I need help! On my BMR, caloric intake, and more!

LucindaLeeMI

I've done quite a bit of research and still have a bunch of questions. I'm doing this on my own, with no one to really talk to but my myfitnesspals. I've been on my journey since April with 10lbs lost and a total of 20.5 inches. I honestly have no idea where my BMR comes into play here, I take in no more than 1,600 calories a day and am starting to burn 1,500 a day.

I'd like to push myself more, I've talked to my doctor and she cleared me to lose up to 5lbs a week which is my goal! I'm having a hard time finding how many calories I need to burn in order to reach my weekly goal.

I'm 22
5ft 6'
415lbs
BMR is: 2,659 calories/day

Any help is greatly appreciated!

LucindaLeeMI

Bump :]

LucindaLeeMI

Yikes, saw no one has looked at this forum in a couple of weeks, I'll be posting this in fitness help!

tlc12078

I think the bmr is what you burn without exercise. You can add me. I am losing pretty good. Lost 64 pounds altogether, 41 from mfp. I have good tips to offer that seems to be helping me. I try my hardest to burn between 800- over 1000 cals a day myself.

michellematteson

BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you were in a coma doing absolutely nothing, so the calories your body needs to survive, not just what is needed to move around. Generally, it is not good to go below it, however, given your current size and the fact you are seeing a doctor, you could probably go under your BMR with no ill effects until you start getting closer to your goal weight.

What you may want to look at is the amount of calories that your goal weight will need to maintain. For example, I'm hoping to get to 155 as a healthy weight for my height, 5 foot 6 inches. The maintenance calories for 155 is 1860, so I know going too low below that is not good.

Megs081211

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

hailzp

If you eat at your BMR or a little above you will lose Because of your current size as well you can afford to have a bigger deficit, so set your loss to 2lb a week and go from there

olee67

BMR is what you would need to consume each day to maintain your current weight.

To lose weight, you need to be at about a 1750 calorie deficit per week to lose one pound per week and a 3500 calorie deficit to lose two pounds a week.

So, to lose 2 lbs a week based on your BMR, you would have to consume about 2100 calories a day. If you burn 1500 calories a day (which is unreal), you would need to consume 2100+1500= 3600 calories a day.

The most important thing to realize is, your body needs energy to burn fat. Not eating enough food will result in your body storing as much as your body can spare to compinsate for such a high deficit. If you are burning 1500 a day and only consuming 1600 a day, you are only netting 100 caloires a day. Don't try this (because it's impossible), but, imagine only eating 100 calories all day. That's essentially what you are doing.

You have to eat to lose weight. Period. Anything more than a 500 calorie deficit will put your body into starvation mode. It'll slow down you metabolism. Essentially, grazing is the best way to go about it. I usually start off with a big breakfast (I try to eat at least 500 calories any way I can.) Then, you just need 3-4 more meals through the day at about 400 calories and that'll get you to 2100 calories a day.

Also, know where your heart rate is. Working at a high heart rate will burn carbs (essentially sugar) and a lower heart rate will burn fat. Find your target heart rate (http://www.sportfit.com/sportfitglossary/energetics_aerobic_krvnn.html) and see where you need to be.

wild_wild_life

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

wild_wild_life

BMR is what you would need to consume each day to maintain your current weight.

To lose weight, you need to be at about a 1750 calorie deficit per week to lose one pound per week and a 3500 calorie deficit to lose two pounds a week.

So, to lose 2 lbs a week based on your BMR, you would have to consume about 2100 calories a day. If you burn 1500 calories a day (which is unreal), you would need to consume 2100+1500= 3600 calories a day.

The most important thing to realize is, your body needs energy to burn fat. Not eating enough food will result in your body storing as much as your body can spare to compinsate for such a high deficit. If you are burning 1500 a day and only consuming 1600 a day, you are only netting 100 caloires a day. Don't try this (because it's impossible), but, imagine only eating 100 calories all day. That's essentially what you are doing.

You have to eat to lose weight. Period. Anything more than a 500 calorie deficit will put your body into starvation mode. It'll slow down you metabolism. Essentially, grazing is the best way to go about it. I usually start off with a big breakfast (I try to eat at least 500 calories any way I can.) Then, you just need 3-4 more meals through the day at about 400 calories and that'll get you to 2100 calories a day.

Also, know where your heart rate is. Working at a high heart rate will burn carbs (essentially sugar) and a lower heart rate will burn fat. Find your target heart rate (http://www.sportfit.com/sportfitglossary/energetics_aerobic_krvnn.html) and see where you need to be.

Most of this is incorrect.

"BMR is what you would need to consume each day to maintain your current weight."

BMR is basal metabolic rate, metabolic rate at complete rest. You need to multiply it by an activity factor even if you're sedentery to get TDEE, or daily maintenance. You lose weight eating at BMR.

"To lose weight, you need to be at about a 1750 calorie deficit per week to lose one pound per week and a 3500 calorie deficit to lose two pounds a week. "

A pound of weight loss is 3500 calories so you need a 3500 weekly deficit to lose 1 lb and a 7000 weekly deficit to lose 2 lbs.

"Anything more than a 500 calorie deficit will put your body into starvation mode"

Where did you hear this? Do you really think this is true for someone weighing 400 lbs?

I do agree you are netting 100 calories per day and that is too low (IMO).

