Pleeease dumb this down for me!!! (BMR)

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HurrikaneHeather721
HurrikaneHeather721 Posts: 14
in Health and Weight Loss
I am sure you are all SO sick of answering this question..... The whole BMR tool vs MFP's recommended caloric intake is really confusing me. I have searched posts and am left feeling more confused. I am too overwhelmed with information right now. So, here is my situation:

25 year old female
Current Weight: 156
Goal Weight: 130

MFP says I should eat 1200 calories with my exercise being "lightly active"
However, the BMR tool says I should be eating 1422.

Which is correct? I did the Fat2Fit calculator (at lightly active) and that says I should be eating 1917!!
When I changed my goal to 1422, it changed my fat and protein to 35% Fat and 15% Protein. More fat than protein??? Whaaat???

I am not trying to start a long debate (like other posts seems to do), I was just hoping someone who was well versed in this arena could help me with *my* particular situation. Thank you sooo much to all you very nice (and patient) people!!! :smile:
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Replies

  • dlj1970
    dlj1970 Posts: 186 Member
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    bump
  • Jill_newimprovedversion
    Jill_newimprovedversion Posts: 988 Member
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    bump
  • DixiedoesMFP
    DixiedoesMFP Posts: 935 Member
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    Just as a general response....I really like MFP for the food logging. I really like some of my MFP friends. But I don't like that MFP pops out 1200 calories as an intended calorie goal for so many people.

    At your small size and your relatively small amount of intended loss, it is going to take a pretty big deficit to lose 2 pounds a week. In fact, it is going to be really difficult and if you are like me, you will be very grouchy.

    It seems you estimated your BMR at 1422. What is your TDEE (multiply that by 1.?, I think, but you can find a calculator for this). To lose weight, aim for a calorie goal of 10 - 20 % less than your TDEE to lose between 0.5 - 1.0 pounds a week.

    I am 5'4" 146 currently. I aim for 1650 a day, give or take a hundred or so in either direction. I am very slowly but steadily losing weight, and more importantly, I have lots of energy and I am not hungry.

    Hope this helps. Or at the very least, brings this post to the attention of some of my MFP friends who are better at this than I, and explained it to me in the first place :)
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    MFP defaults to 15% protein. That's really low, but you can change it manually if you customize your goals. I prefer 20-25% from protein. Actually, I just aim to get about 100g or more a day, and let the rest fall where they may.

    If you're at lightly active and 156#, you're probably using the setting "lose 2# a week" if it's telling you to eat 1200 calories. That's the lowest any woman should eat and it won't go lower than that. But it also won't say, "Hey, you're trying to lose too much per week." Aim for 1# a week. You don't have enough fat reserves to lose 2# a week. That's for people who have way more than ~30# to lose.

    And don't forget that MFP doesn't factor your exercise into your calorie goal unless and until you do it. So it might tell you to eat (let's use an an example) 1400 calories. Then you exercise for a half hour and burn another 300. Now your daily goal will be to eat 1700.
  • HurrikaneHeather721
    HurrikaneHeather721 Posts: 14
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    Thank you! So my TDEE is 2071, 20% less than that is 1656. So I should change my goal in MFP to 1656? Also, I AM supposed to eat my "exercise" calories, right?

    PS - if it matters, I forgot to include that I am 5'3. :happy:
  • lee3978
    lee3978 Posts: 274
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    MFP defaults to 15% protein. That's really low, but you can change it manually if you customize your goals. I prefer 20-25% from protein. Actually, I just aim to get about 100g or more a day, and let the rest fall where they may.

    If you're at lightly active and 156#, you're probably using the setting "lose 2# a week" if it's telling you to eat 1200 calories. That's the lowest any woman should eat and it won't go lower than that. But it also won't say, "Hey, you're trying to lose too much per week." Aim for 1# a week. You don't have enough fat reserves to lose 2# a week. That's for people who have way more than ~30# to lose.

    And don't forget that MFP doesn't factor your exercise into your calorie goal unless and until you do it. So it might tell you to eat (let's use an an example) 1400 calories. Then you exercise for a half hour and burn another 300. Now your daily goal will be to eat 1700.

    I forgot we can change our protein settings. Even though mine is set low I always try to aim for 75-100g of protein a day. Let me go adjust. Thank you!
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Ok, I'll try to explain:

    MFP calculates your BMR at 1422- this is how many calories your body needs each day to keep you alive - breathing, heart pumping, digesting etc.

    As you are lightly active, you multiply your BMR BY 1.375 to get the number of cals you would burn in a day doing your regular activities (so this includes walking around, eating, talking, working etc). This means you need to eat (around) 1955 cals each day to stay at the same weight.

    As you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. To lose 1 pound a week, you need a calorie deficit of around 500 cals.

    So, to lose 1 pound a week you should eat about 1455 cals each day (1955 - 500 = 1455).

    You probably chose "lose 2 pounds a week" because you want to lose weight FAST (doesn't everyone), but as you don't have much weight to lose that would have put your daily calorie allowance under 1200, which is not generally considered safe, so the number was adjusted up to 1200.

