Eating at BMR but not losing weight?

samloveschris

Hi everyone,

I have been logging with MFP for a few months now. Initially I had my calorie goal set at 2lbs a week with a 1200 calorie daily goal for the first 2 months but didn't see any weight loss.

About 6 week's ago, I chaneed the goal to lose 1.5lbs a week. MFP gave me a goal of 1340 calories.

I lost 8lbs in 5 weeks eating 1,300 calories but I also upped my water intake a lot so I suspect it was water weight.

Recently, I read about BMR and TDEE and my TDEE came out around 2460 calories to maintain weight and my BMR was around 1566 to lose weight.

I have tried eating around 1500 calories for the last 3 week's but haven't lost any weight.

I eat reasonably healthy. I eat porridge for breakfast and fruit, low fat yoghurts, no fast food or fizzy drinks, nothing fried everything grilled, no chocolate etc but still not seeing any difference in the last few weeks.

I go to the gym 5 Times a week doing cardio for example running, elliptical, exercise bike and do strength training 3 times a week but not lost any weight in the last 3 weeks. Plus the calories that I do eat I always net then at the end of the day.

Has anyone had success losing weight eating at their bmr? If I go 100/200 calories below bmr will that help to lose weight? I've tried 1200 net calories a day and 1500 net calories but neither worked.

I'm 5'1 and 168 (12 stone) and looking to get to 9 stone 7lbs. Any help would be much appreciated its getting me really down and fee like giving up.

And I've been going to the gym for 4 months and only lost 3 inches on my waist.

Thank you for reading. X x x

aszwarc

BMR is what your body needs to function if you were in a coma. You need to take in more than that.

If your TDEE is 2460, try 20% below that, which would put you around 1970.

samammay

Also, do you measure everything you eat or are you just guessing/eyeballing? A food scale is essential, at least until you have some experience with portions. But yes, what aszwarc said... you need to eat more than your BMR. 1970 sounds about right.

Also, if you are eating your TDEE, you shouldnt be eating your exercise calories back as those are included in the TDEE calculation.

danofthedead1979

I eat about 200 cals under my bmr. Because I have an office job my activity level is set at sedentary. I log my exercise using a hrm for accuracy and eat back my exercise calories. I am and have been consistantly losing about 1lb a week.

Approx bmr 1850
Approx tdee 1950
Daily calorie limit 1650

Yooperm35

Eat more! If you are working out 5xs a week, you should be eating up around 1900 calories

I like this calculator. I am never hungry and still losing weight

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

ETA: from personal experience- eating at your BMR is a setup for failure. It will
Work for a little while, but then you will stall and get frustrated and probably give up. EAT

samloveschris

Hi

Thank you for the replies.

I will try eating more I'm struggling to eat enough as it is as worried about putting on weight.

Also, I do weigh all my foods too and have a food scale, thanks for the suggestion.

And I do eat my exercise calories back too. Thank you for the replies will give it a go

bcattoes

OP, healthy humans lose weight when they eat below their TDEE.

If you are not losing at 1500, it's unlikely that you will begin losing by eating more. You might be able to increase your metabolism and eventually lose by eating more, but you should expect to gain some in the process.

If you are really eating 1500 calories - and by that I mean you are honestly logging everything, the good, the bad and the ugly, and you are not losing, then you might have some type of metabolic or hormonal disorder that is affecting weight loss. Or 1500 is not below your TDEE.

Online BMR and TDEE calculators can not tell you what your BMR or TDEE are. They only give you the population average. Again, without some disorder to change the rules, you would lose weight eating below TDEE.

If you are sure you are being honest and accurate in your logging, then I would suggest seeing a doctor to check for things like insulin resistance, PCOS, thyroid problem, etc.

DavPul

Are you weighing/measuring food?

Are you eating back exercise calories?

If eating back exercise calories, how are you arriving at the amount that you burned?

TheRealJigsaw

Open your diary

ElliottTN

OP, I'm not saying your lying but something in your equation is off. If you are eating at your true BMR then you would be losing. Period. Possibly you have health factors that make normal BMR calculations off. Maybe you are a secret eater and don't realize it. Maybe your cal burns recorded are way off and since you are eating them all back....something in your equation is wrong. I don't think eating more is going to get you where you want to go though.

samloveschris

I have always been worried that I have something wrong with my hormones. I had a blood test last year and my hormones and thyroid were fine, will get checked again. I definatly eat at my bmr or 100 calories below some days.

And I'm not a secret eater, I gave up all the bad stuff months ago.

I was just looking for some advice to see if I was heading in the right direction. I have calculated my Bmr and it comes out around 1566 calories on average.

