More BMR vs TDEE confusion

luziferl

this is soooo confusing!!

when calculating my BMR it says i have a BMR of 1570. however, i am only eating 1200 kcals a day, plus about half of my activity points. is this not enough??? i am really confused

Age, height, current weight, activity level?

I'm 22, 5'9'', 159 lbs and my activity level is sedentary

Ok, I probably used a different calculator than you, but I got BMR of 1561 which is pretty close to your number.
I also got a TDEE of 1873 at sedentary.
How much you need to lose will determine how much of deficit you should eat at.
A 20% deficit would be 1498
A 15% deficit would be 1593
A 10% deficit would be 1685

If you are eating at 1200, that is more than a 35% deficit. Plus, you are only eating back half of your exercise calories!
You definitely are not eating enough.
Try slowing increasing (like 100 calories per week) up to at least 1500 calories, and eat back ALL of your exercise calories burned.

I forgot to mention, you really want to try to eat above your BMR, so in the long run, try to get up to around 1560.
P.S. - my numbers are almost identical to yours.

thank u can u tell me how much weight i will approx. lose if i eat with a 20 % deficit? this sounds so much (may sound dumb) ... but why does mfp not tell me to eat that much? i dont really get why the programm tells me to 1200... this is weird

thank u so much for your help!!!

iChroma

this is soooo confusing!!

when calculating my BMR it says i have a BMR of 1570. however, i am only eating 1200 kcals a day, plus about half of my activity points. is this not enough??? i am really confused

Age, height, current weight, activity level?

I'm 22, 5'9'', 159 lbs and my activity level is sedentary

Ok, I probably used a different calculator than you, but I got BMR of 1561 which is pretty close to your number.
I also got a TDEE of 1873 at sedentary.
How much you need to lose will determine how much of deficit you should eat at.
A 20% deficit would be 1498
A 15% deficit would be 1593
A 10% deficit would be 1685

If you are eating at 1200, that is more than a 35% deficit. Plus, you are only eating back half of your exercise calories!
You definitely are not eating enough.
Try slowing increasing (like 100 calories per week) up to at least 1500 calories, and eat back ALL of your exercise calories burned.

I forgot to mention, you really want to try to eat above your BMR, so in the long run, try to get up to around 1560.
P.S. - my numbers are almost identical to yours.

thank u can u tell me how much weight i will approx. lose if i eat with a 20 % deficit? this sounds so much (may sound dumb) ... but why does mfp not tell me to eat that much? i dont really get why the programm tells me to 1200... this is weird

thank u so much for your help!!!

I think it lowballs you a little because it factors in exercise calories you will eventually eat back. Or, your goals are set very high and sometimes it does a poor job of recognizing that and says to eat very little. Mathematically it works so it tells you that number of calories is the magic number regardless of how harmful it could be.

CM9178

this is soooo confusing!!

when calculating my BMR it says i have a BMR of 1570. however, i am only eating 1200 kcals a day, plus about half of my activity points. is this not enough??? i am really confused

Age, height, current weight, activity level?

I'm 22, 5'9'', 159 lbs and my activity level is sedentary

Ok, I probably used a different calculator than you, but I got BMR of 1561 which is pretty close to your number.
I also got a TDEE of 1873 at sedentary.
How much you need to lose will determine how much of deficit you should eat at.
A 20% deficit would be 1498
A 15% deficit would be 1593
A 10% deficit would be 1685

If you are eating at 1200, that is more than a 35% deficit. Plus, you are only eating back half of your exercise calories!
You definitely are not eating enough.
Try slowing increasing (like 100 calories per week) up to at least 1500 calories, and eat back ALL of your exercise calories burned.

I forgot to mention, you really want to try to eat above your BMR, so in the long run, try to get up to around 1560.
P.S. - my numbers are almost identical to yours.

thank u can u tell me how much weight i will approx. lose if i eat with a 20 % deficit? this sounds so much (may sound dumb) ... but why does mfp not tell me to eat that much? i dont really get why the programm tells me to 1200... this is weird

thank u so much for your help!!!

According to the Scooby calculator, at a 20% deficit at sedentary, you should lose approximately 0.7 lbs per week.
keep in mind this will vary over time and even out in the end.
In a month, 3 lbs
In a year, 39, give or take obviously.

