BMR and TDEE plus cals in vs cals out... HELP!

stephgreene
stephgreene Posts: 143
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I've been reading a lot about the BMR and TDEE and I'm a bit confused about the relationship between the two of them. I calculated both for myself (and thus far since being back on track for the last week I've GAINED a pound, but then again haven't had perfect eating), but I digress.. my BMR is 1757 and my TDEE is 2723.

Now MFP has me eating around 1500 cals a day (you can all feel free to look at my diary and yell at me for not eating that well), so basically - should I be eating even more than I am now? Should I stick to this for another week or two and just see how it goes before adjusting my calorie intake? Help!!!!

Replies

  • CupcakeHarpy
    CupcakeHarpy Posts: 100 Member
    Just a suggestion, try eating minimum your bmr. I was eating less than that and had a hard time seeing results. Ever since I started eating more, I've been steadily losing again. By eating more, I mean only a couple hundred more calories a day. I've been bad with food, too, but still within calorie limits. It depends on what I have in the kitchen vs if it's grocery day and I can get fresh produce, etc. I also don't force myself to eat. Some days I only want 1600 cals. Other days it's like I can't get enough and end up eating just below my tdee. I just listen to my body and aim for between my bmr and tdee.

    So it really is up to you. You can hold on for a couple of weeks and if that works for you, then fine. Or you could try eating your bmr or even a couple hundred cals higher and see what happens. It really depends on how your body reacts, if you feel like you're starving, etc.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    From your diary, you've only been logging for a week. I don't think a week is enough time to say that you're not losing weight, or that you need to overhaul your calorie intake. And yeah you probably already know that most of your food is sugar/salt so I wouldn't expect a radical weight loss in a week when you're eating a lot of food that causes water retention
  • mikeschratz
    mikeschratz Posts: 253 Member
    What are all these numbers?
    Aloha,
    I had no idea how to go about losing weight the correct way, without hurting myself and without being hungry all the time. I found out from all the knowledgeable folks here on MFP that neither situation has to occur if you are losing the weight the proper way. I read the newbie posts on the forums a couple of times, which is where I ended up the these spreadsheets and all the stuff in this folder.

    JamaicaLady gave me these spreadsheets to figure out your numbers (which really made a difference), and HelloitsDan’s instructions on weight loss. It helped me quite a lot and made a big difference in what my goals were and are today. I can’t thank all who helped me learn what I needed to learn to get healthy and hopefully stay healthy.
    All of this is located at: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B3kFzsaVmRjmd1k4YjA1SlVWaFU/edit

    Please feel free to download, copy and SHARE anything in the folder. I believe in “Paying it Forward” as HelloItsDan says….
  • beansprouts
    beansprouts Posts: 410 Member
    So, I've been reading a lot about the BMR and TDEE and I'm a bit confused about the relationship between the two of them. I calculated both for myself (and thus far since being back on track for the last week I've GAINED a pound, but then again haven't had perfect eating), but I digress.. my BMR is 1757 and my TDEE is 2723.

    Now MFP has me eating around 1500 cals a day (you can all feel free to look at my diary and yell at me for not eating that well), so basically - should I be eating even more than I am now? Should I stick to this for another week or two and just see how it goes before adjusting my calorie intake? Help!!!!

    If you really have no clear idea of just how much you really have been eating...Then why are you surprised at gaining weight? You need to nail down your real food intake.
  • CupcakeHarpy
    CupcakeHarpy Posts: 100 Member
    So, I've been reading a lot about the BMR and TDEE and I'm a bit confused about the relationship between the two of them. I calculated both for myself (and thus far since being back on track for the last week I've GAINED a pound, but then again haven't had perfect eating), but I digress.. my BMR is 1757 and my TDEE is 2723.

    Now MFP has me eating around 1500 cals a day (you can all feel free to look at my diary and yell at me for not eating that well), so basically - should I be eating even more than I am now? Should I stick to this for another week or two and just see how it goes before adjusting my calorie intake? Help!!!!


    Just... don't worry about it. Eat 20% from your TDEE. Multiply your TDEE by .80, this will take away 20%. If it puts you under your BMR so be it. Through the decades and scientific studies, BMR was never even considered. This would put you at 2,178 calories to eat per day.

    Also TDEE and BMR are... estimations, they may not work for you. If you don't get results eating what i recommended for a month, lower your calories by 10%.


    ^this is good. Even as far as estimations go, it's a good starting point. No one can difinitively tell you exactly how much to eat. But I did find that if I eat below my estimated bmr, I stop losing and I'm just hungry. But eating 100-200 above that number really helps and I'm much happier that way. Really slow weight loss, but I feel like I could live the rest of my life that way. And that makes the difference for me.
  • stephgreene
    stephgreene Posts: 143
    This was really helpful, thanks everyone! This was more of a curiosity thing than a "help me I'm not losing weight thing"

    @beansprouts - I know exactly how much I've been eating. I didn't log for a month but still wrote down everything I was eating.
  • beansprouts
    beansprouts Posts: 410 Member
    This was really helpful, thanks everyone! This was more of a curiosity thing than a "help me I'm not losing weight thing"

    @beansprouts - I know exactly how much I've been eating. I didn't log for a month but still wrote down everything I was eating.

    Question....during the period when you were not logging your food (but writing it down elsewhere)....were you also eating back any exercise calories?
  • tamba01
    tamba01 Posts: 110 Member
    I found this and it makes sense to me as I was so confused..
    Women:

    BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

    Men:

    BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches – (6.8 x age in years)

    Now that you have your BMR, u can multiply it by your activity calculator to find your TDEE.
    Figure out which of the activity levels below describes you best...



