My BMR is 1428--- SERIOUSLY. Know yours?

barefoot76

Yeah, I'm confused, too. We aren't supposed to multiply our BMR by our activity level AND add our exercise calories, right? The activity level multiplier is supposed to assume our exercise calories?

My BMR is 1158 (I'm under 5 feet tall). If I add exercise calories or use the TDEE calculator for moderate exercise (1.55), I get around 1800 calories as my total daily used calories. Therefore, if wanted to lose weight, my understanding is that I need to eat 1800 less 500 calories a day (roughly) meaning I would eat, on average, 1300 calories a day, right?

The way I do things now, to keep leptin levels in check, is to average this on a weekly basis. I want to lose 1lb per week, that's 3500 calories. If I use 12600 calories a week, I need to eat only 9500. M-F, I eat around 1000 calories a day. That gives me up to 2250 calories a day on the weekends. Let me know if I have something incorrect :-)

creative1981

Your BMR is what you need to maintain life, basic functions. Basically in a coma or before you ever roll over or wake up in the bed. Growing hair, nails, etc etc. It is the minimum you should eat daily and does not take into account daily activity, job, chores, etc. much less daily exercise. You need to use your BMR to calculate your Maintenance based on activity level. But you should not eat below your BMR.

OKay so now I'm confused too! My BMR is 1500 and something, my MFP suggested calorie goal is 1200. So if I eat 1200 I'm not eating enough for even basic functions?

Sorry if I sound thick - I thought I understood this!

MamaWannaRun

bump please ,we need help!

janehen12

wait, so that website said i should be eating 2000 to lose weight?! that just feels waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much

PlunderBunneh

I had mine checked as well, mine was right about 1465. I cut my calories down to 1300 and haven't had any issue losing when I behave myself. I am planning on having mine checked again, after working out, losing weight, and starting to lift on a regular basis I'm hoping that mine has gone up a bit. Don't stress, but please don't cut your calories down to 1,000, there is no need! The biggest factor for me was just realizing that since my bmr was low, I don't burn calories as fast. Which means that even though MFP and the machines tell me that I burned 708 calories in 70 minutes of exercise today, realistically I only account for 200 for every 30 minutes, so that's what I eat back.
I would seriously recommend that you make an appointment with a nutritionist to go over this information

Edit - I had mine checked about 6 months ago. I want to have it checked again, because I notice that on the days that I eat closer to 1400, I see a bigger loss. Not really sure what other information is going on in the other replies, so best of luck with that.

erickirb

Wait, I want to be sure I'm getting this correctly (see how ingrained it is in people that a drastic calorie reduction is what's needed to lose weight?): If my BMR is 1741 and the Harris Benedict Formula says my daily calorie need (I have a desk job) is 2089, then I need to keep my calories between 1741 and 2089 to lose weight?

Sorry if I'm being dense :ohwell:

1741 - 500 = your calorie intake for the day!

Thank you!!! :happy:

No he is wrong to lose 1 lb/week you would need to eat 1589 (2089-500), but by following the advice that you should not eat below BMR then your goal should be between 1741 and 2089 @ 1741 as your net intake you could expect to lose 0.7 lbs/week as your deficit would be 348/day and it takes 3500 cals to lose 1 lb so you would expect to lose 1 lb every 10 or so days.

If you have a lot to lose you would be able to sustain an intake below BMR, but if you don't have a lot to lose Less than 40 or so lbs then you should not eat below your BMR in net calories.

CarrieAnne22

Your BMR is the minimum your body needs to function without you doing anything at all (breathing, blinking, etc). You need to multiply the BMR number given to you according to the Harris Benedict Formula (below). So, let's say that you work in an office and sit most of the day, only getting up for the bathroom, commuting, to eat, etc., than you will burn 1713 calories. Therefore, if you want to lose 1 lb a week, you will need to eat around 1213 calories a day.


To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

•If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

bump

jeccalou

ok so if i am getting this straight... i should not eat under my 1252 bmr and with a maintenance of 1550,and it takes 3500 to loose 1 lb, correct? so my max will be a 2 lb loss a month, which is what i got when i was on a 1200 day diet when i fist started on mfp.... so basically it is impossible to have more then 2-2.5 lbs loss for me in a month ever!

I THINK that is why exercise is so important. BUT if you eat back your exercise calories??? Is this right???