Megs081211

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

I hope I'm answering this correctly but Im still half asleep but if your still confused don't hesitate to ask for more information. I was just going based off the information she gave me, so I combined her BMR and the 1600 calories (which I'm assuming is from exercise) to estimate her TDE to be 4259. I actually ran it through a calculator and it figured it was about 4600 (so I was fairly close). So yes, when I was adding her BMR to her calories burned (assuming that is from exercise) I was trying to calculate her TDEE; so that is what I was taking into account.

wild_wild_life

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

I hope I'm answering this correctly but Im still half asleep but if your still confused don't hesitate to ask for more information. I was just going based off the information she gave me, so I combined her BMR and the 1600 calories (which I'm assuming is from exercise) to estimate her TDE to be 4259. I actually ran it through a calculator and it figured it was about 4600 (so I was fairly close). So yes, when I was adding her BMR to her calories burned (assuming that is from exercise) I was trying to calculate her TDEE; so that is what I was taking into account.

Thanks -- that makes sense. Thanks for posting back.

Basically in order for her to lose 5 lbs per week she can only net a few hundred calories per day because her deficit is about the same as her BMR. This seems like a really aggressive deficit!

thefreebiemom

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

I hope I'm answering this correctly but Im still half asleep but if your still confused don't hesitate to ask for more information. I was just going based off the information she gave me, so I combined her BMR and the 1600 calories (which I'm assuming is from exercise) to estimate her TDE to be 4259. I actually ran it through a calculator and it figured it was about 4600 (so I was fairly close). So yes, when I was adding her BMR to her calories burned (assuming that is from exercise) I was trying to calculate her TDEE; so that is what I was taking into account.

This is what has been confusing me because I could of swore I saw something saying not to eat below your BMR, but MFP has our calories set below that. I think my BMR comes out at about 1880 and I am set at 1670.

Megs081211

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

I hope I'm answering this correctly but Im still half asleep but if your still confused don't hesitate to ask for more information. I was just going based off the information she gave me, so I combined her BMR and the 1600 calories (which I'm assuming is from exercise) to estimate her TDE to be 4259. I actually ran it through a calculator and it figured it was about 4600 (so I was fairly close). So yes, when I was adding her BMR to her calories burned (assuming that is from exercise) I was trying to calculate her TDEE; so that is what I was taking into account.

Thanks -- that makes sense. Thanks for posting back.

Basically in order for her to lose 5 lbs per week she can only net a few hundred calories per day because her deficit is about the same as her BMR. This seems like a really aggressive deficit!

It is. I had thought I had asked to see if her doctor could refer her to a RD or nutritionist for better guidance, but I guess I forgot to do it in my sleep deprived nature. Most of my professors stated doctors get very minimal nutrition training (maybe 1 or 2 courses).

I myself only net a few hundred calories a day and I do try to eat more. I eat at least 3 meals a day (and to the point I'm full) and I have snacks through out the day (3 to 4, always with some sort of protein) to keep my blood sugar up and make sure I can sustain a work out. The only time I can seem to manage higher caloric intakes is if I eat junk. But this is based off the previous few weeks, where I wasn't getting up til lunch time as well. This will most likely change starting monday.

mcarter99

MFP doesn't limit your intake to your BMR because there is no reason to do so. You see it all the time here but it is like viral misinformation. Do the math and you'll see that your doctor could in no way have been implying that, with the deficit level she's okayed for you. Or just ask her.

Megs081211

In order to lose 5 pounds a week you'd have to burn 17,500 calories a weeks, so 2500 calories a day. (3500 calories/lb). If your buring 1600 (I'm guessing that's from exercise) and 2659 from your BMR (the calories your body burns by you doing nothing). You should eat about 1700 calories a day (but try not to go lower than 1200). 1600+2659= 4259 - 2500 (what you need to burn a day to lose 5 lbs a week) = 1759


I have my degree in Nutrition and while normally weight loss should be about 2 to 3 lbs a week you could honestly lose 5 lbs a week. If you're going to do extreme diets to lose that weight remember the majority of people gain the weight back after a diet. Don't do anything that's going to get you discouraged if you can't accomplish it. Also, the weight may come off faster in the beginning but as you start losing weight it maybe harder to keep that 5 lb a week goal.

Hey, it's cool to see someone with an actual nutrition degree posting on here. I'm curious, don't you need to take into account the TDEE rather than the BMR to calculate the daily burn? Or are you saying that you think 4259 is the TDEE? If she is burning 1600 per day in exercise surely she is burning a fair amount during the day even without exercise. Just making sure I understand correctly.

I hope I'm answering this correctly but Im still half asleep but if your still confused don't hesitate to ask for more information. I was just going based off the information she gave me, so I combined her BMR and the 1600 calories (which I'm assuming is from exercise) to estimate her TDE to be 4259. I actually ran it through a calculator and it figured it was about 4600 (so I was fairly close). So yes, when I was adding her BMR to her calories burned (assuming that is from exercise) I was trying to calculate her TDEE; so that is what I was taking into account.

This is what has been confusing me because I could of swore I saw something saying not to eat below your BMR, but MFP has our calories set below that. I think my BMR comes out at about 1880 and I am set at 1670.

If your trying to lose weight and you eat at your BMR and don't exercise your going to maintain weight. If you want to lose weight without exercise you have to eat below your BMR. That's why if you enter in you exercise it will up your calories, carbs, proteins and fats. Once you start exercising it's more of your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).