BMR, TDEE and MFP Goals

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mtw59
mtw59 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there. I've just been using this site for a week but I'm confused about my calorie goals.

I'm 52 yrs old (female), 158 lbs, 5'5", desk job, workout 60 min 3x/week (roughly 420 cals burned per workout)

MFP's BMR calculates 1328 (other online calculators say 1397)
TDEE calculation from online sites say 2166

Yet, MFP says in order for me to lose 1 pound a week, I need to have 1200 net calories.

I thought one wasn't supposed to eat less than BMR!?

What gives with MFP's goal calcuations?

I want to eat the right amount of calories to lose safely, and effectively, and I don't have a problem eating my exercise calories.... but I'm really confused what my net cals should be....

Thanks for any help/advice!

Replies

  • Love_flowers
    Love_flowers Posts: 365 Member
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    If your TDEE is 2166 then take away 500 daily deficit for 1 lbs loss a week, it should leave you with 1666 caloies a day.
  • mgobluetx12
    mgobluetx12 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    My BMR is 1960 and my doctor told me to eat 1400 cals a day.
  • Love_flowers
    Love_flowers Posts: 365 Member
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    If you set your settings to 1.5 lbs a week and still be around or above your BMR then I think you should go for it because I certainly would. And it is still very safe :)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    MFP does math, it doesn't make decisions. If you choose a goal that is too aggressive it bottoms out at 1200. A simple way to figure it out is to take your BMR as the floor and your TDEE (best to use sedentary unless you have a job like construction worker) is the ceiling. Eat somewhere between those 2 numbers. I like to use BMR plus 200 calories. If you add in your exercise calories separately then you can decide if you want to eat some of them back.
  • the_healthier_me
    the_healthier_me Posts: 1
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    Bump!
  • kellyscomeback
    kellyscomeback Posts: 1,369 Member
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    If you want to calculate your macros, BMR, TDEE, etc. then here's a great post on BB.com
    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703921
  • mtw59
    mtw59 Posts: 3 Member
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    I didn't think 1 pound a week was too aggressive, but maybe since I only want to lose 15 pounds it is? Also I think I selected a too high value for activity in my TDEE calculation. When I select the lowest activity for TDEE, it comes out about the same as MFP.

    So 1410 net cals per day.... I did pretty well with that over the past week, some days over, some days under. Added up it came out to 14 cals that I should have eaten but didn't, over the course of the week. My weight stayed the same.... I think 1/2 pound is hard to measure in one week, even with digital scales. Maybe a 2 week period will show a 1 pound loss...

    The days I don't exercise, it's hard to stay on track.... the days I exercise, I don't quite eat all my exercise calories, but I get close... I'll pay close attention this week to see if I'm feeling hungry, and try to find the cause (poor food choices? or just not enough cals to fill me up?)

    Thanks for all your responses!
  • rogerswm
    rogerswm Posts: 11 Member
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    I posted the same question elsewhere and never really did get a good answer. I think MFP should address this for us detailed curious folk. My BMR at the MFP calculator page says 1,777 YET my calorie goal with all my parameters and activity level set to sedentary and 1.5 pound weight loss per week is 1480. Hmmmmm.
  • sandradev1
    sandradev1 Posts: 786 Member
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    I didn't think 1 pound a week was too aggressive, but maybe since I only want to lose 15 pounds it is? Also I think I selected a too high value for activity in my TDEE calculation. When I select the lowest activity for TDEE, it comes out about the same as MFP.

    So 1410 net cals per day.... I did pretty well with that over the past week, some days over, some days under. Added up it came out to 14 cals that I should have eaten but didn't, over the course of the week. My weight stayed the same.... I think 1/2 pound is hard to measure in one week, even with digital scales. Maybe a 2 week period will show a 1 pound loss...

    The days I don't exercise, it's hard to stay on track.... the days I exercise, I don't quite eat all my exercise calories, but I get close... I'll pay close attention this week to see if I'm feeling hungry, and try to find the cause (poor food choices? or just not enough cals to fill me up?)

    Thanks for all your responses!


    I think that what you are doing yourself and eating 1410 net is probably nearer the mark. Continue with this for a few weeks and see what happens.

    MFP calculators are created to fit all variations and unfortunately they do not fit everybody. It is easier to find out your own figures and change under custom settings.

    I agree that MFP is confusing on this issue and in the same way that it warns if you try to set it up for less than 1200 cals, it should also highlight if you are under your BMR and explain why you should eat above that.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    MFP builds in your deduction including exercise so you are supposed to eat those back. I.e. MFP's 1200 PLUS calories you burn so that you NET 1200 calories.

    This may work for you.
    Use an online calculator to calculate your BMR and TDEE and use a multiplier that encompasses the day job (sedentary, I think you said) AND an accurate assessment of your exercise.
    So I use Scooby's Workshop and I exercise between 3-5 hours a week so that makes me moderately active in those terms.
    But on MFP my daily activity is desk bound so I choose Sedentary and plug in 6 days of exercise of approx 30 mins each.

    I also have set my NET cals in MFP to be my BMR. So I know that even if I do not one jot of training, I can eat up to my BMR and not fall short or be in the red.

    I have been consistently losing half a pound a week - and eating pretty damn well on it.

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