TDEE, BMR, MFP cal?

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kennisha84
kennisha84 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have just recently started using MFP and counting calories. I used some of the online calculators and they all pretty much give me a TDEE of 2300 and BMR of 1700. MFP has me eating 1220 cal/day. Is this right? I put in the calculations on another website and put the amount of weight I wanted to lose and the date I wanted to lose it by and it gave me 1660 cal/day. I was losing weight when I was only doing cardio, but now that I have started doing strength training I haven't been losing weight, but have lost some inches. Should I change my cal/day?

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  • Casfarren
    Casfarren Posts: 26 Member
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    When I first signed up for the site, I put my goal loss at 2 lbs. per week and it only gave me 1220 calories per day! I told a nutritionist friend of mine about this and she said it was way too low! But when I changed my goal loss to 1lb. per week, it bumped me up to 1600 calories per day which she said is much more reasonable. You might check and see what you marked as your goal loss per week. That might have something to do with it.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    The problem with MFP is that they have a very limited way to 'estimate' how many calories you get. If you chose to lose '2 lbs/week' It gives EVERYONE 1200 calories (almost). Well, it turns out that this is not right for a lot of people and will end up stalling their losses due to not eating enough.

    You lose for a few weeks, then nothing.. As soon as you increase your calories you start losing again - assuming you haven't been starving yourself for a long time. The less weight you have to lose the slower you need to go also. You can't keep losing 2 lbs / week if you only have say 20lbs to lose.

    Your BMR is the very FEWEST calories you should ever eat if you were laying in bed all day doing absolutely nothing. Your TDEE is your total number of calories that you will use for your daily activities including any exercise that you choose to do - even not being active at all I still work and walk a little bit so mine is close to 2k. Most people who have been successful in losing weight here and most importantly KEEPING IT OFF will tell you that eating at 20% below your TDEE is what will work and not just eating 1200 or whatever MFP tells you.

    Check out 'eating for future you' by heybales or the 'roadmap' by helloitsdan for 2 methods that work for 99% of the people here who have discovered them.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • 86_Ohms
    86_Ohms Posts: 253 Member
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    The standard equations for RMR and BMR for women are as follows:

    RMR
    (9.56 X weight in kg) + (1.85 X height in cm) - (4.68 X age) + 655 = RMR


    BMR
    (10 X weight in kg) + (6.25 X height in cm) - (5 X age) +161= BMR


    There are factors missing from your original post, such as your "activity level", which would have a multiplyer involved, and how much you've set to lose a week (1-2 lbs).

    I would recommend 1-1/2 lb a week loss at the normal sedentary lifestyle setting, but it's up to you. I'm still losing weight at ~175 lbs, age 26 male with a trip to the gym for about 1hr a day.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Don't forget that those other calculators accounted for exercise. MFP'S number does not. That is why when you log exercise, it tell you to eat them back.
    So if you have 1200, then burn 300 calories, you will actually be consuming 1500 cals. That brings you closer to the other goal.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Don't forget that those other calculators accounted for exercise. MFP'S number does not. That is why when you log exercise, it tell you to eat them back.
    So if you have 1200, then burn 300 calories, you will actually be consuming 1500 cals. That brings you closer to the other goal.

    ^ This is the biggest difference between MFP and external calculators and this is also a very big source of confusion regarding whether or not you should eat back exercise calories.
  • kennisha84
    kennisha84 Posts: 8 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. I had my settings to lose 2lbs a week and moderately active (I work out 5-6 days a week). I'm going to go in and tweak my settings like someone mentioned. Luckily this is only my second week actually using MFP so I haven't been eating too few calories for long. I haven't been hungry, I just didn't think that sounded right. Thanks for the calculations!
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    Don't forget that those other calculators accounted for exercise. MFP'S number does not. That is why when you log exercise, it tell you to eat them back.
    So if you have 1200, then burn 300 calories, you will actually be consuming 1500 cals. That brings you closer to the other goal.

    This, this, this. A lot of people don't seem to grasp this.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I've been eating right around my BMR or slightly above and still averaging two pounds a week.

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