I Had My BMR Tested - It's 1032 Calories

CATindeeHAT

Can I suggest you try heybales spreadsheet here on the site? You'll see results like this but also a bf% calc that might fit better.

Okay I tried the spreadsheet and it said my BMR was 1384 - much closer than others, but still off.

But the same sheet says to eat 1915 calories a day to reach my goal weight. That's the same amount I was eating when I was 26 pounds heavier than I am today and not losing (I've been tracking my intake for close to 5 years now, only this year have I switched from LiveStrong to MFP). I started to lose a significant amount of weight only when I dropped my intake down to 1373 calories/day and have maintained it for over 3 years now.

Deipneus

That is a very good read. It's not often you get something worth reading on the forums. That certainly opens up the ideas and really challenges what is considered "right."

With your numbers, if you were sedentary and rarely/never exercised, you'd have to eat 700 kcal every day to lose 1 lb/week. That would certainly stir up a storm on here!

Exactly. Rather than wanting to rip anyone for posting something like this, I'm grateful to see something from an actual medical practice perspective. I didn't even know that BMR tests exist. Very well written.

Thanks CATindeeHAT for taking the time to compose that.

nxd10

I hear you, when I was tested at my local university mine varied between 970 and 1107 or 1170...can't remember but it was low. I've always been thin though, even though I net almost 2000 calories daily at a sedentary level.

That's interesting. Sounds like there's more to the ideal calorie intake than BMR, like maybe some people naturally burn more calories doing everyday activities?

They do. There was a neat study a few years back from Cornell looking at that issue. So people like my wicked skinny kids who wiggle all the time and are fidgety use more calories just staying alive than people who are calmer.

My eldest is 6'2" and weighs 140 or so (he weighed 152 until he went to South Africa in the Peace Corps, walks all day, and lives on corn meal and kale). My youngest is 5'11" and weights 128. He is not as thin but still slim. Both kids have better eating habits than I ever will, although they have never consciously monitored their food intake for weight reasons.

CATindeeHAT

I don't use the online calculators, or a BMR guess, or activity levels at all anymore. Too much guesswork for my taste. My method is that every month I review my data, I add up the total NET calories for 30 days. I'll call it NET30.

Day1(1607)+Day2(1705)+Day3(1647).........+Day30(1568)= NET30

Add to NET30 Total weight loss in 30 day period multiplied by 3500, so say it was 5.4 lbs:
NET30+(5.4*3500) = NETtdee30

Divide NETtdee30 by 30 = NET TDEE for past 30 days.
Take your deficit (500 calories, 20%, whatever you use) from the Net tdee for the past 30 days.

This method has a few assumptions that are likely somewhat false, most notably that 100% of your weight loss was fat. I would say that it has a lot less assumption than any of the online calculators have, though. In my experience, and that of my friends that have tried out this method, my calculations holds true enough to get a really good estimate of your caloric needs, and produce predictable weight loss results. Give it a try!

*Note- this won't work if you're stuck at a plateau, or if you're brand new and losing mostly water weight, or if you've been SIGNIFICANTLY undereating such that you're slowing down your metabolism, or if you've recently made a big switch- like going to ketosis for example, where your water weight would have dropped again. I would recommend waiting until you've been here about 6 weeks, and using the previous 30 days data to start.

Thank you so much! I will try this ASAP.

MoreBean13

This (below) is brilliant. I just applied this formula month-by-month to my entire year (I keep a spreadsheet, too) and it averaged TO THE CALORIE to what I had figured my actual TDEE is, given where I maintained during a reset. And that number is 200 calories lower than what all the online calculators tell me. Thank you SO much for sharing that.

And as a sidebar, I have no idea why anybody would give a toot what any disembodied stranger on an online forum cared about them -- and my advice to the OP (and I'm quite a lot older than you are) is that you not reply to people who poke you with sticks. Walk away.

And congratulations on learning something new about yourself! That's always very empowering... and in this case, you've helped empower a lot of other people. Good job! ;c)

I don't use the online calculators, or a BMR guess, or activity levels at all anymore. Too much guesswork for my taste. My method is that every month I review my data, I add up the total NET calories for 30 days. I'll call it NET30.

Day1(1607)+Day2(1705)+Day3(1647).........+Day30(1568)= NET30

Add to NET30 Total weight loss in 30 day period multiplied by 3500, so say it was 5.4 lbs:
NET30+(5.4*3500) = NETtdee30

Divide NETtdee30 by 30 = NET TDEE for past 30 days.
Take your deficit (500 calories, 20%, whatever you use) from the Net tdee for the past 30 days.

