BMR

Lsng4good

I know what it is, but why is it important? How would knowing that I burn about 1,400 calories a day just to survive (even if I stayed in bed all day) help me with my weight loss?

kao708

Info from TOOLS/BMR

Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is an estimate of how many calories you'd burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. It represents the minimum amount of energy needed to keep your body functioning, including breathing and keeping your heart beating.

Your BMR does not include the calories you burn from normal daily activities or exercise.

When it talks about the "minimum amount of energy needed" each day, that means calories. MFP uses your estimated BMR, along with your weight goals and activity level to determine how much you need to eat each day to meet those goals.

Essentially, you don't have to do anything with this number because MFP does it for you. They provide it as an FYI so you understand where their numbers are coming from.

If you go to MY HOME/GOALS it shows you what MFP is calculating for your daily calorie burn (including activity level) and then shows you how they determine your daily calorie goal.

erickirb

I know what it is, but why is it important? How would knowing that I burn about 1,400 calories a day just to survive (even if I stayed in bed all day) help me with my weight loss?

You would not know maintenance calories if you did not know BMR. Maintenance calories are BMR plus a multiplier to take into account everyday functioning and lifestyle.

tgh1914

Well, it's just one less variable you have to 'estimate' to get to your real goal. For those of us who don't definitively know our BMR we have to use the standard estimates (like what MFP uses) to get to our target calorie intake for the day. If you KNOW your BMR you can simply do the math (subtracting a suitable cal deficit & adding daily exercise activity) to get a more accurate cal target for you. I'm still wanting to get mine tested.

rodneyderrick

I'm glad you asked this question. Knowing how many calories you burn while resting is probably the most important number in staying healthy. When multiplying your BMR times your physical activity, it let's you know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. If you know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, you can estimate how many calories you need to lose a pound a week or gain a pound a week. Honestly, any article that talks about weight loss should begin with calculating one's BMR. Because without knowing that number, weight-loss is a guessing game.

diaryoffatdad

its just a base line, and a rough one at that, to give you an idea about calories. so you can understand very roughly what your body uses during the day, then you can add in all the activity you do, and that will give you the # of calories you need to consume to maintain your current weight. From that you can see that reducing your calorie intake will create a deficit where calories in < calories out = weight loss.

again this is a very rough estimate and really only serves to give you an understanding of calories. For example 2 people who weigh 200 lbs but one of them is very muscular, according to this site and most of these calculations they would have the same BMR but that is not the case. there is great fluctuation from one person to the next and unless you are in a lab getting very precise measurements done regularly i wouldnt worry about your BMR, just understand the concept. As you get smaller, your BMR will lower (depending on how much lean muscle you increase while losing fat), as your BMR lowers and your calorie intake stays the same....your calorie deficit will get smaller = slower weight loss with time. so you might have to adapt your calorie intake to your new lower weight.

hope that helps

Lsng4good

Awesome! That's very helpful! Appreciate the quick response.