BMR vs. TDEE - Help Please!

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dawn_westbury
dawn_westbury Posts: 358 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I calculated both online (I know it’s not 100% accurate) and found my BMR is 1785 and my TDEE is 1892. I [think] I know that BMR is cals burned being alive (heartbeat, breathing, etc) and TDEE is cals you need to eat to maintain your current stats. Question is, am I correct to look at TDEE and take that down some and not worry about BMR?? Thank you!!

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  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    That is correct. The only practical use for BMR for the average person is to be used to calculate TDEE in certain formulas. For dieting, you shouldn't worry too much about it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited September 2017
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    dawn_westbury wrote: »
    So I calculated both online (I know it’s not 100% accurate) and found my BMR is 1785 and my TDEE is 1892. I [think] I know that BMR is cals burned being alive (heartbeat, breathing, etc) and TDEE is cals you need to eat to maintain your current stats. Question is, am I correct to look at TDEE and take that down some and not worry about BMR?? Thank you!!

    Yes...but I have a really hard time believing your TDEE is only basically a hundred calories more than your BMR...

    My BMR is somewhere between 1700-1800 calories...my TDEE without any exercise is around 2400 and I have a desk job...my actual TDEE is around 2800-3000.

    But yeah, you cut from TDEE not BMR...and your BMR is likely lower than calculated if the calculation included total mass and not just lean mass...
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    Is there a preferred site/calculation for this? Is BMR same as resting metabolic rate? Thanks:)
  • medic2038
    medic2038 Posts: 434 Member
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    Both of them are at best generalized estimates. Regardless of the method you use, you'll probably have to adjust it quite a bit.
    Personally I find TDEE too complicated to be useful, and go with weight x10 for a modest deficit.

    BMR is like you said. It's an estimate of how many calories you'd need if you literally just laid in bed all day and did nothing. TDEE is supposed to be a combination of BMR, NEAT, TEF, and activity (and it can be vary quite a lot).
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    dawn_westbury wrote: »
    BMR is 1785 and my TDEE is 1892.

    That is an incredibly tiny difference - think you should recheck or use a different site.
    Did you put in your activity and exercise into the TDEE calculator?

  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    medic2038 wrote: »
    Both of them are at best generalized estimates. Regardless of the method you use, you'll probably have to adjust it quite a bit.
    Personally I find TDEE too complicated to be useful, and go with weight x10 for a modest deficit.

    BMR is like you said. It's an estimate of how many calories you'd need if you literally just laid in bed all day and did nothing. TDEE is supposed to be a combination of BMR, NEAT, TEF, and activity (and it can be vary quite a lot).

    Current weight x 10 or goal weight x 10?
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited September 2017
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    solieco1 wrote: »
    Is there a preferred site/calculation for this? Is BMR same as resting metabolic rate? Thanks:)

    They're two different things, but often used interchangeably because the difference between them is not very significant. RMR is what you burn if you were lying down all day, BMR is your basal metabolic rate (basically as if you're sleeping, not just lying down, all day and excludes calories burned by digestion and such). BMR is slightly lower but more accurate. RMR is sometimes used instead of BMR because it can be less strictly measured. None of this matters much outside of things like research.

    ETA: As for a website, here are a couple of nice ones:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
    http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    solieco1 wrote: »
    Is there a preferred site/calculation for this? Is BMR same as resting metabolic rate? Thanks:)

    They're two different things, but often used interchangeably because the difference between them is not very significant. RMR is what you burn if you were lying down all day, BMR is your basal metabolic rate (basically as if you're sleeping, not just lying down, all day and excludes calories burned by digestion and such). BMR is slightly lower but more accurate. RMR is sometimes used instead of BMR because it can be less strictly measured. None of this matters much outside of things like research.

    ETA: As for a website, here are a couple of nice ones:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
    http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    Thank you! So I had a measured RMR of about 1680 and a BMR calculated at about 1587 so your explanation helps! I'll check out the sites!
  • medic2038
    medic2038 Posts: 434 Member
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    solieco1 wrote: »
    medic2038 wrote: »
    Both of them are at best generalized estimates. Regardless of the method you use, you'll probably have to adjust it quite a bit.
    Personally I find TDEE too complicated to be useful, and go with weight x10 for a modest deficit.

    BMR is like you said. It's an estimate of how many calories you'd need if you literally just laid in bed all day and did nothing. TDEE is supposed to be a combination of BMR, NEAT, TEF, and activity (and it can be vary quite a lot).

    Current weight x 10 or goal weight x 10?

    Current weight, then adjust every 10lbs or so. Even with this method you might have to do some adjustments, but I've been using it for the past year without having to substantially alter my diet.

    Regardless of what method you decide you want to use, remember it's always just going to be a ballpark. Just because some website spits out numbers, doesn't mean you won't have to tweak it to suit your own needs/goals.

    I use MFP basically for the nutrition info/tracking. I do all of my weight/intake tracking separately in a spreadsheet. To me at least, this is helpful because I can look at a whole month's(or more) worth of daily calories on one screen and made any adjustments if necessary.
  • dawn_westbury
    dawn_westbury Posts: 358 Member
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    I did calc activity, which is none... I'm going to do a few more on different sites & see what is says. Thank you
  • dawn_westbury
    dawn_westbury Posts: 358 Member
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    TDEE is more like 2145, I think the first number was already calculating a lower number because I checked "for weight loss" not maintain.. makes sense now.

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