BMR Questions... Got My Answers? :D

heybales

thats incorrect. bmr is how much you burn if you do nothing all day and sit in bed basically. If you eat your TDEE(total daily energy expenditure minus 500 you should lose 1lb per week. If you eat at your bmr you will lose also since it is a deficit from your tdee.

Where are you finding your TDEE, and where is this coming from? It doesn't make sense to me that your BMR would be different than your TDEE, because how is it determining whether I sit in bed all day or am amazingly active?

TDEE is an estimate. You pick from 4 or 5 levels as to your TOTAL daily avg activity, including exercise, and it takes your estimated BMR times a figure. The result, is estimated TDEE.

Your BMR is different because Basal Metabolic Rate is your metabolism for dealing with the functions of life, as mentioned, if you were in a coma, that is what you body needs to take in to do it's work.

If the BMR does NOT get that intake, it has to slow down. To whatever you are giving it.

Eat long enough at 1200, and that is what it will become eventually.

How fast? Depends on how much yo-yo dieting you have done, how big a difference to previous eating levels, how big a dip to your BMR, genetics.
So during that 3 days to 3 weeks or more, you have a constantly diminishing weight loss.

The real kicker is, that basic metabolism determines how much energy you expend, how many calories you burn, on ALL other daily activity.

So if your daily activity used to burn 1000 calories with a BMR of upwards of 2000, and it finally settles in at 1200, your daily activity now only burns 600 calories - you just lost 400 cals of free daily burn. And had to eat at 1200 cal!

Want to make that worse and stall your weight? Exercise and don't feed your workouts.
So eating 1200, your exercise uses 600 cals on avg daily, your body is left with 600.

Guess what lowers to 600? Now your daily activity only uses up 300 calories. Guess what, now 1200 is actually maintenance eating.
And now your weight loss stalls.

2 directions to go at that point, farther down, or get the metabolism burning back at full speed. I hope you see one as the wrong direction.

If you don't know exercise calories accurately, or the thought of eating them each day you workout concerns you, and you want to protect your burning BMR, and you want to maximize fat loss still, give this a try.

Let's you nail that daily activity better than what 4 or 5 levels gives you, and you eat at what the future you would eat at. Spreadsheet to make it easier.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method

jsapninz

[Eat long enough at 1200, and that is what it will become eventually.

UGH. No, not really. Your metabolism will slow down SLIGHTLY if you eat WAY below your BMR for an EXTENDED (like, a YEAR) period of time.

I hate the scare tactics based on no real valid facts/studies.

cmriverside

For cryin out loud, heybales....she has 144 POUNDS to lose. She's not going into your dreaded Starvation Mode at 1200 calories.

You have a lot of knowledge -

Learn how to apply it to different situations, instead of regurgitating the same thing for every user.

amdahwd

I just went to the calorie calculator and it tells me to eat 1075 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week, while everybody on this site says never go below 1200. I get so much conficting information that I get so confused!

rileysowner

If you take your BMR and subtract 500 that is how many calories you would need to eat to lose 1 lb a week because 3500 calories is equal to 1 lb.

My BMR is 2200 so I aim for around 1600-1700 calories a day. I typically burn and extra 700 calories each day with exercise and I do eat my calories back. So I am really eating around 2400 calories a day.

I am 52 and have lost 70 Lbs and now am with in 10 lbs of my goal weight this is what has worked for me. Oh and and quit smoking also during this time.

This is incorrect. BMR is the amount of calories your body burns doing nothing, like if you were in a coma or lying in bed completely motionless. It is basically what it needed in calories to keep you alive and functioning. The moment you start moving you burn more than your BMR. Thus, if you eat your BMR you have by nature of doing so, established a calorie deficit based on the calories you burn doing your daily activity.

The other important number is TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) that is the calories you would burn for the day including your activity. It is this number that you would want to subtract 500 calories from for a 1 pound per week weight loss.

