BMR vs. Maintaince calories

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thirtyandthriving
thirtyandthriving Posts: 613 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So a little confused. When I configure my BMR using the BMR calculator it says that I need 1566 calories. When I change my settings to maintenance at sedentary activity level it gives me a number of 1900+.

I am not maintaining, I was just playing around with it. However, shouldn't those number be the same??

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  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    BMR is what your body uses if you don't even roll out of bed one day, or if you're in a coma in the hospital. It's e absolute baseline of what your body uses for staying alive and maintaining your weight if you do not do anything at all. Maintenance calories are different, that is calculated by taking your BMR (absolute baseline) and multiplying it by a number that corresponds to your activity leve. Even set at sedentary, it still takes additional energy for your body to go about a normal day where you don't just lay in bed and do nothing. That is why maintenance calories are higher than BMR. The only people that would have maintenance equal to BMR would be people who are completely bedridden and incaple of any exercise or daily activity outside of bed.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    Yes, they are the same if you're in a coma. Possibly even if you're just bed-bound. I'm guessing you aren't?
  • thirtyandthriving
    thirtyandthriving Posts: 613 Member
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    I see. Thanks. Just wondering. No, not bed bound, but I think maybe that should an option for our morbidly obese MFP's that are...
  • thirtyandthriving
    thirtyandthriving Posts: 613 Member
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    Question number 2....Why does my ticker say zero?!?!?! I just realized this.

    never mind. Fixed it.
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    At Maintenance you will have a target which is commonly known as TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), which is BMR times a factor based on how active you are.

    While you are losing weight you will be eating TDEE - 500 (for a 1lb a week loss).......

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