BMR and cardio question

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mommymovingmountains
mommymovingmountains Posts: 192 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My BMR is 1500 calories a day. I entered my cardio calories according to my HRM (120 minutes and 670 calories) If MFP has my BMR in the calculation already as the energy I use just to function wouldn't I subtract 1500/24= 62.5 per hour of cardio since it was already deducted? 125 less?

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  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    um..what

    no..the activity level is whatever you do on a daily basis anyways. your BMR is what your body burns just by simply living..meaning you'd need to intake that much to maintain your life if all you did was stay in bed.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    What Xray chick said. If you earned 670 calories through exercise, MFP will tell you to eat 1500 + 670 calories for the day. If you don't eat your 670 extra calories, you are actually dropping below your BMR of 1500.

    edited to add: MFP sets your BMR according to what activity level you say you have. So your BMR might be higher than just what you need to stay alive in bed. For example, if you specified very active and I specified totally sedentary, if all else was the same between us, your BMR will be higher than mine, because you need more calories just to function. (All I do is lay around while you are running all over the place all day long - This does not even count any extra exercise, just your day-to-day activities at work, etc...)
  • mommymovingmountains
    mommymovingmountains Posts: 192 Member
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    Yes, I set mine as sedentary since I sit at a desk most of my work day. The BMR is 1500 and MFP has me eating 1390 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week. If I deduct 670 for 2 hours of cardio wouldn't I be adding the 125 calories that I burned just existing twice? (or I should say MFP is) Just curious about how the calculation works. Btw~ I am losing almost exactly 1 pound a week so I am certainly not complaining :)
  • kadye
    kadye Posts: 136 Member
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    I do this exactly. If I work out for an hour and burn for example 500 calories, I subtract out what I would have burned during that hour if I had not worked out. I only want to eat back calories for what I burn above and beyond my normal calorie burn. Mine is pretty close to 1cal/minute so that's what I subtract.
  • tross0924
    tross0924 Posts: 909 Member
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    Ok just to define here BMR is the base rate, the if I lie in bed all day I burn this many calories. TDE is total daily expenditure which since you don't lie in bed all day is a good guestimate of your calories burned during the day.

    MFP sets your TDE at 1890 and then subtracts 500 to get you to your one lbs per week loss.

    As for subtracting your "would have burned anyway" calories there's 2 schools of thought. School #1 - what you're doing. Works fine. You don't drop below your BMR cause really even 120 calories isn't going to make or break that. School #2 - Most exercise gives you a boost to your metabolism for a short period of time. So in fact over the next 4 hours you burn 120 calories more than you would have just sitting there. Since you don't add those calories into your burn then you don't have to take the others out.

    Personally I go by school #2 and it hasn't slowed me down any. Either way is fine though, just do what works for you.
  • Bjornulf
    Bjornulf Posts: 29
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    This is NOT rocket surgery people!! If you doubt how/why/whether any of this works, I suggest you look at the section of the message boards called "success stories".

    No need to make it more difficult. Let's not try to re-invent the wheel here.

    The KISS method works well here too.

    Trust in the system. Why does it work? Well, it just does. Quick question. How well did what you were doing before you came to MFP work? Chances are that it was not highly successful. You've already tried it your way, you know what that road leads to....
  • kadye
    kadye Posts: 136 Member
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    This is NOT rocket surgery people!! If you doubt how/why/whether any of this works, I suggest you look at the section of the message boards called "success stories".

    No need to make it more difficult. Let's not try to re-invent the wheel here.

    The KISS method works well here too.

    Trust in the system. Why does it work? Well, it just does. Quick question. How well did what you were doing before you came to MFP work? Chances are that it was not highly successful. You've already tried it your way, you know what that road leads to....

    Wow. Why are you so upset about people asking questions. No one is saying it doesn't work. She was just asking if she should subtract out calories she would have burned anyway. I'm not sure about you, but I don't think people ask questions on this board to be treated like they are idiots. This would have been better kept to yourself.
  • savagegirl
    savagegirl Posts: 33 Member
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    Lol-I agree with kadye, why do some people on here think they have the right to be patronising and down right rude in their replies to posts. How arrogant-and I think you'll find its rocket science not rocket surgery bjorn-lmao.
  • mommymovingmountains
    mommymovingmountains Posts: 192 Member
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    Ok just to define here BMR is the base rate, the if I lie in bed all day I burn this many calories. TDE is total daily expenditure which since you don't lie in bed all day is a good guestimate of your calories burned during the day.

    MFP sets your TDE at 1890 and then subtracts 500 to get you to your one lbs per week loss.

    As for subtracting your "would have burned anyway" calories there's 2 schools of thought. School #1 - what you're doing. Works fine. You don't drop below your BMR cause really even 120 calories isn't going to make or break that. School #2 - Most exercise gives you a boost to your metabolism for a short period of time. So in fact over the next 4 hours you burn 120 calories more than you would have just sitting there. Since you don't add those calories into your burn then you don't have to take the others out.

    Personally I go by school #2 and it hasn't slowed me down any. Either way is fine though, just do what works for you.

    Tross~ I'd like to say congrats on your weight loss success! You are truly and inspiration! Thank you so much for those numbers, I was looking for the 1890 on this site. Once you told me TDE (something I was searching for) I looked at several sites and some had me at 2313 but I found one that was the same. I am glad to have this since I like a guide to the amount to maintain (and not gain lol) I was thinking about the burn rate after a workout and that makes a lot of sense. I appreciate you taking the time to answer.
  • mommymovingmountains
    mommymovingmountains Posts: 192 Member
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    Tross~ Sorry about my response in your quote!

    @ xraychick, jenilla, savgegirl and kadye~ Thanks for your help as well. As for the "venting" post I have noticed so many more people that are just bitter and angry on this site and get so irritated easily. If he was truly bothered by the post he wouldn't have taken the time and effort in a response so I would say he just wanted to be heard. It is ironic that his basic message to me was to not think about it and leave well enough alone and yet he didn't take that advice and leave the topic alone. I am ok with that :)
  • vold94
    vold94 Posts: 256
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    This is NOT rocket surgery people!! If you doubt how/why/whether any of this works, I suggest you look at the section of the message boards called "success stories".

    No need to make it more difficult. Let's not try to re-invent the wheel here.

    The KISS method works well here too.

    Trust in the system. Why does it work? Well, it just does. Quick question. How well did what you were doing before you came to MFP work? Chances are that it was not highly successful. You've already tried it your way, you know what that road leads to....

    Wow. Why are you so upset about people asking questions. No one is saying it doesn't work. She was just asking if she should subtract out calories she would have burned anyway. I'm not sure about you, but I don't think people ask questions on this board to be treated like they are idiots. This would have been better kept to yourself.


    I totally agree, I've seen this happen alot on the message boards. People making other people feel dumb or like crap just because they ask a question. Don't you remember learning in elementary school that there is no such thing as a dumb question. Or how about if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?

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