help.

Now if I am going to do 1650 what would you do for % right now I have these set

Carbs 30%
Fat 30%
Protein 40%

Does this seem right?

ruggedshutter

I ate below my BMR the other day... *checking pulse* Yep, still alive

futuremanda

prettyleelee wrote: »

Ok I have been doing 1240 and only eating about 100 back after entering my workouts. I am down 20lbs but I know I am not eating enough. Since I am trying to change my habits I want to be able to keep a sustainable amount and I don't think 1240 is sustainable 1650 is more sustainable for me. I really didn't know and thank you for telling me to NOT eat my workout calories back I won't even track them then. This info is a lot of help.

Now if I am going to do 1650 what would you do for % right now I have these set

Carbs 30%
Fat 30%
Protein 40%

Does this seem right?

You WOULD eat them back if you use MFP's calorie goals. MFP gives you the -1000 target without factoring in exercise, that's why it wants you to eat them back after you do exercise and log it (otherwise, if you burn say 500, you're now -1500, which is a lot more than targeted). So when you were doing 1240, eating back exercise cals made sense.

But if you're using that TDEE number, then you don't. TDEE includes the estimate of your weekly exercise in its target, whereas MFP has to hear about it after you log exercise. If doing 1650 (TDEE -1000): You can choose not to log exercise, log it and ignore the calories, or log it and change all the calories burned to 1.

For macros, it's a bit personal, and you don't even have to pay attention to it at all if you don't want to. You may find the data helpful -- you may notice certain macro splits give you more energy, or keep you fuller.