How to find a real bmr? One place told me 1350 and another told me 1000...

How to find a real bmr? One place told me 1350 and another told me 1000...

You can only estimate, but the one based on bodyfat % has best chance of being the closest.

Either use the spreadsheet, or use this and get BF% first, and then use BMR calc with that stat.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtools.html

How to find a real bmr? One place told me 1350 and another told me 1000...

You can only estimate, but the one based on bodyfat % has best chance of being the closest.

Either use the spreadsheet, or use this and get BF% first, and then use BMR calc with that stat.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtools.html

I used Scooby and a spreadsheet where you put in measurements. The measurements is the one that gave me 1000. And the TDEE was like 1300. Dang that doesn't give me much room to work with.

I used Scooby and a spreadsheet where you put in measurements. The measurements is the one that gave me 1000. And the TDEE was like 1300. Dang that doesn't give me much room to work with.

That can indeed be true. Narrow margin for error.

Get a scale and weigh as much food as possible for that side of the equation. At least for couple weeks to see if your eye is accurate.

Confirm the measurements every 2 wks and the TDEE activity calc really had everything in it that applies for exercise for that side of the equation.
As measurements change and become more accurate (if not already), you may find you really have more LBM than calculated at first - so higher TDEE and more eating, ya!

If mainly doing lifting which doesn't increase TDEE much because of how little it really burns, you might want to have more gentle cardio on off days to increase TDEE more. I've heard of many shorter gals doing that.

You can stay in the Active Recovery HR zone for that cardio, and while slower than you normally might do it, still better than walking or nothing for increased calorie burn, and more deficit.

In the spreadsheet, HRM tab, stats at top but at least HRmax (from section a bit down) and restingHR. Then down that tab to section on HRM and Zones. Top of the Active Recovery shouldn't mess with lifting repair nor tire you out for next day lifting either. If cardio after rest day before lifting day, usually Aerobic zone somewhere won't tire you out either.

Just kind of disappointing, as everyone on here is like "I eat 2000 calories..." and I get the same about 1300.

Hi,
I'm new to this but I am totally on board with the EMTWL and have been sharing this with friends too. I am a little confused about the numbers I got from scooby's.

I got the following:
BMR 1391
TDEE 1912
Daily cals 1530
I am 5.5 and weigh 135 lbs

I am currently doing JM's body revolution and burn in the region of 170-200 calories per workout based on my HRM. Am I right in thinking that I need to eat back anything over 1530-1391=139 calories or have I mis-understood?!
Are my daily cals set too low? I calculated it at a 20% reduction, should it be 10%? I am aiming to lose another 10 pounds.
Many thanks !!!

Is it everyday, or 48 hr block is fine because you have rest days?

10 lbs should be 10% anyway.

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Okay, I'm very confuse, if anyone can help me I will be very grateful .

I'm 24 , at 138 cm(4"5) and 51 kg (112 pounds).

I put myself at sedentry (because I want to put in the calories I burn through exercise myself at mfp because i think its more accurate that way: and i could treat myself with rewards for exercising this way.), I exercise at least 3 times a week (walking 5.2 km/hr, around 3 miles) I can't do anything more vigorous due to my asthma (I'll keep increasing the speed when my body is more accustom so it won't trigger any breathing problems).

for step 6 I put in 20% fat lost.

and the result is as follow:

BMR: 1280

TDEE: 1536

and Daily calories based on goal: 1228

why is my daily calories lower than my BMR? I thought you aren't suppose to eat anything below your BMR? can anyone suggest what number I should do?

Just like financials.

Gaining 20% from a smaller number leads to bigger number.
Lossing 20% from a bigger numbers leads to smaller than original number.

BMR + 20% (sedentary) = TDEE - 20% = less than BMR.

Almost no one is that level of sedentary anymore - that is from 1919 study. Vast majority on here that wear FitBit's and BodyMedia's will comment that their non-exercise sedentary desk job days give a activity level of BMR x 1.35 - which happens to be MFP's level for Lightly Active.

So I'd suggest either you take the 15% off that you've seen recommended everywhere.
But really, suggest you do BMR x 1.35, and take 15% off.

