Low BMR and TDEE calculations ... Guru's... HELP!!

Cazzy34

Hi,

I am completely confused. I have been punching numbers into a variety of online BMR and TDEE calculators and i always seem to get pretty low results. Even my Tanita scale with BMR calculator says my BMR is only 1195!!

I am 5'2", female (obviously), 33 years old and have approx 29% body fat! I weigh 133 lbs and of that i have approx 91lbs of muscle/bone mass. So that means I have 38.5lbs of fat! This leaves 3.5lbs which i assume is water? This is at least what my scale tells me!!

So my BMR is 1195 and according to other calculations my TDEE is around 1400! My biggest question is, with numbers this low how can i possibly lose? There is very little room for a defecit!!

I have a desk job, however i only work 3 days per week. I have 3 kids, try to be as active as i can through walking and other light exercise. I cannot strengh train due to health problems including a hernia, however i go to a plates class once per week!

Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks

rose313

If you eat 1200 a day you should lose just under half a pound a week. Try that and see how it goes. If you are starving either eat a little more or eat more foods that contain fiber and protein to keep you full at 1200. Half a pound a week is healthy for you, since you don't have a lot to lose. I would suggest toning with weights but with your hernia ask your doctor if there is a program that you can do that won't hurt you.

Cazzy34

Hmmm the thing is, with the 1200 i tend not to lose at all, unless i go crazy at the gym, which i obviously can't anymore!

The only other option is to reduce calories to 1000, however that is not sustainable for any length of time!

It's very catch 22!

GauchoMark

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

Acg67

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

???

1400 - 500 = 900, 900 < 1200

rose313

If you cut your calories by 250 per day from your TDEE that puts you at half a pound a week loss. So technically you should be losing if you are accurate with it. Do you lick the spoon or pop a couple chips into your mouth and not count them? I have a low TDEE too so I know things like that can add up to a hundred or more cals a day. If you are really accurate and still don't lose at 1200, it's probably because you don't have much to lose and your body is having trouble letting go of it. You always hear "the last 10 pounds are the hardest" it's true. Make sure your macros are on track too...I don't lose at all if I eat too many carbs. That could also be the issue.

Lift_hard_eat_big

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

Mind explosion, I no comprehend the math

pdworkman

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

???

1400 - 500 = 900, 900 < 1200

You missed the exercise.

1400 - 500 + 300 = 1200

rose313

Working out reduces calories, not adds them.

pdworkman

How about eating at TDEE and building muscle?

Acg67

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

???

1400 - 500 = 900, 900 < 1200

You missed the exercise.

1400 - 500 + 300 = 1200

You missed comprehending what TDEE is

dinosnopro

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

???

1400 - 500 = 900, 900 < 1200

You missed the exercise.

1400 - 500 - 300 = 600

fixed that for you

alexis831

Your TDEE is wrong for your stats, the math isn’t working…maybe I am wrong but here is a site that does the math for you. (EDIT... your tdee is wrong I just checked on 3 sites)

http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

Your BMR is 1364 and your TDEE at no exercise is 1636.

Yes double check your actual calories. You list yourself as a yoyo dieter. I can’t see what you are eating so I assume you are going no where because of this?? A crazy binge 1 day can erase all your work the entire week especially if you have a small deficit. Get a scale for your food if you have to. You could be taking in more then you know. Walk 3x a week or more for 45 min at a very fast pace. That will burn an extra 300 you need a day along with your class you are taking. Log everything and stop picking diet fads and just eat regular but 500 under your intake. Your TDEE is 1636 so eat 1136 and you can choose to eat back those walking/palates calories or not. That is up to you.

GauchoMark

if your TDEE is 1400, you could still do a 500 calorie deficit and stay above 1200 calories just by working out for ~300 per day. That isn't all that much activity and would give you about 1 lb/week.

Remember to stick with a routine for about a month before you decide if it works or not - if you are actually only eating 1200 calories and not losing, I would bet that you are underestimating calories or not giving it enough time to actually see a loss.

???

1400 - 500 = 900, 900 < 1200

Using her numbers, she calculated a TDEE from her BMR with a factor of ~1.2, which means sedentary. The point I was trying to make was that she could increase her TDEE to 1700 by doing a little exercise.

yarwell

I am 5'2", female (obviously), 33 years old and have approx 29% body fat! I weigh 133 lbs

The calculator tool at http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/ puts you at an initial RMR of 1264 calories/day. I asked it to get you to 120 lbs in 180 days (about 0.5 lb per week) and it said to eat 1222 calories/day for 180 days then 1430 calories/day to maintain. I told it you were sedentary ie your TDEE is 20% above your RMR.

So there's room for a small deficit and a 6 month weight loss. Or a bigger deficit and a faster loss for a shorter period. The maths aren't kind to short people who can't do tons of exercise but even an hour using 320 calories would be helpful.

yarwell

The Pennington simulator http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/weight-loss-predictor/ is less kind,

it wants you on a deficit of 405 calories/day to hit 120 lbs in twelve months. It does however assume that you set out at a maintenance calories / TDEE of 2232 calories a day so the deficit would be eating 1827 calories/day.

Their RMR equation is the Livingston-Kohlstadt equation from http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v13/n7/abs/oby2005149a.html which is largely based on weight.