Thank you doe the helpful replies I will make an appointment for another blood test.

samloveschris

And I use a heart rate monitor to calculate calories burned and I'm not looking for advice on food just the bmr and tdee my food diary has been approved by a dietician. Thanks

Unknown

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bcattoes

And I use a heart rate monitor to calculate calories burned and I'm not looking for advice on food just the bmr and tdee my food diary has been approved by a dietician. Thanks

Have you discussed your lack of weight loss with your dietician? What does s/he say?

samloveschris

Will get another blood test as last one was around a year ago. The first 2 months or so using MFP I didn't really eat enough (under 1200) until I increased it to 1200 net calories. Was told that may not be enough so increased to 1500 and drank loads more water and in 5 weeks lost 8lbs but am thinking it's water weight.

I got a meal plan from my dietician in September but not due to go back until end of November for an update on any weight lost so will ask then.

BobOki

My two cents for what worked, FOR ME, when I hit my wall. Leangains.com. The 7-12 alone was enough, I did not even have to do the diet (see food to eat not lose weight diet) to blow through wall.

Lleldiranne

If you are using TDEE, you shouldn't be eating back your exercise calories. Even BMR plus exercise calories could be off. It would be best to calculate TDEE - 15% to 20% or TDEE - 500 to 750 calories, then eat that every day whether you exercise or not.

It's also possible you are eating more than you think, especially if you don't carefully weigh everything. I'm not trying to say you're "cheating" … just that many people don't correctly estimate how much a serving is (really … what is 3 oz of meat? "A deck of cards" but that can even be hard to visualize for some people) and thus eat more than they think they are.

stumblinthrulife

Either -

You are eating more than you think you are
or
Your TDEE isn't as high as you think it is


First thing you should do is make sure you are really eating what you think you are. Get scales if you don't already have them. Measure and log everything without exception. Only use measuring cups for liquids.

If at that point you still aren't losing, then you have your TDEE set incorrectly. Examine your calorie burns, and the sources of them. Calculators for running calorie burn estimates are fairly reliable because incredible amounts of research that has gone into them. Elliptical burns, not so much. Swimming burns also are very personal, because few people swim consistently for the time they are in the pool (learned this one the hard way). Don't buy into the HRM myth - they aren't measuring calorie burns, and your heart rate isn't a good indicator of burn.

Once you have that accurate, all that's left is your underlying activity level. Be honest with yourself about it. If you struggle to figure it out, buy a pedometer like a Fitbit, link your accounts and set your activity level to sedentry. Fitbit will adjust up as necessary.

If you do all these things honestly and accurately, you will get back to losing weight.

ssaul989

Have you been measuring yourself? With as much exercise you are doing, you may be adding more muscle and thus your weight appears unchanged but you are still a healthier body. Take and track measurements of your waist, hips and neck. Track those for a couple of moths. Get off that scale. The whole thing is life style, do the right things, they will pay off.

samloveschris

Thanks for the replies.

I do have a food scale in my kitchen so I know I'm definitely not overeating and I'm not a secret eater. I gave u unhealthy foods ages ago and wouldn't secretly eat anyway because it means too much to me the reason why im trying to lose weight.

Based on the Harris-Benedict formula, my bmr is on average 1574 and my TDEE is 2439.7. I've used a lot of different calculators and give or take a few pounds this seems to be the most accurate number.

I go to the gym 5 days a week in the morning at 11am before work and burn between 300-400 calories so that is why I eat back the exercise calories otherwise at the end of the day I would be 300-400 calories under my goal.

I've measured my waist recently and have only lost 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my arms although I do feel fitter and healthier.

stumblinthrulife

Thanks for the replies.

I do have a food scale in my kitchen so I know I'm definitely not overeating and I'm not a secret eater. I gave u unhealthy foods ages ago and wouldn't secretly eat anyway because it means too much to me the reason why im trying to lose weight.

Based on the Harris-Benedict formula, my bmr is on average 1574 and my TDEE is 2439.7. I've used a lot of different calculators and give or take a few pounds this seems to be the most accurate number.

I go to the gym 5 days a week in the morning at 11am before work and burn between 300-400 calories so that is why I eat back the exercise calories otherwise at the end of the day I would be 300-400 calories under my goal.

I've measured my waist recently and have only lost 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my arms although I do feel fitter and healthier.

You have to fall back on observed reality. You were losing weight at 1,300 net calories, and you aren't at 1,500 net calories. I presume that's around 1,700 to 1,800 gross consumption. That's a pretty reasonable gross intake for a lady of your stature, so I don't believe 'eat more' is the answer for one second. At 5'10 and 12.5 stone (180 pounds) I had a gross of 2,000 and net of 1,500 to lose weight.

