BMR question

[petlamb]

Hi Every1

Sorry if Im posting in the wrong place. I have calculated my BMR and it told me that if I want to loose 1pound a week I need to be eating 1450 kcal a day. To be honest it looks a bit low to me. I'm going to the gym 3 times a week plus I also play netball twice a week so my question is do I add my burned activity calories on top of that or do I leave it as it is?? I also walk to work (25 min each way) 5 days a week and my job is a desk job. I downloaded an app fitness app and I have been calorie counting for two week. In the first week I lose 4 pounds (which was probably the retained water) but the second week I havent lost anything( I have been adding the activity calories on top of 1450 kcal because I simply felt really hungry on th is amount of calories so I was eating around 1600-1700 kcal a day on days I worked out)) Do you think this could have stopped my weight loss? I thought I was doing the right thing because I thought if I stopped loosing I could reduce the calories slightly. could you please advise ??? thanks for reading Kat x

 

[MartinD]

Hi there

Ive spent time trying to get to grips with this and while Ive learned much..there are so many areas we dont know enough about BMR and other associated areas such as insulin impacts.

Which method did you use?

I used the Harris-Benedict

For Men
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)
So for a 47 year old 93kg at 5'10" it comes up to:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x 93kg) + (5 x 177.8cm) – (6.8 x 47)
BMR = 1909 calories per day

(for girlies its BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age))

but thats only your basal rate and not the actual and a multiplier is used based on your level of activity - 1 for sedentry up to 2 for extreme and ranges in between, so I walk dogs daily 1 hr x coutnry and 1 x hr weights or cv thats fairly intense so use 1.6 just above moderate level as I work in an office (sedentry) but also do exercise. So my total calories required to maintain my weight is 1909 cals x 1.6 = 3054.

I aim to lose 2lb per week, thats 7000 cals. 3054 cals - (7000/7 days) = 2054 cals daily gets me where i need to be. I follow slimming world but have a good idea of the cals I eat and reckon I am usually just under this.

In terms of hunger I eat food which tends to be low in energy density and that helps. example = breakfast was porridge made with water and then low fat yoghurt thrown in + blueberries, my lunch was big bowl of ramen noodles with misu with mushrooms and tofu (really nice too, dead easy too) and a banana, dinner is fish (in beaten egg with breadcrumbs) with mushy peas and my own low fat oven chips. I rarely feel hungry

 

[petlamb]

Thank you Martin for your reply. Using your formula iIhave calculated that
I should be eating around 1700 kcal per day to lose a pound a week so I shall stick to it ! Good luck with your weight loss ! xxx