This is my last try to get a response!!!!

Healthydiner65
Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,552 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If my BMR is 1,480 and I had 403 exercise calories does that mean I can eat 1,883 calories without gaining?
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Replies

  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,552 Member
    bump
  • Rockdrop
    Rockdrop Posts: 22 Member
    I think theoretically that is correct, but unfortunately, it's really tough to know this for sure. In my opinion, though, it's highly unlikely that you would GAIN weight eating 1,883...it might be a maintenance day, though.
  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,552 Member
    Thank-you! Sometimes I think I am invisible here!
  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,552 Member
    bump
  • kidcole11
    kidcole11 Posts: 98 Member
    I agree that you should not gain fat from eating your exercise calories back.
  • pamperedlinny
    pamperedlinny Posts: 1,672 Member
    I never understand BMR so I can't help.... sorry. :ohwell:
  • PuggleLover
    PuggleLover Posts: 261 Member
    I don't get how this really works... but if I eat all mine back, I lose slow, but at least I am not starving.
  • chubtofit
    chubtofit Posts: 67 Member
    Basically if you eat back your exercise calories - your weight is not going to change. You need to expend more calories than you take in to lose weight. Having said that, your BMR is only a rough estimate of how many calories you burn doing absolutely nothing (which most of us don't do...housework, shopping etc burn some extra ones) so if you eat back only some of your exercise cals then you should lose something. I always seem to eat a small portion of my exercise cals and I've lost weight
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    Sometimes threads just don't get seen, don't take it personally because you are far from the only one it happens to.

    Your BMR is what you would burn if you laid in bed all day. If you eat that much plus the calories burned from exercise you would still be under your TDEE by the amount of calories you burn walking around, cooking and doing all your normal daily activities.
  • Belligerent_Wombat
    Belligerent_Wombat Posts: 63 Member
    Thank-you! Sometimes I think I am invisible here!

    I feel your pain.
  • tpittsley77
    tpittsley77 Posts: 607 Member
    Your bmr is the minimum calories you need to live if you were theoretically in a coma. You should look for the groups "eat more to weigh less", and "in place of a road map". Especially the second. You will find so many answers in those groups!!! And so much help.
  • Morgaine_on_the_move
    Morgaine_on_the_move Posts: 228 Member
    I'm no expert, but I'd think that eating back ALL your exercise calories ALL the time might slow down your losses, but if you truly burned that many calories, you're not going to gain.

    To a large degree it's about what will work for you, and that will take some experimentation. I've read about people being successful eating all of them back, people being successful while never eating them back, and people who are successful while eating some of them back. I'm in the "some" camp.

    I know what you're feeling about being invisible. I've thrown out a couple questions and have yet to get a single response.
  • Rockdrop
    Rockdrop Posts: 22 Member
    BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories your body allegedly burns when doing NOTHING (as though you were in a comma). The trouble is, most of us figure our BMRs out by plugging our stats into the computer and it spits out a number. Metabolism is affected by more than just our age, height and weight, though, so it's not 100% reliable.
  • brandimacleod
    brandimacleod Posts: 368 Member
    Please don't feel invisible. Posts disappear so fast sometimes...And yes, in theory you could eat them. But...never trust a computer completely. Even if you have a body bugg, other things can factor in, like medical conditions. PCOS, diabetes, thyroid issues, etc all cause weight loss to take longer and the body need less calories to get it done.
  • BlisterLamb
    BlisterLamb Posts: 396 Member
    I gained 25 pounds in 6 months when I ate back my exercise calories, but I had Hashimoto's and didn't know it. It causes unexplained weight gain. So I either don't eat them back or only eat half. But everyone is different. There are people on here who lose while eating back all their exercise calories. You just have to try different things and see what works best for you.
  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,552 Member
    The reason why I asked was cuz I went to the Best in the West rib cookoff today and wanted to enjoy myself without the guilt!
  • Francesca3162
    Francesca3162 Posts: 520 Member
    Your TDEE is what your body burned doing its normal activity during the course of a normal day. Your BMR is what a doctor would prescribe for you in nutritional value if you were lying in a hospital bed in a coma to sustain your organ and brain and body functions to keep you alive. If when you set up your account on the website, you calculated your BMR with sedentary activity level, then you can go ahead and eat your exercise calories back. If you listed your exercise level in the calculation then NO, you should not eat your exercise calories as the were already counted. Hope that helps.
  • Go1096
    Go1096 Posts: 83 Member
    Try this :