Then when you log exercise calories, take the same 15% off.

Ok I am new to EM2WL... and am willing (but scared!) to give it a try.

I am 5'10, 150lbs, and have 28% body fat. I don't really want to lose pounds, just fat and gain muscle.
I have been eating 1500 cals/a day for 3 months!!! Haven't seen any changes in my body... no pounds lost, no measurement changes, still have the muffin top and the saddle bags. I do not want to go back to eating 1200 cals a day, which is why I am posting in this group

I do pushups/lunges/squats, etc with weights (8lbs per hand) 3x a week for 15 minutes.
I do HIIT on my stationary bike 3x a week for 15 minutes.
So this equals 30 minutes 3x/week, which equals an hour and a half a week.

So... I figured that I should enter my activity level as lightly active... IS THIS RIGHT???

With lightly active, my number are as follows:

BMR: 1490
TDEE: 2050
TDEE-15%: 1750

Why is my TDEE 500 cals/day higher than my BMR? I don't burn 500 cals/day exercising... I burn that much in a week!
So basically, I have been eating at my BMR for 3 months.. Is that why I haven't been losing weight?
Should I eat more?

My other option is to enter my activity level at sedentary, and eat back exercise calories on the days I work out. Then, my number are as follows:

BMR: 1490
TDEE; 1790
TDEE-15%: 1520

Since I only work out 3x a week, I could eat 1520 on the days I DON"T work out, and 1700 on the days I DO work out (eating back exercise calories). That is what I have been doing though... and not seeing any changes.

What do you all suggest I do?

Don't eat at a deficit if you want to lose fat and gain muscle.

First, you aren't going to be gaining little if any muscle from that routine.
Your existing muscles are able to handle that level of weight, your body sees no reason to actually have more muscle mass because it's not being asked to do more than what it can handle.

That's what lifting is for, you create a load to much for the muscle, you feed it and let it rest, and it grows stronger to handle the load. Then you increase again.

The HIIT, if truly HIIT done properly, is like strength training, but for those that have cardio sport they do. Same effect as lifting if done right.

Lightly Active would be about right for that level.

But if you actually want to lose weight and fat, forget about adding muscle, should use 10% deficit as too close to goal weight.

Your TDEE is 500 higher than your BMR on daily basis because you hopefully have a whole lot of activity between sleeping 24 hrs daily (BMR) and just exercising.
Digesting food burns calories, being awake (callend RestingMR) takes calories, getting up and walking takes calories.

Yes you should be eating more, might want to reread the meaning behind the terms and understand them.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

If you have had any decent amount of time eating so low, you likely burned off some muscle mass. If you've been doing that routine the whole time, you may have saved some muscle at least, but probably not as much as you could have.

But you won't be able to increase muscle mass with that routine, that's the sad end of that story.

Drop the HIIT, and just do a real lifting routine 3 x weekly for 30 min, 45 if you have the time. That's enough time to get in a short and useful routine. That would also be Lightly Active, though the spreadsheet will get specific.

Real lifting means doing sets, reps, and rests, to a point that you overload, or fail or almost fail, the last rep of last set, the others are super hard effort.

And then eat enough, and do the standard TDEE deficit method so you eat the same amount daily, workout or not. Because the recovery for lifting (like HIIT done properly) burns mainly fat and you'll want to eat more just as much the next day even though it's rest day.

You'll see incredible gains of strength initially while you use your existing muscle better, and then it'll get harder to progress and that's requiring new.

And no deficit when that happens, or your body won't have the resources to actually make more.

I am 55 yrs of age
weigh 126 (I started at 130 with only 10 lbs to lose)
My height is 5' 4"

I am eating around 1550 calories (3 meals and 3 light snacks per day)

I use my elliptical for 30 minutes per day and burn around 300 calories

I have lost 4 pounds, but seem to be at a stand still now and seem to feel hungry often.

Too few calories? Too many calories? Suggestions?

BMR, TDEE?

I am 55 yrs of age
weigh 126 (I started at 130 with only 10 lbs to lose)
My height is 5' 4"

I am eating around 1550 calories (3 meals and 3 light snacks per day)

I use my elliptical for 30 minutes per day and burn around 300 calories

I have lost 4 pounds, but seem to be at a stand still now and seem to feel hungry often.

