Help! Confused about BMR and calories

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jen_0_0
jen_0_0 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I've read quite a few of the other threads about this topic, but I'm still a bit confused about what to to.

I set up MFP to lose 2lbs per week (I'm currently 5ft 5, 201lbs, goal of 150lbs) and it gave me 1200 calories per day. I count my exercise calories with a HRM and eat them back , but I don't feel I'm going anywhere really.

I had a look at the F2F (http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/) tool, which gives my BMR at 1703 and said get to my goal weight I should be eating 2296 calories for a moderately active person.

Looking back at my diary, I consume around 1500 calories including exercise extras. Does this mean I'm not eating enough?

All advice is greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • rainbowbuggy
    rainbowbuggy Posts: 320
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    I would like to see others answers.
  • Jillk1023
    Jillk1023 Posts: 121 Member
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    intresting question....
  • abbie017
    abbie017 Posts: 410
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    How do you categorize "moderately active"? That could be having a big impact.
  • Stormyyy
    Stormyyy Posts: 247 Member
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    Bump
  • abbie017
    abbie017 Posts: 410
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    How do you categorize "moderately active"? That could be having a big impact.

    To follow up my earlier post:

    Sedentary: little or no exercise
    Lightly Active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days/week
    Moderately Active: moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days/week
    Very Active: hard exercise or sports 6-7 days/week
    Extra Active: very hard daily exercise or sports & physical job or 2X day training

    If you mark yourself as moderately active, thos 3-5 days a week of exercise should already be calculated in your calorie goal, and thus not counted. Personally, I list myself as sedentary (desk job), but I work out a minimum of 4 times a week. I calculate my burned calories and eat back a majority of those to ensure I'm fueling my body properly. You may be double-counting calories which is causing you to reduce your deficit.
  • jen_0_0
    jen_0_0 Posts: 5 Member
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    How do you categorize "moderately active"? That could be having a big impact.

    To follow up my earlier post:

    Sedentary: little or no exercise
    Lightly Active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days/week
    Moderately Active: moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days/week
    Very Active: hard exercise or sports 6-7 days/week
    Extra Active: very hard daily exercise or sports & physical job or 2X day training

    If you mark yourself as moderately active, thos 3-5 days a week of exercise should already be calculated in your calorie goal, and thus not counted. Personally, I list myself as sedentary (desk job), but I work out a minimum of 4 times a week. I calculate my burned calories and eat back a majority of those to ensure I'm fueling my body properly. You may be double-counting calories which is causing you to reduce your deficit.

    I marked moderately active because I am working out almost every day, but I didn't realise I then shouldn't log the exercise and eat those back. Maybe marking myself as sedentary is the way to go....
  • abbie017
    abbie017 Posts: 410
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    How do you categorize "moderately active"? That could be having a big impact.

    To follow up my earlier post:

    Sedentary: little or no exercise
    Lightly Active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days/week
    Moderately Active: moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days/week
    Very Active: hard exercise or sports 6-7 days/week
    Extra Active: very hard daily exercise or sports & physical job or 2X day training

    If you mark yourself as moderately active, thos 3-5 days a week of exercise should already be calculated in your calorie goal, and thus not counted. Personally, I list myself as sedentary (desk job), but I work out a minimum of 4 times a week. I calculate my burned calories and eat back a majority of those to ensure I'm fueling my body properly. You may be double-counting calories which is causing you to reduce your deficit.

    I marked moderately active because I am working out almost every day, but I didn't realise I then shouldn't log the exercise and eat those back. Maybe marking myself as sedentary is the way to go....

    From my understanding of this, anything you log should be above and beyond your normal daily activity. I think it makes sense!

    Hope this helps a little!
  • jen_0_0
    jen_0_0 Posts: 5 Member
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    Absolutely! It makes things a bit clearer for me.

    I think I'll go with setting MFP to sedentary, and log the exercise calories from my HRM to see how I get on.

    I'm also not sure whether to go for 2lb per week, or the recommended 1lb....
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    Absolutely! It makes things a bit clearer for me.

    I think I'll go with setting MFP to sedentary, and log the exercise calories from my HRM to see how I get on.

    2lb per week is fine. Thats roughly a 40% deficit under your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expedenture) which is your BMR + Activity level. Also make sure you hit your macros (proteins, fats, carbs).
  • jen_0_0
    jen_0_0 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies.

    So I've set MFP to sedentary, 2lb per week loss which gives me 1200 calories per day, and then adding any extras from exercise.

    For today, I burned 340 giving me a total of 1540 calories for the day.

    I guess I'm still a bit concerned that it's under the 1777 for a sedentary lifestyle from F2F, even counting exercise extras, but I'll go with it and see what happens for now.
  • donnaeve8
    donnaeve8 Posts: 113 Member
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    Thes reason it is so far under is because at a 2 lb a week weight loss - you have to create a 7000 calorie/week deficit or 1000 calories a day. If you set it it to 1 lb that would give you an extra 500 calories a daye, etc.

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