I just posted a really long ramble asking about this. I realized I may have posted it in the wrong place so I just went searching for a better place and found this. Setting my goal in MFP to my BMR is exactly what I want to do. But, it seems that may be defeating the purpose. We want to have our metabolism working in an efficient manner, and if we just eat our BMR is that not only one step up from starving ourselves. Or maybe Im wrong. Reading some other threads I gathered that eating consistently is they key. And that should be a reasonable number given our daily activity, not just the bare minimum. The BMR is if you were doing nothing other then laying in bed all day. But again, I dont really know. I am curious to see what others say here. If I dont get a response from my zillion line post on the other page, I may come back and post it here. FYI, its on the "what to expect from re-setting...." thread.

I got to thinking about this last night, because you're right, we don't just lay in bed all day, so really you do burn more than your BMR regardless of exercise. So even eating back exercise cals, there's all the other calories you burn through out the day sitting, walking, etc etc. I thought about maybe redoing my TDEE for sedentary, then eat that plus exercise calories? I dont' know. Right now I have it set close to BMR (its like 1580 depending on the calculaor used, so I rounded up to 1600) plus eating exercise. I may sit down and figure out what it'd be doing the sedentary TDEE + exercise and see how that would work...

Thats what I was thinking, setting it to sedentary. But, sedentary for maintaining or with a cut of 15-20%? There is a 300 calorie difference between the numbers. Yesterday I set it to 100 over my BMR and added my exercise calories in and ate almost all of them back. What I have learned is that you never want to NET below your BMR, and never EAT below your TDEE cut. Therefor, you may have to eat over your cut if you have a hard exercise day.

But what I realized I dont like about plugging in the lower goal is that it doesnt give the right numbers for your macros if you are not to eat below your TDEE cut. But then if i plug in my TDEE cut and add in exercise its also all jacked up! I have not been sure what to plug in for my TDEE cut, and I used 2 different methods for figuring them out and they were off by 150 calories. I ended up doing an average.

I know I will not be able to exercise today so I may just change my goal to my TDEE cut and be sure to eat that. It may be a lot of work, but Im thinking that on exercise days I adjust my goal down to BMR +100,, and on non-exercise days I adjust to my TDEE cut. I am probably rare in that I have plenty of free time to mess around with this.

I know no matter what, I will focus on not netting below my BMR, andnot eating less then my TDEE cut.

Three people have told me I need to eat more and am trying to digest this information. Thanks for the post.

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I feel...stupid (for lack of a better word) for STILL being so confused!

Ok...my BMR is 1581 (according to Scooby).
TDEE to Maintain is: 2451
TDEE w/ 15% red. for fat loss is: 2083


Do I eat the 2083/day? This is with my height/weight/workouts (moderate 3-5 days/wk) taken into account.

It's just...not clicking. I don't understand and it's SO frustrating lol.

I just posted a really long ramble asking about this. I realized I may have posted it in the wrong place so I just went searching for a better place and found this. Setting my goal in MFP to my BMR is exactly what I want to do. But, it seems that may be defeating the purpose. We want to have our metabolism working in an efficient manner, and if we just eat our BMR is that not only one step up from starving ourselves. Or maybe Im wrong. Reading some other threads I gathered that eating consistently is they key. And that should be a reasonable number given our daily activity, not just the bare minimum. The BMR is if you were doing nothing other then laying in bed all day. But again, I dont really know. I am curious to see what others say here. If I dont get a response from my zillion line post on the other page, I may come back and post it here. FYI, its on the "what to expect from re-setting...." thread.

This is the thought that occurred to me as well. Clearly, we burn calories beyond what we "exercise" off, and I'm assuming the TDEE accounts for that? I was going to just set my calorie goal to my BMR and have my exercise increase the net calories, but then aren't we essentially just eating back our exercise calories only and ignoring the other calories that we burn just by living? If that's the case, then our net calories would end up being lower than our BMR. Does anyone have suggestions? I guess setting your calorie goal to your TDEE would be better, but I like keeping track of exercise, especially because it's rather erratic for me (some days I burn 500, other days only 200).

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My TDEE is 2335, BMR 1506, Cut Cals 1985. However, I do have Hypothyroidism (treated - but does not make me 'normal'). Wondering if I should still just go for the 2335? Suggestions?

I'm sorry to bump this but I've gotten myself confused. I have a Bodymedia and it tracks calories burned through tha day. Would my daily reading for that be a more accurate TDEE? And what should my calorie intake be relative to that?

