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BMR QUESTION

stephyj528
stephyj528 Posts: 93 Member
edited February 8 in Health and Weight Loss
If my bmr is 1600 wouldn't I at least have to eat 1200 to lose at all? Confused about bmr

Replies

  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    BMR is your Basil Metabolic Rate...
    So just the basic number of calories you need to stay alive.
    Like if you were in bed all day and didn't move... Think coma.
    Your body would need ~1600 calories just to support you

    What you want to know and base your diet off of, is your TDEE
    Total Daily Energy Expenditure.....
    Which depending on what you do, would prlly be around 2000 - 2200 for you.
  • stephyj528
    stephyj528 Posts: 93 Member
    BMR is your Basil Metabolic Rate...
    So just the basic number of calories you need to stay alive.
    Like if you were in bed all day and didn't move... Think coma.
    Your body would need ~1600 calories just to support you

    What you want to know and base your diet off of, is your TDEE
    Total Daily Energy Expenditure.....
    Which depending on what you do, would prlly be around 2000 - 2200 for you.

    so say i am at 2000 (also how do you find this number?) wouldnt i still need to be at 12-1300 to see anything? i was looking for 1lb-1.5lb a week bc i starve on 2lb a week unless i have anxiety ha. but i feel like my calorie intake is off?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Depending how active you are an or how much you exercise your maintenance cals could be in the 1900-3000 cal range.
    But keep in mind that no matter what you will lose weight eating at your BMR, many people suggest not eating less than that number of cals.

    OP, with only 26 lbs to lose you should not be trying to lose more than 1 lb/week. So if your maintenance was 2000 with no exercise you would eat 1500 to lose that 1 lb/week, and eat back the cals burned from exercise.

    To get this info pick 1lb/week loss goal, eat what MFP tells you to, and your maintenance would be 500 cals more/day than your caloric intake goal.

    Or go to your goals tab and look at cals burned from normal daily activity. that is your maintenance calories, before taking into account exercise, so if you normally burn 400 cals today your TDEE will be 400 cals higher than that number.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    I personally like using iifym.com
    And input my info there.....get the number and work with that for a few weeks, and see which way I am trending based on my desired goals. And then tweak my numbers if needed after about 4 weeks.

    What you want to do if you want to lose weight is find your TDEE
    Then do maybe 15% - 20% below TDEE
    Track your foods, and also take measurements....not just using a scale....
    Maybe take pics....
    Then over time, you can see if you are moving in the direction you want.

    Doing 1200 - 1300 calories daily, I do not recommend this....I highly discourage it actually.

    Do it smart, and do something which you can maintain over the long run
    You drop too low, and I don't think that will be sustainable.....and then you will start binging and be worse off....

    Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.....it takes time.
    Just like you getting big didn't happen over night, you getting small will not happen over night.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    There's no real accurate way to work out TDEE. But then there's no real accurate way to work out the calories you eat either.

    There's various calculators on the internet if you search for TDEE calculator.

    Or things like a fit bit, motoactv and possibly the new samsung software all give you a good guess too.
    1lb a week is usually considered to be around 500 a day.

    So it's quite possible that with say a 2200 TDEE, your calorie intake could be 1700 and you would still lose 1lb a week.

    Best bet though is to measure ALL your calories and keep a track of what you're doing each day.
    Over a few weeks you should get an idea of what works.

    In the end, what works for YOU is important and no two people are going to be exactly the same in the way their body works.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    There are websites you can use to do the math for you but this is basically how it works.

    1) Find out your BMR. By the way, this # will change as you lose weight as your body needs less calories when it has less mass/weight to support.

