BMR of 1735 and calorie goal of 2327???

Allegi32

This seems crazy...I have my current calorie goal set to 1650 - enough that I'm not starving, but I feel like I could still lose at that number. However, I went to fat2fitradio.com and put in all my numbers, etc. and it said my BMR is 1735 and my calorie goal for moderately active is 2735 to LOSE weight? I find it very difficult to believe that I would lose any weight eating 2735 calories!!

I know there are 2 schools of thought on the whole calorie thing - those that firmly believe 1200 calories is the way to go (I would starve and be miserable at that number personally), and the others that say you need to eat more and you'll lose. I tend to go more with the 2nd school, but the number of calories spit out by this calculator seems insanely high.

Would love some input on this...thanks!

boboff

My input would be.

Don't worry about it!

If you are at 1600, stick at it, if you like it, and loose weight, it's working for you.

If you up it a bit, and still loose weight, cool, if you don't, you need to do more or eat less.

My calorie goal is 2300 ish I think on a moderate movement, but I do 4:3 fasting so it's up and down like a frog in a lift.

I think you have to watch it, when you use the moderate setting, and then post your exercise, especially if you then "eat it back" That way lies the plateaux!

leahshepherd

You have put in something wrong along the line... bmi is usually in the 20 - 60 zone.

Allegi32

You have put in something wrong along the line... bmi is usually in the 20 - 60 zone.

I'm calculating my BMR (basic metabolic rate), not BMI.

rahlpn

My numbers are very close to yours. It tells me my BMR is 1741, TDEE is 2698, so if at 20% (one website said subtract 15%) it would give me a 2159 daily calorie goal. I have a desk job but I put moderately active because I work out 6 days a week and am active (walking/biking) at least one day a week on weekends. Im 30 yrs old, 5'7" and weigh 211 currently.

I started out with a daily calorie goal of 1270, then upped it to 1300. I'm not starving at this limit, I feel satisfied, eat 3 meals, snacks, I even had 3 Chips Ahoy cookies and 1% milk for a bedtime snack last night, I'm truly not suffering or denying myself. I find it hard to increase my calories without feeling guilty.

Help us confused people!!!

omma_to_3

Deleted

Allegi32

My numbers are very close to yours. It tells me my BMR is 1741, TDEE is 2698, so if at 20% (one website said subtract 15%) it would give me a 2159 daily calorie goal. I have a desk job but I put moderately active because I work out 6 days a week and am active (walking/biking) at least one day a week on weekends. Im 30 yrs old, 5'7" and weigh 211 currently.

I started out with a daily calorie goal of 1270, then upped it to 1300. I'm not starving at this limit, I feel satisfied, eat 3 meals, snacks, I even had 3 Chips Ahoy cookies and 1% milk for a bedtime snack last night, I'm truly not suffering or denying myself. I find it hard to increase my calories without feeling guilty.

Help us confused people!!!

LOL, yes, help us!! Question for you...do you eat back your exercise calories, or stay at 1300 even on exercise days?

I do a 1.5 hour intense boot camp 1 day/week, work with a trainer for 1 hour/week, 1 hour of zumba followed by 1 hour of tap class (back to back) 1 day/week and then try to get in other workouts like running whenever I can. So last night at Zumba and tap I burned a combined 800+ calories.

jonnythan

The problem is that "moderately active" is really a meaningless term. They're apparently calculating that you're doing 1250+ calories of exercise per day. I'd call that "extremely active" not moderately active.

This is why I don't recommend people calculate TDEE from generic terms like moderately active.

Start with sedentary TDEE, which is BMR * 1.2; this is 2070 for the OP. Subtract about 25% or 500 from this and you get around 1570.

Set that as your net calorie goal, then eat back exercise calories.

If you burn 600 calories exercising, your TDEE is 2670 and you should eat 2070. If you burn 200 calories exercising, your TDEE is 2270 so eat 1770. Etc.

rahlpn

My numbers are very close to yours. It tells me my BMR is 1741, TDEE is 2698, so if at 20% (one website said subtract 15%) it would give me a 2159 daily calorie goal. I have a desk job but I put moderately active because I work out 6 days a week and am active (walking/biking) at least one day a week on weekends. Im 30 yrs old, 5'7" and weigh 211 currently.

