BMR Confusion

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chocolateandpb
chocolateandpb Posts: 453 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I thought I had the BMR thing figured out, but now I'm second guessing myself. I used a BMR calculator from fat2fitradio.com and it said that my current BMR was 1388 calories. So is that the number of calories I should be staying UNDER in order to lose? Or is that the MINIMUM number of calories I should be taking in? Or, do I go by the activity level chart which says 1631 calories for a sedentary person?

I do workout 4-5 days a week, but have a desk job so I'm sitting most of the day. I've been at a plateau for MONTHS and have recently cut out sugar, reduced carbs, increased protein and produce, switched up my workout routines--everything that is recommended for busting through a plateau. The first week I cut sugar I lost 4.4 lbs, but now I'm back up again, despite my best efforts. I only have 5-10 lbs to lose but it's still incredibly frustrating to not be getting the results I'm seeking. Advice is appreciated.

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    bmr is the amount of calories your body needs if you were in a coma.

    tdee is the amount of calories your body needs every day (because you obviously are not in a coma)

    You make your deficit from your tdee.
  • chocolateandpb
    chocolateandpb Posts: 453 Member
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    Oh great, another acronym and thing to calculate. Sigh. Thanks for the feedback though. I think I'm going to try upping my calories a little to see if that helps. Since I've been staying under my BMR my body is probably holding on to my extra few pounds for dear life.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    nothing else to calculate. The 1631 was your TDEE, you just didn't know its name!
  • chocolateandpb
    chocolateandpb Posts: 453 Member
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    Ahhhh haha!!! Well that makes me feel better. Thank you for clarifying. :laugh:
  • jessejames3ball
    jessejames3ball Posts: 268
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    Yikes, according to that I am eating well under my BMR even. Maybe that's why I'm stuck in a plateau, because my body is pissed at me?
  • Foodie711711
    Foodie711711 Posts: 137 Member
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    Skinnymissmel....you also have to take into account that you're very close to your goal weight therefore you do not need such a huge deficit!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,404 MFP Moderator
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    There are two ways to calculate your caloric needs (CN). One you put sedentary and eat back exercise calories or include exercise in your TDEE (which I believe is the smarter way so you don't have to chase exercise calories) and cut 20%.


    here is about what you should eat in total calories.

    TDEE = 1388 * 1.55 = 2151
    CN = 2151 *. 8= 1721


    Personally, you should aim to eat a total of 1700-1750 calories a day.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    Yikes, according to that I am eating well under my BMR even. Maybe that's why I'm stuck in a plateau, because my body is pissed at me?

    There is constantly a HUGE debate about this on this site. However, if you are plateaued for a long period of time (2 months or more) just changes something up. If it is less than 2 months, just keep doing what you are doing to make sure. You can still keep your same calorie deficit and weight loss rate by adding exercise.

    Example:
    If your bmr is 1200 calories and your tdee is 1500, but you want to lose 1 lb/wk. If you just do the math, you need to eat 1000 cal/day. But, that is below your bmr, so if you don't want to eat that little, you can exercise for at least 200 calories, which raises your tdee to 1700, then you can eat 1200 that day.

    So, while I don't really have that strong of an opinion about eating below your bmr, you can make a change like I stated to see if you can get through the plateau and still lose at your rate. If anything, you will have a lot more energy by netting at least your bmr.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    There are two ways to calculate your caloric needs (CN). One you put sedentary and eat back exercise calories or include exercise in your TDEE (which I believe is the smarter way so you don't have to chase exercise calories) and cut 20%.


    here is about what you should eat in total calories.

    TDEE = 1388 * 1.55 = 2151
    CN = 2151 *. 8= 1721


    Personally, you should aim to eat a total of 1700-1750 calories a day.

    just my 2 cents - I'm a fan of calculating it as sedentary and logging your exercise. But, like was said, that is just me and it is totally a preference, but I like it that way because life happens and I don't always get to the gym and burn the same amount of calories every time.
  • chocolateandpb
    chocolateandpb Posts: 453 Member
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    Thanks for the feedback, everybody. I miss being 22 and being able to cut out bread for a week and lose 5 lbs. :tongue:
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    BMR's just one step in figuring out how much you should eat. You then have to estimate how many calories you're burning above and beyond your BMR. This total calorie burn for the day is called your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). There are different approaches to this; you can multiply your BMR by a certain number based on your level of activity, or you can log specific activities in an exercise diary (as is done on MFP), or use a combination of the two.

    Once you know your TDEE, pick your calorie target based on that. MFP's recommendation is to subtract between 500 and 1000 calories per day from your TDEE (targeting 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss each week).
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    There are two ways to calculate your caloric needs (CN). One you put sedentary and eat back exercise calories or include exercise in your TDEE (which I believe is the smarter way so you don't have to chase exercise calories) and cut 20%.


    here is about what you should eat in total calories.

    TDEE = 1388 * 1.55 = 2151
    CN = 2151 *. 8= 1721


    Personally, you should aim to eat a total of 1700-1750 calories a day.

    Why are you multipying TDEE by 1.55? Is that for if you add extra exercise?
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    TDEE = 1388 * 1.55 = 2151
    CN = 2151 *. 8= 1721

    Why are you multipying TDEE by 1.55? Is that for if you add extra exercise?

    He didn't. BMR was multiplied by 1.55 to get the tdee.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,404 MFP Moderator
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    There are two ways to calculate your caloric needs (CN). One you put sedentary and eat back exercise calories or include exercise in your TDEE (which I believe is the smarter way so you don't have to chase exercise calories) and cut 20%.


    here is about what you should eat in total calories.

    TDEE = 1388 * 1.55 = 2151
    CN = 2151 *. 8= 1721


    Personally, you should aim to eat a total of 1700-1750 calories a day.

    Why are you multipying TDEE by 1.55? Is that for if you add extra exercise?

    Below are the standard multipliers used to calculate caloric requirements using katch mcardle or even harris benedict. They are the two biggest methods to estimate BMR and TDEE.


    Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
    Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
    Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
    Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
    Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

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