BMR/Net Calories... Yeah, that dead horse.

Time to dredge up the old topics of net calories and BMR! I keep getting so confused on this.

I thought I was supposed to have my net calories 500 less (either through exercise, eating less, or both combined) than my BMR. Today, I updated my goals, and Daily Burn is telling me I should eat way above my BMR.

It has calculated my BMR as 1680, but tells me, “To lose weight, we recommend that you eat 2,083 calories a day. Your estimated weight change is -1.04 lbs per week.”

I don’t see how I can do this and still lose weight! Have I gotten this all wrong, or what?

Your BMR is what you would burn if you slept all day. You have to add your activity calories to that, then subtract 500 cals per day for each lb you want to lose in a week.

I built a web-page calculator that will do all of this for you. It’s at Total Burn Calculator Let me know what you think.

The calculation for your BMR = you doing nothing but laying on the couch all day. You need to adjust that according to your activity level to see what your daily calorie goals should be.

I’m sure someone that can explain it better will come along shortly, I’m a noob myself. :)

Well, I only updated my goals in the first place because I have become more active (I now exercise 3-5 times a week, when I was only lightly active before) so I figured DB was already taking into account my activity levels.

Indicentally, I’d like to know why when I was lightly active, my BMR was calculated at 1780ish, and now that I am more active, my BMR is calculated nearly 100 calories lower. I would have thought it would be higher than before if it changed at all.

You may be thinking my weight would play a role in a lowered BMR. It stands to reason that if I’d lost weight, my BMR would lower, but I have not as of this updated goal.

First your original question.

As others have said, your BMR is what you would need if you were to lay in bed and not move at all. Even sedentary poeple need about 20% more, because walking around, talking, and even standing upright burns additional calories. Any workouts you do add even more to that.

If you have told daily burn how active you are, it will give you a calorie range based on your BMR and your activity level, minus 500 calories.

Now your new question, why your new calories are lower than your old one even though you are more active. This usually happens when you update your profile to reflect a new height / weight / sex (or you mistype the numbers by accident). Remember, your BMR is based partially on weight. If you lost a significant amount of weight, your BMR is lower and therefore your new maintenance calorie range (and also your deficit calorie range) is lower too. So double check the figures used by the Update Goals tool.