Please explain BMR

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  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
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    Californiagirl, how do you maintain you LBM with your current intake? What calorie goal were you at when you built all that muscle? You're beautiful, by the way. Do you go through bulk/cut cycles? What you've achieved, based upon my limited knowledge, isn't possible on so few calories. Thanks!
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
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    Sorry about the qupte but no reply. BMR is not the only thing I find confuseing at times LOL.
    The quote was "You Should NEVER eat below your BMR"
    Using MFP calculator my BMR is 2206
    my goal input was to lose 1.5 LBS / Week + 750 Cal per day deficit
    I input sedentary and now planned exercise so that any exercise done will show that I have to eat them back or exceed my goal.
    I can exceed my deficit goal by 250 calories a day and still be safe at a 2 LBS wt loss amount.
    MFP says my daily starting Calories are 1800 and change.
    So is it not telling me to eat less than my BMR?

    See my confuseion?

    That is precisely why I use the TDEE method instead of how MFP calcualtes it. - it does the same for me. Says my BMR is 1208 and sets my daily calories at 1200. But then, you eat more as you burn exercise calories - so if you burn 300 calories using MFP's numbers, you eat those back in addition to the initial amount.

    Everything I have read posted by trainers or nutritionists and learned from talking with my RN mother (who is also a nutritionist) is that BMR is the lowest number of calories you should eat ever.

    That is why I chose to calculate my TDEE and ignore MFP's suggested goals. I set my goals using the custom setting according to my TDEE calculation. When I ate the recommended 1200 calories that MFP assigned, I ended up on a plateau for 5 months because I was not eating enough.

    Well I think we need to have someone with some credentials from MFP explain all of this so we have a definative answer because it looks like MFP's numbers may be WAY OFF BASE.
    I am 5 ft 11 in weigh 305 and am 62 years old. Facts
    BMR calculates around 2446 depending on the site.
    TDEE at sedentary with NO planned exercise to cloud things is around 2935 depending on the site.
    if my goal at MFP is to maintain it gives me a budget of 2760 which is below my TDEE
    goal half pound loss MFP = 2510 Fit Bit says 2830 both still above my BMR
    goal one pound loss MFP = 2260 Fit Bit says 2581 MFP is below my BMR
    goal one and a half MFP = 2010 Fit Bit 2331
    goal two pounds MFP = 1760 Fit Bit is 2084
    The Nutritionist my doctor sent me to says I should be at 2000 calories, being obese I can afford to be below BMR for quite awhile. and I should do that while exercising at least 150 hours a week. There was no talk of eating back calories at the 2000 level.

    So other than being completely confused on how do determine a "Healthy" target I can conclude a couple of things

    One: To say you should "never eat below your BMR" is wrong, at the worst it depends on your starting point weight wise.

    Two: If you follow MFP's goal you better eat back your exercise calories to be safe.

    Now the problem is I just don't want to eat that many calories, I am not hungry.
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,394 Member
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    bump
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
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    Ok I think I have it figured out but it just may be a coincidence. If I have a two pound weight loss goal and input sedentary with no projected workouts than my target calorie budget is 1760, yes I am starting out as obese (303 today). It seems intuitive that the fatter you are the quicker you can lose to some degree and the easier as well. If I calculate my BMR at my gaol weight it comes out to ............drum roll please......................1729.
    Kind of makes sense doesn't it. If BMR is what your body needs to maintain in coma as so many say than that is essentially only maintaining your vital organs and lean mass not your fat.. My scales say I have about 152 pounds of fat and 150 pounds of lean mass so my BMR really is closer to what it takes to maintain my lean mass plus an allowance of fat for function. BINGO my target weight of 190 and associated BMR of 1729, MFP says budget 1760. As I grow lean mass and lose fat it will change so I need to redo my goal every 5 pounds or so and the Budget to my BMR numbers will tend to come together.
    So to all of you that say "NEVER EAT BELOW YOUR BMR" that may be true from your lean ab rolled perspective, but from my high Profiled perspective you are full of hollow calories LOL:tongue:

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