My bmr or rmr calculation...which should I concentrate on?

zekerella

Hello! First my stats: I am 24 yr old female, 5'5, 136lbs, athlete

I recently have gotten my rmr tested at a nutritionists office (I breathed into a machine for 10minutes) and my rmr was 1900 calories. Which means with my daily activities (300 calories) and daily exercise (500 calories) I should be eatting 2700 to maintain and 2200 calories to lose 1lb a week.

Then, today, I got my bmr tested by a really high tech scale at my gym (they just bought it, it's hooked up to a computer and tells you your bmr, "true age", body fat, visceral fat, and hydration level. My bmr was 1450, so therefore my maintainamce level is 2250? And my weight loss got 1lb is 1700?

These are drastically different? Which one should I pay attention to?!

-Lindsay

erickirb

Pick one, stick with it for 3-4 weeks, if you don't like the results switch to the other or split the difference.

I would probably start with the BMR as for some reason you are adding the same 800 to RMR as you are BMR when your RMR would account for some of that 800 you are adding on to BMR.

Adrian211

Pick one, stick with it for 3-4 weeks, if you don't like the results switch to the other or split the difference.

^
This

prokomds

Are you actually looking to lose weight? You're already at a healthy weight. Something to keep in mind -- is it pounds that you're interested in, or just the way your body looks? If it was me, I'd be much more concerned with losing fat/gaining muscle and much less with what the scale says. Maybe that's not what you're looking for here, but I see those stats and wonder about your motivations... I'm 5'6", 145 pounds, and 135 is my goal weight... Pretty sure with a lower body fat % I don't want to get any smaller than that. Sorry to intrude, if that's not something you want to hear about

But as to your original question, what those guys said. Pretty sure all you can do is pick something in the middle (around 2000?), give it a few weeks (probably a month minimum), and see where you are. I ate at around 1500 for a month or two, realized it just wasn't quite enough to keep my energy levels up, and now I'm at 1700 (sounds like you exercise more than me, which would partly explain your higher numbers). Mainly, with you so small already, you have to realize any weight changes are going to be slowwww, and generally your daily fluctuations are really going to hide any actual weight changes.

cordianet

Understand that both are just estimates and have the potential for error for vastly different reasons. As I read through your post, one thing stood out to me: you are a self-proclaimed athlete. This will effect the accuracy of the calculations used for both methods of calculating metabolic rate. Interestingly enough, it will tend to inflate the number calculated by gas analysis and underestimate the scale based results.

Based on this, I'd guess your actual BMR to be somewhere in between these two. If you split the difference, it would put your BMR around 1675. Add in a base activity modifier and that would put your TDEE before exercise at about 2010.

Because you don't have that much to lose, I'd recommend 1/2 a lb a week instead of a pound, so we'd modify that down by roughly 250 calories. This makes your daily goal about 1750 before exercise. If you follow this method, you should add in your exercises to MFP and then eat most of those calories back. Thus if you actually burned 500 calories in a day, you eat up to 2250 to fuel that exercise.

Try this for up to a month and see both how you feel and how the weight loss is going. If you need to adjust up or down based on the results, it;s easy enough to do.

zekerella

Hi! Thanks for all your replies!

I'm an athlete who's trying to lower my body fat %. I mean I'm not that concerned with the number on the scale more getting a flat tummy and toned body for my best performance athletically. So your right

I've stuck to 2200 for 2 weeks with absolutely no change in scale, or how my clothes fit. Or how I look

Do you think I should stick to it for 2 more weeks? Or decrease my calories? It's hard because I love how much energy I have for my workouts and that I'm not hungry for once eatting this amount haha. But I want to get down to 19% body fat pretty badly just want to do it a healthy way!!

etoiles_argentees

Understand that both are just estimates and have the potential for error for vastly different reasons. As I read through your post, one thing stood out to me: you are a self-proclaimed athlete. This will effect the accuracy of the calculations used for both methods of calculating metabolic rate. Interestingly enough, it will tend to inflate the number calculated by gas analysis and underestimate the scale based results.