Generally, unless a person is morbidly obese, eating below their BMR for an extended period of time is generally considered a bad idea. Sadly, due to how MFP sets calories, and the fact that many people don't realize that MFP expects them to eat the calories they burn off in exercise since they don't include them in the daily energy expenditure for people, that means many people here are eating below their BMR. I think this is one of the primary reasons we see so many people with plateau problems. It took me a while to grasp this as well, but for long term weight loss especially if you are not morbidly obese, eating no lower than your BMR is a very good idea.

The other way to do things is ignore the calories MFP sets and instead use a tool like this http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html Calculate your TDEE including your intended exercise and SUBTRACT 20%. Then you eat those calories daily, and continue your exercise.

The advantage of the MFP approach with having people eat their exercise calories is that if you miss your exercise you are not eating too much. The advantage of the 20% less than TDEE is that you are not obsessing over trying to eat your exercise calories.

rileysowner

This is a good calculator for working out your numbers, it gives you your bmr and calories for maintenance depending on your activity level.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

And a great group on here with lots of helpful members who are better at explaining things than me : )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Hmm... the calculator says my BMR is 1834 but that I should eat 2457 calories per day? Not sure how that works...

it's probably giving you your tdee, which is how many calories you burn per day on average. that is not how much you eeat if you want to lose.

It is giving you your TDEE at your goal weight, not your current one. If you eat that and weigh more than your goal weight you will lose, but the closer you get, the slower you will lose. Fat2Fit actually suggest taking 250 off when you get closer to your goal to make sure things keep going.

tracilyn77

I'm confused on the exact same things.... MFP says my goal is 1200 calories a day, but I just am not sure if I should be eating all the calories I burn working out to hit that number..I looked at that calculator mentioned here and my BMR is 1466 and depending on my activity level it says I should take in anywhere from 1640-2610 calories. I'm just confused as to how many calories I should be eating.

heybales

For cryin out loud, heybales....she has 144 POUNDS to lose. She's not going into your dreaded Starvation Mode at 1200 calories.

You have a lot of knowledge -

Learn how to apply it to different situations, instead of regurgitating the same thing for every user.

Who said anything about starvation mode? I never say starvation mode, because that is difficult to get into.
No eating for an extended period of time. No, you still burn fat with slow metabolism.

That is metabolism slowing. Might want to read some studies as to how easy it is to do that.

showing the predicted changes in metabolic rates decline sharply in individuals undergoing adaptive thermogenesis which does lead to plateauing.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11430776
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19660148
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20054213
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17260010


You might want to search the forums for people with a lot of weight to lose who also manage to make themselves plateau.

jsapninz

I just went to the calorie calculator and it tells me to eat 1075 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week, while everybody on this site says never go below 1200. I get so much conficting information that I get so confused!

2 lbs a week is a VERY agressive weight loss. I am assuming you don't have that much to lose. Maybe set it to lose only an lb a week if you have less that 15 or so lbs to lose. 2 lbs if more for like people with 60 lbs or something.

1,200 is a bench mark for MOST people. If you are female and short, you can get away with eating less that a 6'4" man. Don't fret. Just make extra sure you are getting enough protien and vitamins, calcium, etc. If your body feels super tired and worn out after a couple weeks of it, up your cal intake a bit. But you won't lose as fast. BUT if you don't have a lot to lose than, yeah, losing weight is just plain harder.

Don't worry!

heybales

[Eat long enough at 1200, and that is what it will become eventually.

UGH. No, not really. Your metabolism will slow down SLIGHTLY if you eat WAY below your BMR for an EXTENDED (like, a YEAR) period of time.

I hate the scare tactics based on no real valid facts/studies.

showing the predicted changes in metabolic rates decline sharply in individuals undergoing adaptive thermogenesis which does lead to plateauing.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11430776
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19660148
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20054213
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17260010

See how fast it can become.

pitbullmama

I just went to the calorie calculator and it tells me to eat 1075 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week, while everybody on this site says never go below 1200. I get so much conficting information that I get so confused!

