BMR / TDEE / MFP Calorie Goals - is it this easy to find your happy medium?

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natalie3505
natalie3505 Posts: 169 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm going on week 4 and still feel like such a newbie with the math of it all. I did the TDEE / BMR calculator and my BMR is 1431 calories per day, my TDEE (for a sedentary lifestyle) is 1700 or so, but MFP gives me 1300 calories to lose 1 pound per week as a sedentary lifestyle - why am I given a number below my BMR when I put in the same stats for each calculator?

My stats are as follows: 36 y/o female, height 5'5", 165 pounds. I've gone over my MFP calories some, but my weekly average is between NET 1200 - 1300 per day, with eating back all of my exercise calories - no fitbit, just MFP estimates. I've lost a few pounds and about a half inch off my hips, which I'm happy with, but I want to make sure I'm eating what I need to stay healthy and be in this for the long haul. Should I just keep this up and see what happens? I feel fine when working out, and have been able to increase time, speed on the cycle and weights, so maybe I'm eating more than I think or not burning the calories I think and I'm hitting that magic number somehow? But why does MFP tell me to go lower than my BMR? Should I manually adjust it and be tighter with my food / exercise logging even though I'm seeing a little progress and feeling great?

I've read the newbie threads about the calculators, but I'm still a bit confused obviously. :) Thanks in advance for any insight you can give! :)

Replies

  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
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    Take which ever figure is given very lightly as it is wrong.
    Start from there and adjust every couple of weeks based on goals you want to reach and results you are getting out of that figure.
    MFP calculator very often gives a very low caloric allowance and the set up of macros is pre-set to 20/30/50.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited April 2016
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    BMR isn't a calorie cutoff point. All that going below your BMR means is that you need to get that energy from somewhere besides your calorie intake in order to get up to your BMR so that your body has enough fuel. Excess fat can act as that extra fuel so it's not a problem to set your calorie goal a bit below your BMR if you have excess weight to lose.

    The calculators are all just estimates and you need to experiment to see where you are happy with your calories. I ended up settling at a specific calorie amount that works for me after trying different permutations.
  • thewildair
    thewildair Posts: 31 Member
    edited April 2016
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    As long as you are overweight, it's perfectly fine to eat below your BMR. Your body can function just fine by accessing stored fat. I've been eating at a deficit below my BMR for several months now, and I've had no ill effects. Many sedentary people follow 1200 calorie diets. The important thing is to make sure you are getting enough potassium and magnesium, which are harder to get in a reduced calorie diet. They're vital for the nervous system to function, so it's not a bad idea to take Mg and K supplements while you're eating at a deficit.
  • natalie3505
    natalie3505 Posts: 169 Member
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    Thank you all! I feel better than I'm not robbing from my health but dipping a bit below. I will see how things go as is and if I start feeling sluggish, I'll up my calories a little at a time. :)
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    BMR isn't that useful a number for most people. It's a bit like knowing how much gas your car uses per minute while idling. It doesn't tell you much about what happens when you're moving around. Most people burn significantly more in their daily activities than their BMR.

    TDEE and NEAT calculations are more useful, since you can estimate how many calories to maintain or lose weight from them. Since they derive from the basic BMR calculation, you often get BMR along with the more useful numbers.

    The big concern is when people mistakenly assume they need to base their deficit on BMR, and not NEAT or TDEE. That can put them in a position of eating far too little with an aggressive weight loss target.

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