Upping my calories-should I? Yet ANOTHER question

pamwhite712

I seem to have come to a bit of a stall. My current weight is 182. I am 5'7". According to F2F my BMR at the sedentary level is 1636. I do an hour of cardio (in the fat-burning zone) every day. Yet MFP has me set at eating 1510 calories a day. My TDEE is 2386.

I've read the road map post, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

ETA: My BMR for moderately active (which is what I am) is 2113. So this means I have to eat that much every day?

Mokey41

Your BMR doesn't change. It's what you would burn in a coma and you need to eat at least that. MFP only does math. If the number is too low it's because you have your goal set too high.

On another note, doing an hour of cardio every day ( and there is no fat burning zone, that's a myth) isn't a great idea. Miix up one day of cardio with one day of strength for better results. Doing the same thing over and over just makes it less effective.

SherryTeach

Your BMR doesn't change. It's what you would burn in a coma and you need to eat at least that. MFP only does math. If the number is too low it's because you have your goal set too high.

On another note, doing an hour of cardio every day ( and there is no fat burning zone, that's a myth) isn't a great idea. Miix up one day of cardio with one day of strength for better results. Doing the same thing over and over just makes it less effective.

Actually, your BMR does change when you lose weight. Less weight means fewer calories needed to sustain basic functioning.

pamwhite712

My goal is set at one pound a week.

Mokey41

Your BMR doesn't change. It's what you would burn in a coma and you need to eat at least that. MFP only does math. If the number is too low it's because you have your goal set too high.

On another note, doing an hour of cardio every day ( and there is no fat burning zone, that's a myth) isn't a great idea. Miix up one day of cardio with one day of strength for better results. Doing the same thing over and over just makes it less effective.

Actually, your BMR does change when you lose weight. Less weight means fewer calories needed to sustain basic functioning.

She said her BMR changed because she was moderately active. That doesn't happen.

ladyraven68

I seem to have come to a bit of a stall. My current weight is 182. I am 5'7". According to F2F my BMR at the sedentary level is 1636. I do an hour of cardio (in the fat-burning zone) every day. Yet MFP has me set at eating 1510 calories a day. My TDEE is 2386.

I've read the road map post, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

ETA: My BMR for moderately active (which is what I am) is 2113. So this means I have to eat that much every day?

MFP has you set at 1510 PLUS exercise calories, not just 1510

by the time you add in your hr of cardio, you will be eating more than that. If you are burning 300 calories in your cardio , you would be eating 1810.

if your TDEE is 2386, and you deduct 500 for a pound a week, yuo would get 1836, so both methods are very similar.

pamwhite712

MFP has you set at 1510 PLUS exercise calories, not just 1510

by the time you add in your hr of cardio, you will be eating more than that. If you are burning 300 calories in your cardio , you would be eating 1810.

if your TDEE is 2386, and you deduct 500 for a pound a week, yuo would get 1836, so both methods are very similar.

Thank you for explaining it.

CoderGal

I seem to have come to a bit of a stall. My current weight is 182. I am 5'7". According to F2F my BMR at the sedentary level is 1636. I do an hour of cardio (in the fat-burning zone) every day. Yet MFP has me set at eating 1510 calories a day. My TDEE is 2386.

I've read the road map post, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

ETA: My BMR for moderately active (which is what I am) is 2113. So this means I have to eat that much every day?

I'm a little confused.

You're BMR doesn't change with your activity level, your TDEE does. I'm not quite sure what you mean by TDEE being 2386 and you're 'moderately active' BMR (which doesn't exist) is 2113. If you mean your moderately active TDEE here...what's the TDEE you mentioned before?

pamwhite712

I'm a little confused.

You're BMR doesn't change with your activity level, your TDEE does. I'm not quite sure what you mean by TDEE being 2386 and you're 'moderately active' BMR (which doesn't exist) is 2113. If you mean your moderately active TDEE here...what's the TDEE you mentioned before?

I think I worded it wrong, or I got confused. Of course my BMR doesn't change, unless my weight changes. The other numbers I was throwing out were the amount of calories I would need per day (sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, etc). Sorry for the confusion.

CoderGal

I seem to have come to a bit of a stall. My current weight is 182. I am 5'7". According to F2F my BMR at the sedentary level is 1636. I do an hour of cardio (in the fat-burning zone) every day. Yet MFP has me set at eating 1510 calories a day. My TDEE is 2386.

I've read the road map post, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

ETA: My BMR for moderately active (which is what I am) is 2113. So this means I have to eat that much every day?

I'm a little confused.

You're BMR doesn't change with your activity level, your TDEE does. I'm not quite sure what you mean by TDEE being 2386 and you're 'moderately active' BMR (which doesn't exist) is 2113. If you mean your moderately active TDEE here...what's the TDEE you mentioned before?

But to give you an idea, for me (5'7) to keep a weight of 120lbs while being moderately active, I have to eat about 2100. Since you're older, for you to keep 120lbs you'd have to eat about 1950. Assuming you're over 120lbs, you can eat more then that. So, if you eat at that number, you should lose weight for sure given your profile your ticker and your TDEE number puts you about 182? So 2113 is about 15% of your TDEE? If so yes, that should enable weight loss.

CoderGal

I'm a little confused.

You're BMR doesn't change with your activity level, your TDEE does. I'm not quite sure what you mean by TDEE being 2386 and you're 'moderately active' BMR (which doesn't exist) is 2113. If you mean your moderately active TDEE here...what's the TDEE you mentioned before?

I think I worded it wrong, or I got confused. Of course my BMR doesn't change, unless my weight changes. The other numbers I was throwing out were the amount of calories I would need per day (sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, etc). Sorry for the confusion.

If you're truly moderately active, eating anywhere below 2386 should make you lose weight. Given that all of these values are based on estimates and your BMI is higher, I'd take at least 250 calories off the estimated value to show a noticeable change. Make sure you're as accurate as possible. I'm going to throw out a number and suggest about 2000 calories. It's a nice round number, and it's the number the RDI is based on (nutritional information on the boxes we buy at grocery stores).

pamwhite712

Thank you.