Mine was low too. But the site has a BMR calculator on it as well. MFP had me @ just above 1200 a day(for 2 lbs a week) when I joined and I freaken starved.

rileysowner

I just went to the calorie calculator and it tells me to eat 1075 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week, while everybody on this site says never go below 1200. I get so much conficting information that I get so confused!

Which calorie calculator? The 1200 is a cut off below which it is generally considered too low for the vast majority of females. What is your BMR? Don't eat below that. I seriously think most people should not be trying for 2 pounds per week unless very obese.

bigredhearts

thats incorrect. bmr is how much you burn if you do nothing all day and sit in bed basically. If you eat your TDEE(total daily energy expenditure minus 500 you should lose 1lb per week. If you eat at your bmr you will lose also since it is a deficit from your tdee.

Where are you finding your TDEE, and where is this coming from? It doesn't make sense to me that your BMR would be different than your TDEE, because how is it determining whether I sit in bed all day or am amazingly active?

TDEE is an estimate. You pick from 4 or 5 levels as to your TOTAL daily avg activity, including exercise, and it takes your estimated BMR times a figure. The result, is estimated TDEE.

Your BMR is different because Basal Metabolic Rate is your metabolism for dealing with the functions of life, as mentioned, if you were in a coma, that is what you body needs to take in to do it's work.

If the BMR does NOT get that intake, it has to slow down. To whatever you are giving it.

Eat long enough at 1200, and that is what it will become eventually.

How fast? Depends on how much yo-yo dieting you have done, how big a difference to previous eating levels, how big a dip to your BMR, genetics.
So during that 3 days to 3 weeks or more, you have a constantly diminishing weight loss.

The real kicker is, that basic metabolism determines how much energy you expend, how many calories you burn, on ALL other daily activity.

So if your daily activity used to burn 1000 calories with a BMR of upwards of 2000, and it finally settles in at 1200, your daily activity now only burns 600 calories - you just lost 400 cals of free daily burn. And had to eat at 1200 cal!

Want to make that worse and stall your weight? Exercise and don't feed your workouts.
So eating 1200, your exercise uses 600 cals on avg daily, your body is left with 600.

Guess what lowers to 600? Now your daily activity only uses up 300 calories. Guess what, now 1200 is actually maintenance eating.
And now your weight loss stalls.

2 directions to go at that point, farther down, or get the metabolism burning back at full speed. I hope you see one as the wrong direction.

If you don't know exercise calories accurately, or the thought of eating them each day you workout concerns you, and you want to protect your burning BMR, and you want to maximize fat loss still, give this a try.

Let's you nail that daily activity better than what 4 or 5 levels gives you, and you eat at what the future you would eat at. Spreadsheet to make it easier.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method

bumping for the method and good information.

jessicae1aine

For cryin out loud, heybales....she has 144 POUNDS to lose. She's not going into your dreaded Starvation Mode at 1200 calories.

You have a lot of knowledge -

Learn how to apply it to different situations, instead of regurgitating the same thing for every user.

This. Thank you.

jsapninz

I'm confused on the exact same things.... MFP says my goal is 1200 calories a day, but I just am not sure if I should be eating all the calories I burn working out to hit that number..I looked at that calculator mentioned here and my BMR is 1466 and depending on my activity level it says I should take in anywhere from 1640-2610 calories. I'm just confused as to how many calories I should be eating.

If your TDEE is set properly, as in, you told it you work out twice a week and that is only what you do, then I wouldn't add my exercise in and eat it back. Just what you do Above and Beyond your normal weekly activity.

You should be eating about 80% of your TDEE for weight loss, or if you want to do it by pounds per week, there are 3,500 calories in a pound, so if you want to lose a pound a week make sure your daily defecit under My Home > Goals is about 500 a day. MFP should have figured that out for you though if you gave it the right info...

bigredhearts

For cryin out loud, heybales....she has 144 POUNDS to lose. She's not going into your dreaded Starvation Mode at 1200 calories.