    So:

    Sedentary (little or no exercise) = 1.2

    Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) = 1.375

    Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) = 1.55

    Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week) = 1.725

    Extra Active (hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x daily training) = 1.9



    Example: A female age 27 5’5” 140lbs, lightly active

    BMR = 655 + (4.35 x 140) + (4.7 x 65) – (4.7 x 27) = 1,442

    TDEE = 1442 x 1.375 = 1,984
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,272 Member
    I made a simple to use spreadsheet with only 5 yellow boxes to fill in.
    It uses Harris-Benedict, Mifflin-St Jeor, and Katch-McArdle (if you know your body fat %) equations.
    You can then just input your deficit/surplus.

    Free to pass around if you wish...

    http://68.179.34.113:9000/axs/u:c05ebc7fe5e71fdd76ef459809fbff1b/BMR-TDEE calc.xls
  • tamba01
    tamba01 Posts: 110 Member
    I was so confused by what bmr and tdee were. The chart helped me understand that tdee was the bmr and activity level. That helps me understand. Thank you for the chart and the link.
  • tamba01
    tamba01 Posts: 110 Member

    Free to pass around if you wish...

    http://68.179.34.113:9000/axs/u:c05ebc7fe5e71fdd76ef459809fbff1b/BMR-TDEE calc.xls
    for some reason I can't get the link to come up....What am I doing wrong?
  • nphect
    nphect Posts: 474
    your tdee is obviously too high. do tdee with little or no exercise, and count your exercise calories. If you have an active job, just feel free to round up in your averages.

    sounds like you should be eating 1500 calories + exercise calories.

    your tdee is at burning 1000 calories with exercise a day, if your sure you do that, then use that number.

    so if you burn 400 calories at the gym, eat 1500+400= 1900. if active job, add maybe 100 or 200, and be careful not to overestimate your "active job".
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,272 Member

    Free to pass around if you wish...

    http://68.179.34.113:9000/axs/u:c05ebc7fe5e71fdd76ef459809fbff1b/BMR-TDEE calc.xls
    for some reason I can't get the link to come up....What am I doing wrong?
    Right-click and "save file/target as" to save the file.
    You must have a spreadsheet program that opens MS-Excel 2003 files...
  • dianefisher47
    dianefisher47 Posts: 223 Member
    yesterday I read a good way to calculate what to eat daily ...I went to scooby.com got my TDEE OK so they say

    TDEE (ex: mine was 1944) X 7 (days) = 13,608 for the week...

    then they say if you want to loose 1 pound per week deduct 3,500 from 13,608 = 10,108 cal then divide by 7(days) = 1444...and there you go this is what you must eat in your day...now remember these are my numbers once you find your TDEE then you can use this method. If you want to loose 2 ponds per week then deduct 3500 x 2 = 7,000........3,500 cals = 1 pound

    another way is your TDEE minus 20%
  • mantra_momma
    mantra_momma Posts: 5 Member
    Also pay attention to WHAT you are eating, not just how much. I have been eating clean for about a month now and I am telling you it makes a huge huge difference! I'm losing quite slowly but my body is definitely changing for the positive.
  • 70davis
    70davis Posts: 348 Member
    Bump
  • Rabbit914
    Rabbit914 Posts: 246 Member
    I made a simple to use spreadsheet with only 5 yellow boxes to fill in.
    It uses Harris-Benedict, Mifflin-St Jeor, and Katch-McArdle (if you know your body fat %) equations.
    You can then just input your deficit/surplus.

    Free to pass around if you wish...

    http://68.179.34.113:9000/axs/u:c05ebc7fe5e71fdd76ef459809fbff1b/BMR-TDEE calc.xls

    This link was eas and very helpful and glad to know I'm right on track with what it says. Thanks for this!
  • C00lCountry
    C00lCountry Posts: 282
    Are you not even eating your 1500 MFP gives you, let alone your BMR.
    Eating less doesn't mean you will lose faster or at all.
  • Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim
    Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim Posts: 267 Member
    bump
  • KeepGoingRhonda
    KeepGoingRhonda Posts: 527 Member
    Check out EM2Wl (eat more 2 weigh less, lots of info there!)
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,272 Member
    I made a simple to use spreadsheet with only 5 yellow boxes to fill in.
    It uses Harris-Benedict, Mifflin-St Jeor, and Katch-McArdle (if you know your body fat %) equations.
    You can then just input your deficit/surplus.

    Free to pass around if you wish...

    http://68.179.34.113:9000/axs/u:c05ebc7fe5e71fdd76ef459809fbff1b/BMR-TDEE calc.xls

    This link was eas and very helpful and glad to know I'm right on track with what it says. Thanks for this!
    You are welcome.
    Yes, I wanted something basic where you could easily play with the numbers and adjust for the inaccuracies in the BMR formulae.
  • CarrieStL
    CarrieStL Posts: 162 Member
    So, I've been reading a lot about the BMR and TDEE and I'm a bit confused about the relationship between the two of them. I calculated both for myself (and thus far since being back on track for the last week I've GAINED a pound, but then again haven't had perfect eating), but I digress.. my BMR is 1757 and my TDEE is 2723.

    Now MFP has me eating around 1500 cals a day (you can all feel free to look at my diary and yell at me for not eating that well), so basically - should I be eating even more than I am now? Should I stick to this for another week or two and just see how it goes before adjusting my calorie intake? Help!!!!

    I adjusted MFP to approx line up with my BMR by losing less lbs/wk per my reading on this forum. Loss is steady at 1lb/week - totally got me "unstuck" from a plateau where I was netting 600-1200. Now I net 1400-1900 on an average day (exercise every day religeously) and am back to losing.
  • CarrieStL
    CarrieStL Posts: 162 Member
    Are you not even eating your 1500 MFP gives you, let alone your BMR.
    Eating less doesn't mean you will lose faster or at all.

    yes. Spot on.

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