[Emme]

I read a post the other day about BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate -- how many calories my body will burn if I just laid in bed all day...nice!) and decided to get some info on it online. According to some online calculators, my BMR is 1672. Then, you can figure out your daily caloric needs -- it asks if you do light activity, moderate activity, etc. using another calculator and it showed that my daily caloric needs are 2299 if I am lightly active and 2591 if I am moderately active.

That being said, to lose 1 pound a week and subtracting 500 calories a day, I would be between 1799-2091 calories a day. That seems like a lot to me. I'm trying to stick with 1600-1750 calories a day right now (3rd week of calorie counting), but the upper end of that still seems to be too much for me. Granted, I am really tempted to try it and see how it goes doing a little more than 1750, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. Any ideas/suggestions/thoughts?

[Luka822]

Every one of the BMR calculators I tried gave me way too many calories, even under the "extreme fat loss" option. I was in the high 1700's and would not lose an ounce eating at that calorie level.

[Michou]

If you are not hungry and get the results you want why change?

[Emme]

Originally Posted by Michou

If you are not hungry and get the results you want why change?

I was just curious because as you'll see in my post I am only 3 weeks into calorie counting. I haven't weighed in for my 3rd week yet, and so far I have lost 3 pounds, so it seems to be working so far, but I was just curious as to other people's thoughts surrounding BMR.

[Meg]

BMR calculators are all over the ballpark and are notoriously unreliable. From what I've read, there's a +/- 800 calorie margin of error for whatever number you're given. That's pretty big! And they tend to grossly overestimate calories needed for weight loss and maintenance for most of us.

So my advice is to ignore the calculators and focus on what YOUR body is telling you. It sounds like right now it's telling you that you've picked a good calorie level for weight loss.

[Emme]

Originally Posted by Meg

BMR calculators are all over the ballpark and are notoriously unreliable. From what I've read, there's a +/- 800 calorie margin of error for whatever number you're given. That's pretty big! And they tend to grossly overestimate calories needed for weight loss and maintenance for most of us.

WOW, that is insane!!! That is a huge difference. How scary. I think I'll be sticking with my 1600-1750 calorie intake right now.

[Sindaena]

Online BMR calculators give me ~250 calories more just for my BMR (with no activity factor) than my bodybugg was recording as my calorie burn on my less active days. So... yeah. In my experience, even the BB calculations recording all calories in and wearing the BB even to sleep expected more weight loss than I actually saw. I no longer have a BB, but I do keep that previous experience in mind in planning my eating.

I think the gold standard is actual weight loss on a given calorie intake level. Calculators are just a starting point if you have no idea where to start in setting a calorie in target.