Question: BMR and daily calories

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muffle1969
muffle1969 Posts: 96 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love MFP. I love reading everyone's posts and learning, and I love tracking stuff and seeing what I'm doing either to or for myself. Unfortunately, I've read a lot of stuff today about calorie intake and too few calories and BMR, and I'm thoroughly confused.

I just did an online calculate for BMR, and I came out at about 1755. At Christmas I changed from 1200 calories a day to 1650, and started losing weight again. I quickly stalled again, and started doing 1500 this past week...lost another pound.

Today I noticed posts saying that eating below BMR is bad. So that means I should not eat less than 1755 a day and I'll lose better and more consistently? Obviously, this doesn't match MFPs calculations (which I realize are totally fallible). I'm just confused as to what I should be doing.

I exercise 4-6 days a week (usually ends up 5), and I eat back my exercise calories. I generally eat healthy foods, and I've started trying to minimize packaged foods with a lot of preservatives. I watch the macros, and usually come in under on carbs and over on protein. I typically do about right with fat and fiber. I usually look at the week as a whole (Monday-Sunday) rather than focus on calorie limits daily. Meaning, if I have calories left over on one day, I might use them the next, so I average 1500/day over the week.

Anyone have any insight or info that might make this all make sense to me? Do I need to increase my calories again even though 1650 had me stalled and 1500 seems to have restarted me? HELP!

Thank you!

Replies

  • muffle1969
    muffle1969 Posts: 96 Member
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    bump?
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Are you SURE your BMR is that high? Double check your calculations (or tell us your height and weight and we'll try)
  • jesz124
    jesz124 Posts: 1,004 Member
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    Are you SURE your BMR is that high? Double check your calculations (or tell us your height and weight and we'll try)

    I maybe wrong but I think the OP is 230lbs judging by her profile info. She may have the correct BMR.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Double check the calculations, although IMO 1700ish is not that high a number. If you're tall and have a lot of fat to lose then it's probably correct. If you're quite petite then you made a mistake in your calculations.

    You also need to know your TDEE number. BMR is how many calories you'd burn in a coma, i.e. what your body needs to keep all your cells alive and your organs functioning. TDEE is your BMR calories plus however many calories you burn moving around (including general activity and exercise). For healthy fat loss, you need to eat more than your BMR, but less than your TDEE.

    As long as you are eating less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. The closer your food intake is to your TDEE, the slower the fat loss will be. However eating too little can cause a loss of lean body mass as your body tries to adjust to survive on fewer calories (this does not happen instantly, it happens when you eat too little consistently over a period of time)

    There's a thread called "in place of a road map" which will help you to calculate all that and how much less than your TDEE you should eat to lose fat at a slow, steady and sustainable pace that's right for you.
  • muffle1969
    muffle1969 Posts: 96 Member
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    Hi...thank you for all the feedback. I'm 5'4" and I've weighed between 230 and 231, depending on the day, for the last 2.5 weeks. I used an online calculator to figure out my BMR. I have also figured TDEE before using an online calculator. Today this online calculator at http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator told me my TDEE is just under 2500. Oddly, the same site's BMR calculator shows that my BMR is 2007, so now I'm even more confused.

    Because I seem to have done something nasty to my elbow, I'm not lifting weights at this time (which I usually do 2x a week after the treadmill. Instead, I've increased swimming laps to 5 days a week from 3, and I'm hoping the orthopedist won't tell me to stop that when I see him next week.

    Anyway, based on my exercise level, 2500ish is what I've been getting from a bunch of different calculators for TDEE. So if I'm averaging 1500 calories a day, is that too little? It is below my BMR regardless of which calculator I use.

    Any insights?
  • prokomds
    prokomds Posts: 318 Member
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    You've changed your calorie goals twice since Christmas? I think, first of all, you're not giving your body enough time before you call yourself "stalled." I would give a calorie number at least a month before you worry about adjusting it again. I would bet that with your level of exercise, you would continue to lose weight eating around 1600-1700 (and eating back exercise calories, too, most likely). I think you're overthinking it :)

    The second thing is that, since you have a fair amount of fat you'd like to lose, you can afford to be more stringent in your eating for now if you want. Eating below your BMR, short-term, won't be the end of the world. (Personally I wouldn't recommend it, but eating a tiny bit below isn't a huge deal for now). With more fat to work with, your body can survive on less right now. As you get smaller, you definitely need to be above your BMR, and eventually closer and closer to your TDEE.

    In my opinion, the best thing to do is eat a bit above your BMR, so you have the best chance of maintaining your lean body mass as you lose (and eating protein / strength training will help with that even more). Good luck!
  • di1428
    di1428 Posts: 165 Member
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    i have a hard time getting it in my head that its not always best to eat less...
    but i have platuaed for a few months now after losting about 46lbs (going up and down the same
    3 lbs)
    so you'd think i'd listen to the advice on here but having a hard time adding calories..
    MFP tells me my calorie intake should be 1390
    MY bmr is 1597
    Tdee is 2267 and if i subtract 20% from that is 1814
    so technically i should be eating between 1597-1814..if i following all this correctly.....

    i am not eating anywhere near 1597 and up.....i probably average about 1200 a day..

    again, just hard to get thru my thick skull to ADD calories to lose........
  • _SABOTEUR_
    _SABOTEUR_ Posts: 6,833 Member
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    If your TDEE is 2500, then I would recommend eating 2000 cals a day, which is 20% less than your TDEE.

    What level of activity have you put in? If you're including your exercise in your activity level for TDEE then you don't have to eat back your calories. If you haven't included exercise then you do need to eat them back.

    Also do not weigh yourself more than once a week and stay on one routine/cal intake for 6 weeks before you change anything.

    Even though you have an elbow injury I would recommend doing squats or wall sits and lunges with your bodyweight. These won't impact on your elbow at all and at 230lbs your body weight is probably enough resistance for you atm.
  • muffle1969
    muffle1969 Posts: 96 Member
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    Thank you so much, everyone. As one person here put it, yeah, I'm likely overthinking. I will set my level to 1600 today and leave it there until February 24th. Then I'll re-evaluate. I really appreciate everyone's input. Thank you again!

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