What did you have MFP set to lose per week?

kgavins25

So are you saying I should try TDEE-17%? I work a desk job 9.5 hours mon-fri. workout 580 cal burn 3-4 times a week. Should i use sedentary at 1920 -17% or moderately active at 2480-17%? With those values to i eat back exercise cals or do i stick to those numbers everyday, no matter what i do?

kgavins25

So are you saying I should try TDEE-17%? I work a desk job 9.5 hours mon-fri. workout 580 cal burn 3-4 times a week. Should i use sedentary at 1920 -17% or moderately active at 2480-17%? With those values to i eat back exercise cals or do i stick to those numbers everyday, no matter what i do?

Could that be my issue also. My BMR is 1600. But calculating my TDEE-20% at sedentary its at 1540. So i try to eat 1540 plus workout calories. I usually burn 580 riding my bike to gym and lifting weights about 3-4 times a week. I actually gained a pound this month, being a new routine. Should i give it more time, am i eating too much, not enough? Is it ok to save those extra burned cals for weekends? By the way, my fat percentage went up over the last couple of months... does that mean im not eating often enough, or im not eating at the correct macros, or not eating enough period?

How much do you have left to lose?
Nevermind, if your ticker is correct, I see it is 30 lbs to lose.
I am similar to you, I was eating at tdee - 20% for a long time, which was under my BMR. Eventually my weight loss stalled for 3 months.

My BMR works out to about a 17% deficit. I started eating at that number less than two weeks ago and I've already lost 2.2

Roll_Tide_Meg

You need to eat at least at your BMR. Your metabolism will slow down and hold on to fat if you eat below that for an extended period. I am a litttle heavier than you (189) and I NET 2100 per day. Also, I have my macros set at 1g protein for each pound of lean mass (weight x %bf) .35g per pound of body weight and the rest whatever. I have lost 31 pounds since Jan 2. I do exercise and lift, but I eat ALL of those calories back. Hope this helps.

Roll Tide :P

CM9178

So are you saying I should try TDEE-17%? I work a desk job 9.5 hours mon-fri. workout 580 cal burn 3-4 times a week. Should i use sedentary at 1920 -17% or moderately active at 2480-17%? With those values to i eat back exercise cals or do i stick to those numbers everyday, no matter what i do?

If you want to set your goal at the higher number, then you need to make sure that your activity level is accurate and consistent, because that number will assume you are going to burn x amount of calories.
Otherwise, you use the number for sedentary, then calculate your calories burned whenever you exercise, and eat them back.
In the end, you will still end up eating around the same number of calories.


Edit - You could set your goal for the lower number of 1920 - 17%, then, on the days you work out and burn 580 calories, just eat them back.

kgavins25

OKay thanks. Got it. That numbe is pretty scary tho. that would mean 2170 cals on days i workout. aahhh, gonna have to get real creative to eat that much with healthy options. thanks for your feedback.

So are you saying I should try TDEE-17%? I work a desk job 9.5 hours mon-fri. workout 580 cal burn 3-4 times a week. Should i use sedentary at 1920 -17% or moderately active at 2480-17%? With those values to i eat back exercise cals or do i stick to those numbers everyday, no matter what i do?

If you want to set your goal at the higher number, then you need to make sure that your activity level is accurate and consistent, because that number will assume you are going to burn x amount of calories.
Otherwise, you use the number for sedentary, then calculate your calories burned whenever you exercise, and eat them back.
In the end, you will still end up eating around the same number of calories.


Edit - You could set your goal for the lower number of 1920 - 17%, then, on the days you work out and burn 580 calories, just eat them back.

CM9178

OKay thanks. Got it. That numbe is pretty scary tho. that would mean 2170 cals on days i workout. aahhh, gonna have to get real creative to eat that much with healthy options. thanks for your feedback.

So are you saying I should try TDEE-17%? I work a desk job 9.5 hours mon-fri. workout 580 cal burn 3-4 times a week. Should i use sedentary at 1920 -17% or moderately active at 2480-17%? With those values to i eat back exercise cals or do i stick to those numbers everyday, no matter what i do?

If you want to set your goal at the higher number, then you need to make sure that your activity level is accurate and consistent, because that number will assume you are going to burn x amount of calories.
Otherwise, you use the number for sedentary, then calculate your calories burned whenever you exercise, and eat them back.
In the end, you will still end up eating around the same number of calories.


