A question about BMR
 

Hi,

there is something that I am not able to understand in the BMR system.

If I use any online calculator and keep the same information (age, weight, height and gender), then I switch between the 5 activity levels (sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active and extra active), I can see a very huge difference in the BMR, almost 400 calories between each activity level for the exact same information.

Now my question:
When we exercise, should we count the exercise calories of everyday or not? since it seems they are counting those in the BMR for people that are more active. Please explain this to me.


And in case we should subtract the calories we burn during exercise, does it mean that more active people will always burn more calories, even when they eat the calories they burn during exercise?

Aside question:
How long do we have to exercise, until we can say that our BMR increased due to our activity increase?
Is it something short like a few days, or long such as a few months. Please let me know.

Thanks :)

Hmm, your BMR shouldn't change based on activity. The BMR is the calories you need just to exist. Do you mean your daily energy needs, sometimes called TDEE?

For example, I use the calculator on fat2fitradio dot com. My BMR is roughly 1600. That is what I would need to maintain my weight if I literally stayed still in bed all day and did nothing. But my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) ranges from 1900 (sedentary) to 3000 (extremely active), depending, like you mentioned, on activity level.

I set the calculator to Sedentary to determine my baseline calorie needs, then I take off 20% for weight loss. But then I add back on my exercise calories. I use a heart rate monitor to track my calorie burns, even when I am cleaning etc. I'll also eat more on certain days when I exercised a lot to make sure my net calories (cals eaten minus burned) doesn't go too low.

Some people prefer to pick one of the energy levels other than sedentary and cut from there, but then you wouldn't add the exercise back on every day.

HTH!

Sorry, your questions are not clear to me. I also think you're confusing BMR (basal metabolic rate) with TEE (total energy expenditure). Your BMR doesn't change from day to day. It's the number of calories you would use up just lying comatose in your bed all day. If you add the extra calories you burn off from daily living (walking up the stairs, brushing your teeth, sweeping, etc.) and the calories from formal exercise to the BMR, you get TEE, which is the total calories you burn off during a day.

So the equation is:

BMR + calories from activities of daily living + calories from formal exercise = TEE (your total caloric burn-off during a day). The more active you are, the higher your TEE. To maintain your weight, you eat as much as your TEE. To lose weight, you have to eat less than your TEE.

Freelance

Do you mean your TDEE?
Your TDEE is based on you BMR and the amount of activity that you do on a daily basis. For instance, I do 30 minutes exercise per day and walk to uni and back (about 1.5 hours all up), but I'm sedentary for the rest of the time. Therefore, my TDEE is based on the sedentary. If you, say, work in retail and you are on your feet but as a server, then you would have light exercise. If you move around more, then it's medium. If you work as a delivery person or a personal trainer, or if you exercise for hours at the gym etc, then you would burn the maximum calories. The only reason your TDEE would change is if you consistently did more exercise during the day.

However, your BMR is based solely on your height, weight, age and sex. Your BMR rating is the minumum calories your body needs to fuel itself over a 24 hour period, regardless of whether you get out of bed or not. All that changes your BMR is your height, weight and age, so it's good to check back in every 20lbs or so to see what your new BMR rating is.
So yes, it is a must to eat the calories of your BMR and then add on the amount you burn during exercise in order to keep your metabolism healthy.

This is a good plan! :)

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculato...alculator.html

"BMR stands for "Basal Metabolic Rate", and is equivalent to the number of calories you burn daily just by breathing/living. So, if you were to literally lay in bed all day like a zombie (aka..every Sunday for me), this is how many calories your body would burn.

TDEE stands for "Total Daily Energy Expenditure". It takes your BMR and multiplies it by the "Activity Factor" to show a more realistic number of how many calories your body is burning. Do not include any workouts you do daily, as it makes the calculator less accurate. Instead, calculate how much you burn off with your workouts separately, than add them on. See my links for good exercise calculators."

http://theskinnyequation.blogspot.ca...lculators.html