Help. Bmr and mfp calories
aimeerosy95
Posts: 14 Member
Hi I need some help
My bmr is 1552. My maintenance calories are 2133. I want to lose weight so I should be eating 1633.
However, my fitness pal is telling me I should be eating 1560.
I am a bit confused on what should I do? Do I eat the 1560 that mfp is saying or do I stick to 1633 ?
P.s I’ve only just started using my fitness pal last week and since counting my calories I am struggling to eat 1300!! I eat 3 meals, 2 snack whilst eating carbs protein and fats and just under 1300 is keeping me full.
Thanks in advance.
My bmr is 1552. My maintenance calories are 2133. I want to lose weight so I should be eating 1633.
However, my fitness pal is telling me I should be eating 1560.
I am a bit confused on what should I do? Do I eat the 1560 that mfp is saying or do I stick to 1633 ?
P.s I’ve only just started using my fitness pal last week and since counting my calories I am struggling to eat 1300!! I eat 3 meals, 2 snack whilst eating carbs protein and fats and just under 1300 is keeping me full.
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
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mfp gives calories assume no purposeful exercise. so you need to add a reasonable estimate of calories burned in exercise to what it gives.
other calculators incluse purposeful exercise.
all are estimates. pick a number and track progress over 3-5 weeks and adjust as needed.
are you using a food scale for all foods? to measure portion?1 -
How are you calculating your maintenance cals? Is that a TDEE estimate that includes exercise cals? MFP is a NEAT calculator meaning it doesn’t include any estimated of exercise.
It’s only a 70 cal difference so pick one and stick with it for 4-6 weeks.
If you’re having trouble eating more than 1300 cals then add in some more calorie dense foods. Peanut butter, Cheese, handful of nuts, full fat dairy, some hummus, fattier cuts of meat, ice cream.... but make sure you’re really eating 1300 before you do that. Are you using a food scale for logging accuracy?1 -
No matter which you choose, you will be eating in calorie deficit which will lead to weight loss. The MFP number is usually never far away and would be a good starting point. You can adjust after a few weeks and eat more if you find you are losing too quickly.
As for being full on 1300 calories? are are you using a food scale?
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https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10750159/help-bmr-and-mfp-calories
numbers are close just pick one and track properly and see what your rate of loss is over time and adjust from there. both are estimates.aimeerosy95 wrote: »P.s I’ve only just started using my fitness pal last week and since counting my calories I am struggling to eat 1300!! I eat 3 meals, 2 snack whilst eating carbs protein and fats and just under 1300 is keeping me full.
Thanks in advance.
are you using a food scale?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
some tips would be to aovid low calorie/non fat foods. a very quick way to get more calories for the same volume. Use oils to cook your meats/vegetables (or merinades) and add nuts to your snack/salads/meals.
Here is a list of calorie dense foods. this mean adding more calories with minimal volume.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
ETA: you look in your profile photo to already be within a healthy range of weight. If so i'd recommend a rate of loss of no more than 0.5lb/week to ensure you maintain your muscles.0 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »No matter which you choose, you will be eating in calorie deficit which will lead to weight loss. The MFP number is usually never far away and would be a good starting point. You can adjust after a few weeks and eat more if you find you are losing too quickly.
As for being full on 1300 calories? are are you using a food scale?
Hi,
Yes I’ve been using a food scale. My meal portions are big and I feel full. If I wasn’t tracking my calories I wouldn’t feel the need to eat more as I’m satisfied. However because I am tracking them I can see how low my calorie intake actually is.
I don’t want to ruin my metabolism so I really do need to sort it
2 -
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10750159/help-bmr-and-mfp-calories
numbers are close just pick one and track properly and see what your rate of loss is over time and adjust from there. both are estimates.aimeerosy95 wrote: »P.s I’ve only just started using my fitness pal last week and since counting my calories I am struggling to eat 1300!! I eat 3 meals, 2 snack whilst eating carbs protein and fats and just under 1300 is keeping me full.
