Calories on dashboard and weight loss goal

jamesruport
jamesruport Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I put my goal as losing 1 pound a week, and slightly active. The dashboard says 2300 calorie goal. Is that to lose the weight? Seems like it’s closer to my basal metabolic rate. Does my activity level matter if I’m logging my walks and runs?

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,211 Member
    Assuming your setup is all entered accurately, yes, goal calories would be the calories to eat to lose the weight.

    If you're logging intentional exercise, you should set your activity level based on the average amount of activity in your daily life before exercise, like job, home chores, and that sort of thing. The activity level in your profile lets MFP estimate the number of calories you burn above BMR routinely, not including exercise. (BMR = basal metabolic rate, the number of calories you'd burn in bed in a coma, basically - just so we're using common definitions for mutual clarity).

    If you said you wanted to lose a pound a week, your starting goal calories will be 500 calories below your estimated pre-exercise weight-maintenance calories. That number might or might not be close to your BMR. If the goal is below your BMR, it might be hint that you're possibly trying to lose weight on the aggressive side for your current size.

    If you exercise, accurately estimate the exercise calories, and log those, that will give you additional calories to eat, over and above the base starting calories, still keeping the same estimated weight loss rate. Some worry about over-estimating exercise calories, so only eat some standard fraction of the exercise calories. That's probably not high risk, assuming a moderate weight loss rate and not a very large amount of exercise. Aggressive loss rate and lots of exercise? I'd be sure to eat at least a fair fraction of the exercise calories to avoid health risk, personally.

    Just in case other people are reading: If a woman gets a goal of 1200, or a man gets a goal of 1500, that's as low as MFP will go, pretty much for nutritional adequacy and health risk reasons. Those people might not get the full estimated weight loss rate they requested MFP to give them. Since you got 2300, that's not an issue for you.

    Best wishes!

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,309 Member
    jamesruport wrote: »
    I put my goal as losing 1 pound a week, and slightly active. The dashboard says 2300 calorie goal. Is that to lose the weight? Seems like it’s closer to my basal metabolic rate. Does my activity level matter if I’m logging my walks and runs?
    what is your height and weight

  • jamesruport
    jamesruport Posts: 2 Member
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    jamesruport wrote: »
    I put my goal as losing 1 pound a week, and slightly active. The dashboard says 2300 calorie goal. Is that to lose the weight? Seems like it’s closer to my basal metabolic rate. Does my activity level matter if I’m logging my walks and runs?
    what is your height and weight

    5’11 187.2 this morning

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,309 Member
    edited February 3
    jamesruport wrote: »
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    jamesruport wrote: »
    I put my goal as losing 1 pound a week, and slightly active. The dashboard says 2300 calorie goal. Is that to lose the weight? Seems like it’s closer to my basal metabolic rate. Does my activity level matter if I’m logging my walks and runs?
    what is your height and weight

    5’11 187.2 this morning
    that amount may be accurate or it may not be accurate. Those numbers are just a starting point. The right way to do it which will actually save time in the long run is track your calories for a week and if your weight has been stable for the most part for a while, those are your maintenance calories so you want to take that amount and drop 500 a day from that.

    A lot of this will depend on how accurate your weekly counting and tracking of your calories are. It’s easy to be way off so being as accurate as possible will be a big help.

    If you do end up just using the 2300 amount you’ll need to stick with it for a month and at that point review the effect of those calories and adjust accordingly if necessary

  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 469 Member
    If you eat your bmr you should still lose weight. BMR is usually lower than tdee. Back in 2008 when I lost 42lbs I never let a cheat day go over my BMR though that was higher than the calories I would normally have for the day. Now i really don't worry about it, but I am also eating better food so for the same calories now as then... I feel better now.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,309 Member
    edited February 3
    totameafox wrote: »
    If you eat your bmr you should still lose weight. BMR is usually lower than tdee. Back in 2008 when I lost 42lbs I never let a cheat day go over my BMR though that was higher than the calories I would normally have for the day. Now i really don't worry about it, but I am also eating better food so for the same calories now as then... I feel better now.
    BMR are the calories it takes to live if you laid in bed all day and didn’t move. You don’t want to eat that low.

    Your TDEE are all the calories you burn throughout the day, including your BMR your exercise and your NEAT.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,976 Member
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    totameafox wrote: »
    If you eat your bmr you should still lose weight. BMR is usually lower than tdee. Back in 2008 when I lost 42lbs I never let a cheat day go over my BMR though that was higher than the calories I would normally have for the day. Now i really don't worry about it, but I am also eating better food so for the same calories now as then... I feel better now.
    BMR are the calories it takes to live if you laid in bed all day and didn’t move. You don’t want to eat that low.

