BMR For Daily Calories Vs. MFP

fitnesspal1972
fitnesspal1972 Posts: 34
edited February 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone calculated their calorie goal using BMR? My calculations are significantly different from MFP goal.

Replies

  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    I don't quite understand your question - BMR stats basically cover the calories to keep you alive (what you might burn sleeping or in a coma) - so you don't want to take a deficit from that ~
  • fitnesspal1972
    fitnesspal1972 Posts: 34
    Also, most I have read numerous articles saying calories shouldn't be below 1300 because it is difficult to get all the nutrients needed and your body will go into "starvation" mode.
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
    I use the TDEE method from http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ I simply edit my goals on MFP to set my calories to what this method gives me. It's been working well with a steady loss for me.
  • kozinskey
    kozinskey Posts: 176 Member
    BMR is the absolute minimum number of calories you would need to maintain your weight, if you were laying in bed all day doing nothing. This website is helpful:

    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

    Also, if you're using a BMR calculation for your daily calorie goal, that accounts for exercise you get throughout the week. So you wouldn't be able to eat back your exercise calories on top of the daily goal. Me, I set my daily calorie goal for sedentary (which works out about the same as the BMR calculator tells me) and then add in exercise calories because I like being able to pig out on brownies occasionally =)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
    BMR is only a theoretical concept (you don't know your BMR, but can estimate what it might be based on information about you) that is good for calculating your TDEE, that's all. It might turn out to be a good calorie goal and it might not (mine is too low right now, it was too high at one point), but there's no particular reason to pick it. (My current goal is 1750, which I think is TDEE - 250, because I am aiming for about a .5/week loss. If I wanted to aim for a 1 lb/week loss it would be about 1500. However, if I were sedentary, my TDEE at maintenance would be around 1500, so I'd have to eat at 1250--or likely below my BMR--for even a .5/week loss. So you can't just pick a number and ignore factors like how active you are and how much a reasonable per week loss is.)

    In particular, you can't compare it to MFP without understanding that MFP does NOT expect you to eat your goal unless you don't exercise. If you exercise you are to eat the goal plus exercise calories. So even if your MFP goal seems to be less than BMR, it may not be if you exercise.

    Also, your MFP goal is going to vary based on the loss goal that you ask for and how active you say you are.
  • fitnesspal1972
    fitnesspal1972 Posts: 34
    I used a BMR calculator that asked for activity level, weight age etc.... I input my current weight to see what my calorie goal would be to maintain and then recalculated with my goal weight. I just wanted to see what suggested calories would be. I feel 1200 calories MFP suggests is low, too low.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited February 2015
    fitnesspal1972 wrote: »
    I used a BMR calculator that asked for activity level, weight age etc.... I input my current weight to see what my calorie goal would be to maintain and then recalculated with my goal weight. I just wanted to see what suggested calories would be. I feel 1200 calories MFP suggests is low, too low.
    Keep in mind MFP expects you to NET 1200. So it's 1200 + however many calories you burn with exercise.

    MFP gives me a NET of 1320. With exercise my total calories can range from 1600-2000(sometimes more, sometimes a little less). TDEE calculators, like what your doing, tell me my total intake should be in the range of 1744 (25% deficit) to 2093 (10% deficit). So essentially it's the same thing. The difference is with TDEE method, you eat the same number of calories everyday regardless of what you do and the way MFP is set up your calories vary based on what you do.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
    fitnesspal1972 wrote: »
    I feel 1200 calories MFP suggests is low, too low.

    If you feel that way, it probably is. It would be for me.

    But again, MFP is telling you what you need to eat IF you do no exercise and want to lose a certain number of lbs per week. It is NOT telling you what you SHOULD eat to lose weight or if your loss per week goal is a good one for you or what number you need to eat to lose ANY weight. Nor is it telling you that you should try to lose weight without exercising, of course. It's just giving you the number in case you do.

    Put your numbers in MFP and be realistic about how fast it makes sense for you to lose at your current weight and size. (Smaller people, including a lot of women who are around average height and aren't extremely obese, will have to eat low calories to lose more than 1 lb/week, so 1 lb might be a better goal.)

    Also, realize that if you exercise you will want to eat back at least some of those calories.
  • fitnesspal1972
    fitnesspal1972 Posts: 34
    Thanks everyone. I think this will be a trial and error for the first few weeks. I'm not sending my body into shock with a lack of calories and having my metabolism adjust negatively and not lose weight as quickly as I could by eating the right amount of calories vs. my exercise. I need this to be a healthy weight loss. I appreciate all your feedback.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    fitnesspal1972 wrote: »
    Also, most I have read numerous articles saying calories shouldn't be below 1300 because it is difficult to get all the nutrients needed and your body will go into "starvation" mode.
    I'm curious where people read these numerous articles that discuss the dangers of eating below BMR and not getting nutrients and starvation mode. I've never read that anywhere besides in MFP forum posts and even those are few and far between anymore.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    fitnesspal1972 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone. I think this will be a trial and error for the first few weeks. I'm not sending my body into shock with a lack of calories and having my metabolism adjust negatively and not lose weight as quickly as I could by eating the right amount of calories vs. my exercise. I need this to be a healthy weight loss. I appreciate all your feedback.

    That won't happen because that's not what happens

    But set an appropriate goal weight per week for the amount you have to lose ...2lb a week over 75lb, over 40lbs set it at 1-1.5lbs, under 14lbs set it to 0.5lbs per week

    Eat those plus 50-75% of your purposeful exercise

    Log food as accurately as possible - weigh it on a scale, pick entries with care and double check against packaging and calorie sites
  • kehoeal
    kehoeal Posts: 2 Member
    edited February 2015
    BMR is your base metabolic rate, so what you would need if you stayed in bed....my BMR is 1450, but on MFP my calorie goal is 1120 without exercise? That doesn't seem right
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    MFP doesn't set a goal below 1200 for a woman so please double check your settings
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    fitnesspal1972 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone. I think this will be a trial and error for the first few weeks. I'm not sending my body into shock with a lack of calories and having my metabolism adjust negatively and not lose weight as quickly as I could by eating the right amount of calories vs. my exercise. I need this to be a healthy weight loss. I appreciate all your feedback.

    Come to our group - Eat More 2 Weigh Less. You'll find some good info on there about how to figure out your TDEE, what deficit to take, etc. Plus get good support from people who are trying to lose weight while eating as much as they can: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
  • TruckersWifeTruckersLife
    TruckersWifeTruckersLife Posts: 408 Member
    I use www.iifym.com for mine
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    MFP uses the Katch-McKardle formula to determine your caloric needs above BMR then subtracts 500 calories per day for each pound you tell it that you want to lose per week. Basic math.
  • fitnesspal1972
    fitnesspal1972 Posts: 34
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/518807-negative-side-effects-of-eating-less-than-1-200-calories-a-day/#page=2

     http://eatcleanmakechanges.tumblr.com/calories

     http://www.caloriesecrets.net/why-is-eating-less-than-1200-calories-per-day-not-a-good-idea/

     http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/10-things-you-dont-know-about-calories

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