You have a lot of knowledge -

Learn how to apply it to different situations, instead of regurgitating the same thing for every user.

This. Thank you.

no offense but if your asking people for help, and someone with knowledge, experience, and legit studies for you to see, offers their knowledge, wouldnt it make more sense to at least check out the information? just my thoughts...

chevy88grl

Are you losing weight consistently with the calorie intake you're getting right now? If you are, then you are probably okay - for now. The more weight you have to lose the larger deficit you can get away with. But, be aware that at some point, this method will likely stop being effective and you may have to raise your calories in order to get weight loss moving again.

If I were you, I would find out what my TDEE is (or a rough estimate of it anyway). That way, you'll be able to see how many calories you're truly burning in a day. It is recommended that you create your deficit off your TDEE and not off your BMR.

For example, my BMR is 1338 and my TDEE is around 2449. I would create a deficit off the 2449 and not off the 1338. It'll take a little bit of playing around with numbers because these calculators are estimates. I also tell people when making a change, give your body at least a month to catch up to what you're doing. And if you have been severely restricting your calories for awhile, don't be shocked to see a gain on the scale when you start eating more. It is your body adjusting and completely normal. Do not lower your calories again to try and get the weight back off. Let your body get used to the new, higher calorie goal.


People may disagree with me, but I truly think having an idea of your TDEE will make weight loss a lot easier. Again, online calculators are estimates, but if you are HONEST about your daily activity they can be pretty close (Mine says 2449 and I know that I can easily maintain my weight while netting 2300-2500 calories a day - so it is darn close to being right).

tabithaanne

If you take your BMR and subtract 500 that is how many calories you would need to eat to lose 1 lb a week because 3500 calories is equal to 1 lb.

My BMR is 2200 so I aim for around 1600-1700 calories a day. I typically burn and extra 700 calories each day with exercise and I do eat my calories back. So I am really eating around 2400 calories a day.

I am 52 and have lost 70 Lbs and now am with in 10 lbs of my goal weight this is what has worked for me. Oh and and quit smoking also during this time.

It's so great to see that you can lose weight without starving yourself. Congrats on your achievement!

scottc561

:flowerforyou: http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/


Great resource. Educate yourself.

Your BMR is the energy your body burns every day being alive AT YOUR CURRENT WEIGHT (heart beat, breathing, thinking). Find yours going to Tools > BMR
TDEE accounts for calories your body burns every day including your daily acitivy AT YOUR CURRENT WEIGHT (sitting up, walking, exercise). Find yours going to My Home > Goals (From Daily Activity)

Most resources suggest you eat at least your BMR, however, contrary to very popular beleif, unless you cut into it SIGNIFICANTLY (like, only eating HALF your BMR), you will not go into "starvation mode."

And also contrary to popular beleif, if you have your TDEE set properly you DO NOT need to log or eat back your exercise calories, unless you do something that is ABOVE AND BEYOND your normal TDEE calculated activity.

When you are talking weight loss, all you need to worry about is DEFICIT. As in, eating less than your TDEE.

i agree with this except regarding going into starvation mode, because not all situations are the same and bmr is not what matters the most in figuring this out. The deficit is, like you said what determines wheter you starve yourself or not. From several studies ive read regarding this the concensious is eating 50% less then your body needs(tdee/2)WILLput you into this.

So for example if a person has a has a bmr of 2000cal and a tdee of 3000cal per day. If this person eats 500 less then his bmr that would be a 50% reduction from his tdee, which could result in basiclly going into starvation mode.

Now if the same person instead has a tdee of say 2200cal and eats 1500 as the person above that is not a 50% reduction and would not be as harmful. This seems to confuse alot of people so hopefully this makes it easier to grasp. It is not eating less then bmr per say, its how much below tdee that really matters.

edit-had to fix some spelling due to being on my cell.

heybales

To be inspired for the better direction.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531086-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation?