BMR

Kaylalovewell

So I looked up my BMR today and it said 1551, so is that the amount of calories i should be eating every day? just wondering because MFP says 1200... with my exercise deficit i always end up at about 1500-1520... but my net is always just under 1200.

sarahbear1981

The BMR is how many calories you burn just to stay alive. The trick to losing weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn in a day. So if I have a BMR of 2000 and I eat 1500 calories then I will have burned 500 calories that day, exercise not included. Now if I go exercise and burn 500 calories from that, then I have burned 1000 calories in one day. But you want to make sure you are eating enough to stay satisfied and keep your body on track. So you might eat a snack of about 200 calories and then your net calorie burn would be 800. I hope this helps. I am sure others could add more detail.

namrettik

It depends on how much you want to lose. My guess is that your maintenance calories are just below 2000, like mine, as your BMR isn't far off mine. If you're going for a big weight loss, 1200 (and definitely reaching that, maybe going slightly over) is okay. If you're hungry when you go to bed, you hit a plateau, you're getting close to your goal weight, you've hit healthy BMI, etc., you'll need to up your calories closer to your BMR to coax your body that food is plentiful and it can work on those fat stores.