Eating less than BMR!?!?!

abbychelle07

So, when I joined, I rated myself as "lightly active" and set a goal of losing 1 lb a week (MFP gave me a goal of 1800 cal a day). However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really am not that active some days. So I decided to play around with my goals and see what it told me.

"sedentary" and a goal of 1 lb a week = 1600 cal per day
"sedentary" and a goal of 1.5 lb a week = 1350 cal per day

My question is, under tools, at 200lb and 5'7" MFP gives me a BMR (or calories I need just resting) as 1680. So, why would MFP ever give me a goal under 1680???

Please help because I am thinking about going under 1800, but don't want it to backfire!

abbychelle07

So, when I joined, I rated myself as "lightly active" and set a goal of losing 1 lb a week (MFP gave me a goal of 1800 cal a day). However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really am not that active some days. So I decided to play around with my goals and see what it told me.

"sedentary" and a goal of 1 lb a week = 1600 cal per day
"sedentary" and a goal of 1.5 lb a week = 1350 cal per day

My question is, under tools, at 200lb and 5'7" MFP gives me a BMR (or calories I need just resting) as 1680. So, why would MFP ever give me a goal under 1680???

Please help because I am thinking about going under 1800, but don't want it to backfire!

banks1850

This site isn't that smart about that stuff. They rely on your intuition (as you have just shown ) to ferret out issues like this. The only governor that the site has that I know of is the 1200 calorie limit.

On the other hand, for people with a high over all BMI, going below your BMR for a period of time isn't always a bad thing. Remember, 1000 calories is a guideline, the more weight you have to lose, the bigger the gap you can put between your maintenance calories and your deficit. BMR will be distorted with people that have a lot of weight to lose.

That's why you see people on the biggest loser drop so much weight from one week to the next, they had a LOT to drop, and can go well above 1000 calories a day deficit.

abbychelle07

Thanks! I don't think I will go down to 1350, but maybe 1600 for awhile. Some days I am more active than others, I just didn't want to estimate the calories I burn incorrectly!

I just bought really cute jeans that are a size too small. Part of me thinks this will be a great inspiration to go walking everyday, and part of me thinks that was really dumb because I won't fit into them for a few weeks at least. Oh well, I am happy about it!

icupfunny2000

I just bought really cute jeans that are a size too small. Part of me thinks this will be a great inspiration to go walking everyday, and part of me thinks that was really dumb because I won't fit into them for a few weeks at least. Oh well, I am happy about it!

thats what i do i buy a pair of pants a size too small then i hang them up on my door where i can ALWAYS see them... i find it helps me because i soooo badly want to wear them and when i fit into them i buy the next size down and hang those ones up .... i try the tooo small ones on once a week to see if they fit yet LOL
j~:flowerforyou:

pmkelly409

I don't think you are giving yourself enough credit.

I don't know any Mother of a 1 year old who is sedentary!! Just doing laundry, cleaning the house, cooking, changing diapers, going shopping - takes you out of that category!