Using BMR/TDEE

BootyEvolve
BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
edited January 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'1 at 159 pounds.

Iifym.com says my bmr is 1425.

I have a sedentary lifestyle as I am sitting most days and I walk 3 days for 4 hours on the weekends because I work retail.

I am going to exercise 3 to 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

Will eating at my BMR (1425) help me loose weight. It seems like a high number because I am small. I am not going to eat back exercise calories. I want to safely maximize weightloss.

I also don't want to focus on macros too much.

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Sounds like a good starting point. Honestly you don't have to starve to lose weight. It's really not that much.

    I'm active (11k steps a day, 6 days exercise 20-60 mins). At 5'4.5" and around 140 lbs I lose weight eating around 2k a day. IIFYM'S estimates I should maintain at about that, but I know from experience and detailed tracking that I maintain closer to 2500.
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.

    That TDEE seems small, considering the workouts -- that's an activity factor of only 1.28, which is the activity factor that is used for people who are truly sedentary (give or take).

    Can you show the screenshot from the calculator that you used that gave you a TDEE of 1817 *with* working out?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.
    Great.
    Your body doesn't actually know what your BMR is of course and doesn't have mode switches if you are above/below BMR but that does sound a reasonable deficit. Best of luck.

    See how you get on for a month as then you will have some real world data to go on and make adjustments from there rather than a bunch of estimates.
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.

    That TDEE seems small, considering the workouts -- that's an activity factor of only 1.28, which is the activity factor that is used for people who are truly sedentary (give or take).

    Can you show the screenshot from the calculator that you used that gave you a TDEE of 1817 *with* working out?

    I will post a screen shot when I get home and can get on my computer.

    I figure I'm sedentary because aside from working on the weekends for 3 days a week for 4 hours and excersising 3 to 5 days a week for 30 to 60 minutes I am usually sitting.

    I am a college student so I usually sleep for 8 hours and am sitting for 14 hours. 2 hours for exercising and walking to different classes or to get up and make food.
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    Going into iifym.com calculator I did the iifym calculator instead of the TDEE calculator and it says my tdee is 1954 and a 25% deficit would but me at 1466. I did sedentary lifestyle with moderate exercise 5 days a week at 60 minutes.

    Do take note I am 5'1, that may be why it's low.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,237 Member
    edited January 2018
    2 hours of activity can easily correspond to 12000 steps which you will be gobsmacked to learn is classified at the upper limits of mfp active, i.e. activity factor of 1.6 (assuming you don't log your exercise activity separately like you're supposed to...)
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.

    That TDEE seems small, considering the workouts -- that's an activity factor of only 1.28, which is the activity factor that is used for people who are truly sedentary (give or take).

    Can you show the screenshot from the calculator that you used that gave you a TDEE of 1817 *with* working out?

    I will post a screen shot when I get home and can get on my computer.

    I figure I'm sedentary because aside from working on the weekends for 3 days a week for 4 hours and excersising 3 to 5 days a week for 30 to 60 minutes I am usually sitting.

    I am a college student so I usually sleep for 8 hours and am sitting for 14 hours. 2 hours for exercising and walking to different classes or to get up and make food.

    That would be sedentary according to MFP -- which excludes exercise. It's not sedentary in the TDEE sense of the word.

    Which setting did you pick on the calculator?
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Did you "tell" the TDEE calculator about your exercise?
    (You are supposed to unlike MyFitnessPal.)

    If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. Why are you proposing to eat at BMR rather than take a percentage cut from your TDEE?

    bmr is 1425
    Tdee is 1817

    assuming I workout 5 days a week for 50 minutes.

    that 400 calories deficit is what I want. I actually want 500 because I want to loose 1 pound a week.

    I heard you should never go BMR because then you do damage to your body so I figure I would eat there and work out till I got that 500 calories deficit.

    That TDEE seems small, considering the workouts -- that's an activity factor of only 1.28, which is the activity factor that is used for people who are truly sedentary (give or take).

    Can you show the screenshot from the calculator that you used that gave you a TDEE of 1817 *with* working out?

    I will post a screen shot when I get home and can get on my computer.

    I figure I'm sedentary because aside from working on the weekends for 3 days a week for 4 hours and excersising 3 to 5 days a week for 30 to 60 minutes I am usually sitting.

    I am a college student so I usually sleep for 8 hours and am sitting for 14 hours. 2 hours for exercising and walking to different classes or to get up and make food.

    That would be sedentary according to MFP -- which excludes exercise. It's not sedentary in the TDEE sense of the word.

    Which setting did you pick on the calculator?

