1500 BMR, only 1000 kcals to keep a calorie deficit of 500?

AG8640
AG8640 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My BMR has been measures to be 1500, and I want to keep a caloric deficit of 500 to lose around 1 pound a week. My question is- on days I don't exercise, can I only eat 1000 kcals?? That seens unhealthy.. now, i have heard about TDEE, but I dont know if I have understood it correctly. the way I have understood it is that it includes what you burn with your general level of exercise in mind. But then I can't bring what I burn during specific workouts into the equation right? It has already been counted for? My level of exercise is pretty different in different periods, and I would therefore like them in the daily calorie equation

If it's hard to understand my english, please just ask me to rephrase, and I will try my best to make it more understandable

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    BMR is the calories you burn merely existing...you would burn them in a coma. You also burn calories going about your day to day. For example, my BMR is around 1700-1800 calories depending on what tool I'm using...my maintenance calories (without exercise) which include my BMR and my day to day is around 2400-2500 calories...so I could lose 1 Lb per week eating around 2,000 calories without any exercise. Regular exercise bumps my maintenance (TDEE) to around 2800-3000 calories so in reality I drop about 1 Lb per week eating 2300-2500 calories per day...well over my BMR.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    It sounds like you prefer this site's method to TDEE, which should make it simple. If you input your info here, it will estimate your net maintenance calories (this will be higher than your BMR since you are likely not lying motionless in bed all day). You feed it a default activity level corresponding to what you do each and every day (some jobs will require much more physical activity than others), and log exercise separately. The logged cardio will add to your allowed calories for the day.

    If you are close to your ideal weight, than a daily 500 calorie deficit might not be very do-able. (For instance, as a 4'10" 116 lb female, my net maintenance calories are 1400...trying to net 500 below this every day would be ridiculous - either eating less than minimal required macros and nutrients or doing a lot of under-fueled cardio). MFP will default to a minimum of 1200 net calories (and inform you what deficit this corresponds to if you try for something too aggressive) when you fill out the goal.
  • prabij23
    prabij23 Posts: 3 Member
    I have a similar question. when i put in my activity level as lightly active on MFP, my maintainence calorie goal is at 2370. i cover around 4-5 miles a day on average 7 days a week. do i add in the calorie lost from that distance or is it accounted for in the calorie already.
  • Emmygm
    Emmygm Posts: 80 Member
    prabij23 wrote: »
    I have a similar question. when i put in my activity level as lightly active on MFP, my maintainence calorie goal is at 2370. i cover around 4-5 miles a day on average 7 days a week. do i add in the calorie lost from that distance or is it accounted for in the calorie already.

    I would say that it's included as part of the "lightly active". I know that a lot of people set themselves as sedentary and then add in all exercise manually. Keep in mind that MyFitnessPal overestimates exercise calories, so you may not want to eat ALL of them back.

    Try it for a few weeks, if you aren't losing reduce a little and try again. the idea is to eat as much as you can and still lose weight, not to starve yourself. Starvation diets don't work in the long term!
  • AG8640
    AG8640 Posts: 2 Member
    edited July 2017
    Thank you everyone for responding

    I figured out my TDEE (with lightly active, I don't want to overestimate), and with a 500 deficit my intake should be around 1600. This makes me wonder since I normally eat around 1300-1400, but haven't lost weight.. of course my counting can have been faulty, and I have also started taking creatine, so hopefully I have lost some body fat, and just gained water weight..

    since my exercise is included in TDEE, should I just not plot the calories I have burned into the app? It seems a bit demotivating to me, I want to see what I have burned. and should I still be eating the 1600 kcals even the days I barely move?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    AG8640 wrote: »
    Thank you everyone for responding

    I figured out my TDEE (with lightly active, I don't want to overestimate), and with a 500 deficit my intake should be around 1600. This makes me wonder since I normally eat around 1300-1400, but haven't lost weight.. of course my counting can have been faulty, and I have also started taking creatine, so hopefully I have lost some body fat, and just gained water weight..

    since my exercise is included in TDEE, should I just not plot the calories I have burned into the app? It seems a bit demotivating to me, I want to see what I have burned. and should I still be eating the 1600 kcals even the days I barely move?

    I would definitely look at your logging if you aren't losing. Are you weighing everything? Using correct entries?

    You can enter the calories burned into the notes section of your food diary if you want to keep track of them. And yes, you would eat 1600 every day, or averaged out over the week.
  • kokonani
    kokonani Posts: 507 Member
    Pure and simple, if you aren't losing weight at the deficit, you aren't counting or measuring. It's impossible not to lose eating deficit. (Unless there are underlying medical issues). Just have a deficit below your TDEE, 15-20%, however aggressive you want.

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