Without throwing out actual numbers, I'm worried I may be eating too few calories. I'd say I average 1500-1600/ day, but burn over 3000, sometimes more. My problem is finding WHAT to eat to make up the difference without eating garbage, KWIM?

Does this work the same for people who are morbidly obese? I am just looking at the numbers the scooby site gave me and am wondering if those numbers are too high? It could just be the 30 years of diet mentality pounded into my brain that is making me think the numbers are too high. It said my bmr was 2070 and that I should be consuming 2700 calories. That 2700 just scares the crap out of me. I work out 6 days a week and 4 of those days are HIIT and two of them are heavy lift days. Any thoughts?

I'm similar - I've been in a plateau for the last 1-2 weeks after losing 12kgs on 1950 / day... but after going to the Scooby calculator it says my BMR is 2189 and my TDEE is 3394, putting my daily cals on a 15% cut at 2885. I can't even FATHOM eating that much! I struggle to reach my daily calorie goal as is eating healthy foods and veg - I'd either have to eat 5 steaks a day or nothing but crap take-away to hit that number! Should I just try to hit my BMR? I lift heavy 3x a week and swim 2x (about 45 minutes per session for both) with a gentle walk on the weekend and a rest day so presumably some days I'd have to eat even more than the 2885??? Is there a different tactic for morbidly obese women?? That number is so scary!! I'd love someone's wisdom here - I understand and believe in the principle of EM2WL but I just can't see how eating that many calories each day is going to result in the significant losses I need for my health...

I've only recently started exercising and ever since then, my weight has stalled. I'm not sure if that's because I'm not eating enough or am eating too much? When I was following the scooby calculater based on no exercise, I'd managed to lose 3.5kg in 3 months. Slow but steady progress which I was quite happy with. The last 3 and a half weeks since exercising... nothing.

My question is: what defines 1-3 hours of light exercise? All I do is walk to the shops once a week (40 mins), maybe 2 leisurely strolls around the block (20 -30 mins each) and 3 x lunges, squats, tricep dips and push ups three days a week. Is this light exercise or should I be putting myself in a different category?

I've been measuring myself but hadn't noticed any change which is when I decided to jump on the scale to see if that gave me a different indication, which is when I saw that I've definitely stalled.

Weight: 53.5kg, Age: 29, Height: 158cm.

Any ideas?

Ok, I thought I had this figured out, but over the last 2 months, I must have been doing something wrong - very little loss, constant hunger and such forth...

I currently use a Polar Wearlink HRM linked to Endomondo, which auto-updates all my "workouts" here at MFP. This are my currently stats:

BMR: 1731
TDEE: 2684
-20% = 2147
-25% = 2013

I do 3-5 (moderate level) as I hit the gym 3-4 times a week, in addition to walking (dedicated) at work (30min a day or more) which roughly comes out to about 6 hours +/- a week

So, what level do I set MFP to for cals? I was putting in the -20% number, but making sure to eat over the BMR (letting my workouts auto load to MFP), but things have stalled.

Am I doing something wrong, wrong number, calculating something off?

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Ok, I thought I had this figured out, but over the last 2 months, I must have been doing something wrong - very little loss, constant hunger and such forth...

I currently use a Polar Wearlink HRM linked to Endomondo, which auto-updates all my "workouts" here at MFP. This are my currently stats:

BMR: 1731
TDEE: 2684
-20% = 2147
-25% = 2013

I do 3-5 (moderate level) as I hit the gym 3-4 times a week, in addition to walking (dedicated) at work (30min a day or more) which roughly comes out to about 6 hours +/- a week

So, what level do I set MFP to for cals? I was putting in the -20% number, but making sure to eat over the BMR (letting my workouts auto load to MFP), but things have stalled.

Am I doing something wrong, wrong number, calculating something off?

You aren't eating enough if you are logging correctly. You are supposed to eat at the -20% number, not under it. I only found one day that you ate that much in two weeks. Some days you are logging less than 1000 calories. Most days you aren't logging enough to meet your BMR. That's why you are hungry. Eat more. Or log better for better advice.

Hi....my name is Jennie I am 52 years old. I have gone from 224 lbs to 148 lbs on low calorie method (ugh) I still have 13 lbs to go.

I would like to make adjustments on my calorie intake and the only thing holding me back is that I honestly do not know what my activity level is.

I brisk walk 45 min 5 x a week but other than that, I am mostly home watching tv or doing housework.

Am I sedentary or lightly active? I am really confused and need some advice....please help!

52 yrs
5ft 3in
148 lbs

Thanks for taking the time to read this.....I appreciate any suggestions :flowerforyou: