Calorie goal less than BMR

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Jenbeanz
Jenbeanz Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
I am so confused!! Some people on here are saying that you MUST eat at least you BMR every day, and yet my calorie goal calculated by MFP is less than my BMR - is this difference simply the deficit i need to lose weight, and is it healthy?

With numbers:

My BMR is 1587kcal per day

My daily calorie goal is 1200kcal per day

Therefore, I am currently eating 1200kcal per day + exercise calories (currently only 80 - 200kcal per day). Please can someone clear this up for me?!

Replies

  • rainlover711
    rainlover711 Posts: 74 Member
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?
  • ObtainingBalance
    ObtainingBalance Posts: 1,446 Member
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?

    Because your BMR is what they would feed you in coma lol .

    You're up and moving, doing stuff all day, it burns more calories! + workouts.

    I usually have my net lower than my BMR, but aim to eat atleast my BMR in calories... I have been trying to make my net atleast 1,000 calories or higher.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    Your BMR is simply how many calories your body will consume is you just laid in bed all day (i.e. in a coma). Once you get up and move around, you start burning more.

    Having a deficit lower than your BMR is an OK thing to do - but is unsustainable. You will lose weight quickly by doing so, but you need to be willing to maintain a healthy eating habit once you reach your goal and start eating a higher number of calories, otherwise you will start gaining again.

    If you want a quick loss, eat under your BMR, if you want a slow loss that will help develop better eating habits and is more sustainable once you reach your goal, eat at your BMR or higher.

    Remember, the faster you lose, the harder it is to keep off.
  • Strive2BLean
    Strive2BLean Posts: 300 Member
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    My BMR is 1500 and my nutritionist says I should be netting 1500 calories to lose weight which means I have to eat back the calories burned during exercise.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I am so confused!! Some people on here are saying that you MUST eat at least you BMR every day, and yet my calorie goal calculated by MFP is less than my BMR - is this difference simply the deficit i need to lose weight, and is it healthy?

    With numbers:

    My BMR is 1587kcal per day

    My daily calorie goal is 1200kcal per day

    Therefore, I am currently eating 1200kcal per day + exercise calories (currently only 80 - 200kcal per day). Please can someone clear this up for me?!

    You will lose weight eating BMR. Go to the goals tab and look at calories burned from normal daily activity. That is you maintenance excluding exercise.

    Most likely your MFP goal is below you BMR because the goal you chose was too aggressive for the amount you have to lose, such as selecting 2lbs/week when 1lb/week is the appropriate goal given your stats.

    Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • knowwhentoshutup
    knowwhentoshutup Posts: 318 Member
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    Because, when you started, you most likely added in that you would be working out for X number of days per week, for X amount of time. Then, MFP based that total on what you wanted to lose (1 pound a week, 2 pounds a week, etc.) and calculated what your goal would be BEFORE EXERCISE, assuming you eat your calories back - that are burned during exercise.

    If you are still confused - I would check out this link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12.

    Since I don't have a heart rate monitor, and my burns would be estimates, I simply aim for 20% under my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditures).

    If you eat too low, you are not doing yourself any favors.
  • ObtainingBalance
    ObtainingBalance Posts: 1,446 Member
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    I am so confused!! Some people on here are saying that you MUST eat at least you BMR every day, and yet my calorie goal calculated by MFP is less than my BMR - is this difference simply the deficit i need to lose weight, and is it healthy?

    With numbers:

    My BMR is 1587kcal per day

    My daily calorie goal is 1200kcal per day

    Therefore, I am currently eating 1200kcal per day + exercise calories (currently only 80 - 200kcal per day). Please can someone clear this up for me?!

    You will lose weight eating BMR. Go to the goals tab and look at calories burned from normal daily activity. That is you maintenance excluding exercise.

    Most likely your MFP goal is below you BMR because the goal you chose was too aggressive for the amount you have to lose, such as selecting 2lbs/week when 1lb/week is the appropriate goal given your stats.

    Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    thats a good reference, thank you
  • autumnk921
    autumnk921 Posts: 1,376 Member
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?

