confused with BMR

sophielilirose

Hey everyone,

so my BMR is 1626 per day, and I'm eating 1200 calories a day. Therefore I am 'saving' 426 cals a day x 7 =2982. It apparently takes 3500 calories to burn 1lb of fat, so I would need to either eat less calories or exercise and burn 518 calories in a week. If I wanted to lose 2lbs, I would have to burn 4018 calories in a week, which to me is really unrealistic. So how come I'm predicted to lose 2lbs a week?! so confused about how this works!!

I would be so grateful if anyone could clarify this for me or give me any tips to try and work around it - I would quite like to lose 2lbs a week!!! x

laurensohn22

Bump . I'm interested as well

StarryEyed500

Your BMR is the minimum you require to live. Assuming you don't do any exercise, you'd be burning around 2000 calories a day. That's the figure you need to work off.

If you exercise 1-3 times a week, you can increase that to 2230.

IvoryParchment

You asked to lose 2 lbs a week. The MFP fairy didn't make promises.

It isn't a realistic goal if that is your BMR.

I'm in a similar situation. I've lost plenty, it just takes patience. On the other hand, I'm not hungry at all. I feel great.

briteyes

i think you're confusing your BMR w/ maintenance calories.

you actually should be eating (netting) close to your BMR - you should be creating a calorie deficit from your maintenance cals.

so to figure this out go to settings / goals and change your goal to maintain - this should be different than the number that MFP gives you for your BMR by about 300 - 400 cals (well, mine is anyways).

sophielilirose

Right! so I just checked and to maintain my weight I should have 2030 calories per day, so I'm 'saving' 830 a day 830 x 7 = 5810. 7000 (2lbs) - 5810 =1190. 1190 = 4 x workouts per week burning around 300 cals. That sounds so much better!! Thanks for your help guys x