Thanks in advance.
are you using a food scale?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
some tips would be to aovid low calorie/non fat foods. a very quick way to get more calories for the same volume. Use oils to cook your meats/vegetables (or merinades) and add nuts to your snack/salads/meals.
Here is a list of calorie dense foods. this mean adding more calories with minimal volume.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
ETA: you look in your profile photo to already be within a healthy range of weight. If so i'd recommend a rate of loss of no more than 0.5lb/week to ensure you maintain your muscles.
Hi,
Yes I use a food scale. I cook with oils for my fat and I add some cottage cheese for fat too. However my salads are plain I just have protein and the leaves so maybe I should start adding some more vegetables and dense foods like you’ve suggested. Thank you! I’ll definitely be adding some nuts.
Do you think I should eat so I consume all my calories ? Or should I just eat till I’m full?
Thanks0 -
It's a 73 calorie per day difference. You're going to make errors of more than that - it really doesn't matter which number you use.
You won't "ruin" your metabolism. Even if you do under eat for a little while it is going to bounce right back as soon as you go back to maintenance. That is a myth. (And 73 calories one way or the other won't do it.)3 -
cmriverside wrote: »It's a 73 calorie per day difference. You're going to make errors of more than that - it really doesn't matter which number you use.
You won't "ruin" your metabolism. Even if you do under eat for a little while it is going to bounce right back as soon as you go back to maintenance. That is a myth. (And 73 calories one way or the other won't do it.)
Would I be ruining my metabolism by only eating 1300? I get full then and have to force to eat more0 -
aimeerosy95 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »It's a 73 calorie per day difference. You're going to make errors of more than that - it really doesn't matter which number you use.
You won't "ruin" your metabolism. Even if you do under eat for a little while it is going to bounce right back as soon as you go back to maintenance. That is a myth. (And 73 calories one way or the other won't do it.)
Would I be ruining my metabolism by only eating 1300? I get full then and have to force to eat more
If you would open your FOOD diary for us to take a peek, we may be able to help you with that.
How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range? How tall are you?
You may be eating more than you think - but if you aren't, then just add some low volume higher calorie foods. Cheese, nuts, oil, use full fat dairy, eat a hamburger. 1300 is not very much food and only under special circumstances do you need to eat lower than your BMR.
How did you come up with the number of 1552 for your BMR?2 -
cmriverside wrote: »aimeerosy95 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »It's a 73 calorie per day difference. You're going to make errors of more than that - it really doesn't matter which number you use.
You won't "ruin" your metabolism. Even if you do under eat for a little while it is going to bounce right back as soon as you go back to maintenance. That is a myth. (And 73 calories one way or the other won't do it.)
Would I be ruining my metabolism by only eating 1300? I get full then and have to force to eat more
If you would open your FOOD diary for us to take a peek, we may be able to help you with that.
How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range? How tall are you?
You may be eating more than you think - but if you aren't, then just add some low volume higher calorie foods. Cheese, nuts, oil, use full fat dairy, eat a hamburger. 1300 is not very much food and only under special circumstances do you need to eat lower than your BMR.
How did you come up with the number of 1552 for your BMR?
I used a few different calculators online for my bmr. I entered my height age and weight and they were all approx the same.
My first week of using mfp I wanted to lose 1.5lbs a week and my calories were 1320 which I was just about managing. However I still thought that was pretty low even tho I wasn’t hungry but I just thought for loosing weight healthy. So I did some research and found out about bmr. So this week I changed mfp to lose 1lbs a week and this changed my fitness pal to 1560.
I don’t know how to open my food diary but my day consist of this
Breakfast - eggs with buttered toast / porridge
Lunch - sweet potato cooked with olive oil with veggie sausages / burger with peas broccoli corn on the cob. Sometimes with cottage cheese
Dinner - baby leaf salad with veggie sausages / burgers , cottage cheese and sometimes a corn on the cob and broccoli
Snacks - protein yogurts , rice cakes , strawberries , grapes0 -
to open your diary go to FOOD > Settings, scroll down, click "Public" and save.
It's possible you're already eating more than you think...and that could be why 1300 seems like you're full. Depending on the portions of the above food you could be eating 1300 or 2000+ calories.
