BMR VS Calorie Intake?

rebelontherun

So, I just looked up my estimated BMR yesterday (the amount of calories I would burn laying in bed all day) and it was about 1400.
But everywhere I check my calorie intake for the day tells me around 1200.
So eating around 1200 calories a day, plus exercising will leave me with no net calories....

My question is, should I increase my calorie intake or will this be fine the way it is?

ladyhawk00

You probably have your loss per week goal set too high. However, if you are very petite and have a very low BMR to begin with, sometimes you'll need to tweak the numbers to be able to get a reasonable defcit. May help to read these threads that can help you determine a healthy, realistic goal/deficit.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

rebelontherun

I set my goal to 1 pound per week. is that too high?

ladyhawk00

I set my goal to 1 pound per week. is that too high?

Depends on how much you have to lose (your BMI) and how tall you are. If you're very petite, you may have to go for a little slower weight loss and/or tweak the numbers a little to get the right deficit for you. You might do better at 1/2 lb per week or somewhere in between. I'd need more info (like height, weight, activity level and exercise) to get more detailed.

But remember that MFP will add cals to your daily goal whenever you log exercise. So on days you exercise, you'll have more to eat than just the 1200.

Newfiedan

if you have 14 or less pounds to lose then yeah chances are that you are set to high at a 1lb/wk loss. In truth most would like to shed it faster but the less you have to shed the lower your fat loss goal should be. Listen to ladyhawk00 she is a smart woman and has her head screwed on right for proper and healthy fat loss.

rebelontherun

My BMI is around 28% and I have 20-30 to lose

I'm 5'2 and 153lbs
activity level is pretty low right now.

That's what confuses me, is with exercise I have to eat more. I was always under the impression that 1200 calories a day WITH exercise is preferred for weight loss

ladyhawk00

My BMI is around 28% and I have 20-30 to lose

I'm 5'2 and 153lbs
activity level is pretty low right now.

That's what confuses me, is with exercise I have to eat more. I was always under the impression that 1200 calories a day WITH exercise is preferred for weight loss

Ok, that puts you right on the edge between 1 lb or 1/2 lb - but since you're fairly small, I'd go with 1/2 lb per week if you exercise regularly. And it will be important for you to eat some of the exercise calories - at least 50% or so.

1200 isn't necessarily preferred for weight loss. It's actually the minimum recommended by experts for the average woman to receive adequate nutrition. But whether 1200 is right for YOU is entirely dependent on those things I mentioned - your weight, height and activity level. And that's where a lot of people run into trouble. Because just choosing "the minimum" isn't appropriate for every person of every size and caloric needs. Someone who is larger needs more fuel. Someone who exercises a lot needs more fuel. The body works best with a moderate deficit that lets it KNOW that enough fuel will be coming in, so that it can feel comfortable accessing fat stores. Eat too little and the body simply lowers the metabolism to compensate -so that you won't lose weight, or will lose very slowly.

Most counters/plans use "intended" exercise to create the deficit for weight loss. They take how much you say you will burn and spread it out over the week, and your daily cal goal stays stable. So with most plans, you would not "eat extra" for exercise.

MFP is different in that it creates a built in deficit, based on your chosen loss per week goal, regardless of exercise. Exercise is NOT accounted for in your initial daily goal (or in the goals you entered when you set up your acount.) This way is more accurate (and motivating), because you log exercise each day. So if you exercise more, that's accounted for. If you miss a day of exercise, it doesn't matter - because you still have your deficit with or without exercise. So MFP then adds calories when you log exercise to keep the deficit stable - and therefore your weight loss stable.

rebelontherun

I exercise about 3 times a week, I'm going to start doing a bit more.

I don't think that 1200 is right for me, because after having that amount and only that amount I'm just worn down. I changed my goals to about 1400 a day, and that is pretty do-able while still getting decent nutrition, and as I said my BMR is about 1400. It's just hard, because I don't want to eat TOO much and then end up gaining weight when I've been trying so long to lose.

But I guess I'll have to kind of see what works. Thank you so much for your reply