BMR vs what I should eat

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charmyc
charmyc Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I have been browsing the message boards for days but I couldn't find for sure what I should be doing.... I am sorry if this question have been asked over and over but it is still confusing even after reading so much information.

I am a female 5'6'', 25 years old and I weight 209. I am currently not working so I am sedentary. I started my weight lost at 230 with 1300ish(forgot exact number) calorie a day while working out and not always eating my calories back. This wasn't good as I found out while reading the message boards. So after loosing some pound and reading the message board I went to 1200 calories per day and eating more when I exercise. All was fine, I wasn't hungry but I wasn't loosing even a pound a week...But after going back to the message boards about BMR and THE question thread, I started to wonder if I was on starvation mode. My BMR is 1705 so I changed my weight lost to 1 pound instead of 2 and got 1630 calories per day. It is still under my BMR but I read that it should since my BMI is over 30... I am really confuse about the whole thing.... So lets say that I eat my 1630 and burn 300 calories and eat them back, I will be over my BMR but still loosing right? I am basically not doing much except cooking, cleaning and taking walks(+ exercising once every 2 days or more) so I am definitely close to my BMR as per calorie consumption for my body.(except when I work out or go groceries shopping and the like)

So my question is this, am I eating enough?

Replies

  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    I think you should eat about 1700/day plus your exercise calories as long as a) You're measuring and weighing and recording every bite that goes in your mouth, and b) You're as accurate as possible with your caloric burn and only add real workouts at the gym (no vacuuming, laundry, cooking, walking to the neighbor's house etc.)

    Here's how I calculated that for you: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    You should lose about 3.5 lbs/month that way.

    You could bring it down a little bit more since you have a fair amount to lose... decrease to 15-1600 PLUS exercise calories (or 1700+ half exercise calories) until you're down maybe half way to your goal. Then increase and go slower.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    One way to do it (without having to worry about tracking/eating exercise calories) is outlined by Helloitsdan in the first post of this thread:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    I like this method. Many people grossly overestimate exercise calories, and eating them back can cut into (or in some cases, entirely eliminate) your deficit. Dan's method sets your intake at a straight deficit from your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).
  • sassy616
    sassy616 Posts: 7 Member
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    New to this. What is being tracked wit this method if you take out tracking/eating?
  • charmyc
    charmyc Posts: 24 Member
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    I am fairly accurate with my measurement for food, I use a scale, measuring cups and measuring spoons so I am confident that I eat the calories that I enter. I also only include workout and long walk(my fiance and I likes to go out on a walk for 1-2 hours at a time at a moderately fast pace so I usually enter those)

    Thank you for the link mrsbigmack, it looks great!! I will use it to calculate my calories intake when my weight change. I think I will stay at the 1630 that MFP have fixed for me and eat my exercise calories back when I have them. I have realized that I am really out of shape for a lot of exercises.(I have the bigest loser kinect game and even small exercises makes me sore for days!) I am working out on a light pace like walking and exercise session on the kinect and I am slowly rebuilding my leg muscle so that I may increase my workout.

    AnvilHead: Thank you for the link, I had not see it before. I am reading it right now and I am starting to understand how I went wrong in eating only 1200 a day when I should have been eating at least closer to 1700.

    I am so glad that this website exist! My fiance and I both use it and we love the idea and the community, it is also so easy to use! It is awesome if only just to realize how much food we eat!!! We were eating mostly healthy food but in too much quantity! Now I am weighing down everything and put the portion in small containers so that they are both easy to grab when I want them and also already have their calorie counted.

    Thank you very much for your answers!!

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