BMR of 1500

amber2521
amber2521 Posts: 32 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
I just figured out that my BMR is 1500. MFP tells me to eat 1200 calories a day (unless i exercise) to lose 2 pounds a week. How is that possible when that is only a 300 calorie deficit?? SOMEONEHELP!

Replies

  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Your BMR is not the calories you burn. Your BMR is the calories you would burn lying in bed all day without moving.

    Even if you are sedentary, you should multiply your BMR by 1.2 to get a guess at daily calorie needs. That gives you 1800.

    MFP won't assign an unhealthy number of calories (lower than 1200), so it will stop at 1200. That's still 600 cal/day deficit or 1.2 lbs/week loss.
  • RestartThisRight
    RestartThisRight Posts: 115
    Is it 1500 before or after you multiply it by your daily activity? Also, MFP will NOT tell you to eat anything less than 1200 because thats unhealthy.
  • amber2521
    amber2521 Posts: 32 Member
    Im so confused. You multiply your BMR? For what? Ugh this is confusing.
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    I asked the same thing yesterday, some one explained it to me like this.

    READ THAT THREAD. BMR & "Maintenance Calories" are two different things. Maintenance is the same as TDEE.

    You cannot lose two pounds a week safely!!!!!!!!!

    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.

    From the MFP BMR calculator page: "Our calculator uses the Mifflin-St. Jeor equations to estimate your BMR which is believed to be more accurate than the more commonly used Harris-Benedict equation."

    These are the Mifflin-St. Jeor equations (weight in kilograms, the height in centimeters, and the age in years):

    Male: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age + 5
    Female: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age - 161

    YOU are responsible for choosing an accurate activity rate. Don't try to speed up the process by choosing "Sedentary" just because it is an option.

    Almost no one is Sedentary. If you care for children at home, or go to school or have ANY type of job, you are not Sedentary. Choose accordingly.
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    Or this one might help you more.



    Your BMR isn't the only number in your energy expenditure. BMR is just the amount of energy your body uses to stay alive - keep your heart beating, cells repairing, lungs pumping etc.

    On top of that you've got to add on extra numbers to account for how active you usually are. This will get you your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

    TDEE is usually calculated as BMR x 1.2 if you're sedentary (or have a sit-down job), BMR x 1.375 if you're lightly active (eg. stand-up and move around all day sort of job), and even higher if you have a very heavy physical job or if you're an athlete in training.

    So if your BMR is 1450 and you have a sit down job you would calculate TDEE as:

    1450 x 1.2 = 1740 calories burned per day.

    Following so far?

    Now let's say you want to lose 1 lb per week. 1 lb is about 3500 calories, so you would need to maintain a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day (500 x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 lb)

    1740 - 500 = you should eat 1240 per day.

    This is if you don't work out.

    If you DO work out. You might figure out that 500 calorie deficit like this:

    Eat 250 cals less per day and burn 250 more cals with a 30-45 minute walk. (250 not eaten + 250 burned = 500 calories deficit)

    So now your day looks like this:

    Eat (1740-250) = 1490 calories.
    Work out until you burn 250 calories.

    Make sense?

    Here's the tricky part, the formulas for calculating BMR, TDEE, and exercise calories burned are all only best guesses. Everyone is different and the body is unfathomably complex so no one equation fits all. So what you have to do is pick a starting point, follow it for a few weeks and see what happens. If you lose then great. If you don't lose then you might need to recalculate the numbers downwards a smidge and try again. If you lose way too fast (and you're sure it's not just water weight) then you might nudge the numbers up.

    Here's the even trickier part. As you lose weight you get smaller you require less calories each day. Smaller bodies take less energy to move around, so not only will you burn gradually less calories for the same workouts, but also less food will be needed to keep you going. So as you lose weight you also have to continually recalculate your numbers to compensate for this too. This is why it's easier to lose weight if you're really heavy than if you're just 20lbs over normal.