You say you're weighing your food with a food scale but that your portions are big and you're full. That doesn't make a lot of sense unless you are really small already.
How tall are you?
How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range?
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Thanks I’ve opened my profile.
I’m 5ft 5 and I’m 11st 6 and want to drop to 9st 60 -
mfp gives calories assume no purposeful exercise. so you need to add a reasonable estimate of calories burned in exercise to what it gives.
other calculators incluse purposeful exercise.
all are estimates. pick a number and track progress over 3-5 weeks and adjust as needed.
are you using a food scale for all foods? to measure portion?
Yes I’m weighing my food. My first week using my fitness pal I set it to lose 1.5lbs a week which put my calories to 1320. I did this for a week and I felt full I was never hungry however I thought the calories were too low so I did some research and found out about bmr. So I changed mfp to lose 1lb a week which raised my calories to 1560.0 -
The difference between 1633 and 1560 isn't that great and different calculators give different numbers. I'd go with MFP to start and remember to eat back some of your exercise cals.0
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WinoGelato wrote: »How are you calculating your maintenance cals? Is that a TDEE estimate that includes exercise cals? MFP is a NEAT calculator meaning it doesn’t include any estimated of exercise.
It’s only a 70 cal difference so pick one and stick with it for 4-6 weeks.
If you’re having trouble eating more than 1300 cals then add in some more calorie dense foods. Peanut butter, Cheese, handful of nuts, full fat dairy, some hummus, fattier cuts of meat, ice cream.... but make sure you’re really eating 1300 before you do that. Are you using a food scale for logging accuracy?
Yes that TDEE
Originally on my first week of mfp I put to lose 1.5lh so my calories were 1320. I thought I was fine with those calories as I was never hungry and ate a lot. However I did think that was very low so I did my own research and found out about bmr.
The second week I then decided to change it to lose 2 lb a week as I was scared of mucking my metabolism up after reading about eating under your bmr. So now my fitness pal has been upped to 1560
I’m really confused and don’t know what to do. Shall i just stick to my fitness pal
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cmriverside wrote: »to open your diary go to FOOD > Settings, scroll down, click "Public" and save.
It's possible you're already eating more than you think...and that could be why 1300 seems like you're full. Depending on the portions of the above food you could be eating 1300 or 2000+ calories.
You say you're weighing your food with a food scale but that your portions are big and you're full. That doesn't make a lot of sense unless you are really small already.
How tall are you?
How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range?
Sorry I was changing my goals earlier on just to see how much calories I would be given with different options and forgot to change it. So ignore the 1800 + calories0 -
aimeerosy95 wrote: »Hi I need some help
My bmr is 1552. My maintenance calories are 2133. I want to lose weight so I should be eating 1633.
However, my fitness pal is telling me I should be eating 1560.
I am a bit confused on what should I do? Do I eat the 1560 that mfp is saying or do I stick to 1633 ?
P.s I’ve only just started using my fitness pal last week and since counting my calories I am struggling to eat 1300!! I eat 3 meals, 2 snack whilst eating carbs protein and fats and just under 1300 is keeping me full.
Thanks in advance.
I think you need to start using a food scale and making sure you are logging everything, because if you are full on 1300 calories and your maintenance calories are 2133 something doesn't add up. Because you didn't flip a switch and start feeling full on 1300 calories because you decided to try to lose weight.0 -
aimeerosy95 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »to open your diary go to FOOD > Settings, scroll down, click "Public" and save.
It's possible you're already eating more than you think...and that could be why 1300 seems like you're full. Depending on the portions of the above food you could be eating 1300 or 2000+ calories.
You say you're weighing your food with a food scale but that your portions are big and you're full. That doesn't make a lot of sense unless you are really small already.
How tall are you?
How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy BMI range?
Sorry I was changing my goals earlier on just to see how much calories I would be given with different options and forgot to change it. So ignore the 1800 + calories
No, I said that because 1300 is not a lot of food and you say you're full.
