Another dumb newbie question... Sorry

misspenny762

If my BMR is 1,385, why is MFP's daily calorie goal for me 1,200? Not that it bothers me, because I can eat 1,200 calories in a day and easily feel full, even overstuffed, but isn't that unhealthy? I'm a bit confused...

Sorry in advance for the newbie question, I seem to be clogging the boards with a lot of these

foxxybrown

Your BMR is 1385 so if you are trying to lose, the goal would have to be less than that. The healthy recommended minimum is 1200.

ashlee954

In order to lose weight you have to burn more (exercise and BMR) than you eat. You have to create a deficit. 1200 is the amount you should consume (net). Meaning if you exercise away 500 cals then you should eat 1700 (some people don't eat their exercise cals and some only eat half).

misspenny762

Oooh, ok. See I was a bit confused, I was thinking that eating below BMR was what put you into starvation mode. Like I said, dumb question haha but that makes me feel much better. Thank you!

sarahliftsUP

Oooh, ok. See I was a bit confused, I was thinking that eating below BMR was what put you into starvation mode. Like I said, dumb question haha but that makes me feel much better. Thank you!

Not a dumb question at all! As long as you are eating at least 1200 calories a day (on a non workout day), then you won't go into starvation mode.

astridfeline

Oooh, ok. See I was a bit confused, I was thinking that eating below BMR was what put you into starvation mode. Like I said, dumb question haha but that makes me feel much better. Thank you!

You are correct--eating below your BMR may put you into starvation mode. BMR is the amount of calories needed to sustain you in a coma. So if on a normal day you get out of bed, do all your normal daily activities, and exercise, then you need to eat more. Depending on the settings you selected for weight loss (1 or 2 lbs/week), MFP will calculate your net cals, and it might give a number less than your BMR, but will never give you anything less than 1200 cals.

Mindful_Trent

Someone already said this, but since some people get this wrong it's worth emphasizing... BMR is what you would burn if you laid in bed and did nothing all day. Your calories burned from normal daily activity is going to be more than your BMR. For example, I normally burn about 2100 to 2300 a day, but my BMR is going to be less than that. I would base my calculation for how many calories to eat based on the calories burned from normal daily activity, NOT my BMR. I eat 1200/day, because that's the 2200 average calories burned a day minus the 1000 deficit for a 2 pounds per week loss.

Regarding eating more or less than your BMR, I'm not sure about that... but my BMR is estimated to be 1680, so if I were to eat that every day and still want to lose 2 lbs a week, I would have to exercise every day and not eat back the exercise calories. I've been okay so far with a 1200 calories/day plus most of my exercise calories - some days I hit my BMR estimate and some days I don't. I'm not too worried about it.