I started out with a daily calorie goal of 1270, then upped it to 1300. I'm not starving at this limit, I feel satisfied, eat 3 meals, snacks, I even had 3 Chips Ahoy cookies and 1% milk for a bedtime snack last night, I'm truly not suffering or denying myself. I find it hard to increase my calories without feeling guilty.

Help us confused people!!!

LOL, yes, help us!! Question for you...do you eat back your exercise calories, or stay at 1300 even on exercise days?

I do a 1.5 hour intense boot camp 1 day/week, work with a trainer for 1 hour/week, 1 hour of zumba followed by 1 hour of tap class (back to back) 1 day/week and then try to get in other workouts like running whenever I can. So last night at Zumba and tap I burned a combined 800+ calories.

Wow! You're a workout machine! I do JM 30 Day Shred (I'm on level 2 day 4) Mon-Sat then I do whatever my family is doing on Sundays (last Sunday we biked to and from a parade then walked an amusement park, most weekends we go to a park). Some days if I have the time I'll add abs or dancing to my workout. As for eating back calories, I'm kind of all over the place with that. Most days I eat some back but not all, some days none. I usually hit my goal of 1300 minimum though. I will send you a friend request so you can look at my diary if you want. I find that now that I'm making healthier food choices, for example last night I made sloppy joes with lean ground chicken instead of beef, it's so easy to stay at low calories. Also, now that I've learned portion control I get full faster. For example those Chips Ahoy I ate last night? In the past I would have had about 6 cookies and 16oz of milk, now I have half that and I'm good.

Allegi32

The problem is that "moderately active" is really a meaningless term. They're apparently calculating that you're doing 1250+ calories of exercise per day. I'd call that "extremely active" not moderately active.

This is why I don't recommend people calculate TDEE from generic terms like moderately active.

Start with sedentary TDEE, which is BMR * 1.2; this is 2070 for the OP. Subtract about 25% or 500 from this and you get around 1570.

Set that as your net calorie goal, then eat back exercise calories.

If you burn 600 calories exercising, your TDEE is 2670 and you should eat 2070. If you burn 200 calories exercising, your TDEE is 2270 so eat 1770. Etc.

SUPER helpful, thank you!!!! This makes a lot more sense to me.

Allegi32

Wow! You're a workout machine! I do JM 30 Day Shred (I'm on level 2 day 4) Mon-Sat then I do whatever my family is doing on Sundays (last Sunday we biked to and from a parade then walked an amusement park, most weekends we go to a park). Some days if I have the time I'll add abs or dancing to my workout. As for eating back calories, I'm kind of all over the place with that. Most days I eat some back but not all, some days none. I usually hit my goal of 1300 minimum though. I will send you a friend request so you can look at my diary if you want. I find that now that I'm making healthier food choices, for example last night I made sloppy joes with lean ground chicken instead of beef, it's so easy to stay at low calories. Also, now that I've learned portion control I get full faster. For example those Chips Ahoy I ate last night? In the past I would have had about 6 cookies and 16oz of milk, now I have half that and I'm good.

You're doing a lot of workouts too!! I love to workout - in college I was the Fitness Queen - I was always in the gym, and I walked and rollerbladed everywhere - even to pick up takeout food, lol! No wonder I was so thin! Now that I'm a mom and have a job, etc., I just don't have the time to workout like I used to, and I live in the suburbs, so I drive everywhere. I find it hard to eat back all my exercise calories because I usually workout later in the day and then have dinner - I'm not going to eat 1000 calories for dinner, haha!

rahlpn

Thank you jonnythan, your answer has been the most helpful thing I've read on this website yet. That gives me a TDEE of 2089, minus 25% is 1567, and using the 30DS for exercise 6 days a week (calculated without HRM) I burn about 200+ cals a day exercising, that would give me a net goal of 1567 and a total goal of 1767, much more doable than over 2000 calories (which I'm sure I could manage to eat but I would feel extrememly guilty doing so).