    For daily activity I choose sedentary because in a normal day I don't get any higher than 4000 steps it's more like 830 steps Monday through Friday and 4000 steps Friday through Sunday.

    For exercise I did 5 days a week with 60 minutes at a moderate pace because I weightlift and I can talk after each set when I'm not in the zone.
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    Being on the shorter end myself, I think 1400 is a decent starting point.

    How do you track your steps? How often do you plan to weigh yourself/take measurements?

    I would pay close attention to how you're feeling, and aim for 1lb/week of loss at most.

    ~Lyssa
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,110 Member
    That number doesn’t seem low to me. I’m 5’7” and workout 2hr 4 days a week with a group. We do 1hr weights and conditioning followed by 1hr of boxing. I have a desk job and commute the rest of the time.

    These are my numbers and my lose 1lb a week figured with suggested macros
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    That number doesn’t seem low to me. I’m 5’7” and workout 2hr 4 days a week with a group. We do 1hr weights and conditioning followed by 1hr of boxing. I have a desk job and commute the rest of the time.

    These are my numbers and my lose 1lb a week figured with suggested macros

    Okay! I've just never done TDEE and 1400 seemed like a lot. I just hope eating whatever macros will work too. I don't won't to focus on macros until I have the money for good protiens.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    That number doesn’t seem low to me. I’m 5’7” and workout 2hr 4 days a week with a group. We do 1hr weights and conditioning followed by 1hr of boxing. I have a desk job and commute the rest of the time.

    These are my numbers and my lose 1lb a week figured with suggested macros

    Okay! I've just never done TDEE and 1400 seemed like a lot. I just hope eating whatever macros will work too. I don't won't to focus on macros until I have the money for good protiens.

    1400 actually isn't alot, for what its worth, I'm only 1" taller and I would lose eating 1700 cals. I'm lightly active/in late 40s.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    edited January 2018
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    That number doesn’t seem low to me. I’m 5’7” and workout 2hr 4 days a week with a group. We do 1hr weights and conditioning followed by 1hr of boxing. I have a desk job and commute the rest of the time.

    These are my numbers and my lose 1lb a week figured with suggested macros

    Okay! I've just never done TDEE and 1400 seemed like a lot. I just hope eating whatever macros will work too. I don't won't to focus on macros until I have the money for good protiens.

    1400 isn't much for me - but to each their own!

    You can eat whatever you like as long as it's within your calories. Keep in mind that eating out can contribute more to fluctuations/slow losses - there's less of a guarantee that the employees are using the advertised amounts of sauces vs. you making something at home (so, possibility of higher calories than advertised), plus there tends to be a lot of sodium (which leads to water retention)! Just be aware of that, stick with your plan for 4-6 weeks, then make modifications as needed.

    Also...can you definite "good proteins"? Eating healthy doesn't have to break the bank, and maybe folks here have some suggestions if you're looking to get your money's worth :)

    The website budgetbytes.com has tons of inexpensive, yummy recipes.

    ~Lyssa
  • BootyEvolve
    BootyEvolve Posts: 45 Member
    macgurlnet wrote: »

    Also...can you definite "good proteins"? Eating healthy doesn't have to break the bank, and maybe folks here have some suggestions if you're looking to get your money's worth :)

    ~Lyssa

    I just only have 25 dollars a week. Just bought eggs, frozen but cooked chicken, veggies, bread, oatmeal and a few processed foods.

    I usually eat eggs and oatmeal for breakfast. Pb&j for lunch and then dinner is what I feel like.

    I'm used to getting salmon, chicken, beef. But I had to make budget cuts. I should make a separate post about cheap healthy food items.

  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited January 2018
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    That number doesn’t seem low to me. I’m 5’7” and workout 2hr 4 days a week with a group. We do 1hr weights and conditioning followed by 1hr of boxing. I have a desk job and commute the rest of the time.

    These are my numbers and my lose 1lb a week figured with suggested macros

    Okay! I've just never done TDEE and 1400 seemed like a lot. I just hope eating whatever macros will work too. I don't won't to focus on macros until I have the money for good protiens.

    1400 actually isn't alot, for what its worth, I'm only 1" taller and I would lose eating 1700 cals. I'm lightly active/in late 40s.

    I'm also 5'2" and I lose over a pound a week at 1700 net (ETA: I currently weight 166 lbs). To the OP: don't assume that because you're short you can only eat very small amounts. Pick a number you think you can live with and stick to it for a few weeks (at least four if you're menstruating, because that can throw off your numbers). Track your calories and your weight. If you're losing at about the rate you hoped and you feel like your diet is sustainable, stick to it. If not, raise or lower your calories as needed. All the calculators in the world will only give you a place to start, not 100% accuracy.