This method has a few assumptions that are likely somewhat false, most notably that 100% of your weight loss was fat. I would say that it has a lot less assumption than any of the online calculators have, though. In my experience, and that of my friends that have tried out this method, my calculations holds true enough to get a really good estimate of your caloric needs, and produce predictable weight loss results. Give it a try!

*Note- this won't work if you're stuck at a plateau, or if you're brand new and losing mostly water weight, or if you've been SIGNIFICANTLY undereating such that you're slowing down your metabolism, or if you've recently made a big switch- like going to ketosis for example, where your water weight would have dropped again. I would recommend waiting until you've been here about 6 weeks, and using the previous 30 days data to start.

You're welcome! I recently used it to set my calories at maintenance for a diet break, too- and it worked out perfectly- didn't gain or lose an ounce. :happy:

kiachu

That is a very good read. It's not often you get something worth reading on the forums. That certainly opens up the ideas and really challenges what is considered "right."

With your numbers, if you were sedentary and rarely/never exercised, you'd have to eat 700 kcal every day to lose 1 lb/week. That would certainly stir up a storm on here!

I don't think you know what BRM Is.

CATindeeHAT

I just wanted to quickly point out a very good point someone just made to me over a PM:

I have been on Adderall for 5+ years at a dose of 20mg 3x/day - the absolute maximum dose recommended by the FDA.

For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a VERY powerful amphetamine stimulant medication that is well known for raising your resting heart rate.

Being that this drug significantly increases your resting heart rate, it can be assumed that it increases your BMR as well.

So it's VERY possible that my BMR, being as low as it is, is significantly higher than if I wasn't on the prescription medication.

Food for thought.

kiachu

I'm posting this in the forums after receiving several requests to do so by my friends here at MFP.

This is just my experience, I do not claim to be an expert and I'm not suggesting anybody change their diet - So PLEASE try and resist ripping this thread apart to shreds.

When I was 17 I was diagnosed with having narcolepsy and I have been taking prescription Adderall (20mg/3x day) since then. The soul-suckers running my health insurance company require testing to 'reconfirm' a diagnosis every 5 years in order to be eligible for prescription coverage so last night I had a panel, cardiac stress test, sleep study, body fat measurement, and CT scan with iodine contrast done.

When the doctor was filling out the order to have my tests done, there was an option to also have my BMR tested and I elected to do so. These were my results:

The testing took a little over 20 hours. They had wake me up every 4 hours, walk on a treadmill for 10 minutes, stay awake for an additional 30 minutes, and repeat (it royally sucked). My BMR was tested immediately when I woke up from each interval and right before I started the next one. The stress test and CT scan were performed that next morning.

(Note: Normally sleep studies have you sleep throughout the night. However, I have had SEVERAL of these tests performed and my diagnosis has been reconfirmed a dozen times. So to demonstrate my narcolepsy eloquently, they studied my sleep in intervals. In 'normal' individuals it takes anywhere from 2-4 hours after they fall asleep to reach REM sleep - the deepest and most restful stage of sleep (you know, when you're drooling so much you start to form a puddle on your pillow) - but people with narcolepsy reach REM sleep almost IMMEDIATELY after they fall asleep. This makes for a rather 'colorful' and dynamic sleep report when you keep waking these individuals several times throughout the night, the kind of report sure to keep the insurance trolls off my back, at least temporarily.)

my BMR fluctuated from 1101 to as low as 899 for an overall average of 1032 calories.

Initially, I was SHOCKED after I learned how low it was. I told the technition who was administering the BMR test that I thought my BMR would be around 1400 calories, not 1000, and he said, "Yeah, that's what most people think their BMR is. I would say that the majority of people VASTLY overestimate it, probably one of the reasons so many people have such a hard time losing weight, but having a BMR of around 1000 calories is absolutely normal for a woman your age and build (23-years-old, 5'7", 145 pounds, 30% body fat)." He went on to tell me that the entire staff working on that floor in the hospital has had their BMR tested and the highest BMR came out to be around 1600 calories...on a male who weighed 220 pounds!

Mix that with a sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet and it's EASY to see why so many people are overweight.

He also said that from an evolutionary perspective a low BMR makes sense, it implies a longer lifespan and survival advantage (obviously not today with our abundant food supply), and our friends who seem to have a freakishly high metabolism would be the first to die if a famine were to hit. However, living in America that's probably not going to happen... at least not anytime soon...

( Check out this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=194713753973311&set=pb.137541376357216.-2207520000.1351022016&type=1&theater Brad Pilon, who if you didn't already know is one beefy fellow, had his BMR measured at about 1650. In retrospect, to think that I need only 200 or so calories less than this guy to survive is absolutely obsurd, now I know better.)

Anyways, I guess the moral of the story is that one size does not fit all. I've been struggling to lose weight becaues I've been consuming too many calories, it's as simple as that.

