What is your BMR and how many calories are you eating to los

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Cynthie
Cynthie Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question for all of you that are having success. I see so many women that are eating 1200 calories to lose weight. I'm 6'2" so that doesn't seem to be an option for me. My BMR is a little over 1900 according to MFP. I was just wondering how close to your BMR you are in calories, and if you are having success.
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Replies

  • danibowron
    danibowron Posts: 9 Member
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    My BMR is 1670. According to my research (from having my BMR done at the doctor's office and meeting with a nutritionist) you should never eat less than your BMR plus 20%. If you do you risk messing up your metabolism. I work for a calorie deficit on average of about 600/day. After using my BodyBugg I usually get to about 3000cal/day with exercise so I can eat up to 2400/cal per day.

    I have lost 50 pounds following this method.

    In the past I was eating calories at the 1200-1500 level and never seeing the same results that I do now. Amazing huh?
    Danelle
  • purplespeckle
    purplespeckle Posts: 652
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    My BMR according to MFP is 1527 and I've been eating 1400-1500. I burn around 200-300 calories 6 days/wk.
  • runracer11
    runracer11 Posts: 45 Member
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    I'm 5'9.5", my BMR is 1497 and I selected the option above sedentary (lightly active?). My calories burned per day (excluding cardio exercise) is 2010. Since I am trying to lose 1.5lbs/week, I am give 1260 calories to eat (that's the 2010-750), plus any exercise calories to "eat back."
    I do eat back almost all of my exercise calories. Now 3 weeks in, it is working almost too well - if such a thing is possible. I've lost 11.5 pounds in 3 weeks! I am going to give it one or two more weeks of eating at this level, and if I continue to lose more than 2 lbs per week then I am going to make a small adjustment upwards in my calories. My metabolism may very well be higher than MFP assumes and I don't want to lose the weight too quickly.
  • naturalval
    naturalval Posts: 7
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    My BMR according to this site is 1502, and MFP is giving me 1700 cals a day because I have a pretty physically active job. This of course does not include any calories I earn from working out.

    I am slowly letting go of the fear of eating all my calories and have even gone over them 2 days last week and yet I still lost 6lbs. So I think, (especially when I read the explanation about eating your workout calories) that you have to trust the science behind it.
  • mollianna
    mollianna Posts: 18
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    Thanks for posting this. For a long while I was eating anywhere from 800 to 1100 calories and not losing any weight. I thought maybe I wasn't measuring quantity correctly or I just wasn't moving around enough and that's all my body was burning. In the last couple weeks I upped my calories to 1200-1400 and find the scale is finally budging. I found the BMR calculator on here just now and see it says: Your estimated BMR is: 1,325 calories/day. My body just HAD to be in starvation mode!
  • dlcam61
    dlcam61 Posts: 228 Member
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    MFP tools told me this: Your estimated BMR is: 1,420 calories/day*

    I a 5' 6". I am set at 1200 cals/day to lose 2 lbs per week. To maintain is 2070 calories. I burn about 600+ calories a day 5-7 days a week. Not sure if this helps or not. But when I don't work out I don't lose weight. :flowerforyou:
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    My BMR is 1670. According to my research (from having my BMR done at the doctor's office and meeting with a nutritionist) you should never eat less than your BMR plus 20%. If you do you risk messing up your metabolism. I work for a calorie deficit on average of about 600/day. After using my BodyBugg I usually get to about 3000cal/day with exercise so I can eat up to 2400/cal per day.

    I have lost 50 pounds following this method.

    In the past I was eating calories at the 1200-1500 level and never seeing the same results that I do now. Amazing huh?
    Danelle

    I read a study several weeks ago that suggested the same thing. They compared a group that "followed" a 1200 cal/day diet plan but who got to choose their own foods with a group that followed a controlled eating plan that was set at 500 or so calories below their measure daily energy expenditure, which turned out to be several hundred calories higher. Both groups lost the same amount of weight. Conclusion? Most people who say they are following a 1200 cal/day diet actually eat more than that.

