BMR / daily calories

africanstardust
africanstardust Posts: 48 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Sooo I'm not at all new to eating healthy, exercising, etc. I know that I feel happiest when I'm at 130 lbs, and I've never tried such a formal way of losing a few pounds before, but I wanted to start tracking just so that I stay on track with eating healthy.

MFP says that to lose 1 pound a week, I can't eat more than 1360 calories a day unless I exercise. But my BMR is somewhere around 1500 calories a day. Does this mean I don't actually need to lose weight? I feel like I do but maybe I'm just flabby and need to exercise (which is true, but I thought I needed to lose a few pounds too). Although I'm not new to healthy eating, I am new to calorie counting, so if I'm looking at this wrong, please tell me :)

Edit: I'm 5'11" and weigh about 140 lbs.

Replies

  • tannas25
    tannas25 Posts: 13 Member
    MFP automatically factors in your calorie deficit according to your weight loss goals. If you eat according to MFP recommendations you should lose weight. If you exercise and log those calories, you are "supposed" to eat those calories back. Lots of people eat SOME of their exercise calories back, others eat ALL of them back. Either way, you'd be in a calorie deficit. Also, MFP does not differentiate between a person who "needs" to lose weight and another who doesn't. It's all based on your personal goals. You'd have to be the one to determine that. You can set your goals to maintain your weight rather than lose weight if you feel you don't need to lose any.
  • africanstardust
    africanstardust Posts: 48 Member
    Ok, thank you...What I mean is, if I have to eat below my BMR to lose weight, that seems rather unhealthy and therefore I don't know if I should actually try to lose weight. I just don't know if I'm understanding it correctly.
  • paulperryman
    paulperryman Posts: 839 Member
    MFP also ignores health risks of eating below the Metabolic Rate, so if you say you want to lose 500 calories a day which is 1lb a week it gives you the figure whether it's safe or not, the only thing it wont do is go below 1200 calories then it gives a warning but it's upto you to keep your deficit manageable and not too much.
  • Symonep
    Symonep Posts: 181 Member
    change it to lose 1/2 lb a week
  • dany_m
    dany_m Posts: 74 Member
    Ok, thank you...What I mean is, if I have to eat below my BMR to lose weight, that seems rather unhealthy and therefore I don't know if I should actually try to lose weight. I just don't know if I'm understanding it correctly.

    You are absolutely right. Never eat below your BMR.
    If I was you I would set my goals manually, rather than letting MFP do it for you.
    There's a group here on MFP called 'eat more the weigh less' which has great advice on this topic.
  • africanstardust
    africanstardust Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks everyone! That's what I thought...I'll change my goals and see how it calculates the calories.

    Edit: I changed it to 1/2 pound a week and now it says 1630 calories, which seems much better. If I consistently feel hungry at the end of my days, I'll change it to maintaining. Thanks for the advice!
  • FatCycleRider
    FatCycleRider Posts: 6 Member
    Try and get more calories from protein if you are feeling hungry and even better, split your calories evenly over more sittings. For example, 300kcal over 5 meals a day.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    At 5 11 and 140 pounds you are already at the low end of a healthy weight. 130 pounds will put you under weight. Eat normally and concentrate on some exercise to get the image you want for your body. There are many people gets who can give great advice on either resistance or cardio depending on your aims but you really don't need to lose any weight.

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