So confused about calories
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JeanniebeanL79
Posts: 96 Member
I was just reading a recent post where someone said that your calorie intake should't be less than your BMR. So I went and calculated and it says mine is 1,493 but my calorie goal is 1200! I am so confused on what the right thing to do is to lose weight. I make sure I get the 1200 and always eat back some but not all of my exercise calories. I looked at my diary from the past week and only twice did I go over the 1493 mark. Is that a possible reason that I haven't lost anything this week? BAH!
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Replies
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I'm trying to figure out the same thing! I did not lose this week, but instead gained and I was so good, i worked so hard!!!!!0
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Hopefully someone can help us out! Feel free to friend me, maybe we can help eachother!0
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How many pounds a week are you trying to lose? Bottom line, if your body does not have enough calories to function, it won't burn anything extra. I know MFP is saying 1200. You should be exercising, so if our BMR is 1493, you eat 1493 but burn enough calories to make your net 1200. So you need to burn 293 calories to have a net of 1200.0
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1200 is too low for most people. I can't say for you since you didn't give us much info on yourself and your diary is closed, but MFP just spits out 1200 as a default if you put in 2 lbs per week loss. Depending on your current size and how much you have to lose you may need to eat more to fuel your body properly.0
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I weigh 179 and am 5'3". Trying to lose about 45 more pounds. I think I put I wanted to lose 2 pounds a week. I have exercised everyday but 2 days. And I will go to settings and open my diary! Thanks for the imput!0
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A good rule of thumb is that if you consume 500 calories less a day then you consume you will lose about 1 pound per week.0
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Your BMR is how much energy your body would use if you stayed in bed all day and didn't move - basically in a coma. What does your intuition tell you then about consuming less energy than this (assuming that you're NOT in a coma, and at least got up today to brush your teeth....)0
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Most likely the reason MFP gives you 1200 calories is because you chose a weekly weight loss goal that was too aggressive. Try changing your goal, if you are set at 2lbs/week try 1.5.0
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I'm trying to figure out the same thing! I did not lose this week, but instead gained and I was so good, i worked so hard!!!!!
With only 10lbs to lose your weekly weight loss goal should be set at 0.5lbs/week, and you should eat back what you burn. If your deficit is larger than that you risk burning a large % of lean muscle instead of fat.
here is a guide for setting safe and healthy weekly weight loss goals:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
You may be able to find a lot of your answers to questions here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/457-unofficial-mfp-faq0 -
MFP set my goal to 1,200, too. I did that for a month and didn't lose a thing. Seriously. Not an ounce. Then I had a couple weeks where I didn't behave very well. I lost a few pounds. Then I calculated my BMR and mine is 1,453. So now I don't eat less than that. I guess I can't say that I have a lot of success - I still am not really losing much for weight (really, nothing at this point), but I'm also just finished 30 Day Shred and I did lose inches, so there is change a-happenin'. Now I'm in Ripped in 30, but if I haven't lost anything by this following weekend I think I will look at eating my exercise calories back. Maybe that will make a difference. Feel free to friend me if you want - I totally understand the struggle you are dealing with!0
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I'm trying to figure out the same thing! I did not lose this week, but instead gained and I was so good, i worked so hard!!!!!
With only 10lbs to lose your weekly weight loss goal should be set at 0.5lbs/week, and you should eat back what you burn. If your deficit is larger than that you risk burning a large % of lean muscle instead of fat.
here is a guide for setting safe and healthy weekly weight loss goals:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
You may be able to find a lot of your answers to questions here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/457-unofficial-mfp-faq
thanks - i am specifically trying to make sure i'm eating enough, so this is helpful. i did originally start out w/ .5 lbs as my goal - as it is MFP won't let me go below .8 lbs loss a week. i do want to lose more than 10 lbs eventually, but 10 lbs is my starting goal. When I get to 125, I want to reassess and then go in 5 lb increments from there, mainly focusing on toning and measurements - not necessarily on lbs.
I did a TDEE calculator and it says that I should be netting about 1248 cals a day according to my activity levels, which pretty much matches what MFP is saying for .5 lbs a day...0 -
MFP set my goal to 1,200, too. I did that for a month and didn't lose a thing. Seriously. Not an ounce. Then I had a couple weeks where I didn't behave very well. I lost a few pounds. Then I calculated my BMR and mine is 1,453. So now I don't eat less than that. I guess I can't say that I have a lot of success - I still am not really losing much for weight (really, nothing at this point), but I'm also just finished 30 Day Shred and I did lose inches, so there is change a-happenin'. Now I'm in Ripped in 30, but if I haven't lost anything by this following weekend I think I will look at eating my exercise calories back. Maybe that will make a difference. Feel free to friend me if you want - I totally understand the struggle you are dealing with!
I would think that you should eat at least half of your exercise calories back...
If I were to go based off my BMR, i should be eating 1382 cals a day. If I were to burn about 400 a day, that would only net me at just under 1,000 a day, which is at least 200 -300 less than what I should be at according to my TDEE stats above.
It seems no matter which method I choose, they all pretty much put me between 1200 - 1300 NET calories a day.... so I am where I should be, just the scale isn't moving!0 -
BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.0 -
BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.
100% wrong. Your BMR is not the same as maintenance calories, maintenance calories are always higher as BMR is your maintenance if you were in a coma (if you didn't move or eat, or sit) eating your BMR as your net caloric intake is a safe and effective way to lose weight.
To see your maintenance calories go to goal and look at the top right, calories burned from normal activity (they should be at least 250 calories, but usually more, higher than your BMR.0 -
BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.
100% wrong. Your BMR is not the same as maintenance calories, maintenance calories are always higher as BMR is your maintenance if you were in a coma (if you didn't move or eat, or sit) eating your BMR as your net caloric intake is a safe and effective way to lose weight.
