Accurate BMR?
 

I am struggling so much with knowing how much food to eat. My weight is fluctuating heavily because of it. This past Spring, I hit my all-time highest weight of 240. Despite the 40 pound weight gain, I only went up one size in clothes. I don't look THAT different, but 40 lbs is a big deal. I am considered obese now. :(

So, back around July and August, I was pretty much just not eating. I'd have 2 cups of coffee during the day to keep me from being hungry and then I'd have a nice dinner. I got down to 212 pretty quickly. Then around September, I started eating more normally. Not a lot quantity wise, but eating more regular meals. In one month, I was back up to 240. I'm hovering around 235 right now and that's pretty much just from not eating as much. I eat, but I definitely go hungry and I just ignore it because I can't keep the weight off any other way.

According to charts, my BMR is around 1800 calories. Now, I KNOW that is way too much for me. My metabolism is absolutely abysmal, and anytime I start eating more regularly, I gain back the weight almost immediately.

Is there any way to get an accurate BMR reading?

Your BMR probably is 1800...but that is to maintain (if you are dieting, you'd see a gain at first, then a stallout.) Also, make sure you are properly taking into account your accurate activity levels when calculating your BMR

To lose weight based off your BMR, you need to subtract between 500-1000 calories off your daily BMR to see a 1-2 pound average loss per week.

HERE is my handy dandy spreadsheet my doctor helped me create. Remember to adjust your BMR as you age and with every 20 pounds you gain or lose.

Try not to change any of the formulas and only the white blocks is where you need to input your information

Just to clear up the confusion in terminology: I think you're referring to TEE (total energy expenditure), not BMR (basal metabolic rate). BMR is the amount of energy you would expend if you were sleeping all day. TEE is usually 30 to 50% more than BMR, depending on your activity level.

Are you exercising? I know they say weight loss happens mostly in the kitchen, but I find I have a lot more latitude in my caloric intake when I exercise regularly.

F.

It's not just an energy balance equation - it's entirely possible you're dealing with some metabolic syndrome and are sensitive to insulin spikes. That makes losing on a 'normal' diet very difficult, regain very easy, and the body has a propensity to misuse energy and improperly signal hunger (then store the calories post haste).

Before messing with your calorie amount, try doing 1800 calories of whole food, sans the white stuff (rice, potatoes, refined grains, sugar). Sometimes whole grains and fruit can stay, if you limit the servings to once or twice a day.

I highly recommend reading a layman's resource like "Why We Get Fat", if you haven't already. That should help you out some, though I contest some of the finer details of Taubes' conclusions and it's a bit oversimplified - a good foundation in the science of energy utilization by the body is so helpful is figuring out maintenance and loss eating (because calories are, at best, only part of the equation).

Hope that helps some.

Thanks for the chart, zoesmom. I guess I should be eating 1200-1500 calories but that seems like too much. I'm very sedentary, I try to exercise but it takes me so long to recover that I usually just don't even bother. I do have a thyroid problem, but my doctor says it's under control.

I will definitely check out that book, Arctic Mama. I think I am going to try and eat as natural as possible. It's just hard for me to eat vegetables because I have digestive problems and they really make me sick. I tried the Ketogenic Diet, but it's just too much fat for me. With my stomach problems, it just ended up causing major issues.