Too few calories? Too many calories? Suggestions?

BMR, TDEE?

The 1550 is my TDEE-10% that I had calculated. Also, I am a secretary, so spend most of my days sitting, but am on my feet most hours I am home on the week nights and week ends - doing housework, yard work, etc. I have been feeling so totally hungry lately that I kind of lost it tonight after a long stressful day and over indulged - something I haven't done for a long time. Thank you for your assistance.

Thanks so much for this thorough reply Heybales!

I know that more weightlifting would be really good for me. but it has been such a huge struggle to work up to consistently doing what I am doing now, that I am afraid that doing more will cause me to be overwhelmed and give up. I also don't have a gym membership, so it would be hard to do the real heavy lifting at home. I do want to eventually want to start lifting heavy thought.. but I want to wait a while until working out has become a habit that I won't easily break.

So say with the working out I do now, and I want to lose a little fat and gain a little muscle, I should still eat more than I am right now, right? You were saying TDEE-10%, which for lightly active would be about 1850. That is a lot of food! Maybe I increase 100 cals every week or two and see what happens. Does that sound right? I am just so afraid that I will be gaining weight doing that. Before I started with the 1500 cal diet, I never really ate that unhealthy and I was probably somewhere around 2000/day, and that's how I gained 15 pounds.

So lifting heavy is relative to you. But if you use 15 or under reps and 3 - 4 sets, and reach that failure, you got what you need.

And there are plenty of body weight exercises, especially with that much extra weight you have available, that will help immensely.

Walmart has door pull up bar if you don't have one, great use, even for hanging clothes on!

Quads - 1 leg squats eventually with DB's.
Chest - pushups.
Hamstrings - straight-leg deadlift with something heavy at home.
Back - pull-ups.
Shoulders - press with DB's or pikes press.
Calves - one leg calf raises on stair with DB's.
Shoulders - upright row with DB's.
Back - bent over row with DB's or something heavier.

Pick a body part from this map, look at the body weight section of exercise, and see how it's done.
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/WtFemale.html

Above list is even too much, probably need to split the 2 backs and 2 shoulder routines to different days, the other stuff each day.
Notice no bicep or tricep stuff? They get worked with every push and pull upper body you do.

With body weight and/or those dumbbells, you should be able to hit some 3 or 4 sets x 15 reps, and be getting almost to failure.

If you do the bike for 30 min on non-lifting days, that's fine, keep it gentle and easy, you want repair of the muscles, not tearing them down again doing HIIT attempts or hard workout.
And if you do that, round the Lightly Active TDEE up first to nearest 100, then take deficit.

Or use the spreadsheet.

I am 55 yrs of age
weigh 126 (I started at 130 with only 10 lbs to lose)
My height is 5' 4"

I am eating around 1550 calories (3 meals and 3 light snacks per day)

I use my elliptical for 30 minutes per day and burn around 300 calories

I have lost 4 pounds, but seem to be at a stand still now and seem to feel hungry often.

Too few calories? Too many calories? Suggestions?

BMR, TDEE?

The 1550 is my TDEE-10% that I had calculated. Also, I am a secretary, so spend most of my days sitting, but am on my feet most hours I am home on the week nights and week ends - doing housework, yard work, etc. I have been feeling so totally hungry lately that I kind of lost it tonight after a long stressful day and over indulged - something I haven't done for a long time. Thank you for your assistance.

Mifflin BMR (likely decently accurate this close to goal weight) - 1152
Activity 30 min x 7 = 210 min high cardio weekly.
BMR multiplier 1.49.
TDEE - 1712
10% deficit - 1536

You are right on. Did you actually use the spreadsheet already?

The one thing that will change the above.
A more accurate BMR estimate based on bodyfat% and LBM.
Mifflin at 1152 is assuming 36.6% fat.

If you are much more than that, then your BMR is actually lower, and you are overeating. And may have no real deficit in place.

On the other hand, if you were actually at 28% or better, you are under-estimating by 100 or more calories, which is under by 149 or more at TDEE. That's decent amount undereating in that case.

