BMR Rate and Daily Caloric Need numbers are a bunch of crap

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  • Ruthe8
    Ruthe8 Posts: 423 Member
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    Sorry it didn't work for you, but you are one single case, and there could be a lot of things that affected your outcome. Just because something did work for YOU doesn't mean it's crap. If one case is all it takes to prove it, well it worked for me so I guess that proves it works for everyone!
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
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    To get an accurate BMR you need to use a calculator that takes your Body Fat % into the calculation. If you have a higher body fat % your BMR will be lower. The BMR calculator on MFP and most of the other sites give you a much too high calorie level of you are considerably overweight. Unfortunately, you will find people that tell you that you are simply not eating enough and you should eat even more. Which is just a bunch of garbage misinformation that they repeat because they hear it from so many other people who are just repeating it.

    This results in a lot of people not losing weight and even gaining weight after months of logging and exercising. I am sorry that you are yet another victim of misinformation.

    Use the Karch-Mcardle BMR calculator. It factors in your Body Fat % and gives you a much more accurate number to start with. Multiple that number by 1.2 to get your TDEE for maintaining. Subtract 500 calories from that number to get your level to lose 1 pound per week. If you want to lose 2 pounds per week, burn an additional 500 calories with exercise, but DO NOT eat those calories back.

    Try this for a couple of weeks and see how you do.

    wow. you might have a point. ALL of the other bmr's for me were like 1950-2000

    this is what I got from the above

    Your BMR according to the Katch-Mcardle formula is
    1,698.40

    I also think my BMR is still a bit high because I measured my body fat online and I think its actually higher than the number got back.

    this is what I don't like about doing this online.
  • cmeroar68
    cmeroar68 Posts: 40 Member
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    I looked at your diary and it appears to me that you are eating the wrong things. The fast foods and processed foods are not good for you....regardless of the caloric values. You seem to consume a lot of sodium and carbs....these do not make losing weight easy or successful. I think you need to seek some nutritional advice from a professional to assist you in your goals.
    I don't want you to think I am being harsh, however your post came across very strongly against this program, and I've seen success here not only by me but many, many others. I think you need to give this another try with well balanced choices.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    The BMR equations are taken from an average sampling. There will always be outliers above and below the curve.
    You obviously fall below it. It's only meant to be a starting point.
    The only way to be really accurate is to determine your actual TDEE for yourself (which it seems you have done).
    Or, perhaps, you haven't accuately logged your caloric intake...
  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member
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    You are eating WAY below your BMR, lots of take out, chocolate bars and stuff like that. You need to eat a lot more, but not just junk food...it's about WHAT you eat so much more than simply eating under a certain calorie number. You need fruits and veggies.

    There are tons of people on this site that this system has worked for so it's most definitely not crap. It just seems to me that you need to make some adjustments to what you're eating.
  • Dandawa
    Dandawa Posts: 97
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    I know wanting to lose weight and it not happening is frustrating.
    Here is what I know.
    I went back into start Oct in your journal and there were several days where you were not eating the 1200. this is not going to work, (likely you have provide this)
    I started Aug 1,2012 I weighed 222 12 weeks later I weighed 199.
    So I suggest you check out eating more. I started off eating 1200 each and every day. Working out very hard and not eating back I loss about 15 lbs in 6 weeks then hit a walk. did not lose for say 2 weeks reached out to mfp and did a lot of reading and decided I need to eat more to lose. It was tough on me mentally to get my head around it but I did and I started dropping again. Right now I aim for 1440 a day, if I have worked out heavy like 50 mins or more hard then I make sure to eat extra 250 (protein shake).
    I workout and push myself as hard as I can and then more at least 5 days a week, plus walks.
    I am not sure about all that you are doing but I know one thing eat more.
  • Dandawa
    Dandawa Posts: 97
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    bump
  • EatClenTrenHard
    EatClenTrenHard Posts: 339 Member
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    I would like to disprove everything you said.
    I am following IF calculator(im not on IF diet)

    IT IS ACCURATE TO A POUND OVER 6 WEEKS already.

    you need to pay more attention when logging calories. you are doing it wrong. i am doing it right. works for me
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    There are many factors that can be attributed to the scale not budging. Pay your Dr. a visit, get a full blood work panel done and see if you have any other issues which may be hindering weight loss.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,402 MFP Moderator
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    Can you add fat and protein to your guide? Also, you are barely eating 1000 calories a day. So I am curious to see why you say BMR calculators aren't working. If you aren't following them, how do you know they work. If your TDEE was 2200, cut 20%, eat whole lean meats, fruits and veggies, and some whole grains. I know when I used to go out to lunch a lot, I couldn't lose weight either.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    I would like to disprove everything you said.
    I am following IF calculator(im not on IF diet)

    IT IS ACCURATE TO A POUND OVER 6 WEEKS already.

    you need to pay more attention when logging calories. you are doing it wrong. i am doing it right. works for me

    Let's follow this guy, he's The Messiah!

    Lead us not into temptation oh wise one, teach us the ways of "doing it right".