I looked at your food diary and it seems that you are getting it right mostly as long as those portions you entered are correct. It's UK food (I think) so I don't really know what the foods are but they seem like you're using grams etc. A couple places you had 0.1 grams of butter, which - that's not right, but it's not a huge problem since it isn't a regular thing. For reference, I use about 3-4 grams butter on a slice of toast and that's a moderate amount.
This isn't going to help you, but why do you have your exercise entered as "2 calories/ 11 calories / 6 calories" etc? If you are actually doing exercise and only eating 1300, you aren't so much going to "ruin" your metabolism as you are going to create other health problems such as hair loss, brittle nails, dry skin, irritability, difficulty concentrating, fatigue etc. On this site, you are meant to be eating more calories on exercise days. Not 11 more calories though - more like a couple hundred or so.
Set your Goals here to "Lose 1 pound per week," and then I would try to hit that number that MFP gives you. Are you currently working or going to school or caring for your kids? You don't say how old you are...I'm assuming you're young(ish?)
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Well I don’t purposely put a low amount of butter on that’s just how much butter I like on my toast.
I didn’t enter those calories. They were automatically entered from mfp based on the steps I’ve walked that day.
I exercise 3/4 times a week but i don’t hit classes and don’t have a fit bit so I’m unable to record my calories burnt.
To lose 1 pound a week mfp is saying 1560. So I’ll try to stick to that. I’m 24 years old. I’m currently looking for a job as I’ve just come back from travelling ( hence why I need to lose 2 stone )0 -
Btw I do do more steps through the day. I just don’t tend to bring my phone haha0
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Okay.
So you're not really using a food scale. Lots of your entries with bread and sausages are "1 slice" or "2 sausages" - so they aren't weighed. One medium strawberry is about 40g, and you have strawberries on there quite a bit.
0.1 grams of butter would be less than the size of a pea...like I said, not important as you don't have it on there more than a couple times, but if you're guessing like that on a bunch of things then you're eating more than you think. You know those little pats of butter you get at a restaurant? They are anywhere from 9-15 grams. At 100 calories for 14 grams, it adds up.
You can manually enter exercise if you don't know how to synch your fitbit. There is also a fitbit group with FAQs.
You need to hit that 1560- especially if you're not going to account for your exercise.3 -
Ok I’m confused now.
So In regards to the bread and sausages I don’t weight them. I scan the barcodes on the packaging and that matches up with the calories on mfp and the packaging. Should I be weighing them instead ??
I don’t get why I would need to weigh the bread when it says on the packaging 1 slice is x calories and I’m having 1 slice so obv I input that. As for the butter I do weigh that on the scales.
I weight all my fruit. 40g is a handful of strawberries. But I pick up a handful and weigh them. I weigh all my fruit veg rice and sweet potato.
For everything else I just scan the barcodes and then adjust the serving size or weight to what I’ve got.
Am I doing this wrong ???
I don’t have a fit bit this is why I can’t add my exercise as I don’t know how many calories I’ve burnt1 -
If you can make a handful of strawberries be 40g, and if you think you're using 0.1 grams of butter on toast, then keep on doing that. It wouldn't even be worth it for me to go to all that trouble to log Zero Point One grams of butter. That's one tenth of a gram. My scale wouldn't even measure that low. You may mean 1 gram, which would be 7 calories, not the negative amount you logged. Again do what you want...just pointing it out. 7 calories is a math error but it is insignificant and is why I said 73 calories one way or the other in your Goals is meaningless.
A handful of strawberries for me is more like 150g, but that's only 50 calories, so not a huge deal. I don't weigh bread either, but I have in the past and it is often off by 10-30 calories from the listed amount (when I do weigh it.) Same with sausages and bacon, I don't weigh them...but these are examples of where you may be eating more than you think and that's why you feel full on what you think is 1300. Or you're not logging everything.
It adds up over the course of the day and over multiple items.2 -
aimeerosy95 wrote: »Ok I’m confused now.
So In regards to the bread and sausages I don’t weight them. I scan the barcodes on the packaging and that matches up with the calories on mfp and the packaging. Should I be weighing them instead ??
I don’t get why I would need to weigh the bread when it says on the packaging 1 slice is x calories and I’m having 1 slice so obv I input that. As for the butter I do weigh that on the scales.
