Burn 2030cal by lying in bed.. what? (BMR question)

your BMR is what your body burn just to breath pump blood and do things like that.
it's not impossible to have BMR over 2000 if you are obese or very tall.
then sedentary is for sitting, walking a bit around the house/work and digesting the food.
belive me the numbers are right, and 2000 kcal is not insane amount of food.

How is it not a valid explanation? You need calories to keep your brain going, to keep breathing, to keep your heart pumping.

If I could burn 2000 calories just laying in bed then I wouldn't bother with exercise...

That's fine if that's what you want to do. As long as you eat less than that, you'll still lose weight. You just won't get the health benefits of exercise, and you'll end up losing a lot of muscle along with your fat.

What are your stats and how did you calculate your BMR?

BMR is your base energy expenditure to keep your body functioning (organs, brain, heart, etc.) It typically accounts for around 60% of your TDEE (although this can vary a lot from person-to-person). You find your TDEE by adding your EAT (exercise associated thermogenesis), NEAT (non exercise associated thermogensis) and TEF (thermal effect of feeding) to your BMR.

You burn that many calories just by living. All of your bodies processes need energy (calories), such as breathing, degesting food, creating new cells, etc. And by just lowering your calorie cound, you WILL lose weight. I fyou excerice you will lose weight and gain muscle. I did this exact thing and lost 70lbs, with very little excercising. Problem was, I also lost muscle as well as fat. I'm nowhere near as stong as I was.

Your body burns calories by simply existing. Building and repairing tissue, digesting food, transporting blood, breathing, supporting brain function...these things all use energy. Your BMR is your metabolic rate, the amount of energy your body needs to simply exist. The larger you are (height and weight), the more energy it takes to just sustain your body. Any activity, even just getting out of bed, uses additional energy, on top of your BMR. For a sedentary person, the estimate is about 20% additional energy usage.

In theory, yes, eating below 2436 for you, without any exercise, would cause you to lose weight. However, these numbers are all just estimates. That's why devices like the FitBit exist - to try to more accurately measure a person's real daily calorie expenditure.

For me, I had my RMR (resting metabolic rate - as close as you can really get to testing BMR) tested at the local university hospital. It came back almost 10% higher than the estimates. If I use the formula for sedentary, I would need 1994 calories each day. I'm averaging netting about 1350 per day (my goal is 1200 on workout days and 1400 on rest days, but I frequently go over a little bit each day). By those estimates, I should be losing 1.28 lbs. per week. I have weeks where I maintain, or even gain, and weeks where I lose 2 to 3 lbs. My average is just under 1 lb. per week. So, the formula is fairly close, but not perfect.

My guess is that while it MIGHT technically be true, it will not work the way you want.
This is my guess; also BMI and BMR are VERY ROUGHT estimates. Most professional athletes are considered obese by the BMI based solely on their height v weight… so you can only put so much faith in these numbers.
Anyway, I believe that if your BMR is 2000 calories and you are put in a cage and cannot move and you are fed 1900 calories a day everyday for 5 years I’m sure you would lose weight. Keep in mind though that if your metabolism slows down because you are not active your body will start trying to conserve your fat resources, and since you would not be using your muscles, then they would be the first to atrophy. Then your body would start to burn off the fat last.
So while I believe that technically you would lose weight, it would not be the weight you wanted to loose and you it would have to be monitored under a specific controlled situation for a long period of time.
Again this is my guess… but it sounds good to me!

PS Bojangles makes FANTASTIC CHICKEN and BISCUITS!

Yes. Everything your body does takes energy...from growing skin, to digesting food, to breathing. Energy = calories in food terms. The majority of everyone's calories are from normal bodily functions. Moving around (showering, cooking, sitting, walking around your house) is usually only a small part of someone's total calories for the day. Purposeful, fitness related exercise can raise these significantly. The larger you are, the higher your BMR as it takes more energy to keep you going.

You may also be surprised to learn exactly how many calories are in all the food many overweight people consume. Fast food, processed food, sweets, pastas, and snacks all add up rather rapidly. Start logging every bite of every. single. thing. you put into your mouth and you'll see why we put on weight. Weigh it too, because the average person tends to underestimate their portion size by a LOT (I think I read 20% or something). This adds up!!

So yes, a lot of (very active, fit, or obese) people can lose weight on 2000 calories per day. My son cannot gain weight eating 4000 calories a day...he is underweight as he has trouble eating that much food.

Try the calculators and use the system for a month or so..see what happens!

There are people who know this a lot better than me so they can help BUT are you sure you have that number right?

My BMR is just over 1400 and my lifestyle is active.

It doesnt matter about your activity this is just based on you not even moving (likei f you were in a coma) my BMR is just over 1500 and I am 5ft 6 and weigh about 170 pounds.

My point was more about the number - most BMR calculators do actually ask you to input your activity level although it becomes more relevant when calculating TDEE. Over 2000 does seem very high and I wonder if the OP actually calculated TDEE instead of BMR?

OP is male, mid-twenties, and we have no idea about his weight so he may be quite heavy. You are female, I'm guessing mid-thirties by your user name, and appear to be quite small. 2000 would obviously not be right for you, but we aren't talking about you, we're talking about someone vastly different.

There are people who know this a lot better than me so they can help BUT are you sure you have that number right?

My BMR is just over 1400 and my lifestyle is active.

It doesnt matter about your activity this is just based on you not even moving (likei f you were in a coma) my BMR is just over 1500 and I am 5ft 6 and weigh about 170 pounds.

My point was more about the number - most BMR calculators do actually ask you to input your activity level although it becomes more relevant when calculating TDEE. Over 2000 does seem very high and I wonder if the OP actually calculated TDEE instead of BMR?

OP is male, mid-twenties, and we have no idea about his weight so he may be quite heavy. You are female, I'm guessing mid-thirties by your user name, and appear to be quite small. 2000 would obviously not be right for you, but we aren't talking about you, we're talking about someone vastly different.

Nope, all wrong

Just calculated your BMR using http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ which is all over MFP - BMR 2029-2055 depending on if 5'8" or 5'10". You're a young male. Not surprising at all.

My BMR is 2030. I would consider myself sedentary so I multiply that by 1.2 to get 2436

the 'definition' I have seen on many sites is to the effect of: "Your BMR is how many calories you would burn if you just lay in bed all day"... How is that a valid explanation?


well when I studdied nutrition at school we were taught that bmr should be measured in a person that hadn't eaten for 12 hours and were comfortable and warm while resting (such as when you're in bed). Your body needs energy/calories to function (organns etc) so yur number must be the amount of calories it takes to keep you going.

I agree with using http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

If you want a really good explanation of what BMR and TDEE are, this really helped me, and helped to work out the best way to use MFP:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/680246-tdee-bmr-what-they-are-and-what-to-do-with-them

So I guess what MFP did was take my TDEE and subtract 1000 from it (more or less) to get my daily goal of 1350..? (I chose to lose 2lbs a week)..

I think I'm getting it now, thanks everyone

That's way too aggressive. You shouldn't be eating under your BMR.. If you are Obese Class III you can get away with it, but even then, it's very unnecessary. My BMR is around 2000-2100 and I'm very much sedentary. I eat back my most or all of exercise calories (usually monitored by a Polar HRM). I started at over 330lbs and I have never eaten less than 2400 calories per day. I'm losing weight just fine and, most importantly, healthily.