NM

The number the tools gave you isn't your BMR.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories your body (given normal metabolic conditions) burns in a day, given that you do nothing more than exist. No eating, no walking, no getting out of bed. These are your 'existence' calories. To calculate your BMR, use these formulas:

Men BMR = 66 + (6.3 x Body Weight in lbs) + (12.9 x Height in inches) - (6.8 x age)
Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + ( 1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)

YOU SHOULD NOT AIM TO EAT LESS THAN YOUR BMR!

Now that you've got your BMR, you've got a good starting point for how your body (at your current weight) burns calories. Now it's time to use that information and figure out how many calories you burn during a normal day. You know, when you crawl out of bed and actually do something. Take the BMR, and multiply it by the Activity Multiplier below that best describes your average day:

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = 1.2 (little exercise, desk job)
Light Activity = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Moderate Activity = 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
Very Active = 1.725 (heavy exercise/sports 6-7 days/week)
Extreme Activity = 1.9 (heavy exercise/sports, physically demanding job)

Now, if you're trying to decide where you fall – say you're thinking you may be between light and moderate activity – then pick a number in between. Remember, this isn't exact, so don't stress too hard. So now you have a rough estimation of how many calories you use during the day, courtesy of the Harris Benedict method.

To figure out how many calories you want to take in every day, you need that first number from earlier, the one about lbs/week. If you want to lose 1lb a week, you need to cut 1lb worth of calories per week. A pound of fat is equivalent to about 3500 calories. Luckily, that divides nicely by the number of days in a week, so subtract 500 cals from your Harris-Benedict number, and that's what you need to take in. It's that easy. Again, even if it means having a deficit of less than 500, don't eat less than your BMR.

Original Post by razcal2267:

Original Post by bee_roach:

My BMR is about 1440 and my sedentary activity brings me to about 1720. If I eat my BMR, that gives me a 280 deficit. Since I know I want a bigger deficit, 500-600, I add workouts to my sedentary activity to create a bigger deficit. I hope that makes sense.

 So on my main page, my calorie goal is set at 1440 and my base burn meter is at 1700. I add my workouts (exercise bike and other cardio) everyday and my burn meter then goes up to 2000-2100. 

It makes perfect sense. I have to do 3 hours a day to get a deficit. Yuck! I havent done that in a long time.

It sounds like you might be calculating your BMI incorrectly, it's the number you get BEFORE you add the activity multiplier.

A sedentary person will burn 20% more calories than their BMR (the BMR * 1.2 thing), so there should be a deficit between your BMR and the number of calories you burn right there.

I'm not sur how you calculated that you have to add 3 hours worth of exercise to get a deficit when a sedentary person would already have a deficit.

YOU SHOULD NOT AIM TO EAT LESS THAN YOUR BMR!

Uh... why not? What is so magic about the BMR? My body doesn't "know" the BMR.  If I burn more than my BMR in a day, what difference does it make if I eat 1.0xBMR, 1.1xBMR or 0.8xBMR?  It makes no sense to me to think that going less than BMR is somehow "bad".

Original Post by phord:

YOU SHOULD NOT AIM TO EAT LESS THAN YOUR BMR!

Uh... why not? What is so magic about the BMR? My body doesn't "know" the BMR.  If I burn more than my BMR in a day, what difference does it make if I eat 1.0xBMR, 1.1xBMR or 0.8xBMR?  It makes no sense to me to think that going less than BMR is somehow "bad".

 

Um, your right there is nothing magic about your BMR, it's not magic it's science.  And your body definatly knows your BMR, it's the minimum number of calories your body would need to simply exist (heart beating, breathing etc) and it definatly knows when it isn't getting enough calories.  If you consume less than your BMR your body will think it's starving and hold onto as many calories as possible.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by phord:

YOU SHOULD NOT AIM TO EAT LESS THAN YOUR BMR!

Uh... why not? What is so magic about the BMR? My body doesn't "know" the BMR. If I burn more than my BMR in a day, what difference does it make if I eat 1.0xBMR, 1.1xBMR or 0.8xBMR? It makes no sense to me to think that going less than BMR is somehow "bad".

 

Um, your right there is nothing magic about your BMR, it's not magic it's science. And your body definatly knows your BMR, it's the minimum number of calories your body would need to simply exist (heart beating, breathing etc) and it definatly knows when it isn't getting enough calories. If you consume less than your BMR your body will think it's starving and hold onto as many calories as possible.

I strongly disagree. There is nothing wrong with n overweight person eating less than their present BMR. Their BMR is artificially high because it takes a lot of calories to maintain all that excess flab. People should never eat less than the BMR calculated for a HEALTHY weight for their height.

But people who are morbidly obese or seriously overweight HAVE TO eat less than their present obese-weight BMR if they are to make any progress whatsoever.