BMR/TDEE

GodlyWhiteBoy

Ok so I know my BMR is estimated* at 2400 and my TDEE estimated* at a little over 2900 cals. So when I start working out and I'm cutting all the way to BMR would that make a situation to where I have to add calories back? Now that I'm typing this it seems obvious....but is it? I would think just eat at BMR or a little more under BMR b/c I am 105lbs overweight. 32 5'11 280 lbs currently

JeromeBarry1

What's the * doing after the estimateds? Never mind that. To get a user account you had to see a page in which myfitnesspal asked for your age, gender, current weight, goal weight, and loss per week goal. Answer those questions truthfully and realistically. Then myfitnesspal tells you how many calories you can eat. Then you do that.

Whatever else you do, please don't try to overcomplicate this.

Ready2Rock206

If you are doing TDEE calculations that already includes exercise so you do not eat them back.

rmgnow

If I were you I'd try to do 2000 Cal's a day. It's healthy and you'll see gains quick

Add in some weight training and it would be nice.
Following calories is so much easier because your metabolism can actually change

lynn_glenmont

Forget about your BMR. It's pretty irrelevant in trying to figure out a calorie goal, since it doesn't reflect your activity level.

If you got a TDEE number from some other site, you could cut 20% from it, since you have so much to lose, which would mean aiming for 2320 calories daily, and not eating back exercise calories, because they're already accounted for.

If you think you got a TDEE number from this site (MFP), you're mistaken. MFP calculates NEAT (general lifestyle activity included, but not intentional "exercise"). Given that the "TDEE" you quote is only 1.2 times the BMR you quote, I'm inclined to think you have confused NEAT for TDEE, unless you don't exercise at all. (Somebody who remembers for sure the multiplier MFP uses for different activity levels can check me on this, but 1.2X BMR sounds like NEAT at a sedentary level.)

DX2JX2

GodlyWhiteBoy wrote: »

Ok so I know my BMR is estimated* at 2400 and my TDEE estimated* at a little over 2900 cals. So when I start working out and I'm cutting all the way to BMR would that make a situation to where I have to add calories back? Now that I'm typing this it seems obvious....but is it? I would think just eat at BMR or a little more under BMR b/c I am 105lbs overweight. 32 5'11 280 lbs currently

It all depends on your goals, but with 105 pounds to lose you could target 2 to 2.5 pounds per week with no problems (unless you believe that you won't be able to stick to the meal plan).

Don't worry about BMR, only consider the actual amount of calories used in a given day. 2900 is likely your daily calorie burn assuming a relatively sedate lifestyle (that is, it makes no assumptions for exercise or activity level - this is a good thing as it's better to adjust for exercise on your own rather than to let the automated calculation make some generic guesses on your behalf). You can confirm this via MFP or any other calorie need calculator on the internet (though be warned that most are way generous with calories, try to stick with some of the more conservative calculators out there - MFP is pretty reasonable).

All else equal, a 500 calorie deficit per day (2900-500=2400 calories per day) will net you about 1 pound loss per week. A 1000 calorie deficit will net you 2 pounds per week (2900-1000=1900 calories per day).

Exercise/activity calorie adjustments are up to you. You could theoretically eat those back (that is, add the calories burned by exercise to your daily target), but be warned that most people drastically overestimate the amount of calories burned by exercise. As a result, it's common habit to only eat back 50% of those calories, or many of us just don't eat them at all unless we feel our bodies perpetually lacking energy.

At your hypothetical calorie targets, I wouldn't worry too much about eating back your exercise calories for now - you'll still get plenty of food in your unadjusted target. Try it out for 3-4 weeks and see how you feel. If you feel sluggish or otherwise lacking in energy on an ongoing basis, start eating back 50% of your exercise calories and see if that makes a difference.

StaciMarie1974

BMR is the energy your body uses for basic living functions. The calories you burn for your heart/lungs/brain and other organs/bodily systems to function. For your body to maintain your temperature in a normal range, to digest/process food and waste, circulate oxygen/blood and such.

Then you also use energy to move thru your day. To get up, out of bed and move around your house. The movement you do while at work and on any hobbies, errands, and such.

Then you burn additional bursts of energy for exercise, particularly for cardio. THis is because during cardio: you are moving multiple major muscle groups for an extended period of time.

BMR is a function of your height, weight, gender and age. And your activity is generally a percentage of your BMR, more or less depending on how active you are. Such as a fairly sedentary person may burn 20% of their BMR for activity, while a lightly active person might burn 30%. These are estimates, of course.

TDEE or total daily energy expenditure is all of the above, usually factored over a week and averaged daily.

Whether or not you need to eat additional for exercise depends on how you arrived at your calorie goal. MFP gives you a calorie goal based on BMR & activity only, so you'd normally 'add in' your exercise. But if you use a TDEE calculator, that already includes your exercise so you would not eat additional.

Ultimately the result should be about the same.

Example: If your BMR is 2000 and you're lightly active then your activity calories are about 900. So MFP would say 2900 - 500 (to lose 1 pound per week): eat 2400. You log 400 for exercise, MFP says to eat 2800.

Example part 2: you're using a TDEE calculator that considers your exercise TDEE is 3300 and to lose 1 pound per week: eat 2800. You do not add anything in for exercise as its already counted.

GodlyWhiteBoy

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

If you are doing TDEE calculations that already includes exercise so you do not eat them back.

Thank you for reminding me of this! I totally forgot.