Confused about BMR & TDEE

LaurenLouG
LaurenLouG Posts: 65 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been trying a whole bunch of calculators and have upped my daily intake from 1200 to 1400 two days ago.

If the calculator I've used says my BMR is 1331 and my TDEE is 1464, does that mean its AFTER exercise or before? I entered my activity level as "lightly active 1-3 hours of light exercise a week" realistically I do a little more exercise than that.

I'm terrified of eating too much and undoing my hard work. This calculator makes me feel as if I should set my allowance bk to 1200 and just make sure I eat back my exercise cals.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • LaurenLouG
    LaurenLouG Posts: 65 Member
    Bump
  • kmw899
    kmw899 Posts: 41
    TDEE is how many calories you burn at your level of activity. BMR is the amount of calories burned if you were just laying in bed all day.

    To lose weight eat 15-20% less of TDEE and eat back at least some exercise calories.

    What are your stats? Your TDEE seems really low for your BMR.
  • LaurenLouG
    LaurenLouG Posts: 65 Member
    Thank you for your response.

    I'm 5'5, 127lbs and I want to weigh 120.

    So I guess I should revert back to 1200.
  • kmw899
    kmw899 Posts: 41
    I used this calculator and figured out your TDEE is 1916.

    So a deficit of 287 to 383 calories a day. At 1200 calories a day you may not lose weight.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    If your BMR is 1331, your TDEE will be higher than 1,464. What site did you use? If it was fat2fit, that will also include a deficit.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I used this calculator and figured out your TDEE is 1916.

    So a deficit of 287 to 383 calories a day. At 1200 calories a day you may not lose weight.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    How will they not lose weight at 1,200 calories?
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    Thank you for your response.

    I'm 5'5, 127lbs and I want to weigh 120.

    So I guess I should revert back to 1200.

    With only seven lbs to lose, you should be eating around TDEE-10%

    I ran your numbers here: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

    and your sedentary TDEE is 1600. So you should be eating about 1450 calories, PLUS all exercise cals
  • kmw899
    kmw899 Posts: 41
    I used this calculator and figured out your TDEE is 1916.

    So a deficit of 287 to 383 calories a day. At 1200 calories a day you may not lose weight.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    How will they not lose weight at 1,200 calories?

    Meaning under eating and your body hoarding the calories you consume.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I used this calculator and figured out your TDEE is 1916.

    So a deficit of 287 to 383 calories a day. At 1200 calories a day you may not lose weight.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    How will they not lose weight at 1,200 calories?

    Meaning under eating and your body hoarding the calories you consume.

    I doubt that will happen on 1,200 calories (not that I would recommend it), especially in the time that it takes to lose 7lb.
  • LaurenLouG
    LaurenLouG Posts: 65 Member
    I used scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator

    Based on your advice I'll keep my cals at 1400 for now, it's just very scary to up my calories by that much, it feels like I'm eating for Australia, haha.
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
    what others have said.
    bmr is if you were laying in a coma, what your body uses to keep organs functioning. it is not advised to eat below that.
    tdee takes into consideration your height weight and activity level.
    yours seems weird that your bmr and tdee are so close.
    my bmr is the 1200s, but my tdee is the 1800s based on how many hours a day i am sitting, moving around, the amount of exericise i do, etc.
    1400s or more sounds like it would be good for you. if you are eating too little calories it may take longer to lose weight if your metabolism gets janky.
    but like for me, mfp says my maintenance is 1500 calories, when it really is like 300 more than that.

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