HELP WITH TDEE, BMR. BMI!

Mitzigan94
Mitzigan94 Posts: 393 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My TDEE says I burn 2228 calories in a day with light activity. My BMR says 1307 calories in a day. My BMI says Im overweight(damn!>.<) And that I have to lose 20-24 lbs coz Im weihing 138 lbs, and IM only 4'11.. Please, someone help me understand these bmr, tdee thang, IM getting confused.. lol

Replies

  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    BMR = Base Metabolic Rate, the amount of calories needed to keep your body alive if you were in the hospital in a coma.

    TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, the amount of calories you need to keep your body alive AND perform all your daily activities (such as getting out of bed, walking to your car, going to work, peeing, brushing your teeth, cooking dinner, doing laundry, and on and on and on), while MAINTAINING your current weight.

    The point of figuring out your TDEE is to then cut off 10-20% from that number which in your case would be 1,893 calories (15% cut). This is the number of calories you eat per day to lose at a sustainable, moderate rate.
  • zoegator
    zoegator Posts: 165 Member
    Agreed! ^^^
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
    But what if 25% off my TDEE is less than my BMR? Is it ok to eat under your BMR?

    I workout 5-6 times a week. Usually 3 days of Insanity, 2-3 days of something else like Zumba, Rockin' Body, etc. I take at least 1 day off for rest, sometimes 2. When I'm not traveling for work, I have a desk job with little movement. When I am traveling I would say I'm lightly active in my day, plus activity. I travel about 50% of the time.

    My BMR is 1628.

    My sedentary TDEE is 1954 (-25% = 1465). I'm sedentary 1/7 days a week.
    My lightly active TDEE is 2239 (-25% = 1679)
    My moderately active TDEE is 2524 (-25% = 1893)

    So how do I pick? My schedule is always different. I manually adjusted my calories on MFP to 1600. Should I aim for 1600, but maybe eat a few calories back on hard workout days, since my TDEE is 1893? (I burned 630 calories doing Insanity). But I should NOT eat my exercise calories back on an 'easy' day right? Even though 1600 is LESS than my BMR, but more than sedentary TDEE? 1600 seems like a good number for the 'lightly active' person, but my eyes starts to cross after a while.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    But what if 25% off my TDEE is less than my BMR? Is it ok to eat under your BMR?

    I workout 5-6 times a week. Usually 3 days of Insanity, 2-3 days of something else like Zumba, Rockin' Body, etc. I take at least 1 day off for rest, sometimes 2. When I'm not traveling for work, I have a desk job with little movement. When I am traveling I would say I'm lightly active in my day, plus activity. I travel about 50% of the time.

    My BMR is 1628.

    My sedentary TDEE is 1954 (-25% = 1465). I'm sedentary 1/7 days a week.
    My lightly active TDEE is 2239 (-25% = 1679)
    My moderately active TDEE is 2524 (-25% = 1893)

    So how do I pick? My schedule is always different. I manually adjusted my calories on MFP to 1600. Should I aim for 1600, but maybe eat a few calories back on hard workout days, since my TDEE is 1893? (I burned 630 calories doing Insanity). But I should NOT eat my exercise calories back on an 'easy' day right? Even though 1600 is LESS than my BMR, but more than sedentary TDEE? 1600 seems like a good number for the 'lightly active' person, but my eyes starts to cross after a while.

    If your exercise isn't consistent I'd suggest putting your information into MFP with your job activity only and then just eating back your exercise calories when you earn them. I can't think of a single good reason to eat under BMR when you can lose weight eating more.
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
    But what if 25% off my TDEE is less than my BMR? Is it ok to eat under your BMR?

    It's not a good idea to consistently eat under your BMR. I wouldn't choose "sedentary" unless you are carried to and from your couch and spend 12 hours there while being fed by servants. Lightly active is likely correct for most people if you're known to walk a little bit, clean the house, etc.

    Personally, I look at a week, and I total up the activity I do, and then average that over the whole week.

    Say you're at 3 days light activity, 3 days of moderate, and one of sloth...

    (3 x 2239) + (3 x 2524) + 1954 = 16243

    16243 * .75 (for 25% though 20% may be better unless you're in the high 30s (or higher) of BMI

    This gives you the reduced weekly calorie target of TDEE-25% of = 12182

    12182 / 7 = 1740 calories per day... no eating back.