I weight all my fruit. 40g is a handful of strawberries. But I pick up a handful and weigh them. I weigh all my fruit veg rice and sweet potato.
For everything else I just scan the barcodes and then adjust the serving size or weight to what I’ve got.
Am I doing this wrong ???
I don’t have a fit bit this is why I can’t add my exercise as I don’t know how many calories I’ve burnt
I'm not sure about the UK (if that's where you're at), but in the U.S., the calories on the packaging can be off by as much as 25%, so you can be up to 25% over or under based on the actual weight of the product. For example, one slice of bread may be 40g, the other may be 38g in the same package, etc. I personally don't usually weigh the things I scan, because I'm currently losing weight at a pace I'm happy with, even with my somewhat sloppy logging. However, I fully expect, once I get closer to my goal weight, that I may indeed have to tighten up my logging if I stop seeing weight loss. It's really up to you and how precise with your logging you want to be. If you're losing with your current method, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you find yourself stalling for a significant amount of time (3-4 weeks or longer), then maybe tighten up the logging then.3 -
Accurate logging requires two parts: knowing what kind of food you're eating and knowing how much of it you're eating. Barcode scanning only tells you one half (and is not always accurate at even that). A food scale only tells you one half. You have to know both halves in order to log accurately. The 1 slice, 1 link, etc notation on food labels is for convenience but the calories are based on the weight listed. You use the food scale to make sure the slice you have or the link or whatever matches the average slice. It won't always.
As an example, I bought a pack of Italiansausage once that gave the calorie estimates based on links that weighed 82 grams. Every link in that package was over 100 grams when I weighed them. It was a huge calorie difference.4 -
aimeerosy95 wrote: »Ok I’m confused now.
So In regards to the bread and sausages I don’t weight them. I scan the barcodes on the packaging and that matches up with the calories on mfp and the packaging. Should I be weighing them instead ??
I don’t get why I would need to weigh the bread when it says on the packaging 1 slice is x calories and I’m having 1 slice so obv I input that. As for the butter I do weigh that on the scales.
I weight all my fruit. 40g is a handful of strawberries. But I pick up a handful and weigh them. I weigh all my fruit veg rice and sweet potato.
For everything else I just scan the barcodes and then adjust the serving size or weight to what I’ve got.
Am I doing this wrong ???
I don’t have a fit bit this is why I can’t add my exercise as I don’t know how many calories I’ve burnt
I'm not sure about the UK (if that's where you're at), but in the U.S., the calories on the packaging can be off by as much as 25%, so you can be up to 25% over or under based on the actual weight of the product. For example, one slice of bread may be 40g, the other may be 38g in the same package, etc. I personally don't usually weigh the things I scan, because I'm currently losing weight at a pace I'm happy with, even with my somewhat sloppy logging. However, I fully expect, once I get closer to my goal weight, that I may indeed have to tighten up my logging if I stop seeing weight loss. It's really up to you and how precise with your logging you want to be. If you're losing with your current method, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you find yourself stalling for a significant amount of time (3-4 weeks or longer), then maybe tighten up the logging then.
Thank you for this advice. Really helps !0 -
diannethegeek wrote: »Accurate logging requires two parts: knowing what kind of food you're eating and knowing how much of it you're eating. Barcode scanning only tells you one half (and is not always accurate at even that). A food scale only tells you one half. You have to know both halves in order to log accurately. The 1 slice, 1 link, etc notation on food labels is for convenience but the calories are based on the weight listed. You use the food scale to make sure the slice you have or the link or whatever matches the average slice. It won't always.
As an example, I bought a pack of Italiansausage once that gave the calorie estimates based on links that weighed 82 grams. Every link in that package was over 100 grams when I weighed them. It was a huge calorie difference.
Thank you ! Stupidly I haven’t been weighing my meat or egg as I just assumed that the weight would be the same as the package !! Thank you for this advice as I will defo be weighing them today to see. Maybe they actually weigh more and that’s why I’m feeling full on what I thought was 1300 calories!!3
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