any guidance on BMR please?

vhamui

At first, I was extremely confused. I couldn't understand how it was possible to burn more calories than the ones you eat. I mean... a normal diet is about 2000 calories and with my FitnessPal I have one of 1630. Not counting weightlifting, I didn't reach that amount at all.
Then I discovered that there is something called BMR which is the amount of calories you basically burn by merely living.

Now this is the confusing part: according to the internet calculators taking into account my age, height and weight my BMR should be about 1503 cal. But I do every once a month a body scan and these ones tend to be between 5000 and 6000. Is this too innacurate? Which information is the correct one?

I tend to train 6 days a week, consisting of 15 mins warm up, weight lifting and 30-40 mins in the eliptical. Additionally 1 to 2 times a week I have Zumba class.

I weight around 64kg, I am 24 years old and 1.60
Any answers?

greaseswabber

If the body scan gives you a bmr estimate in kilojoules, they are pretty close. 6000 kilojoules = 1434 calories.

vhamui

greaseswabber wrote: »

If the body scan gives you a bmr estimate in kilojoules, they are pretty close. 6000 kilojoules = 1434 calories.

Ooooh I get it now.. and I just noticed the calories below. Thank you!

But I would still like to understand beyond that. Is there a "101" for understanding these stuff available anywere? You know... BMR, BMI, TBW, FFM, etc...?

greaseswabber

There are lot of great sticky posts in the "Most Helpful posts - [Forum Name] (Must Reads)" at the top of each forum.

Some good ones for you might be:

Great outline of the process - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

A very detailed post about BMR and TDEE - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/931670/bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide/p1

Definitions for some common acronyms and terms - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1069278/acronyms-and-terms-for-new-mfp-members-v-6/p1

I'll try a tl:dr summary

You have BMR (basal metabolic rate) defined correctly. It is the minimum number of calories needed to perform basic bodily functions.

Another number that you'll see is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). This is the sum of all of your activities: any exercise, normal moving around, chasing your dog etc. It is the number of calories that you burn in a day.

Yet another number is NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). This is the daily expenditure for all the normal activities, including strenuous work if you do that, but not exercise. It is TDEE minus exercise.

When you set up MFP you enter an activity level (sedentary, lightly active etc) along with height, weight, gender, and age. MFP estimates your NEAT. Then MFP subtracts from your estimated NEAT the number of calories needed to achieve the necessary deficit for the weight loss goal that you choose. This number is your daily goal.

If you eat at or near your daily goal, and eat back 50 - 100% of your intentional exercise calories, then you'll create a sustainable caloric deficit that will allow you to lose weight safely.

Some caveats: these are all estimates, so you may need to reassess and change values based on your actual weight loss results; this presumes that you are accurate in measuring your intake; as you get closer to your goal weight, your energy requirements change, so you'll need to reevaluate then as well.


Still kind of long. I tried my best.

vhamui

Wow... so much algebra for a couple of acronyms! Thanks kind stranger!
I will most definetly check out the links.
There is a world I still need to discover on this!