What is BMR and TDEE

tonioubre
tonioubre Posts: 5
in Food and Nutrition
I have seen a lot of talk about BMR and TDEE around and I have no idea what that is.. I know MFP had my calories around 1200 a day and j thought that was to low so I changed it to 1300.. Just wondering what all of this means. I'm so confused!

Replies

  • janimei
    janimei Posts: 105 Member
    This text was pulled from "I don't get losing weight" message on Message Board today:

    TDEE is your total calorie burn from the day which includes your BMR (how much energy you burn basically in a coma) and every activity as soon as you get out of bed, exercise, work, etc. So TDEE is already accounting for your "exercise calories" which is why you don't need to eat them back, they've already been given to you in your daily goal to maintain aka TDEE. To lose weight you want to create a deficit from your TDEE, total calories for the day roughly TDEE - 20%.

    Hope the above is helpful--it was for me.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    BMR = basic metabolic rate, or how much you burn doing nothing but lying there.
    TDEE = total daily energy expenditure, or how much you're really using in a day (including exercise).

    There are several on-line calculators. They use your height, weight, and activity level to give you an estimate. It's sometimes closer than MFP, but still only an estimate (to get the "real" numbers would be much more invasive and costly!). Some people have had more success at weight loss when they eat 80%-90% of their TDEE (or a deficit of 10%-20%) than following the MFP recommendations. Note that, with this strategy, your exercise is already included so you DON'T eat back exercise calories.

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