I'd use the spreadsheet referenced in post above to use some BF calcs to get an idea.

You can also experiment, which you may end up doing anyway. You may be more active than you think.

Eat 250 more daily for 2 weeks. If you were actually eating over TDEE, you'd gain 1 lb, that's it.

If you have instant gain, your glucose stores weren't top off, because of not eating enough, so water weight. Take that out of equation, and start 2 weeks again.

If no gain, your TDEE is higher than you think. Test again for 2 weeks, another 250 higher. If you gain slowly some amount, that will tell you where your real TDEE is. Which will be great for when you reach maintenance.

Thanks again - in calculating my body fat a few different ways, it seems to fall between 19.1% and 23.4%. I will experiment with my calories a little and see how it goes.

Thanks Heybales!

The workout routines you recommended are pretty similar to what I already do. I do 2-3 sets, with about 10-12 reps each time. When I get the about the 8th rep, I am burning, and I feel like I can't do any more. For two days following the workout, I am sore in my legs, butt, shoulder, and abs... and I have been doing this for 6 weeks, but still getting sore. So I think I might be doing pretty well with actual weight-training. After I do all that for about 15-20 minutes, I do a really intense 15 minutes of HIIT on the bike... where my muscles are also burning because I do it at a high resistance. I have worked my way up from 3:1 ratio (1 minute easy, 20 seconds at full force) to a 1:1 ratio (20 seconds easy to 20 seconds full force). But I hear you saying this might be too much to do the HIIT right after the other stuff? And not do HIIT at all? I just like it so much... and I like seeing the improvement over time. And I just thought since I already have my workout clothes on, and need to take a shower anyway, I might as well do it right away. So I am having a rest day every other day after doing these workouts. You're saying I should get on my bike those rest days and just do an easy 30 minutes? I can definitely do that!

And... I have upped my daily cals from 1500 to 1700, which is almost TDEE -10%

You are indeed, excellent on the lifting then.
I'd say at 3 months, drop the deficit. Because it'll also be getting easier for you, unless you add another set or 2 more reps, and you want to start gaining LBM to make up. To gain LBM, you still need to be having the same effect as now.

Since this has just been last 6 weeks, I'd really agree with my previous comments then that you probably lost a fair bit of muscle mass sadly.

This will help build it up again.

If you are doing those intervals right after the lifting, they aren't HIIT. Not with your strength training being so good. Your muscles are too tired, you can't press hard enough to make it HIIT.
Just like if you tried to do another lifting session afterwards - would you be as strong and hit the same numbers? No.

Not that you aren't pushing as hard as you can, but as hard as you can is very different with fresh or tired muscles, and means different things as to the body's response.

So you are doing intervals that will help with aerobic training, which is probably not why you are doing them. I'd just end with decent aerobic zone ride to help with repair.

But if you enjoy it, leave it at 1:1 at 30 sec or 60 sec time. End with 10 min cooldown though.

1:1 is also not HIIT, 1:3 is. You don't really work your way up to different ratio. You work your way up to more intense effort for the short time span. And the only way to accomplish that is with a recovery long enough to allow you to do it again.
Like the difference between doing 3 x 10 lifts with rests, or 30 straight reps.
With about 45 sec max on intense effort. Once you go above 45 sec even if well trained, you are not using same energy system and placing the same load on muscles. 15-30 sec is best for starters, with 45-90 sec recovery. But don't waste time doing that after lifting, as you can't reach the same level of effort, so it's really not productive time spent.

I'd still ride the next day, it should be even less intensive than that aerobic zone ride. May feel painfully slow. But soreness is muscles needing to repair - no need to kill the process and not get full repair and benefit from what you did the day before.

I'm new to EMTWL and just di pd my figures here they are:
BMR 1355
TDEE 1863

Suggested calories 1584

Am I reading it right I put in that I want a 15% reduction...I'm kinda confused on what I should be eating?

I'm 5'2" and weigh 129 wanna lose the 9 lbs and haven't been losing despite working out and watching calories. I'm thinking its bc I haven't been eating enough....

Any help or suggestions would be great! Just need to know what my requirements are to loose.