Correct calorie deficit

Smuterella

Hi all

I'm getting a bit confused by the BMR, TDEE thing.

MFP site is telling me my BMR is 978!! and is recommending I eat 1200 calories a day - not really a problem most of the time to be honest, I haven't been hungry but I have gone over a couple of times, though not hugely. I haven't lost any weight though.

Other sites all give me a BMR of around 1380 and a TDEE of 1660.

Should I up my calories from 1200 to around 1400?

Should I eat back my exercise calories?

I'm utterly confused.

All advice gratefully received. :-)

morganadk2_deleted

Are you eating your exersise calories?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

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

Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

This is just a part of it! please read the link above

YMTaylor

Are you eating your exersise calories?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

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

Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

This is just a part of it! please read the link above

I know there's lots of good info in that what you just posted but you really didn't answer her biggest question.

I would go to the Tools section and start by re-doing your BMR calculator. To be honest, it seems that 978 might be too low. How tall are you? How active usually? You can also go into your settings and manually change things so if other sites give you 1380 and that seems more normal you can update it. Once you get that figured out you can start to think about the exercise calories. MANY people on here feel very strongly about eating them back. Other people have had success with eating some or none at all. I have found it best to consult a doctor or nutritionist and use MFP for the calorie counter but not let it dictate to me too much.

Good Luck, I hope you get all the numbers figured out.

CallieDerenthal

your BMR is actually different than your daily caloric needs. this confused me for a while but your BMR is what you would require to maintain your current weight if you were in a coma basically. i just googled what my daily caloric needs are (BMR + calories needed for daily activity) based on my current age, height, weight, and gender and then figured my deficit from there. it was the same as what MFP suggested for me. hope this helps.

SHBoss1673

I know there's lots of good info in that what you just posted but you really didn't answer her biggest question.

I would go to the Tools section and start by re-doing your BMR calculator. To be honest, it seems that 978 might be too low. How tall are you? How active usually? You can also go into your settings and manually change things so if other sites give you 1380 and that seems more normal you can update it. Once you get that figured out you can start to think about the exercise calories. MANY people on here feel very strongly about eating them back. Other people have had success with eating some or none at all. I have found it best to consult a doctor or nutritionist and use MFP for the calorie counter but not let it dictate to me too much.

Good Luck, I hope you get all the numbers figured out.

actually, I did answer those questions in the links provided (I wrote both of those posts).

FYI, see the post above me. BMR is different from maintenance calorie (usually between 60 and 75% of maintenance) so if 978 is her BMR and she's of average activity level her maintenance would be somewhere in the 1350 range. Although that still sounds pretty low to me. It would mean she's probably a small person in general.

Brook70

Bump

Smuterella

Thank you everyone. I'm going to stick with the MFP recommended 1200 for a bit longer and make sure I eat my exercise calories too, which I haven't been doing. My BMI is 22 so this may be why I haven't lost anything.

I think I also need to think about what I eat, I've been feeling low and working long hours and have been relying a lot of pre-made low calorie meals. I should really get back into cooking every night, I enjoy it but have lost the motivation. I'm going to cook tonight, yes indeed!

psuLemon

Whats your height, weight and age? Also what type of work do you do... desk job, etc.

Smuterella

5'5, 60kg, 33 years old. Sedentary apart from doing the 30DS, I sit in front of a computer all day, though I do take a couple of hour long walks each weekend.

psuLemon

Well unless you have 52% body fat or have a medical condition that kills your metabolism, there is no way your BMR is in the 900's. More than likely, you are around 1350. And with 30DS, I would consider you lightly active which puts your caloric needs around 1550 daily (even with out exericse). This assumes that you have 25% body fat (you probably have less based on your height and weight.

Essential

132 lbs
25% body fat

lean body mass = 132 - (132 * .25) = 105.6
BMR = 370+(9.79759519*105.6) = 1404
TDEE = 1404 * 1.375 = 1931
Caloric Needs = 1931 - 250 = 1681


This is the Katch McArdle formula method. This suggest you would eat 1681 calories per day (even without exercise) to lose .5 lbs per week (which I don't think you really need to lose weight). In my opinion, if you want to lose, it should be inches and body fat and don't worry about weight. Increasing muscle mass would be the way of doing that so when you lift, it should be heavy to build muscle and reduce fat (method I have used but i will bulk since I am a guy but you won't since you aren't).

If you have more questions let me know.