Based on this, I'd guess your actual BMR to be somewhere in between these two. If you split the difference, it would put your BMR around 1675. Add in a base activity modifier and that would put your TDEE before exercise at about 2010.

Because you don't have that much to lose, I'd recommend 1/2 a lb a week instead of a pound, so we'd modify that down by roughly 250 calories. This makes your daily goal about 1750 before exercise. If you follow this method, you should add in your exercises to MFP and then eat most of those calories back. Thus if you actually burned 500 calories in a day, you eat up to 2250 to fuel that exercise.

Try this for up to a month and see both how you feel and how the weight loss is going. If you need to adjust up or down based on the results, it;s easy enough to do.

I would follow this suggestion.

cordianet

Maybe it's not what your eating, but the types of exercise your doing? If you really want to work on body recomposition, you HAVE to be doing some strength training. Sprints would also be super helpful. My suggestion here would be leaving the diet alone and lifting 2-3 times a week, cardio no more than 2-3 times a week, and one "Max Effort" day where you do nothing but sprint intervals.

MemphisKitten

Start with the higher number and gradually decrease until you see the results you want. Those machines are not 100% accurate, so you will have to find your true number!

erickirb

Hi! Thanks for all your replies!

I'm an athlete who's trying to lower my body fat %. I mean I'm not that concerned with the number on the scale more getting a flat tummy and toned body for my best performance athletically. So your right

I've stuck to 2200 for 2 weeks with absolutely no change in scale, or how my clothes fit. Or how I look

Do you think I should stick to it for 2 more weeks? Or decrease my calories? It's hard because I love how much energy I have for my workouts and that I'm not hungry for once eatting this amount haha. But I want to get down to 19% body fat pretty badly just want to do it a healthy way!!

best way to lower BF% is heavy lifting combined with a modest caloric deficit and adequate protein intake. I would suggest changing your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week and to get at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb of body weight or if you know your BF%, aim for a min of 1 gram/lb of lean body mass. These tips will help ensure that you lose mostly fat, with minimal muscle loss.

prokomds

Hi! Thanks for all your replies!

I'm an athlete who's trying to lower my body fat %. I mean I'm not that concerned with the number on the scale more getting a flat tummy and toned body for my best performance athletically. So your right

I've stuck to 2200 for 2 weeks with absolutely no change in scale, or how my clothes fit. Or how I look

Do you think I should stick to it for 2 more weeks? Or decrease my calories? It's hard because I love how much energy I have for my workouts and that I'm not hungry for once eatting this amount haha. But I want to get down to 19% body fat pretty badly just want to do it a healthy way!!

best way to lower BF% is heavy lifting combined with a modest caloric deficit and adequate protein intake. I would suggest changing your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week and to get at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb of body weight or if you know your BF%, aim for a min of 1 gram/lb of lean body mass. These tips will help ensure that you lose mostly fat, with minimal muscle loss.

Great advice

Lift weights! Strength train! Your body will thank you

zekerella

Hi! Thanks for all your replies!

I'm an athlete who's trying to lower my body fat %. I mean I'm not that concerned with the number on the scale more getting a flat tummy and toned body for my best performance athletically. So your right

I've stuck to 2200 for 2 weeks with absolutely no change in scale, or how my clothes fit. Or how I look

Do you think I should stick to it for 2 more weeks? Or decrease my calories? It's hard because I love how much energy I have for my workouts and that I'm not hungry for once eatting this amount haha. But I want to get down to 19% body fat pretty badly just want to do it a healthy way!!

best way to lower BF% is heavy lifting combined with a modest caloric deficit and adequate protein intake. I would suggest changing your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week and to get at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb of body weight or if you know your BF%, aim for a min of 1 gram/lb of lean body mass. These tips will help ensure that you lose mostly fat, with minimal muscle loss.

Great advice

Lift weights! Strength train! Your body will thank you

Yea! These are ALL great advice!! I will eat 2000 a day to lose 1/2 lb a week, add more strength training, and adjust my calorie number if needed.

Seriously thank you all for your advice!!! Hopefully I'll see some results