bmr and tdee

bfbooty
bfbooty Posts: 189 Member
edited December 18 in Health and Weight Loss
sorry I know this is asked all the time but I just can't get my head around it I am confused between the 2 and not sure how to work our what cals I should be eating I think I've hit a plateau

I used http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
to work out my bmr which is really high it's prob what I was eating before I started to diet and obviously was gaining weight not losing

Have no clue how to work out the tdee I had not even heard of it before I read it on this site.

can anyone give me a quick easy to understand explanation I'm a bit stoooopid

Replies

  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    BMR is (more or less) the calories you need just to stay alive.
    TDEE is the number of calories you burn each day staying alive PLUS walking around, doing things in the house or at work etc. Some calculators include exercise in this number, but MFP doesn't include exercise here.

    Don't overthink the numbers - put your data into MFP, choose a realistic weight loss (ie. if you only have 15 pounds to lose, choose "lose 1/2 pound per week" not "2 pounds per week".)

    Eat the calories MFP recommends plus any cals you burn through extra exercise (stuff like going to the gym that you don't include in your regular daily activity level).

    Try this for a month and see how it works for you, if you need to change things then, you have a good baseline to work from.
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
    the numbers in the chart are the TDEE for your GOAL weight, and the number of calories you should eat to lose.
    To get your current TDEE, multiply the relevant chart number by 1.2
  • ChasingSweatandTears
    ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
    BMR is (more or less) the calories you need just to stay alive.
    TDEE is the number of calories you burn each day staying alive PLUS walking around, doing things in the house or at work etc. Some calculators include exercise in this number, but MFP doesn't include exercise here.

    Don't overthink the numbers - put your data into MFP, choose a realistic weight loss (ie. if you only have 15 pounds to lose, choose "lose 1/2 pound per week" not "2 pounds per week".)

    Eat the calories MFP recommends plus any cals you burn through extra exercise (stuff like going to the gym that you don't include in your regular daily activity level).

    Try this for a month and see how it works for you, if you need to change things then, you have a good baseline to work from.

    The problem I have is that when I've done just as youve described... MFP has me eating 1200 cals a day, which is UNDER my BMR. :/ So is the program flawed or what am I doing wrong?
  • AEJhoi
    AEJhoi Posts: 36
    I am was also eating 1200 calories and I even gained 0.4 kg (! pound) any (only tried one week, have to admit) so then I increased it and ate atleast my BMR (which is about 200 calories more) and ate some of the calories from exercising. I think I was at a daily intake of calories from about 1400-1700, depending on the day, and I tried that for a week and I am now 0.7 kg (about 1.5 lbs) below my initial weight (so i lost about 1.1 kg in total)
    I was also surprised by the result because in my weekly summary in the first week I had eaten way less calories. So for me it really helped eating atleast my BMR and besides that, its not even that much more than the 1200 calories probably, so it's worth a try!
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    BMR is (more or less) the calories you need just to stay alive.
    TDEE is the number of calories you burn each day staying alive PLUS walking around, doing things in the house or at work etc. Some calculators include exercise in this number, but MFP doesn't include exercise here.

    Don't overthink the numbers - put your data into MFP, choose a realistic weight loss (ie. if you only have 15 pounds to lose, choose "lose 1/2 pound per week" not "2 pounds per week".)

    Eat the calories MFP recommends plus any cals you burn through extra exercise (stuff like going to the gym that you don't include in your regular daily activity level).

    Try this for a month and see how it works for you, if you need to change things then, you have a good baseline to work from.

    The problem I have is that when I've done just as youve described... MFP has me eating 1200 cals a day, which is UNDER my BMR. :/ So is the program flawed or what am I doing wrong?

    The program is a calculator - it will do the maths with the info you have entered.

    Did you enter your activity level accurately? (most people AREN'T sedentary).
    What weight loss goal did you choose per week? Did you try it with "lose 1/2 pound per week"?
    Do you exercise regularly? Remember that if you are using MFP to calculate your numbers it doesn't make any allowance for the extra energy needed when exercising so you need to add on those calories too.
  • bfbooty
    bfbooty Posts: 189 Member
    I set my activity level as lightly active and to lose 1.5lb a week I have 75lb more to lose and mfp has me at 1350 which is fine I add 250 cals to that for breast feeding and I usually eat most of those cals but rarely eat my exercise cals as in honesty just not hungry for them, I eat if I am hungry I have lost 11lb doing it this way in 5 weeks and nothing the last week so not sure if I should be eating more or less or if just a bad week? I prob average around 1600 cals a day so I am not staving myself my any means
  • Taffyali
    Taffyali Posts: 17
    I set my activity level as lightly active and to lose 1.5lb a week I have 75lb more to lose and mfp has me at 1350 which is fine I add 250 cals to that for breast feeding and I usually eat most of those cals but rarely eat my exercise cals as in honesty just not hungry for them, I eat if I am hungry I have lost 11lb doing it this way in 5 weeks and nothing the last week so not sure if I should be eating more or less or if just a bad week? I prob average around 1600 cals a day so I am not staving myself my any means

    You've had great progress so far and have lost more than the predicted 1.5lb per week. This week's weigh in result could be down to a number of factors ... hormones, sodium ... just one of those things.

    Sounds like you are on track to me and shouldn't worry about this one week. Keep going, you're doing great!
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