My bmr and tdee

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sally884
sally884 Posts: 51
in Health and Weight Loss
My tdee is 500 cal more than my bmr
So I am essentially eating my bmr calorie amount each day to lose 1
Lb a week...does this seem odd? How can a person only eat there bmr amount?
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Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    If your not a very active person, then it is highly possible. On a very very lazy day, my fitbit estimates I only burn 200-300 calories more than my bmr. On really active days, the difference can be 1000 or more calories. It really just depends.

    So providing you selected the correct activity level when using the TDEE calculator, it is very possible that you only have a slight difference between the two numbers.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    I think it has to do your activity level and exercise. You have a baby, which leads me to believe that you might be a mom with a little one. Perhaps you have miscalculated by using the wrong activity level?
  • LAduke91
    LAduke91 Posts: 34 Member
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    I am new to this...What does BMR and tdee mean?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I am new to this...What does BMR and tdee mean?

    BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate - Number of calories your body uses to keep your organs functioning and such

    TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure - Total number of calories your body burns in a day. So BMR+ Daily Activity + Exercise
  • LAduke91
    LAduke91 Posts: 34 Member
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    Oh thanks for that info!:) How do you find those numbers?
  • NatashaTwersky
    NatashaTwersky Posts: 5 Member
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    you can google TDEE calculators....there are lots
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
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    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
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    Your BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you were comatose in a hospital bed. Does that answer your question?
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Yes I have a 2.5 year old who keeps me active 4 days a week then I'm
    Sitting in an office 3
    I chose lightly active (not including the gym)
    This gave me a 1550 calorie amount
    I'm losing a pound a week if I stick too it but its hard with being busy all day so I upped it to 1650? Thought?
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    And if I am bring honest i am a little on edge with the family some days..but I really want to lose !
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    My tdee is 500 cal more than my bmr
    So I am essentially eating my bmr calorie amount each day to lose 1
    Lb a week...does this seem odd? How can a person only eat there bmr amount?

    Do keep in mind that if your TDEE is say 2000 calories then your body has burned 2000 calories that day. If you eat 1500 calories it burned 1500 calories you ate and 500 from your fat reserves. If you eat 2000 calories it burned 2000 calories you ate and 0 from your fat. If you eat 2500 calories it burns 2000 calories and saves the remaining 500 as fat or glycogen stores or flushes them.

    Your body IS getting its TDEE in calories no matter what you do unless you are literally starving to death. So you can eat at your BMR but your body is consuming your TDEE, it just happens that some of that consumption is of your own fat rather than what you consumed.

    Make sense?
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    The only trick here is you want to eat enough and enough of the right foods that you are still supplying your body with essential nutrients. If you eat too little then you won't get the nutrients your body needs. Your body can harvest calories to burn in the form of fat but that fat is not going to provide any nutrients (ie vitamins, amino acids etc). So you have to eat enough to sustain your body in terms of nutrients but calorically your body is going to take care of that for you.
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Yes makes sense thank you! I guess my body just likes to be hungry hehe plus with a child I think I burn more than I thought...I will continue with the added 100 a day and reasses in a few weeks' thanks everyone :)
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Ok I guess I had the wrong definition for tdee. my level of 2050 cals is my maintenance level not my tdee.
    And my cals to lose is 1550 (1 lb) which is the same
    Number as my bmr lol

    That was my confusion
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Hi again Sally-


    I think the general agreed upon wisdom of fitness sites like this is that you have two numbers to calculate:

    BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), the number of calories your body required for basic function (the number it would burn over 24 hours if you just slept that entire time).

    TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure): The number of calories your body burns on a given day taking into account your activity: anything from being on your feet to doing an intense workout

    The general idea for safe maintainable weight loss is to eat an amount of calories that is between these two numbers.

    So for example my BMR is about 1800. I do regular cardio and weight training that brings my TDEE to 2500. I try to eat 2000 calories a day which is above my BMR (1800) but 20% below my TDEE (2500).

    Basically just consider your BMR to be your lower bound on what you can eat calorically while your TDEE is your upper bound, assuming you want to lose weight. Probably shouldn't go further than 20% below your TDEE either. If eating 20% under your TDEE brings you below your BMR you can either exercise more to bring your TDEE up so it doesn't or aim for something more like 10% under
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Ok I think I understand that but I realized I am not using the tdee method I am just using MFP method based on daily activity exclusive of my intense exercise...this is why I was confused that it gave me the same amount as what my bmr comes to...anyhow I understand the tdee now but choose not to use this!
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    You're very helpful!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    One last piece of advice.

    Understand that all these calculators are basically just estimates based off of population averages. No calculator is 100% accurate and everyones body is a bit different. The way you really are going to determine what works for you is to use one of these calculators at first to set a diet and exercise routine and then stick with that routinue religiously tracking your intake and expenditures daily. After a couple of months you take stock, see what weight or inches you have lost and compare that to your expectation based on your original calculator based estimate. After you have that data from YOUR body and YOUR own experience you can adjust as needed.

    The most accurate calculator for your body is your body, you just have to pay close attention to it for a while and not fool yourself about your intake and exercise.

    My only other bit of advice I can think of is that losing inches from your waist is much more meaningful in terms of fitness than losing pounds on a scale. I think people have a tendency to focus way to much on how much they weigh without paying as much attention to how they feel and how they look.

    Good luck.
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Thank you! Yes i got a measuring tape last week since I was getting too focused on the darn scale! Pounds mean nothing when I just want to lose sizes. I think that is why I will add in 100 cal I have been very good at logging for 9 weeks now and I think I need more fuel. I want to make sure this is a lifestyle change so I don't have to be logging my whole life!
  • sally884
    sally884 Posts: 51
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    Do you think 1 lb a week is too much for me. I would like to lose 20 more?

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