Question about BMR?

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enewsome2
enewsome2 Posts: 355 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?

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  • s0ready
    s0ready Posts: 99
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    i think the way it goes is if your BMR is 1400 then eat that much...if you burn 300 calories than now you should eat 1700. Your BMR is what your body is needing as fuel and you should feed it that much...i know it sounds so crazy, but since i've upped my calories i am now losing weight....

    the less you eat under your BMR the more you slow down your metabolism
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

    Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?

    When people are talking about eating MORE, they are usually talking about eating more than their BMR, after having eaten 1200 calories initially.

    Your BMR is what your body burns if you were at rest all day. as soon as you get out of bed, walk around, go to work etc, your daily calorie burn increases. your Total Daily Energy Expenditure depends on your activity levels, but even a sedentary person would be BMR * 1.2.

    TDEE would be your maintenance calories. Eating under maintenance will lose weight.

    Have a look here - http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • enewsome2
    enewsome2 Posts: 355 Member
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    So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

    Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?

    When people are talking about eating MORE, they are usually talking about eating more than their BMR, after having eaten 1200 calories initially.

    Your BMR is what your body burns if you were at rest all day. as soon as you get out of bed, walk around, go to work etc, your daily calorie burn increases. your Total Daily Energy Expenditure depends on your activity levels, but even a sedentary person would be BMR * 1.2.

    TDEE would be your maintenance calories. Eating under maintenance will lose weight.

    Have a look here - http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

    Wow. Thank you so much. The 90's heart in me wants to still believe I should not up my calories, but I'm eating 5-600 calories less than I should be- no wonder I feel like crap! :( Thanks so much for the link.
  • Tim_Simons
    Tim_Simons Posts: 64 Member
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    Hello, Your BMR (base metabolic rate) is what your body needs to stay or maintain at the current weight that you are now. For example,staying in bed the whole day would require 1400 calories a day to neither lose or gain a pound. ‘1200’ calorie rule is just a basis or an average. Your body hits below 1200 calories, it goes into starvation mode.
  • thatswhatshesaiddd
    thatswhatshesaiddd Posts: 62 Member
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    I'm definitely not an expert, but I think that the less cals you consume, the more you will lose. Starvation mode is not really a "thing".....I mean look at anorexics. Obviously, you will want to keep the cals at a healthy level to feel your best, but eating less will make you lose more.
  • Falcon
    Falcon Posts: 853 Member
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    thatswhatshesaiddd wrote: »
    I'm definitely not an expert, but I think that the less cals you consume, the more you will lose. Starvation mode is not really a "thing".....I mean look at anorexics. Obviously, you will want to keep the cals at a healthy level to feel your best, but eating less will make you lose more.

    I find if I don't eat enough for a couple of days, then the weight lost comes back twice as fast as it normally would. I get edgy if I eat below 1400 a day.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Old thread. The OP is no longer here.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Falcon wrote: »
    thatswhatshesaiddd wrote: »
    I'm definitely not an expert, but I think that the less cals you consume, the more you will lose. Starvation mode is not really a "thing".....I mean look at anorexics. Obviously, you will want to keep the cals at a healthy level to feel your best, but eating less will make you lose more.

    I find if I don't eat enough for a couple of days, then the weight lost comes back twice as fast as it normally would. I get edgy if I eat below 1400 a day.

    You typically lose water weight initially when you drastically cut calories, so then when you eat "normally" again, you put that weight right back on. It's not real lasting weight loss.

  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
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    enewsome2 wrote: »
    So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

    Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?


    Just to add to what others have said. It takes an excess of 3500 calories to gain 1lb so you would have to go roughly 500 calories a day over BMR to gain 1 lb per week. 100 calories per day over your BMR would lead to a gain of about .2 lbs (just under 1/4 lb) if you didn't burn that extra 100 calories doing exercise.
  • tiffanydawnn
    tiffanydawnn Posts: 122 Member
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    mommyrunning wrote: »
    enewsome2 wrote: »
    So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

    Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?


    Just to add to what others have said. It takes an excess of 3500 calories to gain 1lb so you would have to go roughly 500 calories a day over BMR to gain 1 lb per week. 100 calories per day over your BMR would lead to a gain of about .2 lbs (just under 1/4 lb) if you didn't burn that extra 100 calories doing exercise.

    500 over TDEE, not BMR. BMR is what you would burn if you laid in bed all day doing absolutely nothing. TDEE is what you burn living your life. You could very well eat 500 over your BMR and lose or maintain. It depends how active you are.
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
    edited November 2014
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    thatswhatshesaiddd wrote: »
    I'm definitely not an expert, but I think that the less cals you consume, the more you will lose. Starvation mode is not really a "thing".....I mean look at anorexics. Obviously, you will want to keep the cals at a healthy level to feel your best, but eating less will make you lose more.

    This is true to a point but if you cut too many calories you can do harm to your body. A general range is 1200 calories for women is a good minimum and 1500 for men unless you consult with a medical professional. If you are petite or have medical issues that number could be different. But you shouldn't cut down to say 500 calories thinking you will lose faster and suffer no side effects. You will lose but you will be harming your body and could make yourself really sick.

    Results of a very low calorie diet (under 800 calories) could include fatigue, digestion issues, loss of monthly cycle, hair loss, reduced immunity, and in more serious cases heart problems to name a few.

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Tim_Simons wrote: »
    Hello, Your BMR (base metabolic rate) is what your body needs to stay or maintain at the current weight that you are now. For example,staying in bed the whole day would require 1400 calories a day to neither lose or gain a pound. ‘1200’ calorie rule is just a basis or an average. Your body hits below 1200 calories, it goes into starvation mode.

    Old thread, but I think you have BMR and TDEE confused. Your TDEE is what you would eat to maintain your current weight. Your BMR is closer to what you would burn in a coma with absolutely zero activity.

    And your explanation of starvation mode is a bit simplistic and has a touch of scare mongering going on there.

    tl;dr Don't listen to that post^
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
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    tiffanydawnn wrote: »
    mommyrunning wrote: »
    enewsome2 wrote: »
    So I am totally new to this idea of "eat more, exercise more, lose more" ideal, but how much over my BMR can I eat and lose weight? My BMR is almost 1400 and I eat 1200 calories a day? If I eat 1500 a day, does that mean I will gain a lb a week from 100 extra calories a day? Or should I just eat 1400 or under 1400?

    Sorry, this is probably a silly question, but I am so confused! I always thought that the less calories you ate, the more weight you lost?


    Just to add to what others have said. It takes an excess of 3500 calories to gain 1lb so you would have to go roughly 500 calories a day over BMR to gain 1 lb per week. 100 calories per day over your BMR would lead to a gain of about .2 lbs (just under 1/4 lb) if you didn't burn that extra 100 calories doing exercise.

    500 over TDEE, not BMR. BMR is what you would burn if you laid in bed all day doing absolutely nothing. TDEE is what you burn living your life. You could very well eat 500 over your BMR and lose or maintain. It depends how active you are.

    True I didn't word it clearly enough. Many new people don't understand BMR and TDEE which is why I said if you didn't burn that extra calories doing exercise. But I see how it could be confusing so thanks for clarifying.

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