One more question if OP doesn't mind: How should I go about increasing my calories since I've been at such low numbers for about 2 1/2 mos (I've lost 28/29 lbs so far), I don't want to stall my weight loss by increasing too suddenly.

rahlpn

You're doing a lot of workouts too!! I love to workout - in college I was the Fitness Queen - I was always in the gym, and I walked and rollerbladed everywhere - even to pick up takeout food, lol! No wonder I was so thin! Now that I'm a mom and have a job, etc., I just don't have the time to workout like I used to, and I live in the suburbs, so I drive everywhere. I find it hard to eat back all my exercise calories because I usually workout later in the day and then have dinner - I'm not going to eat 1000 calories for dinner, haha!
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Exactly! I get up at 5:30 (no way am I getting up ANY earlier to workout, I've tried, not gonna happen), drop my kids off by 6:30, get to work at 7, pick the kids up at 4, get home around 4:30 or 5 depending on traffic, get dinner started, eat, feed everyone, relax a bit or do laundry or clean kitchen, play with kids etc. then I do my JM DVD, shower, get kids bathed and put in bed, spend time with hubby, go to bed. Weekends are always different, lol.

jonnythan

Thank you jonnythan, your answer has been the most helpful thing I've read on this website yet. That gives me a TDEE of 2089, minus 25% is 1567, and using the 30DS for exercise 6 days a week (calculated without HRM) I burn about 200+ cals a day exercising, that would give me a net goal of 1567 and a total goal of 1767, much more doable than over 2000 calories (which I'm sure I could manage to eat but I would feel extrememly guilty doing so).

One more question if OP doesn't mind: How should I go about increasing my calories since I've been at such low numbers for about 2 1/2 mos (I've lost 28/29 lbs so far), I don't want to stall my weight loss by increasing too suddenly.

I'd just increase my target by 100 calories each week. It'll be important to ignore the scale for a while though.. the numbers can go up due to glycogen replenishment, water storage, etc.

Even if you REALLY mess up and end up gaining actual mass, some of it will be lean mass and you'll make strength and endurance gains more quickly. So it's not exactly a huge loss. Just be patient and keep working at it.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

I was/am having a hard time with all these numbers and calculations blah blah blah. I finally got a Fitbit to see what the real deal is.

jonnythan

I was/am having a hard time with all these numbers and calculations blah blah blah. I finally got a Fitbit to see what the real deal is.

I did the same thing. The Fitbit numbers are actually close to my calculations.

Just go with what the Fitbit says and ignore everything else. Adjust if necessary after 2 months.

FlaxMilk

That was a way really helpful way to put it, Johnnythan. Thanks!

rahlpn

Thanks for the tips and recommendations. I will look into a Fitbit when I have the money for it. I have a wedding to be in this year (one of my main goals for losing weight this year but not THE main goal) and that will likely take up a lot of extra spending money I may have, between the dress, hair, makeup, nails, bride/groom gifts, parties, etc. I will be broke!

Mia_RagazzaTosta

I was/am having a hard time with all these numbers and calculations blah blah blah. I finally got a Fitbit to see what the real deal is.

I did the same thing. The Fitbit numbers are actually close to my calculations.

Just go with what the Fitbit says and ignore everything else. Adjust if necessary after 2 months.

Yep, that's what I'm doing. So done with all the confusion!

MercenaryNoetic26

I did FAT2FIT calc's yesterday. My number for moderate came to 2027 and I set my calories to 2000. I lift 3x week and cardio on other days. Currently, I decided to not log exercise calories. So yesterday I ate all 2000 cals and weight trained. Is this okay?

I have a Polar on the way and ordered a flex. I'm interested in losing inches, gaining mass, and dont really care about the scale.

jonnythan

I was/am having a hard time with all these numbers and calculations blah blah blah. I finally got a Fitbit to see what the real deal is.

I did the same thing. The Fitbit numbers are actually close to my calculations.

Just go with what the Fitbit says and ignore everything else. Adjust if necessary after 2 months.

Yep, that's what I'm doing. So done with all the confusion!

My Fitbit numbers are a little over what I think reality is, but I also know from previous manual record-keeping that my metabolism is a bit lower than the calculators. My girlfriend's Fitbit seems to be totally spot on. I adjusted my calorie goal down about 50 calories after having the Fitbit for a month and that seems to be good.