Eat At Your BMR?

Lyndsgirl
Lyndsgirl Posts: 26 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Okay okay, so I'm confused. My BMR is about 1,570 cals/day. MFP recommends I eat 1,200 cals/day. When I exercise, usually burning on average 700 calories, the most I can get up to eat is about 1,300-400 for my belly to handle. Am I not losing weight because I'm eating below the BMR? Everyone's always said "burn more than you eat in order to lose weight". HELLPP!!!!

Replies

  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    What you should be eating, in order to maintain weight, is your BMR times a multiplier, dependant on your activity level. For most people, that is sedentary, which would be a multiplier of 1.2.

    For you, your maintenance intake should be 1884 calories/day (1570 * 1.2).

    Now, there are about 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat, so to lose 1 lb/week, you need a deficit of 500 calories/day (3500/7), which would mean you should have a net calorie intake of 1384, or about 1400 (1884-500).

    However, as you work out/exercise, you burn more calories than you would if you didn't work out, and just stayed sedentary all day. This needs to be taken into account. That's why MFP add more calories onto your net calories whenever you log exercise.

    Say you burned 400 calories from working out, you then need to eat an extra 400 calories to maintain a steady 500 calorie deficit/1 lb loss per week.

    However, this is just general information. There are other variables when it comes to weight loss. Just because you have a deficit of 500 calories every day doesn't necessarily mean you will lose 1 lb/week every week. Some weeks you will lose more, some weeks you will lose less, some weeks you won't lose anything at all. If you're finding you're stuck on a plateau, you may need to mix it up. Eat more, eat less (I would suggest more), do something different for exercise, or just ignore the numbers and go by how you feel/your measurements. You may be putting on muscle and/or losing fat at the same time. 160lbs with muscle is healthier than 120lbs of nothing.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    If you're having a hard time eating enough, spread your calories out over the day, instead of trying to eat it in larger portions. I should be eating 2000-2500 calories/day, and there's no way I can eat upwards of 1000 calories in a meal. I eat 5, 500 calorie "meals" (give or take) instead of 3 huge meals. It makes it a lot easier, you feel fuller more, so you don't get as hungry between meals. It works for me.
  • Lyndsgirl
    Lyndsgirl Posts: 26 Member
    Thank you very much, Eric. That really helped. I think I am going to start trying that; eating 1,400 cals a day with a deficient of 500.
    Oh the weight world. So confusing.

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