I once beleived that My Fitness Pal's recommendation of 1200 net calories was completely bogus, but now I've changed my mind.

I'm SO GLAD I elected to have my BMR tested along with my other tests. Other than having glue stuck in my hair now for probably the next week or so, I'd say it was a good experience. I feel as if I know my body that much better.

Cheers!

I LOVE THIS POST!!!! And I love Brad Pilon! He is brilliant. I owe my success with achieving my goals to him, along with John Barban who he works with.

Anyway, my RMR/BMR is very low as well. Mostly because I'm short. Because I'm so active and have been all my life it's actually higher than most people my height, mainly because my lean body mass is heavy for my height (not so much from muscle but from bone density). My DXA scan confirmed that my RMR is 1380. I would love to have BMR tested, not that I would love that process, but just to have the data.

Good for you!!!!!!!!

Its strange that people think their BMR would be really high. I guess that would come from a lack of understanding what BMR is? Especially since normal bodily functions such as breathing don't require a ton of energy.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

I just wanted to quickly point out a very good point someone just made to me over a PM:

I have been on Adderall for 5+ years at a dose of 20mg 3x/day - the absolute maximum dose recommended by the FDA.

For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a VERY powerful amphetamine stimulant medication that is well known for raising your resting heart rate.

Being that this drug significantly increases your resting heart rate, it can be assumed that it increases your BMR as well.

So it's VERY possible that my BMR, being as low as it is, is significantly higher than if I wasn't on the prescription medication.

Food for thought.

Had you taken it that day?

CATindeeHAT

I just wanted to quickly point out a very good point someone just made to me over a PM:

I have been on Adderall for 5+ years at a dose of 20mg 3x/day - the absolute maximum dose recommended by the FDA.

For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a VERY powerful amphetamine stimulant medication that is well known for raising your resting heart rate.

Being that this drug significantly increases your resting heart rate, it can be assumed that it increases your BMR as well.

So it's VERY possible that my BMR, being as low as it is, is significantly higher than if I wasn't on the prescription medication.

Food for thought.

Had you taken it that day?

Yes, I never skip a dose.

kdeaux1959

thanks for sharing

ixap

This (below) is brilliant. I just applied this formula month-by-month to my entire year (I keep a spreadsheet, too) and it averaged TO THE CALORIE to what I had figured my actual TDEE is, given where I maintained during a reset. And that number is 200 calories lower than what all the online calculators tell me. Thank you SO much for sharing that.

Isn't it great!? Turned out my numbers were really really close to what MFP estimated for me, but it was nice to confirm that I'm on the right track.

karmaology

Thanks so much for sharing!

cmccorma

bump

yogibella

Thanks so much for sharing OP! It goes to prove once again that everybody is different and that there is no 'one way fits all' solution.

I have to admit that when I first got on MFP, I got caught up on all the numbers, stats, calculators, etc. until I drove myself nuts...but I had an inkling that I was not the 'average' number too. I would love to get my BMR tested but until then I'm just listening to my body and keeping active!! Good luck on your journey:)

omma_to_3

Well for once I'm on the good side of freak of nature. Yay me! My RMR is 10% higher than the online calculators say. At 5'4" and 37 yrs old it was 1662.

omma_to_3

Well for once I'm on the good side of freak of nature. Yay me! My RMR is 10% higher than the online calculators say. At 5'4" and 37 yrs old it was 1662.

pallypunch

Thanks for sharing this!

These forums are so confusing- and at times contradict what doctors & dieticians tell us. When I went to a pre-diabetes education class the clinician running the course stated the importance of a LOWER caloric intake with regular exercise to lose weight. And generally speaking, one should focus on portion control, eating LOTS of veggies- and that in general, to lose weight, women need to take in less than 1,200 calories/day (and larger women 1,600 calories/day)- and exercise on top of that (without consuming more calories). And of course, if results were showing up, to consult your doctor for additional help and referrals to experts. I was surprised and confused by all of the MFP post about BMRs & TDEEs about eating MORE than 2,000 cal/day- and have just decided to take everything in stride. I am going to do what works for me and what keeps me healthy.

yarwell

Some other low BMR measurements below, on anorexics. Interesting that the equation by Müller et al. for individuals with BMI < 18.5kg/m2 [0.08961 × FFM (kg) + 0.05662 × FM (kg) + 0.667] × 238.84 was a good fit but Harris-Benedict was way overestimating.

Deipneus

I was surprised and confused by all of the MFP post about BMRs & TDEEs about eating MORE than 2,000 cal/day- and have just decided to take everything in stride. I am going to do what works for me and what keeps me healthy.

You are right that there is a lot of conflicting information on MFP forums. In the end, we take it all in and decide for ourselves who to believe.