    Alternatively, the OP may have perfectly valid reasons why when she follows the guidelines to the letter she does not lose the predicted amount of weight. Hormones, thyroid, etc, etc.
  • cmeroar68
    cmeroar68 Posts: 40 Member
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    You are eating WAY below your BMR, lots of take out, chocolate bars and stuff like that. You need to eat a lot more, but not just junk food...it's about WHAT you eat so much more than simply eating under a certain calorie number. You need fruits and veggies.

    There are tons of people on this site that this system has worked for so it's most definitely not crap. It just seems to me that you need to make some adjustments to what you're eating.

    Thank you! I completely agree with you!
  • pickledginger
    pickledginger Posts: 172
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    For a lot of people, the numbers are pretty close. For a lot of people, though probably not quite as many, they are ridiculously out of the ballpark.

    The human metabolism is a lot more complicated than even researchers used to think. (Really long discussion of recent research omitted here. If you're really interested, search out relevant articles on MedLine.)

    Anyway, if the calculators work for you, great! If they don't -- and for me, they really, really don't -- the heck with them!

    You now have a handy record of what you ate in that period, and how / how much you exercised. And you have a record of the results. So, knock off a couple hundred calories a day, and go from there.

    Best of luck!
  • pickledginger
    pickledginger Posts: 172
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    There are many factors that can be attributed to the scale not budging. Pay your Dr. a visit, get a full blood work panel done and see if you have any other issues which may be hindering weight loss.

    Yes, good point. (My thyroid scan is Monday!)
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Well, you have to cut the number of calories that works for you. Those calculators are for "average" metabolism. Us fatties are waaay more efficient. I have to set MFP to have me losing 1.5/lbs a week to lose a pound.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Seeing that you barely eat 1000 calories on most days I'm going to point out something to you. What do you think chronically restricting calories does to your RMR and TDEE? They drop lower. Your RMR and TDEE may in fact be lower than those prediction formulas - however, restricting intake will only make the difference between adjusted, actual, and predicted RMR and TDEE even greater. You can't really complain about the inaccuracies of prediction formulas if you are reducing the baseline values before you even make use of said formulas. Now, if you truly were eating enough to maintain your actual TDEE, and the prediction formula was higher, that's a different story which happens for some people who fall outside the normal sampling group. So what should be done before using these prediction formulas? Up calories until your weight stabilizes after a month or two to ensure you are beginning your weight loss journey with a revved up metabolism and hormones and are starting at true maintenance.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    OP:

    The first thing I would attempt to do would be to (if you've not done this already) purchase and use a food scale, very regularly. I'd also consider tracking protein intake and temporarily ditching the fast food as you're not in control of the calorie intake.

    What I'm getting at is that estimations are being made on both the BMR/TDEE side, AND the food intake side. You should do what you can to increase accuracy on the food intake side to get a better idea of your intake level. For very many people, through estimation errors, frequent eating out, failure to report, failure to weigh quantities, etc etc, it can add up to a lot of error.
  • pickledginger
    pickledginger Posts: 172
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    Ditching the fast food obviously would help, for lots of reasons. They have found a combo.of salt, starch, and grease that is nearly as addictive and unhealthy as (ok, I exaggerate) crack.

    Making sure you get a good dose of protein at every meal -- especially breakfast -- is supposed to be important to stabilize blod sugar (which, they are finding, plays a huge role in fat creation and maintenance) and reduce cravings (not unrelated).

    Eating lots of veggies is filling, good for the hair and complection (recent studies show), and also helps stabilize blood sugar. In addition, it speeds digestion, which can get rid of a couple pounds from the waistline. And veggies provide lots of nutrients the body really needs, so can help stave off the killer cravings a deficiency can inspire.
  • pickledginger
    pickledginger Posts: 172
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    You are eating WAY below your BMR, lots of take out, chocolate bars and stuff like that. You need to eat a lot more, but not just junk food...it's about WHAT you eat so much more than simply eating under a certain calorie number. You need fruits and veggies.

    There are tons of people on this site that this system has worked for so it's most definitely not crap. It just seems to me that you need to make some adjustments to what you're eating.

    Thank you! I completely agree with you!

    It does work for a lot of people. It uses numbers based on an average metabolism, so that is not a surprise.

    It also *doesn't* work for a lot of people -- whether the site's average-BMR-based calculations yield numbers that are too high for their not-average metabolisms or too low -- but those people can still get a lot of good out of MFP, if they ignore the totally-irrelevant-to-them calculators.

    I am delighted that the site's calculations work for you.

    They don't for me; if I ate what MFP thinks I ought, I wouldn't fit through the door sideways.

    They don't work for my best friend, a tiny 5'2 thing who is nearly as sedentary as a rock but who outeats many body-builders; if she tried to follow MFP's recommendations, she probably would starve.

    Welcome to the bell curve.
  • MichelleLaree13
    MichelleLaree13 Posts: 865 Member
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    There was a study done a while ago stating the calculated calories from fast food were much higher than they were saying. When I am adding calories at home, I take the basic ingredients (egg, tomato, cheese, ect) weigh it and use government calculated calories for the weights of each food. How do you know they didnt slap 3 TBS of mayo on the burger instead of just the one? It is not like they measure the mayo out. That is an extra 200 calories right there... What about the fries? How much is suppose to be in theie calorie counted serving? They could easily cram a couple hundred extra calories into a box.

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