Does this sound right?

Fiesty1006
Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I had my RMR tested today... Sitting in a chair... Breathing into a machine for about 10 minutes.
5'3"
CW: 228lbs

Per the oxygen and caliper test....
BF: 42%
RMR: 1950
LBM: 132.2lbs

Test person... Nutritionist.. Dietician... Whatever she was.. Told me to aim for 1513/day.
Mostly sedentary lifestyle... desk job... watching tv in the evenings...

Does this seem right?? All of the calculators show my BMR as around 1600/1700... and TDEE between 2100 and 2400, depending on if I chose Sedentary or Light Activity (as suggested by helloitsdan's well-known post).

I'm asking because all of these forums, people are saying not to eat below BMR.. and sometimes they use RMR interchangeably. If I eat 1513, I'm below my tested RMR and calculated BMR. So, I'm trying to understand... Should I be eating at least 1950 a day to lose?? AND increasing intake when/if I actually exercise? I'm all for eating more to weigh less... It just.... Seems like a lot...

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    So you were told to eat 1500 but you want to eat 1900 but think it's too much? If you're 42% fat you really don't need to feed that fat.
  • akb2006
    akb2006 Posts: 198 Member
    I would either go with the 1500 and eat about half of your exercise calories back OR eat the 1900 and don't eat any exercise calories back. Not your TDEE + exercise calories. And yes you don't need to go overboard on calories seeing you have a higher body fat percentage BUT starvation mode is REAL no matter how much you weigh or how much body fat a person has.
  • Fiesty1006
    Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member
    So you were told to eat 1500 but you want to eat 1900 but think it's too much? If you're 42% fat you really don't need to feed that fat.


    Ummm... I'm asking because all of these forums, people are saying not to eat below BMR.. and sometimes they use RMR interchangeably. If I eat 1513, I'm below RMR and calculated BMR. So, I'm trying to understand.

    [Updated original post with this info]
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member

    Ummm... I'm asking because all of these forums, people are saying not to eat below BMR.. and sometimes they use RMR interchangeably. If I eat 1513, I'm below RMR and calculated BMR. So, I'm trying to understand.

    [Updated original post with this info]

    You can safely ignore that advice for now. Based on your current weight and body fat percentage, you're probably carrying around an extra 200,000 calories of energy for your body. You're not going to starve or cause any harm by eating below BMR. I'd say follow the nutritionist advice for now. If you stall, THEN, you can think about changing thing up.
  • Fiesty1006
    Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member

    You can safely ignore that advice for now. Based on your current weight and body fat percentage, you're probably carrying around an extra 200,000 calories of energy for your body. You're not going to starve or cause any harm by eating below BMR. I'd say follow the nutritionist advice for now. If you stall, THEN, you can think about changing thing up.

    Ok... Thanks.. So BF% DOES play a role in that recommendation... My fertility specialist said 1800... When I asked if 1500 was too low, she said that was fine too - as long as I'm not feeling hungry

    ... It wouldn't be so confusing if everything just agreed... :-)
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
    By the way, anyone with a profile pic taken at the range is someone worthy of my Friend List. Feel free to add me if you wish.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
    Ok... Thanks.. So BF% DOES play a role in that recommendation... My fertility specialist said 1800... When I asked if 1500 was too low, she said that was fine too - as long as I'm not feeling hungry

    ... It wouldn't be so confusing if everything just agreed... :-)

    I'd also recommend manually adjusting your minimum protein amount to be ~ 1 gram per pound of lean mass. That will probably be challenging on 1500 calories, but will really help you from losing too much muscle mass as you try to drop the fat.
  • Fiesty1006
    Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member
    I would either go with the 1500 and eat about half of your exercise calories back OR eat the 1900 and don't eat any exercise calories back. Not your TDEE + exercise calories. And yes you don't need to go overboard on calories seeing you have a higher body fat percentage BUT starvation mode is REAL no matter how much you weigh or how much body fat a person has.

    If RMR, since I'm Sedentary, essentially equates to TDEE Sedentary (unless I'm misunderstanding the second statement), the online calculators aren't as off as I thought... And the 1500 makes a lot more sense (TDEE - 20%).
  • Fiesty1006
    Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member
    By the way, anyone with a profile pic taken at the range is someone worthy of my Friend List. Feel free to add me if you wish.

    Hahah.. Thanks... I've got my own 9mm. I LOVE it.
    I'd also recommend manually adjusting your minimum protein amount to be ~ 1 gram per pound of lean mass. That will probably be challenging on 1500 calories, but will really help you from losing too much muscle mass as you try to drop the fat.