    You BMR is the amount of calories that you HAVE TO HAVE to live - like if you were in a coma.

    TDEE is the number that you are describing above...If you eat at TDEE you will MAINTAIN your weight....If you want to LOSE then you need to eat somewhere in between the two numbers.

    Example: BMR = 1500 TDEE=2000 You would need to eat around 1700-1800 or so and still lose weight...Make sense?
  • vanessairene
    vanessairene Posts: 104 Member
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    Your BMR is simply how many calories your body will consume is you just laid in bed all day (i.e. in a coma). Once you get up and move around, you start burning more.

    Having a deficit lower than your BMR is an OK thing to do - but is unsustainable. You will lose weight quickly by doing so, but you need to be willing to maintain a healthy eating habit once you reach your goal and start eating a higher number of calories, otherwise you will start gaining again.

    If you want a quick loss, eat under your BMR, if you want a slow loss that will help develop better eating habits and is more sustainable once you reach your goal, eat at your BMR or higher.

    Remember, the faster you lose, the harder it is to keep off.


    THIS ! YES!
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
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    Maybe I am wrong but it seems to me that some forget that the "Fat" they are carrying around is a source of calories for your body to consume, but you have to give it time to convert it for consumptions so you do not want to eat to far under your BMR and go into a self preservation mode on your metabolism. The less weight you have to lose the less you should eat under your BMR which is why every five pounds or so you should reset your goals. JMO, MBW
  • autumnk921
    autumnk921 Posts: 1,376 Member
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    You will lose weight eating BMR. Go to the goals tab and look at calories burned from normal daily activity. That is you maintenance excluding exercise.

    Most likely your MFP goal is below you BMR because the goal you chose was too aggressive for the amount you have to lose, such as selecting 2lbs/week when 1lb/week is the appropriate goal given your stats.

    Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    This right here is great for a reference!! I am going to share this with others who may ask too...Thanks!!:happy:
  • nfgchick79
    nfgchick79 Posts: 89 Member
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?

    No, if you eat at your TDEE you will maintain. Your BMR (as others have said) is the amount of calories your body needs to function if you did NOTHING all day (were in a coma). You will lose weight if you eat above your BMR and below you TDEE.
  • 70davis
    70davis Posts: 348 Member
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    Bump
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Maybe I am wrong but it seems to me that some forget that the "Fat" they are carrying around is a source of calories for your body to consume

    indeed, all these "fuel the machine" and similar soundbites seem to ignore the few hundred thousand calories hanging around the middle of the typical Westerner.

    An extreme example is the fasting obese man who ate nothing for a year and lived off his ample reserves, then kept his lower weight for several years. Nobody seemed to give a moment's thought to what his BMR might have been.
  • rainlover711
    rainlover711 Posts: 74 Member
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?

    No, if you eat at your TDEE you will maintain. Your BMR (as others have said) is the amount of calories your body needs to function if you did NOTHING all day (were in a coma). You will lose weight if you eat above your BMR and below you TDEE.

    Thank you for the clarification!
  • knitwit0704
    knitwit0704 Posts: 376
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    As I understand it, if you continue to eat your BMR every day, you will maintain your current weight.

    If you eat a deficit, then you should lose.

    I'm not sure why people say that you should eat your BMR everyday, unless they are on a different program?

    What you're talking about is your TDEE, which is your BMR, plus what you burn by ANY ACTIVITY whatsoever, even at sedentary. Your TDEE is NOT your BMR.
  • DeviSou
    DeviSou Posts: 3
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    That's very helpful information. Thanks
  • shoelesstroy
    shoelesstroy Posts: 10 Member
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    Very helpful, thanks for all of the replies and info

    My numbers are as follows:

    BMR = 1645
    TDEE = 2032

    Current weight = 177
    Goal weight = 155
    Total to lose = 22

    Exercise level = Slow walking 15-20 mins /Day (still recovering from a lumbar fusion surgery so this is my current max exercise level for at least another 3 months)

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