Not sure about the numbers... 1252brm x 1.2 for sedentary = 1502. If you keep your calories to 1252 a day, you still have a deficit of 250 calories a day. 250 x 30 days = 7,512 calories = a little more than 2 pounds in 30 days. (assuming 3500 = 1 lb)...

EXPERTS???

I am in no way an expert but,

I am a firm believer in not eating (or netting) below your bmr. So yes, with no added exercise you will lose fairly slowly, if you are sedentary. But add in exercise to burn more and eat more (yay!)

erickirb

Yeah, I'm confused, too. We aren't supposed to multiply our BMR by our activity level AND add our exercise calories, right? The activity level multiplier is supposed to assume our exercise calories?

My BMR is 1158 (I'm under 5 feet tall). If I add exercise calories or use the TDEE calculator for moderate exercise (1.55), I get around 1800 calories as my total daily used calories. Therefore, if wanted to lose weight, my understanding is that I need to eat 1800 less 500 calories a day (roughly) meaning I would eat, on average, 1300 calories a day, right?

The way I do things now, to keep leptin levels in check, is to average this on a weekly basis. I want to lose 1lb per week, that's 3500 calories. If I use 12600 calories a week, I need to eat only 9500. M-F, I eat around 1000 calories a day. That gives me up to 2250 calories a day on the weekends. Let me know if I have something incorrect :-)

MFP ignores your planned exercise when giving your your TDEE, which is why it is important to eat back the cals burned from exercise.

Now if you used the higher activity level it may account for some, but with the amount you have to lose your weekly weight loss goal should be no more than 0.5lbs/week which is a daily deficit of 250 cals. So if your TDEE is 1800 you should eat 1550 everyday to hit your weekly weight loss goal.

DixiedoesMFP

Your BMR is the amount of calories that you need simply to stay alive. It is based on age, height, weight and gender.

Your TDEE is the amount of calories that you burn in a day with activity. Any activity. If you get up out of bed to pee and go back to bed until you get up to pee again, then your TDEE is always more than your BMR. If you exercise, play with your kids, walk around the store, go get the mail, mop the kitchen, etc. then your TDEE will be even higher.

You should aim your calorie goal around 80 - 90% of your TDEE for slow, steady but sustainable weight loss. You could probably do more if you are very obese. The smaller you get, the less wiggle room you have.

The point to this is that practically any activity outside of breathing increases your TDEE and allows you to eat MORE! Move, move, move all day long and eat more food people!

My BMR is 1436. My TDEE without exercise is around 1900. With exercise, its around 2400 - 2500. I eat between 1600 and 1900 calories a day.

I hope this helps!

paulamarsden

right,

DO NOT USE HARRIS BENEDICT. ITS INACCURATE,

go work out your lean body mass, use the katch mcardle bmr calculator to calculate your bmr

under NO circumstances should you eat below this level.

mine is 1622, my TDEE (Bmr plus activity level multiplication) is 2515.

this takes into account my work outs, as such i set my cals at 1800 per day (1lb loss according to MFP) and eat back almost all exercise cals.

essentially this is approx 500-700 cals defecit per day for me. but im tall and heavy. others will get less defecit, slow and steady is important, and dont eat below your BMR or you will lose muscle mass and also lower your maintenance cals for when you are done losing weight.

rfarinha

BMR is the # of calories that you would require if you were in a "Coma" so to speak. No activity what-so-ever, and it is the minimum # of calories to maintain body function.

mamapuddin17

I thought you were suppose to eat at least to your BMR.

LilBelieve

My BMR is 1650 or something like that, my maintenance calories right now are 2300. i eat about 1700-2000 a day and lose weight.

What has been your average weekly weight loss on your 1700-2000/day plan?

sportyskylar

Haha wow we have the exact same bmr..

erickirb

right,

DO NOT USE HARRIS BENEDICT. ITS INACCURATE,

go work out your lean body mass, use the katch mcardle bmr calculator to calculate your bmr

under NO circumstances should you eat below this level.

mine is 1622, my TDEE (Bmr plus activity level multiplication) is 2515.

this takes into account my work outs, as such i set my cals at 1800 per day (1lb loss according to MFP) and eat back almost all exercise cals.

essentially this is approx 500-700 cals defecit per day for me. but im tall and heavy. others will get less defecit, slow and steady is important, and dont eat below your BMR or you will lose muscle mass and also lower your maintenance cals for when you are done losing weight.