    The few extra "allowed" calories made a big difference in adherence rate.
  • taletreader
    taletreader Posts: 377 Member
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    According to this site's calculator, my BMR should be 1,521 cal. My goal is set to 1,500, which gives me a lot of wiggle room to either stay below (most days I end up with 1,400, counting slightly generously) or, if I work out a WHOLE lot, a bit above, without going over my maintenance level.

    The more I progress on this path and read, the more I tend toward finding a happy sweet spot a few hundred calories/day below my expenditure for long-term fat loss. That's way above 1,200, by the way.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    My BMR is 1738 and MFP set 1440 cals for me
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
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    Oops duplicate post sorry
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Ok so to clarify your BMR is how much you would burn in 24 hours if you were in a coma or sleeping. It is the base amount your body needs to function.

    If you go to your homepage and click "Goals" there will be a summary of your information- including how much MFP estimates you burn on a typical day (labeled "Normal Daily Activity"). This number is the number MFP starts from to come up with it's esitmated calorie deficit for you. So my breakdown looks like this:

    BMR = 1380 cals,
    From "normal" activity = 1730,
    Daily Calorie goal = 1350
    I like to keep my goals at or higher than my BMR, so my "goal" is .7 lbs a week, not 1 lbs. If I exercise, I eat enough so that the "Net Calories" number on my home page is 1250 or higher (preferably 1350 or higher)

    1200 calories is NOT necessary for weight loss, it's just the minimum that the site allows and I find that people often abuse that (ie they workout and burn 500 calories, but still only eat 1200. This makes the net amount of calories that is getting to their body roughly 700 or so). It's important to make sure that your body is getting what it needs to run. Everyone is a little different (ie, I dropped my calorie goal to 1250 and besides being miserable, the scale barely moved for 3 weeks). So while MFP is a useful tool and gives you goals and what not, it's really important to experiment and find your "happy place" deficit and goal wise. Since upping my calories I've lost 1.8 and 1.6 lbs in the last 2 weeks (when my "goal" based on the calories I consume is .7lbs)
  • jennygurumi
    jennygurumi Posts: 28
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    My BMR is 1,142 and MFP planned me to eat 1,460 and then I eat my exercise calories earned too. Hope I am doing it right.
  • ley1
    ley1 Posts: 115
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    i'm 5'6 my bmr is 1540 mfp gives me 1200 cals i burn most weeks in excess of 3000 cals.

    problem is, some weeks i dont burn anywhere near that much (mainly based on weather conditions as i run/walk) so never quite sure what to set my goals as!
  • somigliana
    somigliana Posts: 314 Member
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    I'm 5'7", and when I was in the weight loss phase, I used to aim for net calories of 1450-1500cal (in the vicinity of my BMR). So, with eating most of my exercise calories, my food intake was generally around 1800-1900 calories a day. I lost 1.1lbs/week on average :)

    (I don't think that the 1200cal lower limit is a very good target for taller women at all.)
    Good luck.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    It's important to realize that once MFP determines BMR and you enter "activity factor", the rest is just arithmetic. You are generating the daily calorie number yourself based on your goals. MFP is not a nutrition consultant--it's more of a central point for consensus data with a convenient and easy interface and a nice community. Any "recommendations" from MFP are derived from consensus data from the govt and other national health guidelines. The primary "expertise", if any, comes from the community (including what you decide for yourself).
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I think your net intake is more significant than your deficit, at least at the beginning. By that I think that if you take in 1400-1800 calories per day, you can still keep up a steady weight loss, even if you are incurring daily deficits greater than 1000 cals/day.

    Personal anecdotes have limited value, but I know my average caloric deficit was 1875/day for the first 8 weeks and my intake was in the 1500-1800 range. I didn't plan it that way, that's just how it went. I suffered no adverse effects on metabolism, muscle mass, etc. Once I got into the 20% body fat range, I knew I could no longer sustain that and so I moved to maintenance, where I have been ever since (for a variety of reasons I haven't been able to push to go lower). Currently, at 6'1" and about 200lbs, by BMR is 1734 as measured by a metabolic cart (which matches my MFP calculated number almost exactly).
  • lala362
    lala362 Posts: 9
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    i recently did the Resting Metabolic test at the gym, and the numbers I got there are almost the same as I do here when you do the calculator... it is pretty good.