    Hope that helps.
  • amber2521
    amber2521 Posts: 32 Member
    Okay, I am lightly active, so i multiplied by 1.375, which said I need 2,100 calories a day. I eat 1200 net calories, So how much weight loss does that put me at per week?
  • almc170
    almc170 Posts: 1,093 Member
    Just make sure your daily calorie intake is above 1500 and below the maintenance number on the goals page. Then be sure to eat your exercise calories. This will ensure that you are losing fat, and not lean body mass, at a healthy rate. It may be less than the 2lbs week that you'd like, but it will be far easier to sustain in the long run.
  • RestartThisRight
    RestartThisRight Posts: 115
    about 1.8 lbs :)
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    Im so confused. You multiply your BMR? For what? Ugh this is confusing.
    Never mind. I can't delete these things. LOL I like my other explanation better.
  • debbiepa
    debbiepa Posts: 45
    Or this one might help you more.



    Your BMR isn't the only number in your energy expenditure. BMR is just the amount of energy your body uses to stay alive - keep your heart beating, cells repairing, lungs pumping etc.

    On top of that you've got to add on extra numbers to account for how active you usually are. This will get you your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

    TDEE is usually calculated as BMR x 1.2 if you're sedentary (or have a sit-down job), BMR x 1.375 if you're lightly active (eg. stand-up and move around all day sort of job), and even higher if you have a very heavy physical job or if you're an athlete in training.

    So if your BMR is 1450 and you have a sit down job you would calculate TDEE as:

    1450 x 1.2 = 1740 calories burned per day.

    Following so far?

    Now let's say you want to lose 1 lb per week. 1 lb is about 3500 calories, so you would need to maintain a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day (500 x 7 days = 3500 calories = 1 lb)

    1740 - 500 = you should eat 1240 per day.

    This is if you don't work out.

    If you DO work out. You might figure out that 500 calorie deficit like this:

    Eat 250 cals less per day and burn 250 more cals with a 30-45 minute walk. (250 not eaten + 250 burned = 500 calories deficit)

    So now your day looks like this:

    Eat (1740-250) = 1490 calories.
    Work out until you burn 250 calories.

    Make sense?

    Here's the tricky part, the formulas for calculating BMR, TDEE, and exercise calories burned are all only best guesses. Everyone is different and the body is unfathomably complex so no one equation fits all. So what you have to do is pick a starting point, follow it for a few weeks and see what happens. If you lose then great. If you don't lose then you might need to recalculate the numbers downwards a smidge and try again. If you lose way too fast (and you're sure it's not just water weight) then you might nudge the numbers up.

    Here's the even trickier part. As you lose weight you get smaller you require less calories each day. Smaller bodies take less energy to move around, so not only will you burn gradually less calories for the same workouts, but also less food will be needed to keep you going. So as you lose weight you also have to continually recalculate your numbers to compensate for this too. This is why it's easier to lose weight if you're really heavy than if you're just 20lbs over normal.

    Hope that helps.
  • debbiepa
    debbiepa Posts: 45
    This is a great explanation-thank you!
  • amber2521
    amber2521 Posts: 32 Member
    thanks everyone :) I think im finally starting to understand!
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    about 1.8 lbs :)

    THIS.
  • CindyRx
    CindyRx Posts: 46 Member
    Great info, thanks!
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    This is a great explanation-thank you!

    I asked this yesterday and this is how it was explained to me. It made me understand better too.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Okay, I am lightly active, so i multiplied by 1.375, which said I need 2,100 calories a day. I eat 1200 net calories, So how much weight loss does that put me at per week?

    You have just worked out your BMR is 1500, and your TDEE is 2100, but you still want to eat 1200 ?

    If you want to have a healthy fat loss you should eat at about 15-20% off your TDEE but not below BMR.
  • brown0928
    brown0928 Posts: 49
    I just got super confused! LOL
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
    If you're BMR is 1500 you are far too small to try and aim for 2lb per week weight loss. It isn't healthy to lose that much nor will it stay off as well as slower weight loss.
  • amber2521
    amber2521 Posts: 32 Member
    i am not aiming for two pounds a week of weight loss, i was asking how much weight loss it will even out too.
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