BMR and Daily calories

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1111renee
1111renee Posts: 108 Member
in Motivation and Support
my bmr is 1520.......want to lose 2 lbs./ week daily calories are 1220......hmmmm with all the calories I burn.......what do I aim for??

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  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    If you told the correct weight, height, and age to this site when you entered your info, that is the first step.
    Next, you told it (I assume) that you would like to lose 2 lbs / week.

    This site then did the calculations for you. It says that you should try your best to eat 1220 calories each day.

    If you exercise, you 'earn' more calories to eat. Go ahead and eat them. Try to make it so on your 'my home' page, the number box with your picture in it says 1200 NET calories for the day.
  • 1111renee
    1111renee Posts: 108 Member
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    why eat those calories back when I burned them all off............confusing LOL
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
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    why eat those calories back when I burned them all off............confusing LOL
    I am always confused by this too. How am I going to lose weight if I eat everything I burn off?
  • sarahrue
    sarahrue Posts: 4
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    because MFP does all the calculations for you. You're already eating less than your BMR and you enter you exercise goals, which it takes into account too, when figuring out your daily calorie goal. Eat your exercise calories! Who doesn't want to eat more, and lose weight!? :)
  • carrieliz81
    carrieliz81 Posts: 489 Member
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    why eat those calories back when I burned them all off............confusing LOL
    I am always confused by this too. How am I going to lose weight if I eat everything I burn off?

    You're already at a significant calorie deficit when you start out. If you did nothing and sat on the couch all day, you'd still lose weight based on the reduced calories because your BMR is higher than what you're eating..... so just by living, you're burning calories all day. If you add a workout on top of all that, you risk being at WAY too much of a calorie deficit and your body will start hanging on to whatever energy it can just to survive... (aka, starvation mode). So, it's important to eat back your exercise calories so you're at the optimal calorie deficit to continue to lose weight but still be nourished. Does that make sense??? :)
  • rachellepilcher
    rachellepilcher Posts: 95
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    so you dont loose too much weight too quickly...we gain weight slowly so we need to loose it slowly to be healthy
  • 1111renee
    1111renee Posts: 108 Member
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    so eat my 1220 even if I burn it all off...........I easily burn 1500+ calories in a 90 min. spin class.........??
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
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    why eat those calories back when I burned them all off............confusing LOL
    I am always confused by this too. How am I going to lose weight if I eat everything I burn off?

    You're already at a significant calorie deficit when you start out. If you did nothing and sat on the couch all day, you'd still lose weight based on the reduced calories because your BMR is higher than what you're eating..... so just by living, you're burning calories all day. If you add a workout on top of all that, you risk being at WAY too much of a calorie deficit and your body will start hanging on to whatever energy it can just to survive... (aka, starvation mode). So, it's important to eat back your exercise calories so you're at the optimal calorie deficit to continue to lose weight but still be nourished. Does that make sense??? :)
    It makes much more sense when you explain it that way! Thank you for that!
  • carrieliz81
    carrieliz81 Posts: 489 Member
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    so eat my 1220 even if I burn it all off...........I easily burn 1500+ calories in a 90 min. spin class.........??

    Start out thinking, "I need to eat at least 1220 calories today." Then, if you do a workout during which you legitimately burn off 1500 calories (whew! exhausting just to think about it! good for you!), then you need to eat an extra 1500 calories on top of your base amount of 1220. So your daily total SHOULD be 2720 for the whole day. And if you're logging correctly, MFP should tell you that on your food diary.
  • 1111renee
    1111renee Posts: 108 Member
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    so eat my 1220 even if I burn it all off...........I easily burn 1500+ calories in a 90 min. spin class.........??

    Start out thinking, "I need to eat at least 1220 calories today." Then, if you do a workout during which you legitimately burn off 1500 calories (whew! exhausting just to think about it! good for you!), then you need to eat an extra 1500 calories on top of your base amount of 1220. So your daily total SHOULD be 2720 for the whole day. And if you're logging correctly, MFP should tell you that on your food diary.
  • jam3114
    jam3114 Posts: 250 Member
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    I had the same question awhile back & I got this great response from a fellow MFP'er

    'Because BMR is the amount you would need if you slept for 24 hours/day 7 days/week. BMR and maintenance calories are different. MFP adds an amount to BMR based on your daily activity level.
    Go to my goals tab and on the top right it show "calories burned from normal daily activity" This is your maintenance calories based on the info you put into MFP. You would need to eat that to maintain your weight. You goal 1lb/week would be 500 cals below that.'

    So I tried it out
    My BMR was 1890 but when I looked at & wanting to maintain at CW 239 it said that I needed to consume 2330 cals per day - so when I changed to losing 1lb per week my daily cal changed to 1830 (500 deficit) that 's how I got confused !!! hope this helps!!!

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