Help re BMR

helenlp83

I've been on MFP for a while but onlye recently started looking through the forums and adding friends for motivation. I'm a bit confused with all the acronyms and the science behind it.

I'm 5'7" females 28yrs current weight is 184lb. My job is sedentary and I aim to work out 4 times a week 30 min sessions. It tells me my net cals is 1200 for a 2lb a week weight loss. When I calculate my BMR it says 1597. Now I'm confused because BMR is the lowest cals my body needs to survive at my weight so if I'm eating 1200 cals does that mean I would lose weight or that my body is not coping? I very rarely eat 1200 a day it's normally more 1400-1500 a day because of the exercise I'm adding in to do. I don't drink fizzy drinks if I do have the odd one it's a diet coke. I drink water throughout the day or maybe a decaf coffee with skimmed milk. If I do have alcohol it's logged and taken out of my cal allowance. My meals are all home cooked. I don't eat 100% clean I just adjust my portions. So for instance I have two slices of brown toast for brekkie with low sugar jam, lunch is normally either a ham salad sandwich on brown bread or 40g pasta with salad and a low fat dressing (small amount) Dinner varies but this week I've have mushroom risotto (low cal recipes approx 300 cals per portion) Jacket potato with beans, salmon with a jacket pototo. I snack mainly on fruit throughout the day but I'm no angel and crave chocolate every now and then but get the low fat version.

I would really appreciate some help as to how many cals I should be eating for a weight loss :ohwell:

Johlawrence

You and me both! I do not understand the science either. II do know, however, that what I am doing now is not moving the scales down...any advice would be greatly appreciated...my diary is open as well.

bathsheba_c

MFP sets net below BMR sometimes; I'm not sure why, but it does it for me, too. It sounds to me like you are more or less doing the right things, but I would suggest changing your goal to losing 1 lb per week. That way, you will be sure to eat above BMR and, to be honest, I'm not sure, with only 30 lbs left to lose, that 2 lbs a week is really sustainable.

beachlover317

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised

Start here. It will help you understand all the numbers that you will need to eat healthy. I wish someone had pointed me here when I started. It also provides you the info to know that you need to eat more than you think you do to remain healthy and keep the weight off. Hope this helps!

amnsetie

I would set it for a lower per week weight loss.
when you exercise you will be able to eat over bmr, but when you don't you would have to eat below to make 2 lb per week and that's not a good idea.
so set for half or one pound per week. eat between bmr and tdee

base metabolic rate - the amt you need in a coma
tdee - the amt you burn per day.

helenlp83

Thanks for your replies. I set it to 2lb a week becasue previously (WW and SW) it has always been that a 2lb a week loss is healthy so I just set it at that.

My short term goal at the moment is to fit into a dress for my daughter christeing on 19th August which is about an inch from the top of the zip. A dreaded mixture of back fat and big boobs! May have to strap them down on the day if I can't shift some weight from the area.

I would be quite happy to lose the 30lb by Christmas so I'm in no great rush. I'll change my settings to 1lb a week loss and see how it changes things

SanyamKaushik

What MFP recommends is largely OK'ish (or right). 1200 cals is just a ball park figure that people recommend that you at least need to eat.

"Now I'm confused because BMR is the lowest cals my body needs to survive at my weight so if I'm eating 1200 cals does that mean I would lose weight or that my body is not coping?"
The idea is to create a deficit. If there is an energy deficit, your body will (ideally) tend to break down fats and gain energy from it.

a. And 1597 in your case is just your BMR.
b. Being sedentary, your body burns approx 20% for you day to day activities... e.g. in digesting food and walking a bit etc etc...
So a+b is what you need to eat to maintain the weight. If you are looking for weight loss, you should create a deficit (in an ideal world) and that deficit would be compensated by fats in the body (and sometimes the muscle mass).

In your case, you work out so that your net calories are under the target that MFP has set for you. I would say keep doing it, keep on doing exercises/workouts and keep changing it.. The hardwork will definitely pay off.
Good luck.

psuLemon

Ok, regarding the bmr and eating below it not being safe.... that is 100% false. Your body is adaptive.. you consistently eat under your bmr and your metabolism will slow down to support you calorie intake. Now one thing that can offset the reductuion in metabolic rate would be exercise, more specifically, heavy weight training.

Now with weight loss, you have to understand that you cant expect to lose 2lbs a week as you are too close to a normal weight for your body. As you approach a normal weight, your body will have less fat stores to pull energy from. So over time when you aim for 2lbs a week, a persons body will start to catabolize your lean body mass (tissue, muscle, bone densinty, etc...) . This is why aiming for 1lb a week is better as you will get more energy from calories. Also, weight training is important as it improves metabolic functions and burns more calories post workout.