BMR help please

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j99li
j99li Posts: 421 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I was browsing some of the posts and I saw a girl who posted wondering if her 1200 calorie per day intake is enough or too much. One person responded saying that its not enough because her BMR is 1600 something.

Then, out of curiousity, I decided to check out what my BMR is and it says my BMR is 1762.95. From this website (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/) it shows that I need to eat at least 2424 calories to maintain my weight.

So.....is eating 1200 calories not enough for me? What should my calorie intake be per day so I can lose 2lbs a week? I've noticed recently that I seem to have a harder time losing weight....

Please help :'(

Replies

  • superstah00
    superstah00 Posts: 104 Member
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    bump
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    That 2424 would factor in your activity. MFP works differently, MFP gives you your maintenance ignoring exercise, which is why it adds exercise calories back.

    To get your maintenance without exercise go to goals, and look at calories burned from normal daily activity on the top right section. That is maintenance cals.

    Also with the amount you have to lose 2 lbs/week is pretty aggressive, I would recommend 1.5 lbs/week, then when you get to your last 30 or so switch to 1 lb loss/week then for the last 15 change to 0.5 lbs/week. As the closer you are to your goal the smaller your deficit should be. This helps ensure that you don't lose a lot of muscle as you lose fat, and gets you ready for a jump to maintenance caloric intake.
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    I think the BMR calculator on this site uses one of the more modern and accepted formulas for calculating it, I've compared many of them too including the website you mentioned.

    The trick is to accurately take your BMR, ADD to it your daily activity calories (again this site is pretty good). Knowing what those daily activity calories are is confusing and it depends on what you do....sit at a computer most of the day = sedentary. Teacher type = lightly active. And, don't include your exercise here, add it in later. All this is under the GOALS section.

    So your BMR and Daily activity calories make up the amount of you maintenance (if you didn't want to lose weight. From there subtract 500 cals to lose a pound a week. AND eat back your exercise calories - you don't need an even bigger deficit.

    the real trick is to be as accurate in all the calorie counting. Weigh food, don't eyeball it. Get a good heart rate monitor for your exercise too. although no method is perfect (LOL) fine tuning the one here is a great one. Just pay attention to the details and it will work for you.
  • j99li
    j99li Posts: 421 Member
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    I feel even more confused :S It seems to be a lot more complex than what I originally thought it would be. I am getting confused because if I need 1700 calories just to function, doesnt eating 1200 make me not function (in some ways)?
  • j99li
    j99li Posts: 421 Member
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    Also, for those who have a higher calorie intake, is that by choice or by program?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I feel even more confused :S It seems to be a lot more complex than what I originally thought it would be. I am getting confused because if I need 1700 calories just to function, doesnt eating 1200 make me not function (in some ways)?

    yes, but if you have enough fat stores, your fat can make up the difference, if you don't have enough fat, you should eat closer to your BMR cals.
  • j99li
    j99li Posts: 421 Member
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    Can someone please explain to me on what to do?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Can someone please explain to me on what to do?

    I already did above:
    ... with the amount you have to lose 2 lbs/week is pretty aggressive, I would recommend 1.5 lbs/week, then when you get to your last 30 or so switch to 1 lb loss/week then for the last 15 change to 0.5 lbs/week. As the closer you are to your goal the smaller your deficit should be. This helps ensure that you don't lose a lot of muscle as you lose fat, and gets you ready for a jump to maintenance caloric intake.
  • routerguy666
    routerguy666 Posts: 188
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    Just eat 1200 calories a week. Assuming your BMR number is accurate, that will get you a pound weight loss every week excluding whatever else you burn off via exercise (unless you just eat all that back anyway).

    Good luck.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Just eat 1200 calories a week. Assuming your BMR number is accurate, that will get you a pound weight loss every week excluding whatever else you burn off via exercise (unless you just eat all that back anyway).

    Good luck.

    Right idea but not quite, if your BMR is 1700 your maintenance would be closer to 2100, so eating 1200 would be a deficit of 900, not 500 as you pointed out. BMR is not maintenance. Go in and change your goal to 1.5 lbs/week and you will get some extra calories and still have a deficit to lose a safe amount of weight per week.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Looks like you should be eating about 1675 calories based on the TDEE of 2424 you posted (I'm guessing you're lightly active?) That gives you 1.5 pounds a week weight loss. 1200 is not enough. Also, if you exercise, you need to add in calories burned to keep your deficit consistent.
  • routerguy666
    routerguy666 Posts: 188
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    Just eat 1200 calories a week. Assuming your BMR number is accurate, that will get you a pound weight loss every week excluding whatever else you burn off via exercise (unless you just eat all that back anyway).

    Good luck.

    Not quite, if your BMR is 1700 your maintenance would be closer to 2100, so eating 1200 would be a deficit of 900, not 500 as you pointed out. BMR is not maintenance. Go in and change your goal to 1.5 lbs/week and you will get some extra calories and still have a deficit to lose a safe amount of weight per week.

    My bad - this is right ^^^
  • Lesliecs
    Lesliecs Posts: 930 Member
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    Someone else posted this awhile back and it was helpful to me. Go to this site and it explains pretty simply..

    http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-women
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Looks like you should be eating about 1675 calories based on the TDEE of 2424 you posted. That gives you 1.5 pound a week weight loss. 1200 is not enough. Also, if you exercise, you need to add in calories burned to keep your deficit consistent.

    This is good advise but keep in mind that TDEE would be an average/day so 1675/day on average, MFP would have you eat more on days you workout and less on days you don't. The TDEE calc smooths out your workout cals burned over the week instead of just adding them on the days you workout. Doing it this way is fine, and if you do don't eat back exercise cals as they are taken into account in the 2424, most nutritionists, doctors and trainers set your calories this way. The other option is just set MFP to 1.5 and eat all the calories (including eating back the ones you burn) .

    By the end of the week you will be in the same place but MFP makes sure your deficit is the same everyday whereas using TDEE calc above ensures your caloric intake is the same everyday but your deficit will vary each day.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    MFP calculates your TDEE and bases your caloric requirements off of that. When you set up your profile it asks if you are sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, etc and then adjusts your "Normal Calories burned" number accordingly, before working out the deficit.

    MFP lists my BMR as 1930 a day, and my calories burned (I'm lightly active, on my feet all day) as 2620. It still doesn't factor in exercise, as exercise is above and beyond normal daily activity.

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