    I am 5'9"ish... Have already lost the majority of the weight i need to loose- and am in the 20% body fat range (healthy normal) I just want to loose about 10 more- so I can really only loose reasonably a little less than 1 lbs a week. I think I have MFP set up at like 1.1... I am also set at lightly active- the 2nd one "up" in the activity level here so my "activity deficiet" is about 500 calories a day.

    So.... My BMR is 1500... that is the MINIMUM I need to maintain my body functions and metabolism
    My activity level adds about another 500
    So to "maintain" I could eat 2000 calories a day and not gain weight...
    I am very active exercise wise- (training for a half-marathon and strength training 2-3 times a week) So I burn a lot of calories...
    I eat ALL my activity/exercise calories...
    So my deficit comes from the 500 "daily activity" calories- so if I DON'T eat the 500 calories a day (2000-500=15000) then I am set to loose- in theory- 1 lbs a week. (1 lb is 3500 calories)

    If you look at my food log (I think it is open for everyone) I eat A LOT some days! Over 2100 calories as often as not. (Rest days are hard for me because I try to keep it to the 1500 on those days and that seems like so little! And hard to do- I have less than 500 calories left for dinner tonight! LOL)

    I started doing this for real a little over a week ago- (I hadn't really been loosing in a while either and I was trying to do the 1200 plus my exercise calories) and even though I am so close to my weight goal and my body fat is so low already that I should not really be loosing more than 1lb a week... I have lost almost 4 lbs since last Thursday! (And I went out to dinner on Friday night so I wasn't as careful with my calories- and last night I had cheese, crackers and wine that I didn't really track either!)

    I just added about 300 calories a day really... from 1200 to 1500 and eating all my exercise calories in both plans- but it made a big difference so far.

    I think it is important to consider this in your heatlhy eating plan (I don;t believe in "diets") and not just blindly go for 1200. I had two friends this week who I also talked to about this.. and since they both added more calories into their plans- they have started to see the scale start to move again too!

    I agree with the previous poster who said you have to make it work for you. You have to do the research and understand the concepts- not just let some site set things up and not understand why. I also think you need to make your eating fit your lifestyle and if you need to eat out one night- just enjoy it... this has to be something you can sustain for a lifetime- not just a few weeks each January! :)

    Thanks for this thread- I have been meaning to post about this on my blog... now i have the basics to do that all written out for the blog post this week! LOL

    La-
    www.thecuvylife.com
  • fancyladymeek
    fancyladymeek Posts: 46
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    What a great thread!

    I'm a big girl - my BMR is 2100! I have been eating 1200 and losing about 3# a week, but I also exercise each day. It is pretty hard sometimes to not eat a lot more than my calories allow! While 3# may be somewhat a lot to lose each week, I'm 313 lbs - so I also have to consider the strain I'm putting on my body the longer I have so much extra weight on.

    I know i can lose 3# a week doing 1200. I think I might bump it up to 1800 for a few weeks and see how I feel and what the scale says.

    I have a hard time eating my exercise calories. Right now I don't have a HRM (my birthday is March 21st, guess what I'm getting!!) so I don't trust the calories calculated - plus, I do an exercise video each morning involving a lot of free weight, and I can't calculate that very well.

    So I think a better plan for me is to boost my daily caloric intake - to 1800 or maybe even 2000, and no try and eat my exercise calories unless I did something like an all-day hike where I know I burned a ton of calories beyond my normal daily burn.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    i recently did the Resting Metabolic test at the gym, and the numbers I got there are almost the same as I do here when you do the calculator... it is pretty good.