    If you change your schedule drastically or you've lost 5-10lbs, re-calculate.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    But what if 25% off my TDEE is less than my BMR? Is it ok to eat under your BMR?

    It's not a good idea to consistently eat under your BMR. I wouldn't choose "sedentary" unless you are carried to and from your couch and spend 12 hours there while being fed by servants. Lightly active is likely correct for most people if you're known to walk a little bit, clean the house, etc.

    Personally, I look at a week, and I total up the activity I do, and then average that over the whole week.

    Say you're at 3 days light activity, 3 days of moderate, and one of sloth...

    (3 x 2239) + (3 x 2524) + 1954 = 16243

    16243 * .75 (for 25% though 20% may be better unless you're in the high 30s (or higher) of BMI

    This gives you the reduced weekly calorie target of TDEE-25% of = 12182

    12182 / 7 = 1740 calories per day... no eating back.

    If you change your schedule drastically or you've lost 5-10lbs, re-calculate.

    QFT!! This is so awesome I'm going to have to save it for future reference!
  • yumbinkbugonrox
    yumbinkbugonrox Posts: 61 Member
    How often should you revise/update your TDEE? About 2 months ago, I figured it out, but I've lost about 20lbs in total since then.
  • yumbinkbugonrox
    yumbinkbugonrox Posts: 61 Member
    whoops, just saw the reply! disregard!
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
    I wasn't replying to the OP, specifically with my example showing 25% cut from TDEE... adding this for her benefit.

    One thing to note on TDEE deficit is that you can't cut that drastically once you're in a position where you have a 'small' amount of weight to lose (trust me here, 20 pounds is a small amount around here, statistically). This isn't set in stone - try it for a couple weeks and see how it

    You'll likely be better served at that end of the weight loss effort with something closer to a 10% cut, which might seem slow, but it makes it possible.

    The following numbers aren't going to be correct for the OP, as I didn't look up her stats - just altering the example I gave above.

    (3 x 2239) + (3 x 2524) + 1954 = 16243

    16243 * .90 (for TDEE-10%)

    14618 for the week

    14618 / 7 = 2088 per day

    How to tell what the anticipated loss is?

    16243 - 14618 = 1625 calorie deficit for the week.

    Since a pound of fat amounts to about 3500 calories, this should be on target for 1625/3500 pounds of loss for the week - or, just shy of 1/2 a pound.
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
    Thanks so much! I'm traveling today but I will focus and read this tonight when I get home. I get so overwhelmed by all the numbers, but calculations like you provided make sense to me. So thank you! :)
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
    16243 * .75 (for 25% though 20% may be better unless you're in the high 30s (or higher) of BMI

    This gives you the reduced weekly calorie target of TDEE-25% of = 12182

    12182 / 7 = 1740 calories per day... no eating back.

    ******************************

    Ok, ok. No, my BMI is just under 30. I'll do 20% instead of 25%. :)

    So 16243 x .80 = 12,994 / 7 = 1856, no eating back.

    Thank you again!
  • xinit0
    xinit0 Posts: 310 Member
    Ok, ok. No, my BMI is just under 30. I'll do 20% instead of 25%. :)

    So 16243 x .80 = 12,994 / 7 = 1856, no eating back.

    Thank you again!

    Give it a try for a couple weeks, and if it's not working, you may need to re-visit how much you're burning, or maybe try out a 15% rate. There's typically a bit of playing around to find the sweet spot from what I've seen.
  • xprplstardust
    xprplstardust Posts: 105 Member
    But what if 25% off my TDEE is less than my BMR? Is it ok to eat under your BMR?

    It's not a good idea to consistently eat under your BMR. I wouldn't choose "sedentary" unless you are carried to and from your couch and spend 12 hours there while being fed by servants. Lightly active is likely correct for most people if you're known to walk a little bit, clean the house, etc.

    Personally, I look at a week, and I total up the activity I do, and then average that over the whole week.

    Say you're at 3 days light activity, 3 days of moderate, and one of sloth...

    (3 x 2239) + (3 x 2524) + 1954 = 16243

    16243 * .75 (for 25% though 20% may be better unless you're in the high 30s (or higher) of BMI

    This gives you the reduced weekly calorie target of TDEE-25% of = 12182

    12182 / 7 = 1740 calories per day... no eating back.

    If you change your schedule drastically or you've lost 5-10lbs, re-calculate.


    ^ bump for this!! def using this formula!

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