BMR & Maintaining Calories

llbrixon

How do I determine my calorie needs from this information? BMR 1351, Maintenance Calories 1858. My activity and age are already factored in with the numbers.

maxit

Not sure what you are asking - if you entered the correct data, the 1858 # is what you are burning every day - so if you want to maintain, keep it up, and if you want to lose weight, then select a deficit that makes sense (250-500 calories a day for a .5 to 1 lb loss average per week). The information is an estimate only, so it will take a month or more to find out how accurate it is AND how accurate your logging/tracking is.

arditarose

So you are trying to do the TDEE method? Subtract 500 if you want to lose a pound per week, 250 for a half pound.

veganbaum

If your goal is to lose weight, you need to eat under your maintenance calories. If using TDEE, a good goal is to subtract 15-20% from your maintenance calories and eat to that goal.

You could also just start by using MFP. In that case, you are meant to add your exercise in and eat those calories (because unlike TDEE, this method does not include exercise until you actually do it). Many people will start with eating back 50-75% to account for inaccuracies and see how that works after 4-6 weeks, then adjust from there.

It's up to you which method you choose, though ultimately the numbers should be similar. You just need to eat fewer calories than you need to maintain (without creating too large a deficit, as that's not good), and you will lose weight.