Confused about BMR?!

Hi Kayleigh...I have been thinking about this same thing too!..Very confusing as if we should be eating our BMR calories then why does MFP tell us to eat 1200??..

Can anyone help?..and explain in the simplest way possible!!..lol

Thanks xxx

BMR is the calories you need to maintain your body when it is at rest, that layed down in a darkened room without noise distraction.

getting up and moving around doing your normal dailey lie burns more, how much more depends on your activity level.

asuming you eat your BMR calories you and don't rest all day you can expect to lose weight as you will have 500-750 calories deficeit depending on activity level and your sex.

Thank you for that web site Helloitsdan. It's very helpful!!

From what I've learned, If you eat your BMR, and don't exercise and have a sedintary lifestyle. You will maintain weight. For SAFE weight loss a calorie deficit of 10 to 20 percent is recommended. It's better to use a percentage because simply eating say a 500 calorie deficit would be different for a person who's BMR is 2400 as compared to a person whos bmr is 1400. 20 % of 1400 is 280 calories leaving 1120. IF the same person ate a 500 calorie deficit for instance, iyou would be eating 900 calories which is greater than a 60% deficit. That is bad. I've always heard it's best to figure your deficit as a percentage of BMR.

Now activity factor. If your exercising, you are burning more so to stay in a 20 percent per se calorie deficit you must eat more than BMR depending on activity level.. It's all about metabolism and body function. The body works best when you feed it an optimal amount of calories according to your lifestyle. It can tolerate a calorie deficit to a certain extent but not too much.

Think of it this way, would you drive your car with 30-40% less oil, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid than is necessary for teh car to function properly? It would run for awhile, but eventually it IS going to break down. Operating teh same car with 10 - 20% less fluids is going give better performance for longer but still not absolutely perfect. All fluids in your car must be filled to proper levels for optimal performance, this is the bodies equivalent of BMR. We can lose weight in a deficit for a period of time sometimes a long time, but we can't diet in a deficit forever, you'll crash eventually one way or another. If you keep your deficit to the 10-20% range, your car will run a good long time like that, LOL

Anyway, that's the best way I can explain it. Hope this helps.

To clarify:

by joejvcca71 in this thread:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510406-tdee-is-everything

1. BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): This is the amount of calories you need to consume to maintain your body if you were comatose (base level).

2. NEAT (Non-Exercise Associated Thermogenesis): The calorie of daily activity that is NOT exercise (eg: washing, walking, talking, shopping, working). ie: INCIDENTAL EXERCISE! It is something that everyone has a good amount of control over & it is the MOST important factor in your energy expenditure. It is what helps keep 'constitutionally lean' people LEAN (they fidget)!

3. EAT (Exercise Associated Thermogenesis): The calorie requirements associated with planned exercise. Unless someone is doing a whole heap of exercise (eg: two or more hrs training a day) it usually doesn't add a stack of calories to your requirements (30 minutes of 'elliptical training isn't going to do it')

4. TEF (Thermic effect of feeding): The calorie expenditure associated with eating. REGARDLESS of what myths you have been told - this is NOT dependent on MEAL FREQUENCY. It is a % of TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED (and 15% of 3 x 600 cal meals is the same as 15% of 6 x 300 cal meals). It varies according to MACRONUTRIENT content and FIBER content. For most mixed diets, it is something around 15%. Protein is higher (up to 25%), carbs are variable (between 5-25%), and fats are low (usually less than 5%). So -> More protein and more carbs and more fiber = HIGHER TEF. More FAT = LOWER TEF.

5. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expedenture): Total calories burned. BMR + NEAT + EAT + TEF = TDEE

From what I've learned, If you eat your BMR, and don't exercise and have a sedintary lifestyle. You will maintain weight.

That's not right. BMR is what you burn in a comatose like state. A sedentary lifestyle is an activity factor of 1.2.

1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise + desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Little daily activity & light exercise 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderately active daily life & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

BMR x AF = Maintenance, which is what you burn on a daily basis with all your activities and you should, in theory, maintain your weight on that. You usually need to adjust up or down 100-200 cals.

Casper Dan got it right. The only thing I'd change is the macro percentages if you lift any weights at all. 40% Protein, 30% Carbs, 30% Fat. I don't really like setting macros as a percentage and I'd personally figure my macros this way.

.8 - 1g Protein / lbs. bodyweight
.4 - .45g Fat / lbs. bodyweight
Leftover is carbs.

Thanks for pointing out my oversight, I'm suffering from an early morning brain fade and poor choice of terminology. As far as a percentage, I don't belive in setting macro percentage ratios either, My suggestion of percentages was in reference to caloric surplus and deficit only. Thanks for keeping me in line!

From what I've learned, If you eat your BMR, and don't exercise and have a sedintary lifestyle. You will maintain weight.

That's not right. BMR is what you burn in a comatose like state. A sedentary lifestyle is an activity factor of 1.2.

1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise + desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Little daily activity & light exercise 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderately active daily life & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

BMR x AF = Maintenance, which is what you burn on a daily basis with all your activities and you should, in theory, maintain your weight on that. You usually need to adjust up or down 100-200 cals.

Casper Dan got it right. The only thing I'd change is the macro percentages if you lift any weights at all. 40% Protein, 30% Carbs, 30% Fat. I don't really like setting macros as a percentage and I'd personally figure my macros this way.

.8 - 1g Protein / lbs. bodyweight
.4 - .45g Fat / lbs. bodyweight
Leftover is carbs.

Right. His suggestions at the end are minimums and assume you are in relatively good shape. Someone significantly overweight should use lean body mass as a guideline, not total body weight.

My new gym does testing for this. I am getting it done next week and I can't wait!

You read so many different ways of figuring things out but I do believe that testing is the one truly accurate way to find out

I am THAT person.
Sub BMR, and gaining. Not sure how to correct it and get my metab burning again.
Anyone?

Someone significantly overweight should use lean body mass as a guideline, not total body weight.

Yes, I completely agree.

Everybody is different, which means the formulas used to calculate all this aren't going to be 100% accurate. My advice for anyone is to figure out your maintenance before even worrying about losing weight. Eat what the formulas give you as your maintenance for a week or two, if you don't gain or lose weight, you've found your maintenance. If you lose weight add 100-200 cals, if you gain subtract 100-200 cals. It can be a long process if you don't have the patience for it, but it shouldn't take longer than a month. That's the only way you're going to find your true personal maintenance calories.

MFP tries to simplify all this, but honestly I think they are undercutting on calories with their default system.