    Duly noted. Thanks sooo much for being so helpful. I appreciate it. :-)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I would go with the professional's advice personally. When you have a lot of fat to lose, you can go under BMR somewhat without the ill effects. If you look at a lot of the comments in RE to eating more, the vast majority of them are aimed at young ladies who have very little weight to lose in the grand scheme of things. Also, you will see many comments in RE to not netting below your BMR unless you are under the supervision of a professional...it would seem that you are under the supervision of a professional at this point.

    It doesn't surprise me that your RMR is higher than on-line calculators...doesn't surprise me when people are lower either. On line calculators are just estimates based on averages and meant to be a guideline and good starting point. Anyone who is really interested should do exactly as you've done and get it professionally tested.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member

    If RMR, since I'm Sedentary, essentially equates to TDEE Sedentary (unless I'm misunderstanding the second statement), the online calculators aren't as off as I thought... And the 1500 makes a lot more sense (TDEE - 20%).

    Actually RMR is closer to BMR. TDEE is often an estimate based on something called an activity multiplier. Traditionally, we do RMR * 1.2 for a sedentary person, * 1.4 for lightly active, etc. This is done because even a sedentary person tends to move around some, and in addition, they burn calories due to some other things that would take too long to explain. So the TDEE - 20% method for you would be 1920 * 1.2 = 2304 - 20% = 1843 This CAN also work, but with so much to lose, there's nothing wrong with 1500 for you. As you get closer to your goal weight, you'll definitely want to rethink you calories and may have to go to the TDEE - 20% approach.
  • mcplayball
    mcplayball Posts: 2
    I would go with the professional's advice personally. When you have a lot of fat to lose, you can go under BMR somewhat without the ill effects. If you look at a lot of the comments in RE to eating more, the vast majority of them are aimed at young ladies who have very little weight to lose in the grand scheme of things. Also, you will see many comments in RE to not netting below your BMR unless you are under the supervision of a professional...it would seem that you are under the supervision of a professional at this point.

    It doesn't surprise me that your RMR is higher than on-line calculators...doesn't surprise me when people are lower either. On line calculators are just estimates based on averages and meant to be a guideline and good starting point. Anyone who is really interested should do exactly as you've done and get it professionally tested.
  • mcplayball
    mcplayball Posts: 2
    well, I basically agree with what you've been told from many of our comrades here on the site.... Let me put this in a slightly different way, which may seem logical to most, but doesn't seem to have been stated: "go with you common sense on this! Obviously, the fewer calories you consume, the better off you'll be, so if you feel OK at 1300, eat 1300. If you are feeling weak and shaky and unstable at 1500 or another certain number, then up that number until you're ready for that. Every body is different and you may need to be way below the normal ratios. The point of this exercise, in my opinion, is that you're conscientious about your caloric intake, exercise and related factors. These are BASIC guidelines, but are not equal for all participants.... just like metabolism. You know that person who eats whatever they want and stays thin and pisses you off, right? Same thing here. You may have to eat less and exercise more to lose the same amount of weight as another person of your same weight range.

    I hope that makes sense.
  • Fiesty1006
    Fiesty1006 Posts: 95 Member
    Thanks everyone!! I really appreciate your advice and assistance... :-)
  • violinkeri
    violinkeri Posts: 212
    I too would recommend following the professional advice. I have a coworke who is a dietitian, and from what I gather they recommend eating in the range of the maintenance calories for your goal weight, which may in fact be below your BMR/RMR/whatever.

    That being said, obviously not every method works for every person. you may find you need to tweak it if your body doesnt respond. But if a licensed professional told you to eat 1500, then its safe. They wouldnt advise you to do anything that will ultimately hurt you.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    I think it makes sense...

    From what I've read online, the biggest difference between BMR and RMR testing is that RMR testing is much less thorough and therefore likely to be a bit less accurate. To me, the way the tested you, the number you got (1950) would be more like a Sedentary TDEE because while you were technically in a rested position, you were still sitting up and probably weren't completely relaxed. Assuming that's true, if you take away about 20%, that's 1560, which is basically the same as what you've gotten for a BMR from online calculators.

    It also sounds like your testing person took a higher deficit than usual, going with closer to 25% than 20%. As others said, with the amount of weight/fat you have to lose, this is not a major concern, as studies have shown that people with more to lose are less likely to suffer the negative consequences of a high calorie deficit. HOWEVER, you do want to keep in mind that as you move out of the obese range into the overweight range and then into normal range, that your deficit should decrease as you go. 20%, then maybe 15%.

    Also, as someone else mentioned, since your goal is fairly low and doesn't include activity, make sure you eat back at least half of your earned calories when you are active. Also, being active, especially resistance training, will help you burn off some of that fat.

    Good luck!

Categories