To see your maintenance calories go to goal and look at the top right, calories burned from normal activity (they should be at least 250 calories, but usually more, higher than your BMR.
So do you think that my thinking is correct?
My BMR is 1382
My TDEE is 1760
I am going to aim for 1200 - 1300 net calories a day.0 -
BMR is your basal metabolic rate. BMR calculates your daily caloric needs to maintain current weight with no activity level. As someone stated, if you laid in bed or sat on the couch all day and really didn't move (I'm not sure coma is a good example because your organs might not function at capacity at this level). This BMR calculation is based on four things. Weight, Height, Age, and Gender. Men are leaner than women so metabolize food faster. Age- As you get older your body's metabolism decreases so this would decrease your BMR (by a little). Height and weight are being used to get an idea of your overall body fat composition because the leaner you are the higher your metabolism, thus higher BMR.
Beyond BMR you want to calculate in what "activity level" you have on a typical day-to-day level (like work, or school). This is known as the Harris-Benedict equation. Many have heard of this. MFP's equations are including this. That's why it asks you.
Sedentary: x1.2
Light Excercise x1.375 (MFP calls it Lightly Active)
Moderate: x1.55 (MFP calls Active)
Heavy: x1.725 (MFP calls Very Active)
Very Heavy: x1.9 (not in MFP)
This combined gives you your daily calorie needs to maintain. 1 lb. is 3500 calories so as someone already correctly stated, 500 cal deficit per day would lose you 3500 a week = 1 lb. 1000 calorie deficit for 2 lbs. per week. This is widely considered the maximum safest amount before you will start losing too much muscle mass (and very few people want that).
Here's the thing though. If you're calculating in your "activity level" by including the exercising you are doing and then ALSO calculating all your excercises, your calorie numbers will be too high because you are essentially double counting excercise. I think many people over-estimate this number. ONLY count your normal work-day in the "activity" section. Exercising, sports, etc. should be counted separately. In other words, if you're like me and have a desk job, you would choose sedentary, even if you work out hard 7 days a week. Because you calculate those separately. By choosing too high of an activity level you can clearly see how quickly your calories shoot up! So pick activity level conservatively. If you have a clerical, desk job, are a student, etc. you'd choose sedentary. Store workers, restaurant servers, etc. could choose Lightly Active. Blue collar labor workers would choose Active or Very Active (very few should choose this).
My personal example: My BMR is about 2100. I'm sedentary office worker so I'm about 2500 BMR+activity. So 2500 is my base. MFP calculates this accurately. If I choose to lose 2lbs a week it will calculate that I need a 1,000 calorie deficit per week which it does, so it puts me at 1500 calories NET per day. I track all calories and all exercise so as I exercise my NET will go up by that amount. The goal is to have my calorie intake right around this calculated net. This will keep me at a 1,000 calorie deficit.0 -
BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.
100% wrong. Your BMR is not the same as maintenance calories, maintenance calories are always higher as BMR is your maintenance if you were in a coma (if you didn't move or eat, or sit) eating your BMR as your net caloric intake is a safe and effective way to lose weight.
To see your maintenance calories go to goal and look at the top right, calories burned from normal activity (they should be at least 250 calories, but usually more, higher than your BMR.
So do you think that my thinking is correct?
My BMR is 1382
My TDEE is 1760
I am going to aim for 1200 - 1300 net calories a day.
If you only have the 10 to lose that your ticker shows I would use BMR as your net, if you have more than that you may be able to get away with lower, but I would not suggest it.0 -
BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.
100% wrong. Your BMR is not the same as maintenance calories, maintenance calories are always higher as BMR is your maintenance if you were in a coma (if you didn't move or eat, or sit) eating your BMR as your net caloric intake is a safe and effective way to lose weight.
To see your maintenance calories go to goal and look at the top right, calories burned from normal activity (they should be at least 250 calories, but usually more, higher than your BMR.
So do you think that my thinking is correct?
My BMR is 1382
My TDEE is 1760
I am going to aim for 1200 - 1300 net calories a day.
If you only have the 10 to lose that your ticker shows I would use BMR as your net, if you have more than that you may be able to get away with lower, but I would not suggest it.
ok, thanks. so you think that i am not losing because MFP has me set too low then? i want to lose 10 for sure... at 125 i may just want to tone up and not necessarily lose.0 -
Also remember that your number may vary-- so choose one that's around your BMR and see if it works. If after a month you're not seeing results then you can try increasing it or decreasing it. It's kind of trial and error until you figure out what works for you.0
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BMR = # calories you need to MAINTAIN your current weight....if you want to lose weight....
If your target is to lose weight, your daily calorie intake should be reduced. One pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. If you have a daily allowance of 2500 calories, but reduce your intake to 2000, you can achieve the weight loss of 1lb per week.
100% wrong. Your BMR is not the same as maintenance calories, maintenance calories are always higher as BMR is your maintenance if you were in a coma (if you didn't move or eat, or sit) eating your BMR as your net caloric intake is a safe and effective way to lose weight.
To see your maintenance calories go to goal and look at the top right, calories burned from normal activity (they should be at least 250 calories, but usually more, higher than your BMR.
So do you think that my thinking is correct?
My BMR is 1382
My TDEE is 1760
I am going to aim for 1200 - 1300 net calories a day.
If you only have the 10 to lose that your ticker shows I would use BMR as your net, if you have more than that you may be able to get away with lower, but I would not suggest it.
ok, thanks. so you think that i am not losing because MFP has me set too low then? i want to lose 10 for sure... at 125 i may just want to tone up and not necessarily lose.
It could be. Maybe try upping your caloires by 100 and stay at that intake for 3-4 weeks, if no change, then up it by another 100 or so.0
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