BMR AND TDEE. I AM CONFUSED. PLEASE HELP.

shoppingdiva2011

Good morning,

I went to IIFYM.com/tdee/calculator today and it said my BMR is 1501 and my tdee is 2195. I am confused what do I do with these numbers. What should I enter in MFP, how much should I eat a day and how much should I exercise. Here is my daily schedule: I get up in he morning and go to the gym and burn between 400 and 600 cals doing cardio. Feel free to look at my dairy. I gained 1.6 when I got on the scale this morning and I was very depressed about that and still am. I have been getting more sleep the past two days but between being unemployed since October it has me stressed. Please help me. I have gone to other forums but I am still confused. I am an emotional eater and I just want to binge at this point.

KatissimusDorsi

So BMR is basically how many calories you need for your body to do its basic functions even if you were laying in bed all day. For this reason we usually try to stay above BMR, even when at a deficit.

TDEE is how many calories your body uses in a day when you take into account exercise, daily movement and activites, etc. When you calculate how many calories you should be eating, you subtract how many calories you want to cut by from this number. For instance:

TDEE of 2200, want to lose .5 pounds per week
Subtract 250 from 2200
Eat 1950 calories per day.

I really hate going by the scale, however, to track fat loss since there are so many factors that go into the number. If getting on the scale depresses you and makes you want to binge DON'T WEIGH YOURSELF!!

Looking at your profile you've already lost 35 pounds, you've already accomplished so much, be proud!

My only suggestions would be:

-Stop weighing yourself for a while
-Consider tracking progress via pictures or clothes sizes instead
-Strength train so that more of the weight you do lose is fat instead of muscle and bone.

Other than that, relax, enjoy having a healthy body that can do cardio frequently and keep getting that sleep!

LeanButNotMean44

Your BMR is the number of calories your body burns at rest; basically, if you sat around all day and did absolutely nothing. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) takes into account your exercise. There are a couple of ways to go about setting your calorie goal. You can use your BMR and eat back your exercise calories, or you can use your TDEE -20% and NOT eat back your exercise calories. Just make sure that if you go with the option of eating back your exercise calories that you are getting the most accurate possible reading, since many tools (including MFP) overestimate the amount of calories burnt during exercise.

Try not to be discouraged about the slight weight gain, because there are a myriad of reasons why it could have happened (i.e. "that" time, water retention, etc.) and it probably isn't "real" weight gain. I'll take a look at your diary and comment in a bit.

Hang in there, and if you feel the urge to binge try to redirect those feelings towards something more positive! I know, easier said than done.

LeanButNotMean44

Your diary is not public, you will need to make it so for anyone to critique it.

shoppingdiva2011

Thank you both for your input. I will try these suggestions and thanks for all the supportive words. I thought my diary was public I will check that out.

shoppingdiva2011

I have made by dairy open to the public. thanks for any input.

LeanButNotMean44

I looked at your diary for about the past week and a couple of things jumped out. First and most important, you are not eating nearly enough. Most days you are below 1200 calories, despite the fact that you exercised. That means you are netting WAY too few calories. I don't know your height and weight or how much you are trying to lose, but you MUST EAT MORE. The second thing that I saw was a couple of incomplete days of food logging. You really must be sure to log EVERYTHING you eat!

deksgrl

Set MFP to lose half a pound a week. Eat that much PLUS more when you exercise.

OR

Take 10% off of your TDEE and eat that much, do not eat more for exercise because it is included in that number.

A properly set MFP + exercise goal should be about the same as a properly set TDEE - % goal.

The reason you would take 10% off is because according to your ticker, you are about 10 pounds from your goal weight. People who have more weight to lose can take a bigger cut.

shoppingdiva2011

thanks everyone. I will give this a shot. I do feel like I don't eat enough but I get confused what I can eat and not eat.