BMR and MFP's daily calorie expenditure

madkcole

What is the difference between BMR and MFP's daily calorie expenditure? Or are they the same thing?

editorgrrl

Your calorie goal is activity level minus deficit.

CyberTone

​​Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expressed in kilocalories (1 kilocalorie = 1 Calorie) that a person needs to keep the body functioning at rest. Some of those processes are breathing, blood circulation, controlling body temperature, cell growth, brain and nerve function, and contraction of muscles. BMR affects the rate that a person burns Calories and ultimately whether you maintain, gain, or lose weight. Your BMR rate accounts for about 60 to 75% of the Calories you burn every day. [1]

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor. One of the methods includes the following multiplication factors. [2], [3]
Sedentary - Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job); or little or no exercise: BMR x 1.2
Lightly Active - Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesperson); or light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week: BMR x 1.375
Active - Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal delivery worker); or moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week: BMR x 1.55
Very Active - Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter); or hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week: BMR x 1.725

References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris–Benedict_equation
[3] http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

madkcole

Thanks for the info. I guess what I was asking is what is the difference between your BMR as compared to MFP's daily calorie expenditure? So, if I calculated my BMR to be 1769, but MFP says my daily calorie expenditure is 2150, why are these two numbers different? Aren't they both supposed to represent the total number of calories expended in a day (excluding extra exercise)? I hope these questions make better sense.

_Terrapin_

TEF and NEAT are the difference. TEF-thermic effect of food and non-exercise activity(moving around during the day) for you are approximately 2150 - 1769. TDEE=BMR + TEF +NEAT + EAT(exercise). Make sense?

3dogsrunning

madkcole wrote: »

Thanks for the info. I guess what I was asking is what is the difference between your BMR as compared to MFP's daily calorie expenditure? So, if I calculated my BMR to be 1769, but MFP says my daily calorie expenditure is 2150, why are these two numbers different? Aren't they both supposed to represent the total number of calories expended in a day (excluding extra exercise)? I hope these questions make better sense.

No.
Your BMR is only the calories your body needs to survive, like if you were in a coma with no movement at all.
On top of that we burn calories in daily life, moving around house, our job, etc. that is what MFP calculates. They expect you to log exercise separate.
When you include BMR, daily activity and exercise, that is TDEE total daily energy expenditure.

editorgrrl

madkcole wrote: »

What is the difference between your BMR as compared to MFP's daily calorie expenditure? So, if I calculated my BMR to be 1769, but MFP says my daily calorie expenditure is 2150, why are these two numbers different?

Aren't they both supposed to represent the total number of calories expended in a day (excluding extra exercise)?

No. TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the number of calories to maintain your current weight.

BMR is the calories you'd burn in a coma—breathing, digesting, pumping blood, etc.

As I said above, your default MFP calorie goal is your activity level minus deficit. (Your deficit is 250 calories for every .5 lb.) Then you're meant to log your exercise & eat back your exercise calories.

CyberTone

madkcole wrote: »

Thanks for the info. I guess what I was asking is what is the difference between your BMR as compared to MFP's daily calorie expenditure? So, if I calculated my BMR to be 1769, but MFP says my daily calorie expenditure is 2150, why are these two numbers different? Aren't they both supposed to represent the total number of calories expended in a day (excluding extra exercise)? I hope these questions make better sense.

You most likely set your MFP activity level as Sedentary, which is a multiplication factor of 1.2.
Your BMR x 1.2 (Sedentary) = 1769 x 1.2 = 2122.8, which is roughly 2150 rounded.
Note: If you recalculate your BMR to include the 2 lbs. your profile indicates you have lost, MFP's initial setting of 2150 would more closely match.

madkcole

Can you all see the light bulb going off in my head? Thank you!