MFP recommended calories lower than my BMR?

msafunk

Out of curiousity, I used the BMR tool here on the website. It's saying that at age 24, 5'4" and 185lbs, my BMR is 1,574. But when I set my goal to lose 1lb per week, it gives me a 1470 calorie limit, and starts to warn me about starving myself if I don't eat 1200 calories. I actually have such an easy time staying under 1500 calories, that I try to get closer to 1200 a few times a week just to speed things up a bit.

HOWEVER...

I've read around the forums that you shouldn't rely on going below your BMR to lose weight. But netting 1574 calories a day wouldn't be a full pound per week. My current maintenance calories would be 2030, so (2030 * 7) - (1574 * 7) = 3192 calorie deficit.

Is there something off about this? Am I misunderstanding something? I've been pretty successful over the last two months with losing weight. I'd love to continue to lose 5lbs per month. I'm just really confused about how my BMR is so high.

HappyStack

When you're calculating your weekly deficit, you're using your BMR, not your TEE. If you're doing absolutely nothing but vegging out all week, that's fine... but my guess is you're doing a lot more than that and therefore expending more energy than you're calculating.

When you go to your goals page, it should give you a number of calories burned 'from normal daily activity' and a projected 'daily calorie deficit' (this would be intentional exercise, not incidental -- i.e calories burned during a jog around the park vs calories burned at work)... add those two together, then use that number to work out your weekly deficit.

bathsheba_c

MFP has me netting about 100 below my BMR, too. That doesn't sound like an abnormally high BMR for someone at your weight. In any event, it's all estimates, so if you have been successful, then keep at it, and don't forget to recalculated BMR and target calories every 5-10 pounds. Eating at least some of your exercise calories will keep you eating over BMR.

2hobbit1

MFP will do that if you are close to goal and select lose 1 or 2 lbs a week. since you are within 10 lbs of goal weigh you should select 0.5 lb loss a week. Go to the link below to see ow to calculate a realistic calorie target and then manual set your calorie target in MFP

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

to lose consistantly you need to eat above you BMR but below your TDEE

hkclaire

Is it important to eat above BMR or net above it?

2hobbit1

You should NET above BMR otherwise you don't have enough nutrition and energy to sustain your journey. The energy deficit built into your plan can be reached two ways - by restricting your calories only or by using a combination of exercise and calorie restriction.
If you use the combination of diet and exercise then you can eat more while still keeping your deficit at a healthy level.

HappyStack

Is it important to eat above BMR or net above it?

You should net above your BMR, but below your maintenance. How much is up to you, but base it on a percentage rather than an arbitrary number.

Between 10% and 20% of your maintenance is a good place to start. This should bring you sufficiently over your BMR, whilst still maintaining a sufficient daily calorie deficit for weekly loss.

Basically, if your maintenance is 2000 calories, 10% of that would be 200, so 2000 - 200 = 1800. If you find you're not losing weight at the rate you like, increase to 15 or 20%

hkclaire

Thanks. And apologies for crashing the thread.
I've recently upped my calories to losing 0.5 pounds per week. (I'm close to goal and just felt my body needed more food.)

juncture

I have this same issue although it's only a very small calorie difference

I'm 5'9 and 203lbs and I worked out my BMR to be 1740 (using the tools on here so not sure how accurate that is) but my calorie allowance for the day according to MFP is 1680, is this a big issue? (I know it's a very small difference in calories)

HappyStack

I have this same issue although it's only a very small calorie difference

I'm 5'9 and 203lbs and I worked out my BMR to be 1740 (using the tools on here so not sure how accurate that is) but my calorie allowance for the day according to MFP is 1680, is this a big issue? (I know it's a very small difference in calories)

MFP will give you a number based on doing absolutely nothing at all, all day, geared towards any type of dedicated exercise. Because the equation used to calculate your goals doesn't assume you will exercise beyond the 'normal daily activity' you selected when setting your goals (sedentary, lightly active, active, etc.) it will give you a number below that to aim at, because that is how you would lose weight.
The BMR value given by MFP will almost certainly give you an overestimated value, because it doesn't ask for your bodyfat percentage.

First things first, make sure you select the correct activity level. I wouldn't advise anybody to ever use 'sedentary' unless they are completely bed-bound, and 'lightly active' should only be used if you are literally sat on your butt all day besides the odd trip to the kitchen and the bathroom. 'Active' should be the go-to, in my opinion, for most people.
If this is the case, and your BMR is accurately at 1740, an active person of your height & weight would need approx. 2500 calories to maintain. To lose around 1lb a week, you'd reduce that number by 10-20% (i.e between 250-500 calories) and ensure you eat at around that each day (~2000 calories) in addition to 'eating back' any calories you burn during dedicated exercise*.

You'll notice as you add workouts, your recommended calorie consumption increases and your net calorie consumption will be greater than your BMR.

*edit - this is because a daily calorie deficit of 500 per day would equal a weekly calorie deficit of 3500, the caloric value of 1lb.

2hobbit1

I have this same issue although it's only a very small calorie difference

I'm 5'9 and 203lbs and I worked out my BMR to be 1740 (using the tools on here so not sure how accurate that is) but my calorie allowance for the day according to MFP is 1680, is this a big issue? (I know it's a very small difference in calories)

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

Work you numbers out using this thread - do the BF% calculator as it will help make the BMR and TDEE calculations more accurate.Then your cut is a percentage from your TDEE. If you factor your exercise/activity onto the calculation, then you do not need to add back exercise calories as it is already included. You will cycle your net around your target - on workout days your deficit will be a bit higher(net =lower) and on rest/recovery day you deficit will be lower (net = higher). Muscle is built on rest days so you don't want to skimp on rest days! If you have a lot to loose( obese) you cut can be 20-25%, if you are just overweight then 20% is good, if you are close to goal then 10% is better to sustain loss in a healthy manner.

em9371

Out of curiousity, I used the BMR tool here on the website. It's saying that at age 24, 5'4" and 185lbs, my BMR is 1,574. But when I set my goal to lose 1lb per week, it gives me a 1470 calorie limit, and starts to warn me about starving myself if I don't eat 1200 calories. I actually have such an easy time staying under 1500 calories, that I try to get closer to 1200 a few times a week just to speed things up a bit.

HOWEVER...

I've read around the forums that you shouldn't rely on going below your BMR to lose weight. But netting 1574 calories a day wouldn't be a full pound per week. My current maintenance calories would be 2030, so (2030 * 7) - (1574 * 7) = 3192 calorie deficit.

Is there something off about this? Am I misunderstanding something? I've been pretty successful over the last two months with losing weight. I'd love to continue to lose 5lbs per month. I'm just really confused about how my BMR is so high.

I'm 5'5, 181lbs and lost 8lbs last month eating 2100 ish cals (net 1550 as I exercise a lot). The maths says I should lose 1-1.5 a week.
Your BMR seems about right for your height and weight, mine is 1569 (Katch McArdle@ 35% BF).
The 1470 MFP gives you is NET so you would eat back exercise cals on top of this. going to 1570 is not a huge difference, so you would probably still lose the same, and 100 is not much below BMR so not a huge problem. If what you are doing is working, stick with that?
Eating less means you may lose quicker initially, but you will lose muscle as well as fat, which means your bmr reduces, then you need to eat less and less to get the same result - slow loss is better to keep the weight off long term.