Really confused

mhw189
mhw189 Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, im sure you get this question alot but i dont understand it.
if my bmr is 2700 (which seems really high) and i excercise a 1000 calories a day. does that mean every day i burn 3700 calories so if i was to eat 2200 calories a day i would be 1500 calories under? so each week i would be 10500 under meaningi should lose 3lbs a week?

sorry for sounding so new.

Replies

  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
    Well the maths is sound, but if you have a BMR of 2,700 then I can only assume you're either 8'6" or moments away from a cardiac arrest.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    2700 is really high for a BMR. Suspiciously high - I think you've miscalculated. Do you mean TDEE? Total Daily Energy Expenditure? Your BMR is the amount you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day, not what you actually burn in a normal day.

    We can't know if that figure is correct without your stats. My BMR (I had it tested at a lab) is about 1662. I have a desk job, so each day I probably burn 1900 to 2000 calories. Then if I exercise, I burn more. On exercise days, I typically eat 1400 to 1800 depending on how intense the exercise was.

    1000 calories burned through exercise is tough to do as well. For me, that would be running for about an hour and a half at least. So I'd caution you to not overestimate your calorie burns. I use a heart rate monitor (Polar FT7) to get as accurate as I can.

    And welcome to MFP!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    The easiest way to do this is to let MFP do it for you. Set your weight loss goal, tell them your info, and it will set calorie goals for you.

    Yes, you should also enter your exercise and those calories will be added to the calories you need to eat for the week. In general, yes, 3500 calorie deficit equals a pound. The default is to have a 500 calorie/day deficiti 7 days/week to lose a pound a week.

    That's enough to keep you going, not enough to stress your body, and is sustainable. Long term, sustainable healthy weight loss is the goal.
  • jealous_loser
    jealous_loser Posts: 395
    I m going to agree with the others and think that you have calculated your TDEE. Take a 15-20% cut from it and eat that. With that method, you don't eat back your exercise calories. Try that for a bit (longer than a week) and see what happens,
  • mhw189
    mhw189 Posts: 8
    thats why im getting confused i put my details on a bmr calculator and it says i have a bmr of 2701.
    my stats 294lbs (hence the need to lose my weight :) 6ft 2" male 20yrs old. on mfp at the begining of the day it says 2260 calories remaing for the day but when i do say 500 calories it just adds that to my calories left for the day?
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    OK, the 2700 looks correct for your BMR! So yes, if MFP tells you to eat 2260 each day, and you exercise and burn 500 calories, that day, you should eat 2760 instead. I have always eaten back all my exercise calories and have been losing, very consistently, for the last 17.5 months! However, given your size, and how many calories a day you can eat, I wouldn't worry too much if you didn't eat all those exercise calories back - at least not every day. But if you want to, have at it. I find exercise calories taste WAY better :-)

    Good luck!!!
  • mhw189
    mhw189 Posts: 8
    Yer that seems to make sense just bizare that what you burn off through exercise you should eat back.
    But thank you so much for all your help, determined to make a real go of it this time.
  • Weezoh
    Weezoh Posts: 171 Member
    Yer that seems to make sense just bizare that what you burn off through exercise you should eat back.
    But thank you so much for all your help, determined to make a real go of it this time.

    well, it doesn't want you to make the deficit that it's already calculated for you larger. At your weight you can probably get away without eating them back (or all of them back) but I wouldn't net lower than your BMR.

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