Edit - You could set your goal for the lower number of 1920 - 17%, then, on the days you work out and burn 580 calories, just eat them back.

Yes, you'd need to consume that many I only wish!

luziferl

this is soooo confusing!!

when calculating my BMR it says i have a BMR of 1570. however, i am only eating 1200 kcals a day, plus about half of my activity points. is this not enough??? i am really confused

Age, height, current weight, activity level?

I'm 22, 5'9'', 159 lbs and my activity level is sedentary

Ok, I probably used a different calculator than you, but I got BMR of 1561 which is pretty close to your number.
I also got a TDEE of 1873 at sedentary.
How much you need to lose will determine how much of deficit you should eat at.
A 20% deficit would be 1498
A 15% deficit would be 1593
A 10% deficit would be 1685

If you are eating at 1200, that is more than a 35% deficit. Plus, you are only eating back half of your exercise calories!
You definitely are not eating enough.
Try slowing increasing (like 100 calories per week) up to at least 1500 calories, and eat back ALL of your exercise calories burned.

I forgot to mention, you really want to try to eat above your BMR, so in the long run, try to get up to around 1560.
P.S. - my numbers are almost identical to yours.

thank u can u tell me how much weight i will approx. lose if i eat with a 20 % deficit? this sounds so much (may sound dumb) ... but why does mfp not tell me to eat that much? i dont really get why the programm tells me to 1200... this is weird

thank u so much for your help!!!

According to the Scooby calculator, at a 20% deficit at sedentary, you should lose approximately 0.7 lbs per week.
keep in mind this will vary over time and even out in the end.
In a month, 3 lbs
In a year, 39, give or take obviously.

What did you have MFP set to lose per week?

I set MFP to the highest possible weight loss... Not sure if that's 1 or 2 lbs a week?!

CM9178

this is soooo confusing!!

when calculating my BMR it says i have a BMR of 1570. however, i am only eating 1200 kcals a day, plus about half of my activity points. is this not enough??? i am really confused

Age, height, current weight, activity level?

I'm 22, 5'9'', 159 lbs and my activity level is sedentary

Ok, I probably used a different calculator than you, but I got BMR of 1561 which is pretty close to your number.
I also got a TDEE of 1873 at sedentary.
How much you need to lose will determine how much of deficit you should eat at.
A 20% deficit would be 1498
A 15% deficit would be 1593
A 10% deficit would be 1685

If you are eating at 1200, that is more than a 35% deficit. Plus, you are only eating back half of your exercise calories!
You definitely are not eating enough.
Try slowing increasing (like 100 calories per week) up to at least 1500 calories, and eat back ALL of your exercise calories burned.

I forgot to mention, you really want to try to eat above your BMR, so in the long run, try to get up to around 1560.
P.S. - my numbers are almost identical to yours.

thank u can u tell me how much weight i will approx. lose if i eat with a 20 % deficit? this sounds so much (may sound dumb) ... but why does mfp not tell me to eat that much? i dont really get why the programm tells me to 1200... this is weird

thank u so much for your help!!!

According to the Scooby calculator, at a 20% deficit at sedentary, you should lose approximately 0.7 lbs per week.
keep in mind this will vary over time and even out in the end.
In a month, 3 lbs
In a year, 39, give or take obviously.

What did you have MFP set to lose per week?

I set MFP to the highest possible weight loss... Not sure if that's 1 or 2 lbs a week?!

2 lbs.. then that is why it is giving you such a low calorie goal number. If you adjust it to 1/2 lb per week it should give you a similar number.

prattiger65

You need to eat at least at your BMR. Your metabolism will slow down and hold on to fat if you eat below that for an extended period. I am a litttle heavier than you (189) and I NET 2100 per day. Also, I have my macros set at 1g protein for each pound of lean mass (weight x %bf) .35g per pound of body weight and the rest whatever. I have lost 31 pounds since Jan 2. I do exercise and lift, but I eat ALL of those calories back. Hope this helps.

Roll Tide :P

Flush twice, it's a long way to Tuscaloosa. WAR EAGLE!!

prattiger65

Everyone remember, MFP is a tool. It will give you what you ask for. If you ask for 2 lbs of loss per week, it will give you that calorie goal even if it's under your BMR. It will never go below 1200, but even that is too low for most. Keep it simple though, never NET less than BMR.

iChroma

Thanks for all your replies and advice everyone! Seems like a lot of us got some questions answered.