BMR/ TDEE/Weight Loss

That is a rather high BMR. Are you certain that you aren't mistaking it for your TDEE in the first place?

Yeah, really high BMR. Would definitely revise that.

My only guess is that I'm not eating enough calories. Should I take 500 off my TDEE to create my deficit? Then, should I be eating my exercise calories back?

Thank you everyone.

im no expert, and have only recently been looking into my own bmr/tdee/etc... and if it were me, id take 500 off your tdee to get your deficit and then not eat the calories back.

is it really hard to believe its that high? according to the bmr calculator on here, mine is 1869..

Assuming that is accurate, then you want to take 500 off of that (for 1lb/week) and eat back your exercise calories. The only other thing I can think of is that your activity level might be set wrong. If you set it too high you might be getting too high of a TDEE. You shouldn't count your formal exercise time as part of your base-line activity level.

What is a formal exercise time? I work out 5-6 times a week. Three times with a trainer and I burn a lot of calories with him. I don't count any walking as exercise.

Sorry. By "formal exercise time" I meant anything outside of normal daily activities (whatever you do at work/home on a regular basis). What is your activity level set to now? What do you do daily as part of your job or at home activities, apart from your exercise?

I appreciate everyone's help. Thanks again!!! I'm gonna try to now figure out how to change my settings on MFP.

Glad I could help! To change your settings go under "settings" --> "update diet/fitness profile" and put in your info. See if what it recommends once you put in everything is similar to what we figured out. I'm curious.

BMR depends on age, weight, height and gender. Someone who is still 60 lbs above her goal weight is going to have a high BMR. (Remember that even if she is sedentary, she has to carry 60 lbs of extra weight whenever she walks. You try it and see how many calories you burn.) If she is young and tall, even more so.

However, some people's BMR's just don't match the equations. I know I lose weight much faster than predicted by the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. You have to figure some people will lose weight more slowly. Now that you know how many calories you need to stay at your current weight, you just have to eat fewer to lose.

One other thing to keep in mind is that while exercise burns calories, the vast majority of the calories you use go just to maintain your body temperature. Turn down the thermostat, dress a little cooler than normal, try to move around to keep warm instead of keeping the house warm or bundling up, strip off layers when you exercise to try to keep from needing to sweat, use swimming as an exercise, use cooler water to shower -- all of those methods force your body to rewarm itself and raise your metabolic rate.

Yep, that's exactly why I have mine set at 'sedentary', b/c if I'm not working out or doing a massive cleaning on my house, I don't think I'm very active. If you're set to 'sedentary' and have your goal for weightless set on MFP so that it gives you a deficit, you should be fine to eat back at least part of your exercise calories. If you don't already have a HRM, you might want to consider getting one so that your exercise calories are as accurate as possible. Sometimes MFP super overestimates exercise calories which could inadvertently lead to you eating more 'back' than you are supposed to. :-)

I appreciate everyone's help. Thanks again!!! I'm gonna try to now figure out how to change my settings on MFP.

Glad I could help! To change your settings go under "settings" --> "update diet/fitness profile" and put in your info. See if what it recommends once you put in everything is similar to what we figured out. I'm curious.

It says 1360 for wanting to lose 2lbs a week at a sedentary lifestyle. I'm thinking I should just change it to 1700 calories a day and try it for a few weeks.

Yeah that would make sense for 2 lbs (your 2,300 TDEE - 1000) . If you have it at around 1700 you should lose about a pound a week!

Sorry, i think I am slow on the pick up... what is TDEE?
I have not lost any weight since June, well actually 4lbs and I have been wondering if I am eating enough calories or too many. How do I figure this out?

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

Your BMR (which you can figure out using the BMR calculator under "tools") is how much your body would burn by just being alive and laying there.

Your TDEE is how much your body therefore needs to maintain its weight when taking into account your normal daily activities. Your TDEE is your BMR x multiplier. This multiplier depends on your activity level, as follows:

Sedentary = 1.2
Lightly active = 1.375
Moderately active = 1.55
Very active = 1.725

To lose weight, you want to eat less than your TDEE. 1 lb = 3,500 calories. So, if you eat 500 calories less than your TDEE per day, you will lose about one pound per week.

Hi Curlyclo!
Thank you for all your information!
According to mfp my BMR is 1581 for my current weight. I am fairly active; working out at least 4 or 5 days a week, usually burning about 400 cals each workout. My job is also somewhat physical so I multiplied by 1.55 giving me a TDEE of 2450. I currently have my daily cals at 1630. I also almost always eat most of my exercise calories.

Seems great! You should be right on target. But if you're not losing, you might try lowering to "lightly active" and letting MFP calculate it for you, because your 4-5 exercise sessions per week SHOULDN'T be counted as part of your baseline activity level.

Thanks Curlyclo! Hopefully the lbs will start moving in the downward motion!

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