How important is BMR?

Killerdolphin_9
Killerdolphin_9 Posts: 22 Member
edited November 21 in Getting Started
i just learned the difference between BMR and TDEE. Oops. But I read that if I don't eat my BMR that I could stop breathing and my heart could stop beating. Is this true? I'm trying to lose 70 pounds and I made my calorie goal 1,200. Sometimes I'm over that. But my BMR is approximately 1,600. Do I need to eat at least 1,600 to live? I don't want to eat that much

The number of calories I need to maintain my weight is a little over 2,000
My TDEE is a little over 2,000
My BMR is a little over 1,600

I weigh 187.5 pounds and am 5'2.
MFP has me eating at about 1,200 calories.

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    It's not

    That's not true

    Only things that matter are calories in against calories out ( TDEE)

    BMR is a component of TDEE but you can eat under it if you want...just hit nutritional minimums and all is good

    Lol at what you've read though ...damn there is some ridiculous stuff on the h'internet
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    MFP has you eating at 1200 because that's what you told it eg activity level and goal weight loss...it won't drop below 1200 for a woman
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    http://thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-calories-on-a-non-fast-day/ Use this calculator to work out how much to eat. I"m not suggesting you take up the fasting diet but this way of calculating what to eat to lose weight is better. If you try to lose 2 pounds a week and you find yourself getting hungry, then change you calories to a 1 pound a week loss and improve the quality of your food.
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    Next don't eat less than your BMR. Look up BMR on wikipedia and try to understand what it really means. To be healthy and not suffer the consequences of a low calorie diet you are better off eating above your BMR. Losing weight really fast is not ideal. It nearly always backfires and you end up gaining it all back.

    If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you have to learn how to eat nutritious food. If you are unwilling to change the way you eat you will not succeed in the long run.

    Cutting your calories severely even in the short term usually ends up with you getting rundown and then you get a major appetite backlash at some point within 3 months. So try to take the big picture approach from the outset.
  • Killerdolphin_9
    Killerdolphin_9 Posts: 22 Member
    I went to CalorieKing.com and it said I should be eating between 1250 and 1450 calories a day to lose weight and now I'm even more confused
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    Is that because you said you wanted to lose x pounds by x date ? If so then you are trying to lose it all too quickly. Like i said, use the fast diet calculator.
  • Killerdolphin_9
    Killerdolphin_9 Posts: 22 Member
    It didn't give me the option to pick a date. I really am ok if it takes a while as long as I lose it safely. It didn't even give me the option to say what my goal weight was. It simply said "You should weigh between 101-136lbs. Eat this many calories to lose weight."
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited July 2015
    Patttience wrote: »
    Next don't eat less than your BMR. Look up BMR on wikipedia and try to understand what it really means. To be healthy and not suffer the consequences of a low calorie diet you are better off eating above your BMR. Losing weight really fast is not ideal. It nearly always backfires and you end up gaining it all back.

    If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you have to learn how to eat nutritious food. If you are unwilling to change the way you eat you will not succeed in the long run.

    Cutting your calories severely even in the short term usually ends up with you getting rundown and then you get a major appetite backlash at some point within 3 months. So try to take the big picture approach from the outset.

    No that's wrong . Please ignore this.

    Cutting calories severely implies a VLCD which is <800 calories

    A woman can hit macro and micro nutritional requirements at 1200 calories

    BMR is irrelevant other than as a component of TDEE

    Latest research has indicated that fast and slow weight loss have equal long term results...it's dieter's change in lifestyle that counts in the long term
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Killerdolphin_9 wrote: »
    It didn't give me the option to pick a date. I really am ok if it takes a while as long as I lose it safely. It didn't even give me the option to say what my goal weight was. It simply said "You should weigh between 101-136lbs. Eat this many calories to lose weight."
    Also that link ...

    If you want to double check calories try
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Or even this written by an MFPer

    http://www.weightloss-calculator.net

    Just don't drop below 1200 and eat back 50 % of exercise calories if using MFP database

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Killerdolphin_9 wrote: »
    i just learned the difference between BMR and TDEE. Oops. But I read that if I don't eat my BMR that I could stop breathing and my heart could stop beating. Is this true? I'm trying to lose 70 pounds and I made my calorie goal 1,200. Sometimes I'm over that. But my BMR is approximately 1,600. Do I need to eat at least 1,600 to live? I don't want to eat that much

    That 70 pounds is 245,000 calories which will fuel your essentials for about six months, which is why hunger strikers take months to die so you've been sold some lies I'm afraid.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited July 2015
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Patttience wrote: »
    Next don't eat less than your BMR. Look up BMR on wikipedia and try to understand what it really means. To be healthy and not suffer the consequences of a low calorie diet you are better off eating above your BMR. Losing weight really fast is not ideal. It nearly always backfires and you end up gaining it all back.

    If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you have to learn how to eat nutritious food. If you are unwilling to change the way you eat you will not succeed in the long run.

    Cutting your calories severely even in the short term usually ends up with you getting rundown and then you get a major appetite backlash at some point within 3 months. So try to take the big picture approach from the outset.

    No that's wrong . Please ignore this.

    Cutting calories severely implies a VLCD which is <800 calories

    A woman can hit macro and micro nutritional requirements at 1200 calories

    BMR is irrelevant other than as a component of TDEE

    Latest research has indicated that fast and slow weight loss have equal long term results...it's dieter's change in lifestyle that counts in the long term

    What rabbitjb says is correct.

    I lost 95 lbs, I ate below BMR for the first part of that (or at least I think so -- all BMR numbers are an estimate and neither you nor your body knows what it is, under ordinary circumstances.

    You don't have to eat 1200 if you are finding it difficult or feel deprived, but at your size and level of activity it's likely fine. If you exercise you will want to eat some of the calories back--that's how MFP works.

    I wouldn't confuse yourself with all the different calculators at the beginning. Try the MFP method and see how it goes. If you lose more than 2 lb/week, raise your calories or change your activity setting to lightly active.
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