More time to look for gym than what BMR is

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heybales
heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So who has spent 2 hrs looking at several gyms, perhaps even done some trial weeks before deciding on a membership.

Or spent couple hours deciding what DVD workout program to get.

Or hours researching workout equipment.

But when it comes to the diet side of the equation, possibly the biggest effect on losing weight, there is NOT even 5 minutes given to

what is BMR

and understanding what it means and represents as a number.

No offense, but when I see post after post mentioning doing routine for 3 or 6 or 9 months and progress has slowed or stopped, or new resolvers trying out new diets and exercise for first few weeks, and the number 1200 comes up, and the comments exercising every day, burning 500 to 800 calories daily, what is eating back exercise calories, ect, it just makes me wonder how many less important things in life are not thought about and researched even a little.

If BMR was understood, should you be eating below it, no matter what recommendation MFP gives (and that is frankly a fault - they recognize the safety of keeping at 1200 cal limit suggestion, can't believe with knowing the BMR figure they don't suggest a healthy goal calorie)?

If BMR was understood, there wouldn't be all these difficulties with using slightly tweaked methods/processes that several have shared to protect from the problem above and still give weight loss.

But the basic math can't even be done or visualized or understood.

MFP says my BMR is x.
MFP says my maintenance is x + y.
MFP suggests a goal of (x + y) - z.

So does that mean I should eat x - 500 or z and minus exercise calories?

Please folks, research what BMR is, understand it's importance to basic life functions, get out some scrap paper, and understand the math.

It is not this difficult.

You can only chase a downward spiral so long before you fail.

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  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I guess I should have included some links to what BMR is, make the research easier!

    Links to read more, and a snippet of info.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate
    The release, and using, of energy in this state is sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs, the heart, lungs, nervous system, kidneys, liver, intestine, sex organs, muscles, and skin.

    http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html
    Diet. Starvation or serious abrupt calorie-reduction can dramatically reduce BMR by up to 30 percent. Restrictive low-calorie weight loss diets may cause your BMR to drop as much as 20%.

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