What exactly is your BMR??

That is the amount of calories your body needs to function at rest. You should never, or very rarely go below this number as it will slow your motabilism down, and you will have a lack of energy.

BMR=basal metabolic rate, the bare minimum you need to survive without activity (like no activity. . .think a coma)

TDEE=total daily energy expenditure, or what MFP calls "maintenance calories", figuring in your normal daily activity. To figure a weight loss deficit, MFP subtracts from this number.

I find if I didn't eat at least my BMR, my weight loss stalled and I felt terrible.:flowerforyou:

viviakay -

my BMR is 1542, but mfp has me set at 1580 cals. I usually end up eating around 1800 or so with exercise cals.......does this sound about right or am I eating too much?

BMR=basal metabolic rate, the bare minimum you need to survive without activity (like no activity. . .think a coma)

TDEE=total daily energy expenditure, or what MFP calls "maintenance calories", figuring in your normal daily activity. To figure a weight loss deficit, MFP subtracts from this number.

I find if I didn't eat at least my BMR, my weight loss stalled and I felt terrible.:flowerforyou:

viviakay -

my BMR is 1542, but mfp has me set at 1580 cals. I usually end up eating around 1800 or so with exercise cals.......does this sound about right or am I eating too much?

I'll answer your question with a question. . . are you losing?

Depending on your level of exercise, that sounds about right. MFP is a very accurate guide on this, so if you're honest about your current level of activity (sedentary, lightly active, etc.) it steers very, very well. But, all things are just rough estimates, so the best gauge is whether or not you're dropping weight. :flowerforyou:

Example:

My BMR is 1,453. If I were to stay in bed and sleep all day my body will burn 1453 calories.
MFP put my intake goal at a net of 1,280. This means I want to consume less calories than my body naturally burns. After everything I eat all day and all the exercise is calculated if I want to lose weight I should be under that 1,453 marker. MFP optimized the 1,280 marker to establish a hopeful weight loss rate of 1 lb per week.

NOTE: Check your BMI (in the tools section). MFP will set your diet plan to put you in the average area. If you are already in the average area you should not be actively trying to lose weight and I doubt MFP will help you to reach that underweight area.

BMR=basal metabolic rate, the bare minimum you need to survive without activity (like no activity. . .think a coma)

TDEE=total daily energy expenditure, or what MFP calls "maintenance calories", figuring in your normal daily activity. To figure a weight loss deficit, MFP subtracts from this number.

I find if I didn't eat at least my BMR, my weight loss stalled and I felt terrible.:flowerforyou:

viviakay -

my BMR is 1542, but mfp has me set at 1580 cals. I usually end up eating around 1800 or so with exercise cals.......does this sound about right or am I eating too much?

I'll answer your question with a question. . . are you losing?

Depending on your level of exercise, that sounds about right. MFP is a very accurate guide on this, so if you're honest about your current level of activity (sedentary, lightly active, etc.) it steers very, very well. But, all things are just rough estimates, so the best gauge is whether or not you're dropping weight. :flowerforyou:

I am not losing. I fluctuate from 163.8 to 162.0 depending on how much water I drink. I am seeing tiny drops in my measurements, but not what I was hoping for after working at this for almost 2 months. I know that it will be slow, but I am not really seeing anything. I am wondering if I need to tweak my calorie intake, but just not sure if I should go up or down. :grumble:

This is a very common problem I see on MFP. It's mainly because there's no instruction manual that comes with weight loss.

When you are close to your ideal weight or at it, weight loss will be slow, very slow, you're talking a pound or two a month being the average.

As far as BMR goes, someone who is 13 lbs from maintenance, should probably be above their BMR calories, and generally, if you have a healthy metabolism, then yes, usually you should be eating your exercise calories. Are there cases where that's too much? Sure, but they are the exception that proves the rule, not the rule itself. NOTE that if you have been eating less than your BMR for a while, expect to gain a few pounds if you go up, that's normal, your body takes time to readjust. Let this happen, soon enough your body will turn the corner and start losing again, this time with the correct number of calories that will allow you to stay at the healthy weight for life!

What happens sometimes is people "set" a new maintenance calorie level for their body by eating below their maintenance for so long their body accepts this lower calorie amount as the new maintenance. Which means the estimates that MFP gives are off for them. This isn't a good thing, for your body to accept less calories it means that it's slowing down it's metabolism in areas, whether that be hormone production, or certain (non-vital) organs to do this depends on the person, but generally that's what happens.
There are a couple of cases where this doesn't hold true, first being people who are obese, where there is so much extra energy around, the body doesn't recognize the drastic deficit until far later on in the process, allowing you to burn much extra fat without jeopardizing your body (NOTE, this is why Biggest Loser contestants can be on such calorie restrictive diets and still lose tons of weight). But take note, eventually this catches up with your body, so once you are out of that high fat zone, you must adjust.
The second case is people with specific metabolic syndrome conditions, like a thyroid condition, blood condition, diabetes, or some other hormonal issue that can slow the metabolism, if this is the case then this forum isn't the place to seek advice, it's still ok to be here for support and help, but a doctor should be your first line of attack for this case.

I'm sorry for the length of this, but its a topic that begs more than just a simple one or two line answer.