A little confused about my BMR

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SandyBess
SandyBess Posts: 16
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'6", weigh 180, and have a BMR of around 1600. I have been burning roughly 3500 calories per week on average. I have my caloric intake set on 1500. Does that sound right? I only lowered by intake by 100 so I was just a little confused.

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    If you calorie goal is set to 1500 you don't need to burn 3500 calories through exercise...you would lose weight doing no exercise at all.

    Your BMR is the calories your body burns just being alive...if you're doing **** tons of exercise, you need to eat more than 1500 calories. You cut from your TDEE, not your BMR.

    I personally don't think it's as big a deal as many people make it out to be to eat slightly below your BMR...but that's only if you're sedentary....if you're exercising significantly (which burnint 3500 calories per week would be) then you need to eat more.

    Also keep in mind that your true BMR is likely somewhat lower...most calculators use total weight in estimating your BMR...if you're over fat, this is going to throw that BMR estimate off...you don't have to fuel fat mass, you only have to fuel lean mass.
  • SandyBess
    SandyBess Posts: 16
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    Thanks, that was helpful. I am just super focused on my calories and exercise and losing weight that I get paranoid that I am not doing it right.
  • dmhaag
    dmhaag Posts: 172 Member
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    This has been the most accurate calculator I've seen (touted by several boards on MFP). You can choose from several different BMR calculators, the last couple of which will be very accurate if you know your body fat percentage.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    If you're concerned about whether or not you have the correct calorie goal, ask yourself if you are still making progress towards your goal. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    How are you exercising?

    Allan
  • SandyBess
    SandyBess Posts: 16
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    Thanks Allan. I started with 1600 cals per day and now I am down to 1500. I go to boot camp 4 days per week for 1 hour so thats anywhere between 450 and 550 calories burned give or take. The rest of the days, i try to do intervals of walking and jogging. Lately however, I have gotten shin splints so I took one day off and did some beginner yoga. I eat no sugar and no processed foods. I feel like my weights has just gone up and down a few pounds and I cannot tell if I am doing the right thing.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    If your BMR is 1600, that is just one part of what you burn in a day. You burn calories in 3 different ways:

    BMR-what your body uses to keep you alive. For your heart to beat & pump blood, for your lungs to function and circulate oxygen, for your other systems/organs to do their job. (Digest food, rid your body of waste, regulate your body temperature, etc.)

    Activity-this is your regular day stuff. Carry your body thru your day, for your misc. errands and such. This # will be more or less depending on how active your life is. If you spend 90% of your waking hours sitting then you'll spend less on activity than if you are constantly on your feet. This is generally computed as a % of BMR because it uses more to move your body depending on how tall/heavy/old you are. Another 20-30% of your BMR typically.

    Cardio-this is intentional exercise where you are moving multiple major muscle groups for an extended period of time, getting your heart rate up. Will be higher or lower depending on how intense you're working and your body stats.

    So if your BMR is 1600 you probably expend 1900-2100 + cardio. So to lose 1 pound a week, 1400-1600 and eat more if you feel the need to do so based on your exercise. To know how much you're eating, weigh your food on a digital food scale and log everything accurately & honestly.

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