There really isn't anything you can manipulate that will be more effective than net calorie consumption.

climbing_trees

I've measured my waist recently and have only lost 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my arms although I do feel fitter and healthier.

That is a quite a lot of inches!
Don't let the scale be the only way you monitor and track progress.

samloveschris

I've measured my waist recently and have only lost 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my arms although I do feel fitter and healthier.

That is a quite a lot of inches!
Don't let the scale be the only way you monitor and track progress.

Thank you I didn't know that was a lot just glad to have lost something.

Think I will try 1400 calories for a few weeks and see how it goes because I did lose weight eating less whether or not it was water weight or not I don't know.

Struggle to eat enough calories anyway so will try 1400. Thanks for the advice x

DopeItUp

Thanks for the replies.

I do have a food scale in my kitchen so I know I'm definitely not overeating and I'm not a secret eater. I gave u unhealthy foods ages ago and wouldn't secretly eat anyway because it means too much to me the reason why im trying to lose weight.

Based on the Harris-Benedict formula, my bmr is on average 1574 and my TDEE is 2439.7. I've used a lot of different calculators and give or take a few pounds this seems to be the most accurate number.

I go to the gym 5 days a week in the morning at 11am before work and burn between 300-400 calories so that is why I eat back the exercise calories otherwise at the end of the day I would be 300-400 calories under my goal.

I've measured my waist recently and have only lost 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my arms although I do feel fitter and healthier.

I'd give it more time. Scale weight can be deceptive. If you've lost 3 inches off of your waist and your arms you are losing a LOT of size. I just checked my measurement entries and in the last year I've only lost 1 inch off of my arms and 3.5 inches off of my waist. In that time period I have lost around 30lbs. Your progress is actually great, you're just not seeing it on the scale yet. Don't be married to a number, it doesn't mean anything. Body composition is what matters.

MinnieInMaine

I agree, the inches lost is pretty impressive! and I understand the frustration, I went through a period a year or so ago where I wasn't really losing much but when I redid my measurements I realized that the inches were just melting away. Be proud of your inches lost and plese stop selling yourself short by using the word "just" when talking about losses. A loss is a loss!

Since you asked, I also set my calories as BMR and eat my calories back (based on HRM) but since I'm closer to goal, I used my goal weight BMR instead of current weight BMR. Sort of like how another user said he cuts a couple hundred off his BMR. I'll be honest and say I haven't lost in a while because I haven't been good at sticking to my goal but when I do, the pounds do come off.

Stick with it a while longer. You've made a lot of changes since you started so your body may still be adjusting. I'd wait at least another month to see how you do and if you're still not losing then maybe taking your goal down to 1400.

danofthedead1979

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that her bmr is 1574 and her tdee is 2439. But only burns 300-400 cals at the gym?? Whats accounting for the other 500 odd cals?

luluinca

I've been trying to figure this out for almost two months now. I had a progress session with my trainer this morning and we figured a few things out and the most important one is that while I'm doing fine losing about 1.25 to 1.5 lbs per week I've been under-estimating my workouts but also under-estimating the food I consume by as much as 100 to 150 calories per day. I've tried really hard to measure, weigh and enter every little morsel that I pop into my mouth and I'm still not getting it quite right. Just a thought.

Luckily, since I don't trust MFP's exercise numbers I've also been under-estimating my burn rate and my TDEE is higher than I thought so everything is still working out alright, and I've let myself eat a little more without realizing it.............lol

stumblinthrulife

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that her bmr is 1574 and her tdee is 2439. But only burns 300-400 cals at the gym?? Whats accounting for the other 500 odd cals?

Life.

DeeDoy

Hmm, to me it seems your basic cal allowance is high at 1500.

I'm taller than you and was heavier than you are now when I started with MFP and it allowed me 1200 for weight loss of 1.5lb a week. Then exercise cals on top. I managed to lose quite a bit of weight doing this. Now I know we are different people but if I read and understood correctly you are eating 1500 cals plus exercise cals? That would put you around maintenance levels which could be why no weight loss.

thmgoodw

I eat about 200 cals under my bmr. Because I have an office job my activity level is set at sedentary. I log my exercise using a hrm for accuracy and eat back my exercise calories. I am and have been consistantly losing about 1lb a week.

Approx bmr 1850
Approx tdee 1950
Daily calorie limit 1650

That tdee seems low considering your BMR, even if at sedentary. Really, like any movement at all (i.e., going to the bathroom, eating your food) really bumps up the tdee.

Unknown

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