Eating at BMR but not losing weight?

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  • climbing_trees
    climbing_trees Posts: 726 Member
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    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
    samloveschris Posts: 16
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    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
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    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
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    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
    danofthedead1979 Posts: 362 Member
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    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
    luluinca Posts: 2,899 Member
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    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
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    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
    DeeDoy Posts: 45
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    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
    thmgoodw Posts: 49
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    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.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Really super important that I didn't pick up on...if you are using TDEE, which it sounds like you are, do NOT eat exercise calories. And by using TDEE, what I mean is you are manually selecting your calorie amount, instead of letting MFP select for you. When you manually select your calories, YOU DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES because they are already calculated in that number. So, this might be your problem. You might be over eating.

    Try 1400 and do not eat back exercise calories.

    She's not using TDEE, she's using BMR. In which case, she should eat back her exercise calories.
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
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    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.

    Especially for a male
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
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    I put your info in to Fat2FitRadio.com

    Assuming you would like to be at a healthy BMI (24.6%) I put your goal weight at 130lbs. Here are the results and how many calories you can eat to still lose weight

    __________________________________________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________________________________________

    yourinfo.jpg
  • hulahoopmama
    hulahoopmama Posts: 140 Member
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    I switched to intermittent fasting and have been steadily losing almost 2 pounds a week EATING MORE. My body does better this way as I need to get to fasting mode to kick out the junk so I can break through my plateaus.

    I calculated my BMR @ 1400 and was eating 1200/day and working out 4 days a week about 350 cals and went up in weight 3 pounds since I ate my workout calories back.

    I am following 5:2 (5 days eating TDEE-20%, 2 days fasting and eat 500 cal meal at night time on fast days).

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