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/7965-in-place-of-a-road-map
  • erobinson90
    erobinson90 Posts: 36
    I think that it is save to say that you wouldn't lose weight but you wouldn't gain any either
  • athensguy
    athensguy Posts: 550
    Your TDEE is the number you burn per day.

    Your BMR and exercises calories (EAT+EPOC) are components of TDEE.

    If you eat at your actual BMR and eat your actual exercise calories, you should have a caloric deficit since you'd be leaving out NEAT and DIT.

    The thing is that the calculators are merely an estimate. There is significant variability between BMRs. There is also variability in exercise calories.
  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 961 Member
    The reason why I asked was cuz I went to the Best in the West rib cookoff today and wanted to enjoy myself without the guilt!

    THAT is a completely different thing. Sometimes, you just need to give yourself a day to be free of guilt and enjoy yourself. It won't hurt you. :o)
  • fairestthings
    fairestthings Posts: 335 Member
    I've had difficulties with this, and I think you kind of have to play with it before you realize what works for your body.

    For now, my BMR is somewhere around 1650. I make sure to net at least 1650, but this doesn't mean I eat back ALL my exercise calories, just some. If I don't exercise at all and eat my BMR, it's a maintenance day. Otherwise I try to eat my BMR with exercise and then I usually lose.

    Some people are able to lose by eating back exercise cals, some aren't. Give each way 2-3 weeks and see what works for you.
  • edwardda
    edwardda Posts: 1
    I think so, but just in case, don't! Unless it's a special occasion and you can be careful for the next few days! Hang in there!:smile:
  • basillowe66
    basillowe66 Posts: 432 Member
    Yes it does, but if you eat all of them and you close out for the day ,they will tell you that you will weigh more in 5 weeks than if you don't eat the extra calories!!

    Basil
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    As several people have mentioned above, BMR is not what you burn in a day -- it's your metabolic rate at complete rest (for some people, even sleeping metabolic rate can be higher than BMR).

    BMR is not a suitable number to take your deficit from -- you need to multiply it by an activity factor which varies depending on how active you are (ie a construction worker's daily requirement is different from an office worker's daily requirement even if their BMR is the same). MFP does this for you when you tell it your activity level. If you want to know how many calories you need per day, google TDEE calculator. This includes exercise but would give you a rough estimation of your maintenance level.

    When MFP estimates your maintenance level, it doesn't factor in exercise, which is why you are supposed to eat more when you exercise on the MFP plan.

    Hope that helps!
  • Droope2
    Droope2 Posts: 82
    I was told by my nutritionist not to eat back my exercise calories, so if I exercise and have an extra 500 calories, I do not touch them, I stay at about 1500 calories a day and have been doing okay, good luck!
  • WickedBean
    WickedBean Posts: 244 Member
    Yes. Its the way MFP is set up.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    Recently I had a DXA scan done and someone gave me this using my LBM of 104.5 (I am 5'1"), perhaps the formula will help you!


    Wow! Awesome about your bone density. An LBM of of 104.5?? That is amazing for you height!!
    The Katch-mcardle formula takes LBM into the equation, so may be more accurate for you. It is:

    BMR= 370+ (21.6 x Lean mass in kg)
    BMR=1396
  • Antlady69
    Antlady69 Posts: 204 Member
    This incredible post will answer all your questions:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    (sorry if someone else has already posted the link, I didn't take the time to read all replies.)
  • swat1948
    swat1948 Posts: 302 Member
    Yes thyroid issues definitely make a difference and I know I can't eat back many of my exercise calories if I want to lose at all. I have hypothyroidism. Even with medication my metabolism is slow. So I try to stay within 100 calories above or less than the 1240 MFP suggested for me. I always eat at least 1200 though.

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