Confused abot Basal Metabolic rates and my calorie allowance

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Anita16696
Anita16696 Posts: 3
in Motivation and Support
According to this programme I need 1560 calories a day just to lie in bed and survive, yet when giving my age weight hight etc I have been alotted only 1400 calories a day. Surely this means that my body will go into starvation mode and hoard any caloriea taken in!
Can someone please help this confused woman?
Thank you
Anita

Replies

  • gemiwing
    gemiwing Posts: 1,525 Member
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    Hi Anita. MFP calculates your BMR, then subtracts calories so you'll be in a deficit and lose weight. The deal is that when you exercise- you get to eat those calories back, thus preserving your deficit and promoting weight loss.

    Hope that helps.
  • pinkydemon
    pinkydemon Posts: 135 Member
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    But what if I don't excercise or say I do excercise 3 days a week - that means I can eat "normal" on 3 days but eat 4 days under my BMR - I am confused as well at this at the moment because as I get it right it is not so good to eat under your BMR
  • gemiwing
    gemiwing Posts: 1,525 Member
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    But what if I don't excercise or say I do excercise 3 days a week - that means I can eat "normal" on 3 days but eat 4 days under my BMR - I am confused as well at this at the moment because as I get it right it is not so good to eat under your BMR

    When you log your exercises- your calorie numbers on your food journal increase- the deficit still remains.

    Example-
    BMR 2000 cals
    MFP 1500 cals (eat every day no matter what)
    Monday exercise- 200 cals. Your diary will up itself by 200 cals. the 500 calorie deficit is still programmed in so you are not eating 'normal' you are simply eating exercise calories. Because- you BURNED the calories during exercise so they are not 'free and included' like they would have been if you didn't work out.

    MFP is set up where for most people, the deficit will not harm you. It's when people try to make the deficit even bigger that they tend to run into trouble. I would take a month or two- let MFP guide you and see how that goes. There will always be time to tweak your program.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    According to this programme I need 1560 calories a day just to lie in bed and survive, yet when giving my age weight hight etc I have been alotted only 1400 calories a day. Surely this means that my body will go into starvation mode and hoard any caloriea taken in!
    Can someone please help this confused woman?
    Thank you
    Anita
    if you set your goal to lose 2 lbs a week that could be why you were given calories below your bmr.. usually when you choose 1 pound or less youll be right around your bmr... i manually changed mine .
    however, you wont go into starvation mode from eating 1400 calories, i ate under my bmr for a while and there was no hoarding of calories :)
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
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    Your body won't go into starvation mode eating 1400 calories a day.
  • RAFValentina
    RAFValentina Posts: 1,231 Member
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    Your body as said above will not go in to starvation node, it will just use some of the spare energy on you (i.e that fat you want to lose) to "fund" the energy deficit it requires, hence you lose weight!

    It's not particularly low.
    Why do you think some people eat 1200 kCal and still lose weight successfully(although I am one of those who think that it is an arbitrary number that only applies to an "average" person at best, and most of us are not. We're taller/shorter/fatter/thinner/lazier/more active etc.

    Chill out relax. MFP generally knows what it's doing when calculating so long as you have been true and accurate with the variables that you have input and it requires.

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