If you uses an activity multiplier of 1.55 wouldn't that account for exercise? If is does then you should not eat back the cals burned as they would be included in your initial goal..

Now if you have an active job but ignored exercise when choosing 1.55, then yes eat your cals back but if it was the former, don't or you will be double eating them.

erickirb

I thought you were suppose to eat at least to your BMR.

If you are not in the obese category then yes. If you are obese or morbidly obese you can get away with eating less

westwick1

This has been a really interesting read and following the link and working out my BMR (1655) multiplying it by 1.2 as I have a desk job (1986) then deduct 500 cals per day to equate to a 1lb weight loss per week means my calorie goal for the day should be 1486.
Any additional calories I gain over the course of the day due to excercise can be eaten freely.
This has really helped me make sense of it all.
Thank you

lilsassymom

bump...

charlene_1980

I usually shy away from these topics but now I'm confused too lol I have my weightloss set to lose 1 lb/wk. MFP has me at 1250 calories/day. But if my BMR is 1400 then you're saying I'm doing myself an injustice by keeping my net calories below 1400. Why does MFP set people to 1250 if that's harmful? I'm asking because I've hit what I'll call a plateau... I've been playing with the same 3 or 4 lbs for the last month and a half and getting frustrated.... maybe I'm doing something wrong (my NET calories are usually around 1000 after factoring in exercise calories but I'm usually eating 1400 give or take).

Oh, I am a 5'3" female and weigh about 158 lbs, hoping to get around 125 lbs, if that helps.

paulamarsden

right,

DO NOT USE HARRIS BENEDICT. ITS INACCURATE,

go work out your lean body mass, use the katch mcardle bmr calculator to calculate your bmr

under NO circumstances should you eat below this level.

mine is 1622, my TDEE (Bmr plus activity level multiplication) is 2515.

this takes into account my work outs, as such i set my cals at 1800 per day (1lb loss according to MFP) and eat back almost all exercise cals.

essentially this is approx 500-700 cals defecit per day for me. but im tall and heavy. others will get less defecit, slow and steady is important, and dont eat below your BMR or you will lose muscle mass and also lower your maintenance cals for when you are done losing weight.

If you uses an activity multiplier of 1.55 wouldn't that account for exercise? If is does then you should not eat back the cals burned as they would be included in your initial goal..

Now if you have an active job but ignored exercise when choosing 1.55, then yes eat your cals back but if it was the former, don't or you will be double eating them.

i eat back up to net BMR.... i assumed this was correct according to helloitsdan who ran my numbers and i double checked them online.

i multiplied by 1.55 as i work out 5-6 times a week for 30 mins (avg cal burn is 300)

erickirb

I usually shy away from these topics but now I'm confused too lol I have my weightloss set to lose 1 lb/wk. MFP has me at 1250 calories/day. But if my BMR is 1400 then you're saying I'm doing myself an injustice by keeping my net calories below 1400. Why does MFP set people to 1250 if that's harmful? I'm asking because I've hit what I'll call a plateau... I've been playing with the same 3 or 4 lbs for the last month and a half and getting frustrated.... maybe I'm doing something wrong (my NET calories are usually around 1000 after factoring in exercise calories but I'm usually eating 1400 give or take).

Oh, I am a 5'3" female and weigh about 158 lbs, hoping to get around 125 lbs, if that helps.

MFP has a minimum intake of 1200 cals as it is difficult to get all the required micro and macro nutrients on a diet lower in cals then that. MFP gives you the freedom to choose your weekly weight loss goal (caloric deficit) most people choose as deficit that is much to aggressive for their stats and goals. Your weekly goal seems reasonable, but I would urge you to eat 1250 Net, not less then that

jchrisman717

Ok I'm going to see if I can figure this out for me. I need a fresh new look on things.

erickirb

right,

DO NOT USE HARRIS BENEDICT. ITS INACCURATE,

go work out your lean body mass, use the katch mcardle bmr calculator to calculate your bmr

under NO circumstances should you eat below this level.

mine is 1622, my TDEE (Bmr plus activity level multiplication) is 2515.

this takes into account my work outs, as such i set my cals at 1800 per day (1lb loss according to MFP) and eat back almost all exercise cals.

essentially this is approx 500-700 cals defecit per day for me. but im tall and heavy. others will get less defecit, slow and steady is important, and dont eat below your BMR or you will lose muscle mass and also lower your maintenance cals for when you are done losing weight.