    And note that when you exercise you can eat those calories and you still have that calorie deficit to let you lose 1 pound a week.

    Does this help? If you still don't understand - don't sweat it - eat 1455 plus your exercise cals per day and as long as you are logging accurately you should lose weight :smile:.
  • skstogsdill
    skstogsdill Posts: 18
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    BMR is the number of calories your body needs to maintain human functions. Said another way, if you were to sleep for 24 hours, your BMR is about how many calories you would burn in that 24 hours period of time.

    MFP recommended caloric intake is the amount of calories your body needs to maintain your current weight with your current lifestyle/activity factored in, minus the daily caloric deficit you need to reach your target weight loss per week.

    Daily calorie needs can be calculated by using the following; I believe MFP uses the same equation as my MFP calorie need for weight maintenance matches this equation:

    If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
    If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
    If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
    If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
    If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

    You can find BMR calculators online if you don't know what your BMR is.

    Keep in mind that these calculators are not "one size fits all", but they are best guesses.

    Hope this has helped some!
  • janet_pratt
    janet_pratt Posts: 747 Member
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    1200 is about as low as you ever want to go and MFP tends to start everyone out at that amount. I would start out with the higher daily calories and if you find you aren't losing steadily, increase your exercise to burn more calories and if you still aren't losing, then start dropping the calories 100 at a time until you reach a place where you are losing something each week. That's my opinion, for what it's worth. Good luck. Be patient and stick with it and it will happen.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Thank you! So my TDEE is 2071, 20% less than that is 1656. So I should change my goal in MFP to 1656? Also, I AM supposed to eat my "exercise" calories, right?

    PS - if it matters, I forgot to include that I am 5'3. :happy:

    Go back and calculate your goals with "lose 1 pound a week" and let MFP do the maths.
    And yes, you should eat your exercise calories.
  • lee3978
    lee3978 Posts: 274
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    Lorina where do I adjust the settings at? I cannot find it? I just found where I can add and subtract what I want to track.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Your BMR is 1922
    To lose 1 lb per week, subtract 500 calories = 1422
    That should be your daily food intake.

    1200 is too low - forget that.

    Also, make sure you EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
    Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
    Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.
  • 4hotmama
    4hotmama Posts: 112 Member
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    Look up the OLIVIA method on the board here, it will explain it better to you. Basically 100-200 calories above your BMR is what your should be eating, if you burn over 500 calories(I think) exercise then you eat them back.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Lorina where do I adjust the settings at? I cannot find it? I just found where I can add and subtract what I want to track.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals

    First, go through the "guided" to change it to 1# a week, then go through again on "custom" to adjust for more protein if you want to.
  • anshaw03
    anshaw03 Posts: 22 Member
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    I started on MFP trying to lose 1.5-2 lbs a week-placing me at 1280 calories on a "lightly active" lifestyle. Three weeks in, I had lost absolutely no weight at all and was grumpy and feeling deprived. I upped my cals to 1500-1700 per day -AND VOILA! I feel so much better and I've dropped 2 pounds-I think I underestimated how much I do so I was causing my body to go into starvation mode
  • firefliesmaria
    firefliesmaria Posts: 6
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    hey I to am 5'3 and I weigh 157 I set mine to loose a lb a week I think and I have been counting calories for two weeks almost and I have lost two lbs because we dont have a whole lot of weight to loose it is very hard for us to loose the extra 2o lbs I have been doing alot of cardio but yes you are supposed to eat the cals you burn but most of the time I dont eat that many I try and stick around 1400 to 1500 I seem to be satisfied and not so grouchy I hope this helps a little and good luck with your weight loss!
  • HurrikaneHeather721
    HurrikaneHeather721 Posts: 14
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    Thank you ALL so much! I did not expect such quick replies (or such helpful ones!). I changed my goal to 1 pound a week and it changed my calories to 1,420. That's better! :happy: and it feels much more doable!

    Thanks, again, everyone!!! :flowerforyou:
  • lee3978
    lee3978 Posts: 274
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    Lorina thank you and Hurrikane you can friend me we have the same numbers and can share diary!
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Thank you ALL so much! I did not expect such quick replies (or such helpful ones!). I changed my goal to 1 pound a week and it changed my calories to 1,420. That's better! :happy: and it feels much more doable!

    Thanks, again, everyone!!! :flowerforyou:

    That sounds more like it - and don't forget that if you exercise you get to eat more (and you still lose weight - how good is that?)
  • nixickle
    nixickle Posts: 229 Member
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    Thank you ALL so much! I did not expect such quick replies (or such helpful ones!). I changed my goal to 1 pound a week and it changed my calories to 1,420. That's better! :happy: and it feels much more doable!

    Thanks, again, everyone!!! :flowerforyou:

    And don't be surprised if, like others have said, you do start losing more now that your eating 1420! I stopped doing 1200 about 2 months ago (I was actually coming into maintenance and wanted to slow my weight loss down and all of a sudden I had a surge in weight loss!) now I eat 1500 to lose (net) and 1700 - 1800 to maintain (depending on what I've done that day) and it seems to be working for me.

    Best of luck :-) I hope the 1420 figure works better for you :-)

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