Cazzy34

Your TDEE is wrong for your stats, the math isn’t working…maybe I am wrong but here is a site that does the math for you. (EDIT... your tdee is wrong I just checked on 3 sites)

http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

Your BMR is 1364 and your TDEE at no exercise is 1636.

Yes double check your actual calories. You list yourself as a yoyo dieter. I can’t see what you are eating so I assume you are going no where because of this?? A crazy binge 1 day can erase all your work the entire week especially if you have a small deficit. Get a scale for your food if you have to. You could be taking in more then you know. Walk 3x a week or more for 45 min at a very fast pace. That will burn an extra 300 you need a day along with your class you are taking. Log everything and stop picking diet fads and just eat regular but 500 under your intake. Your TDEE is 1636 so eat 1136 and you can choose to eat back those walking/palates calories or not. That is up to you.

Yes i do tend to yoyo... the main reason is that in the past i have eaten 1000 cals a day to lose weight but once i reach my goal and increase my cals to maintenacne of 1400 i gain!! 1000 cals per day is not sustainable forever, so its a vicious circle!

My BMR is definately closer to yarwell's estimate of 1264! Keeping in mind that most websites are calculated on averages... i am not average. I have little muscle mass and a greater amount of fat mass. Obviously the greater the muscle mass you have the more cals you will burn at rest! ISSUE with this is I can't strength train to increase my muscle mass!

I also can't work out on the days that i work as i have to come straight home and get the kids sorted, so tues, wed and thurs I do NO exercise. Also It would take me over 2 hours to burn 300 cals according to my HR monitor!

I guess the difficulty is that i am petite, have little sustainable muscle and restricted due to work/home commitments.

I think i will try the 1222 or less for 4 weeks and try to increase my TDEE on the days i don't work by exercise. It looks like its the only thing i can do!

Thanks for all your input

alexis831

Your TDEE is wrong for your stats, the math isn’t working…maybe I am wrong but here is a site that does the math for you. (EDIT... your tdee is wrong I just checked on 3 sites)

http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

Your BMR is 1364 and your TDEE at no exercise is 1636.

Yes double check your actual calories. You list yourself as a yoyo dieter. I can’t see what you are eating so I assume you are going no where because of this?? A crazy binge 1 day can erase all your work the entire week especially if you have a small deficit. Get a scale for your food if you have to. You could be taking in more then you know. Walk 3x a week or more for 45 min at a very fast pace. That will burn an extra 300 you need a day along with your class you are taking. Log everything and stop picking diet fads and just eat regular but 500 under your intake. Your TDEE is 1636 so eat 1136 and you can choose to eat back those walking/palates calories or not. That is up to you.

Yes i do tend to yoyo... the main reason is that in the past i have eaten 1000 cals a day to lose weight but once i reach my goal and increase my cals to maintenacne of 1400 i gain!! 1000 cals per day is not sustainable forever, so its a vicious circle!

My BMR is definately closer to yarwell's estimate of 1264! Keeping in mind that most websites are calculated on averages... i am not average. I have little muscle mass and a greater amount of fat mass. Obviously the greater the muscle mass you have the more cals you will burn at rest! ISSUE with this is I can't strength train to increase my muscle mass!

I also can't work out on the days that i work as i have to come straight home and get the kids sorted, so tues, wed and thurs I do NO exercise. Also It would take me over 2 hours to burn 300 cals according to my HR monitor!

I guess the difficulty is that i am petite, have little sustainable muscle and restricted due to work/home commitments.

I think i will try the 1222 or less for 4 weeks and try to increase my TDEE on the days i don't work by exercise. It looks like its the only thing i can do!

Thanks for all your input

Anytime! Don't forget to take your 15 min break's in the office and walk outside! I do every day! I am shorter then you so I understand… my tdee is much lower! I have 5 kids and work m-f and live far from work so I am gone from 6am until almost 5 every day and that doesn’t include church, I coach softball, and theatre the oldest is in, girl scouts, and so on. I wake up at 4 am just to workout. Its not fun but it is doable... you just have to really work hard and focus and fit it in when you can. I don’t hardly ever sit! Don't have time too!

nxd10

The Pennington simulator http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/weight-loss-predictor/ is less kind,

it wants you on a deficit of 405 calories/day to hit 120 lbs in twelve months. It does however assume that you set out at a maintenance calories / TDEE of 2232 calories a day so the deficit would be eating 1827 calories/day.

Their RMR equation is the Livingston-Kohlstadt equation from http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v13/n7/abs/oby2005149a.html which is largely based on weight.

I was working with that calculator this morning and am going to use it as an example for my statistics class.

The goal of that particular calculator is to adjust for changes in metabolism in predicting weight loss. Calories are fixed to start, you change the deficit, and it adjusts your metabolism in predicting loss.

Well, I know I'm 1000 calories a day under that to start, so my initial metabolism estimate is wrong and it will not work for me because of that. You can, if you're feeling masochistic, take the equations they list in the primary research, and build your own.

I found the one from the NIH diabetes and kidney disease unit to be more accurate for these purposes as it allows you to adjust calories and assumes a stable metabolism.

All these models are complex and you can't solve for everything simultaneously.