Help understanding BMR requirements

jalapenopizza

I used an online website to calculate my BMR. I'm lightly active (walk a mile or two 3 times a week), 19 yo, 205 lbs, and 5'5". It says my BMR is 1762, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to consume that many calories a day, let alone eat more than that to keep up with what I lose during exercise. From my understanding, you do not go under your BMR because your body then goes into "starvation" mode and prevents itself from burning the calories. So you must meet the BMR or go above it, plus add in working out to burn the excess calories and gain muscle. Am I understanding this correctly?

toxikon

I eat under my BMR with no problem. My BMR is 1500, and I eat 1300-1400 calories a day to lose approximately 1lbs (or less) a week. I'm not too hungry and I have pretty steady progress with it.

Starvation mode is a myth.

To lose a pound a week, you need to eat at a 500 calorie daily deficit off your TDEE. The key is just finding a daily goal that works best for you: a goal that results in weight loss but doesn't leave you feeling too hungry, weak, or tired.

Also, assuming you have a desk job, it sounds like you'd fit better into the Sedentary category. A short walk a few times a week isn't enough to push you into "Lightly Active" unless you have a job where you're busy and on your feet all day.

livingleanlivingclean

It won't go in to starvation mode, but you should be able to eat above your bmr and lose weight (or above maintenance to gain)

Have you put your stats in to MFP?

Eating 1700 cals isn't hard. Easy in fact!

Rusty740

Your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories you need to stay at the weight you are, while not moving a muscle all day. It's like what they'd feed you if you were in a coma.

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is your BMR, plus the calories you'd expend by moving around and doing your thing. An estimate of your TDEE at sedentary levels of movement is about 1.2 times your BMR

Your body will seek equilibrium with whatever you give it to match your TDEE. I'm going to assume that you'd like to lose a few pounds. So what you can do is think of a healthy weight, or some goal weight that you'd like to get to, say 190 lbs for starters. Figure out what your TDEE is for that, eat that much and your body will get there.

It is true that in general, most healthy-weight people should not eat below their BMR for very long, it just makes sense, we'd run out of energy to use, but those with more significant fat stores can comfortably eat below BMR while losing weight. You do not want to go too far though. I'd suggest the strategy in the paragraph above. Find a nice intermediate goal weight, and eat the TDEE for that.

At 5'5" & 205 lbs, you have plenty of stored fat. Your BMR at a healthy weight will be much less.

Now in regards to how in the world are you supposed to eat 1762? The truth is that you already know how, you've been eating more than this already to get to 205 lbs. The vast majority of people significantly underestimate how many calories they're putting in their bodies.

I did a little calculating for you, here's how much you'd need to eat each day at the following weights.
200 lbs = 2090
175 lbs = 1958
150 lbs = 1829
125 lbs = 1698

Christine_72

jalapenopizza wrote: »

19 yo, 205 lbs, and 5'5". It says my BMR is 1762, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to consume that many calories a day, let alone eat more than that to keep up with what I lose during exercise.

With all due respect, you've been eating quite a bit more than 1762 calories to get too 205lbs. You can do it, don't be afraid of food