    I am 5'9"ish... Have already lost the majority of the weight i need to loose- and am in the 20% body fat range (healthy normal) I just want to loose about 10 more- so I can really only loose reasonably a little less than 1 lbs a week. I think I have MFP set up at like 1.1... I am also set at lightly active- the 2nd one "up" in the activity level here so my "activity deficiet" is about 500 calories a day.

    So.... My BMR is 1500... that is the MINIMUM I need to maintain my body functions and metabolism
    My activity level adds about another 500
    So to "maintain" I could eat 2000 calories a day and not gain weight...
    I am very active exercise wise- (training for a half-marathon and strength training 2-3 times a week) So I burn a lot of calories...
    I eat ALL my activity/exercise calories...
    So my deficit comes from the 500 "daily activity" calories- so if I DON'T eat the 500 calories a day (2000-500=15000) then I am set to loose- in theory- 1 lbs a week. (1 lb is 3500 calories)

    If you look at my food log (I think it is open for everyone) I eat A LOT some days! Over 2100 calories as often as not. (Rest days are hard for me because I try to keep it to the 1500 on those days and that seems like so little! And hard to do- I have less than 500 calories left for dinner tonight! LOL)

    I started doing this for real a little over a week ago- (I hadn't really been loosing in a while either and I was trying to do the 1200 plus my exercise calories) and even though I am so close to my weight goal and my body fat is so low already that I should not really be loosing more than 1lb a week... I have lost almost 4 lbs since last Thursday! (And I went out to dinner on Friday night so I wasn't as careful with my calories- and last night I had cheese, crackers and wine that I didn't really track either!)

    I just added about 300 calories a day really... from 1200 to 1500 and eating all my exercise calories in both plans- but it made a big difference so far.

    I think it is important to consider this in your heatlhy eating plan (I don;t believe in "diets") and not just blindly go for 1200. I had two friends this week who I also talked to about this.. and since they both added more calories into their plans- they have started to see the scale start to move again too!

    I agree with the previous poster who said you have to make it work for you. You have to do the research and understand the concepts- not just let some site set things up and not understand why. I also think you need to make your eating fit your lifestyle and if you need to eat out one night- just enjoy it... this has to be something you can sustain for a lifetime- not just a few weeks each January! :)

    Thanks for this thread- I have been meaning to post about this on my blog... now i have the basics to do that all written out for the blog post this week! LOL

    La-
    www.thecuvylife.com

    Curious to know how you progress with this. I think you are thinking exactly right.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    What a great thread!

    I'm a big girl - my BMR is 2100! I have been eating 1200 and losing about 3# a week, but I also exercise each day. It is pretty hard sometimes to not eat a lot more than my calories allow! While 3# may be somewhat a lot to lose each week, I'm 313 lbs - so I also have to consider the strain I'm putting on my body the longer I have so much extra weight on.

    I know i can lose 3# a week doing 1200. I think I might bump it up to 1800 for a few weeks and see how I feel and what the scale says.

    I have a hard time eating my exercise calories. Right now I don't have a HRM (my birthday is March 21st, guess what I'm getting!!) so I don't trust the calories calculated - plus, I do an exercise video each morning involving a lot of free weight, and I can't calculate that very well.

    So I think a better plan for me is to boost my daily caloric intake - to 1800 or maybe even 2000, and no try and eat my exercise calories unless I did something like an all-day hike where I know I burned a ton of calories beyond my normal daily burn.

    The research I have read suggests that if your body fat % is high, you can do OK initially with a low-calorie eating plan. My concern would be more with is 1200 cal/day something you can stick with, or is it a struggle.

    I also think you would do fine at 1500 cal/day. This would be true esp if you increase your workouts. At this point I don't think an HRM would add anything to your plan (unless you are using it to actually track your heart rate during workouts). At a walking speed of 3 mph you will burn about 7 cals/minute (that's on the flat). Probably the highest you would go is 10 cals/min. Use that as a rough guide.

    After a few weeks, if you continue losing and your fitness level increases, it will probably be time to reassess things. That's normal.

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