    2) Multiply your BMR by the following factors to determine TDEE:
    Little or No Exercise: TDEE = 1.2 x BMR
    Light Exercise/Sports 1 to 3 Times Per Week: TDEE = 1.375 x BMR
    Moderate Exercise, Sports 3 to 5 Times Per Week: TDEE = 1.55 x BMR
    Heavy Exercise, Sports 6 to 7 Times Per Week: TDEE = 1.725 x BMR
    Very heavy exercise (e.g., physical job; training 2x/day): TDEE = 1.9 x BMR

    3) Subract percentage to create deficit:
    5-10 pounds, 10%
    10-20 pounds, 15%
    20+ pounds, 20%
    If morbidly obese, ok to go 25%

    So, your BMR is currently 1500. Assuming you do light exercise, your TDEE would be 2063. 20% of that is 413, so your daily calorie goal should be 1650.

    If you're not consistent with your exercise, it might be best to set your daily goal at your BMR and then eat back any earned calories when you do exercise. Even if you're mostly sedentary, you'll still have a 300 calorie deficit (difference between sedenatary TDEE of 1800 and BMR of 1500) which would still be enough to show losses.
  • stephyj528
    stephyj528 Posts: 93 Member
    I personally like using iifym.com
    And input my info there.....get the number and work with that for a few weeks, and see which way I am trending based on my desired goals. And then tweak my numbers if needed after about 4 weeks.

    What you want to do if you want to lose weight is find your TDEE
    Then do maybe 15% - 20% below TDEE
    Track your foods, and also take measurements....not just using a scale....
    Maybe take pics....
    Then over time, you can see if you are moving in the direction you want.

    Doing 1200 - 1300 calories daily, I do not recommend this....I highly discourage it actually.

    Do it smart, and do something which you can maintain over the long run
    You drop too low, and I don't think that will be sustainable.....and then you will start binging and be worse off....

    Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.....it takes time.
    Just like you getting big didn't happen over night, you getting small will not happen over night.

    ok ill try that thanks very much for your help...ive been trying 1400 a day and even that some days is perfect somedays its not (obv depending on what i eat). pics and measurements is a good idea ive been extremely frustrated bc ive been doing weights at the gym the past 5 weeks and put on weight. no i did not put on 4lbs of muscle im not working that hard. i may be getting small i dont notice though bc all i see is the number on the scale. thanks again.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member

    ok ill try that thanks very much for your help...ive been trying 1400 a day and even that some days is perfect somedays its not (obv depending on what i eat). pics and measurements is a good idea ive been extremely frustrated bc ive been doing weights at the gym the past 5 weeks and put on weight. no i did not put on 4lbs of muscle im not working that hard. i may be getting small i dont notice though bc all i see is the number on the scale. thanks again.

    Well 4 lbs, sounds more like water weight to me....so maybe you just had more carbs than you needed...and it stored up some water.....

    Also keep in mind that you can erase a few days of caloric deficit, with one or two big cheat days.....
    So find a number that you can work with, and be able to stick too....that is the important thing.

    If you are working out, your protein intake should be
    about 0.8 - 1.0 gr / pound of body weight
    Your fat should be about:
    0.4 gr / pound of body weight....minimum
    Carbs can be whatever amount you like to meet your caloric needs/goals.

    Like I said, I like iifym.com
    It allows you to manipulate your numbers so how much fat or protein you want...
    Also you can list your exercise, so it will factor in those calories to your TDEE.
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
    I personally like using iifym.com
    And input my info there.....get the number and work with that for a few weeks, and see which way I am trending based on my desired goals. And then tweak my numbers if needed after about 4 weeks.

    What you want to do if you want to lose weight is find your TDEE
    Then do maybe 15% - 20% below TDEE
    Track your foods, and also take measurements....not just using a scale....
    Maybe take pics....
    Then over time, you can see if you are moving in the direction you want.

    Doing 1200 - 1300 calories daily, I do not recommend this....I highly discourage it actually.

    Do it smart, and do something which you can maintain over the long run
    You drop too low, and I don't think that will be sustainable.....and then you will start binging and be worse off....

    Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.....it takes time.
    Just like you getting big didn't happen over night, you getting small will not happen over night.

    Great advice. My BMR is around 1400, but my TDEE is around 2700. I eat 2400 a day and lose steadily. Just google TDEE calculators and take an average from a few of them. Just be realistic of your activity level. Then give yourself time to adjust and tweak it when needed, like said above.
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