BMR is 1480, caloric intake?

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boonsl
boonsl Posts: 6
edited January 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone, I'm new to MFP. I was wondering what my calorie goal should be set at. My BMR says 1480 when I calculated it and for the past 2 weeks I've been on a 1300 calorie goal. Is this a safe number for me to still lose weight?
I play a hockey game most weekends and will be doing 60 mins of Zumba 2X a week starting next week. I would like to lose 10 lbs! I should add that when I exercise I do eat more than 1300 calories.

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  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    BMR is not a relevant number.

    The number you should care about is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). That's made up of your BMR (the calories you'd burn each day if you were basically in a coma, just to stay alive) plus your normal daily activity (walking around, your job, errands, commuting, running after kids, etc.) and your exercise (zumba, hockey, etc.) All of that taken together will give you the number of calories you burn each day, on average.

    Plug your stats into MyFitnessPal and it will spit out a number. If you want to lose 10lbs, target a 0.5lb/week weight loss. Then follow that, and log your exercise (zumba, hockey) on top of whatever that goal is and eat back some or all of those exercise calories.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    The general guidelines is that anything above 1200 calories is okay.
  • boonsl
    boonsl Posts: 6
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    My TDEE is 2042
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Okay, then, to lose 10 pounds, you should target something like a 0.5lb/week weight loss, or TDEE-15%. That would give you a range of 1735-1792. So, split the difference and call it 1750. That's *including* exercise, so with this method you would custom-set your MFP goal to 1750 calories but NOT eat back exercise calories. That should see you lose somewhere around 0.5-0.6lbs/week, and should get you to your goal by swimsuit season.

    And it's more accurate to say that your TDEE is estimated at 2042. Your actual TDEE will fluctuate daily (since you exercise and move a different amount each day) and could average out to be higher or lower than that number, since all online calculators rely on formulas that are only estimates. You'll have to try out eating a certain amount for a while, log actual results, and adjust as you go.

    Does that make sense at all?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    What did MFP give you when you logged in

    Eat that

    Plus 50-75% workout calories

    No need to complicate it
  • boonsl
    boonsl Posts: 6
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    Thanks everyone! :)

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