    Your TDEE are all the calories you burn throughout the day, including your BMR your exercise and your NEAT.

    I think they know what BMR means and in some cases it can be fine to eat 'that low' - it depends on how active the person in question is. For sedentary people the deficit won't be as big. For very active people I agree that it probably won't be a good idea.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,211 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    totameafox wrote: »
    If you eat your bmr you should still lose weight. BMR is usually lower than tdee. Back in 2008 when I lost 42lbs I never let a cheat day go over my BMR though that was higher than the calories I would normally have for the day. Now i really don't worry about it, but I am also eating better food so for the same calories now as then... I feel better now.
    BMR are the calories it takes to live if you laid in bed all day and didn’t move. You don’t want to eat that low.

    Your TDEE are all the calories you burn throughout the day, including your BMR your exercise and your NEAT.

    I think they know what BMR means and in some cases it can be fine to eat 'that low' - it depends on how active the person in question is. For sedentary people the deficit won't be as big. For very active people I agree that it probably won't be a good idea.

    I assume that "BMR is usually lower than TDEE" was what caused responding with the definition of both. That statement made me raise an eyebrow, too.

    Actual BMR is always lower than actual TDEE, of course, and estimated BMR always lower than estimated TDEE, because definitionally BMR is a sub-component of TDEE. (I know you know that ;) .)

    It was also confusing to read about a cheat day not being over BMR, but being over the calories one would usually have for the day. Maybe I misinterpreted that sentence though - it wasn't clear to me whether it was the cheat day calories or the routine calories that wouldn't exceed BMR.

    I agree with you that it's sometimes OK to eat below BMR for weight loss, but IMO it is a thing that should give a person pause, so encourage them to consider whether they're trying to lose weight faster than ideal. Small, sedentary people often have a very narrow margin between BMR and TDEE, but I think some larger, more active people don't have a clear intuitive understanding of that situation.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,309 Member
    edited February 3
    Lietchi wrote: »
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    totameafox wrote: »
    If you eat your bmr you should still lose weight. BMR is usually lower than tdee. Back in 2008 when I lost 42lbs I never let a cheat day go over my BMR though that was higher than the calories I would normally have for the day. Now i really don't worry about it, but I am also eating better food so for the same calories now as then... I feel better now.
    BMR are the calories it takes to live if you laid in bed all day and didn’t move. You don’t want to eat that low.

    Your TDEE are all the calories you burn throughout the day, including your BMR your exercise and your NEAT.

    I think they know what BMR means and in some cases it can be fine to eat 'that low' - it depends on how active the person in question is. For sedentary people the deficit won't be as big. For very active people I agree that it probably won't be a good idea.
    Based on someone saying BMR is USUALLY lower than TDEE tells me that no they don’t know it BMR is
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,529 Member
    Look at your diary page to see what your calorie allotment is. 2300 is probably your maintenance estimate. It turns out that you need to eat ~500kcals per day on average below this to lose a pound a week.

    Most people should indicate that they are "sedentary," unless they have a non-desk job (waiter). Your stats (5’11, 187.2lbs) are pretty close to mine. But age matters, too. I expect your weight loss plan will be between 1500 and 1700kcals/day to lose 1lb per week, depending on your age.

    But, you get additional calories when you are active. I use a fitness watch to monitor my activities. Garmin, Fitbit, Apple, Aura ring all work with MFP and provide a daily calorie burn estimate that includes incidental and purposeful activities. (I like Garmin, but they all work.)

    Since I'm in the mood to give advice (those who can't do, teach), let me say that it can be effective to blow up your eating habits and start over with some new ones. Try eating a very small or no breakfast. Try bringing your lunch from home so you can't overeat at a restaurant or cafeteria. Try throwing out or giving away everything in your house that tempts your and load up on healthy snacks. Try taking a day and fasting completely (it helps to drink electrolytes).
  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 469 Member
    I probably should clarify. I am disabled. so my tdee isn't that much higher than my bmr. And I do realize the mistake in working and that bmr is always lower than tdee.

    sorry for not including this earlier.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,122 Member
    edited February 4
    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    Actual BMR is always lower than actual TDEE, of course, and estimated BMR always lower than estimated TDEE, because definitionally BMR is a sub-component of TDEE. (I know you know that ;) .)

    Well, if you are in a coma, BMR wouldn't be lower than TDEE. But the original "usually lower" statement raised my eyebrows as well. I feel confident that no one in a coma is active on MFP.

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