I don't believe in the BMR thing. Anyone else?

JohnnyKitty
JohnnyKitty Posts: 117 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It says I burn 1,450 calories at a sedentary lifestyle, but I feel as if I burn waaaaay less than that.
How can it take your weight and height or whatever and tell you accurately how many calories you burn daily?
I really don't get how that works... lol
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Replies

  • Lauren8239
    Lauren8239 Posts: 1,039 Member
    You might be interested in getting a fitbit. I burn over 2000 cals per day without exercising. That's with sitting at a desk all day. So you're probably burning a lot more than you think.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    It's hard to take you seriously when you end it with "lol".

    How would you know how much you burn? You think you can tell by your feelings?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    it's based on studies of groups of people, then they do a curve fit or make an equation to get the best fit to the results.

    Usually when the equations are tested there are 70% of people within about 10% either side of the predicted value - it isn't precise. The more "extreme" you are in terms of height or weigh the less accurate it is likely to be. It may not work brilliantly for youngsters either.

    On the lifestyle front, perhaps you are more active than "sedentary".
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    How can you "feel" how much you're burning?
  • KNarrainen
    KNarrainen Posts: 135 Member
    Your body does a lot of work, even when you think you are doing nothing.

    Blood gets pumped by the heart, lungs take oxygen into you, the brain contiually processes everything that is going on that you are aware of, and a whole lot more.

    Think of the calories as the batteries your body needs, anything that is plugged in or uses batteries, uses energy the whole time it is looking like it's not doing much, your body is the same, but a whole lot more complicated.

    As someone else said, there is a lot of reasearch done to get those numbers, do you really have a good reason for not believing it?
  • opus649
    opus649 Posts: 633 Member
    it's based on studies of groups of people, then they do a curve fit or make an equation to get the best fit to the results.

    Usually when the equations are tested there are 70% of people within about 10% either side of the predicted value - it isn't precise. The more "extreme" you are in terms of height or weigh the less accurate it is likely to be. It may not work brilliantly for youngsters either.

    On the lifestyle front, perhaps you are more active than "sedentary".

    As usual, he beat me to it. Yarwell is 100% correct.

    If you really want to determine your caloric needs, accurately track every single thing you eat or drink for a month and weigh yourself every day. After a month, if you are the exact same weight, the average number of calories you eat per day will be your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If your weight goes up, you're eating at a surplus. If your weight goes down, you're eating a deficit.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    How can you "feel" how much you're burning?

    IT BURNS!!
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    You don't believe in science?
  • Scott613
    Scott613 Posts: 2,317 Member
    You don't believe in science?
    I believe in Bro science!
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    You don't believe in science?

    to be fair to the young lady at least 25% of the population are outside of the +/- 10% accuracy limit of the BMR estimate equations.

    They go particularly wrong if they are used for very heavy people and the equation considers only weight - it was probably developed from a set of Italian conscripts in the 1930s !
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,010 Member
    There's a really simple solution for this.....Weigh yourself......eat the same amount of cals per day for a month....weight yourself again....If you've gained weight cut calories....If you've lost weight add calories......repeat.....When you go a month without gaining or losing weight you know your TDEE. (which is what you are really looking for)
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    It says I burn 1,450 calories at a sedentary lifestyle, but I feel as if I burn waaaaay less than that.
    How can it take your weight and height or whatever and tell you accurately how many calories you burn daily?
    I really don't get how that works... lol

    So you say you don't believe in the BMR thing, but then you don't know how it works and challenge the science behind it?

    Mind = blown
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Since the online calculators don't do any kind of actual test, it would just be an average of what persons of your gender, age, height and weight burn. It may or may not be what you burn, but it's probably as close a guesstimate as you are going to get.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    It says I burn 1,450 calories at a sedentary lifestyle, but I feel as if I burn waaaaay less than that.
    How can it take your weight and height or whatever and tell you accurately how many calories you burn daily?
    I really don't get how that works... lol

    I take it with several grains of salt. It's an estimate based on assumptions that are not true for everyone. The only way to get a really accurate reading is to get tested in a lab.

    At the end of the day, you have to use your own judgment.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    BMR calculators are guesstimates. Find out your actual burn with a device such as bodybugg, or you can try logging your caloric intake and tracking your weight gains or loses over the course of a month. Then adjust your intake accordingly.
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,576 Member
    There's a really simple solution for this.....Weigh yourself......eat the same amount of cals per day for a month....weight yourself again....If you've gained weight cut calories....If you've lost weight add calories......repeat.....When you go a month without gaining or losing weight you know your TDEE. (which is what you are really looking for)


    but....but.....STARVATION MODE!!!!
  • TrophyWifeSass
    TrophyWifeSass Posts: 490 Member
    How can you "feel" how much you're burning?

    IT BURNS!!

    I think you can meds for the burn Rock.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Learn how to calculate it for yourself....

    http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    You don't believe in science?

    to be fair to the young lady at least 25% of the population are outside of the +/- 10% accuracy limit of the BMR estimate equations.

    They go particularly wrong if they are used for very heavy people and the equation considers only weight - it was probably developed from a set of Italian conscripts in the 1930s !

    Thanks. In regard to the statement you quoted, "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

    What's funny to me is the amount of rancor and dismissiveness here seems to be in direct relation to the level of ignorance. A lot of people here don't even know what they don't know.
  • downsizinghoss
    downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 Member
    they make a couple of creams that can help with the burning sensation. Over application will increase your TDEE though.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    It's not accurate, but it's a close enough guess for most people. There are *some* people who are outside the boundary. If anything, though, due to your high level of physical activity you probably have a fair amount of muscle, so I'd not assume that you're lower.

    If you really want some personalized help for your specific issues, why not ask your skating coach to recommend a sports nutritionist? Most of them have experience working with people who need to maintain high levels of physical activity and drop a few pounds.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 549 Member
    I don't believe the online calculators. I had a body fat % test done and they gave me a BMR and it didn't match the online ones - I believe that one though as they had more info.
  • FitMama2013
    FitMama2013 Posts: 913 Member
    I *thought* I was sedentary because I have a desk job...and then I got a body media fit which shows I burn an average of 2,900 calories per day. Not as sedentary as I thought...so, you may be in the same boat as me where you are underestimating how active you are.
  • jallen1955
    jallen1955 Posts: 121


    How would you know how much you burn? You think you can tell by your feelings?

    If you want a precise bmr measurement, go have your bodyfat and VO2 intake measured.
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    I don't trust the BMR calculators online either. Mine comes out to around 1500 online but the professional BMR I had done came to 1710
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
    I burn about 1,800 calories a day doing nothing all day long. My BMR is supposedly 1,085. I lose weight if I eat anything less than 1,800.
  • Jules2Be
    Jules2Be Posts: 2,238 Member
    In order to avoid a burn apply generous amounts of sunscreen.
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,089 Member
    How can you "feel" how much you're burning?

    this exactly


    the measured bunch of people of your hight and weight and came with an estimate
    how can you feel how many calories you burn? magic?
  • jerzypeach
    jerzypeach Posts: 176 Member
    I went to a lab with my husband last week and we both got tested at rest and during exercise. We had to wear masks and breath through a tube into an analysis machine. Stuff like this is not subject to belief.....there is real science behind it. You can have your own opinions, but the facts remain the same.
  • blmedina85
    blmedina85 Posts: 1
    there is a whole science and equation behind it, and if you wanted to look it up its called the "harris benedict equation".

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