If you uses an activity multiplier of 1.55 wouldn't that account for exercise? If is does then you should not eat back the cals burned as they would be included in your initial goal..

Now if you have an active job but ignored exercise when choosing 1.55, then yes eat your cals back but if it was the former, don't or you will be double eating them.

i eat back up to net BMR.... i assumed this was correct according to helloitsdan who ran my numbers and i double checked them online.

i multiplied by 1.55 as i work out 5-6 times a week for 30 mins (avg cal burn is 300)

That 1.55 includes exercise, so unless you have a day that has higher burns then "normal" then you don't need to eat them back, but I agree eating them so you are at least BMR net, but if you only burn 300 cals an your intake is 1800 you only need to eat back 122 of the 300 to meet your 1622 Net (1800-300+122). If I have done that right.

Another option is lowering your activity level but changing your weekly weight loss goal, such as setting activity level to sedentary (TDEE of 1946) then setting a weekly weight loss goal of 0.5lbs/week, and eat back all the cals burned from exercise. which would give you 1696 and if you burn 300 you would eat all back to 1996 which would be close to netting your BMR as that would have you eat 1922 (1622+300). This is the way MFP is designed, but if your way works keep it up, I just don't want others to get confused that you include exercise in their TDEE and still eat back the cals burned.

littlelily613

I don't know my BMR, but I am sure it is much higher than yours. I still eat about 1200-1300 cals a day (unless I exercise a lot), and I am doing fine. You cannot sustain yourself at 1000 cals a day, and I know the hard way. I tried it, had great results at first, then my metabolism slowed greatly and weightloss came to a halt. After that the only thing I lost was my hair. You should not eat below 1200 calories, and you will find that you will lose more quickly than if you starve yourself at 1000.

barefoot76

Yeah, I'm confused, too. We aren't supposed to multiply our BMR by our activity level AND add our exercise calories, right? The activity level multiplier is supposed to assume our exercise calories?

My BMR is 1158 (I'm under 5 feet tall). If I add exercise calories or use the TDEE calculator for moderate exercise (1.55), I get around 1800 calories as my total daily used calories. Therefore, if wanted to lose weight, my understanding is that I need to eat 1800 less 500 calories a day (roughly) meaning I would eat, on average, 1300 calories a day, right?

The way I do things now, to keep leptin levels in check, is to average this on a weekly basis. I want to lose 1lb per week, that's 3500 calories. If I use 12600 calories a week, I need to eat only 9500. M-F, I eat around 1000 calories a day. That gives me up to 2250 calories a day on the weekends. Let me know if I have something incorrect :-)

MFP ignores your planned exercise when giving your your TDEE, which is why it is important to eat back the cals burned from exercise.

Now if you used the higher activity level it may account for some, but with the amount you have to lose your weekly weight loss goal should be no more than 0.5lbs/week which is a daily deficit of 250 cals. So if your TDEE is 1800 you should eat 1550 everyday to hit your weekly weight loss goal.

Thank you!!!

lilsassymom

So, am I understanding this correctly? If you go by the Harris Benedict Formula then you DON'T eat back your exercise calories? So confusing...

erickirb

So, am I understanding this correctly? If you go by the Harris Benedict Formula then you DON'T eat back your exercise calories? So confusing...

only if you factored in your exercise into your activity level multiplier. If you used the lowest level multiplier you should eat them back no matter how you calculated your maintenance intake.

lin7604

ok, thanks... so can i set mfp to 1252 calorie,s that is my bmr number? how can i do that? or i guess i can just have it set at 1200 and eat over that daily, it will show me over my calories every day but i will know i am not.....

jenn5686

Your BMR is what you need to maintain life, basic functions. Basically in a coma or before you ever roll over or wake up in the bed. Growing hair, nails, etc etc. It is the minimum you should eat daily and does not take into account daily activity, job, chores, etc. much less daily exercise. You need to use your BMR to calculate your Maintenance based on activity level. But you should not eat below your BMR.

Read this again. Do NOT eat below your BMR or you're doing more damage to your body.

I just want to clarify something I am confused about. My BRM is 1428. It's telling me to eat 1200 calories per day on here to lose 1 lb per week. I was 140lbs and wanted to drop down to 130. I generally excercise every day and eat back my exercise calories. SO - I AM eating below my BMR. If I were to increase my net calories to 1428, it wouldn't hinder my weight loss?