BMR & TDEE - 20% the same?

soulshine23
soulshine23 Posts: 28 Member
in Food and Nutrition
hi, i am new here, recently read the 'roadmap' thread, which was very helpful and i want to try following that route instead of the base 1200 calorie limit.

i have followed all of the directions on the roadmap thread, and what i am finding is that my BMR and my TDEE - 20% are the same (and depending on which way i fidge it, the TDEE - 20% can actually come out lower than the BMR).

but i have read that eating below your BMR is a recipe for long term failure in terms of weight loss and healthy living/maintanence.

i like the method of setting my activity levels at sedentary, and then having the option of eating back my exercise calories, mostly because my exercise opportunities are sporatic and differ each week. so, the fit2fat site gives me a relatively low TDEE to begin with, and then when adjusted for weight loss, i am at my BMR (which is not much higher than my MFP 1200 suggested intake).

any thoughts on this? i like the idea of not starving myself, and losing the right way for the long term. when i was eating at 1200 calories and doing my usual exercise, i was starving and feeling miserable, no energy to exercise- felt terrible!

any help would be appreciated... i don't know if my actual stats are needed, i figure i wouldn't bog down this question with all that info.

Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Eating below BMR is fine as long as that creates a reasonable calorie deficit from your TDEE. Your BMR is really irrelevant once you already know your TDEE, despite what the kooks say.

    Anyway, it sounds like you should be netting roughly your BMR, which is fine. However, you'll want to add exercise calories on top of that. This means that you shouldn't actually be eating your BMR all that often.

    And actually your stats would be helpful, so go ahead and post them. Post your BMR, TDEE, height, weight, age. Also helpful would be what kind of exercise you do, how often, etc.
  • soulshine23
    soulshine23 Posts: 28 Member
    ok, stats are
    age 43, 145lbs, 5'8", BMR- 1371, TDEE- 1684 (but at -20% is 1347).
    exercise is running on treadmill for 25 min, walking dog, etc. i run on treadmill until the calories burned are over 300.

    thanks.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    ok, stats are
    age 43, 145lbs, 5'8", BMR- 1371, TDEE- 1684 (but at -20% is 1347).
    exercise is running on treadmill for 25 min, walking dog, etc. i run on treadmill until the calories burned are over 300.

    thanks.

    If I were you, I'd set my calorie goal to 1350 (30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carbs) and use MFP to track calories burned during exercise. This means you'll be eating back exercise calories.

    I'd also strongly suggest you add some strength training in there somewhere.
  • soulshine23
    soulshine23 Posts: 28 Member
    ok, that's where i have it set at.

    strength training for me is using my lame little dumbbells at home, trying to gain some defination in my arms.
    no opportunity to go to a gym.

    thanks again.

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