BMR, BMI. Harris Benedict Equations, etc, what's it all mean?
Ok, I'm still confused about exactly how many calories I need to burn and eat each day to lose around .5 - 2 lbs a week.
I'm 21 years old, 6'3" and 260 lbs so far, I was 280 about a month ago. My goal is to try to get below 200.
I cut all unhealthy stuff out of my diet such as fast food, Doritos, eating a box of pizza, soft drinks, etc. and started eating more veggies like brocoli and carrots, apples, bananas, green tea, lots of water, whole grain rices, cereals high in fiber, etc.
I think I eat about 1000 calories a day (was probably less than that) if I'm counting everything right, and I was losing about 4-5 lbs each week, which I heard was unhealthy. I heard you should never go below 1200 without consulting a doctor. 1000 doesn't even feel that bad to me, I don't ever get starved hardly. A lot of people don't believe me when I say that, but that's how I've been doing for the past month. I check the calories and serving sizes on everything, and what I drink usually contains 0 calories.
I was eating about 3 meals a day only, but trying to bring that up to 5 small meals a day now to increase my metabolism. For exercise, I've been biking on a exercise bike every day. I try to use it 3 times a day and it says I burn about 365 calories (10 miles each time). It's very a very long and boring task but I know I gotta do it every day or I'll gain weight back. The resistance belt on my exercise bike burned off from wear and tear though....so I'm not sure how much it really is. I did turn the resistance knob to the lowest setting in hopes it'd be somewhat accurate.
I weigh myself on my digital scale everyday. People say you should do it only once a week or you'll get discouraged, but I don't. I like to keep a careful monitor on my weight. I weigh every time after I eat, after I exercise, etc. to see how much of an effect it's had. I notice I weigh the least in hte morning, and I'll gain like 4 - 5 lbs through out the day and it's enough to freak anyone out, but then that weight is gone again next morning, interesting.
BMR
-----
I found how to calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) off some website which is, the amount of calories your body burns on it's own to function, when you're sleeping, etc.
My BMR is 2528.7 which means my body burns 2528.7 calories a day on it's own, that sure is a lot.
Harris Benedict Equation
---------------------------
It tells you how many calories you need to consume daily to maintain your weight.
BMR ( 2528.7 ) + Moderate Exercise ( 40% of BMR which is 1011.48 ) = 3540.18
Even with moderate exercise, I need 3540.18 calories daily.
That's a loooot of calories. I couldn't even get myself to eat that much a day if I wanted. I'd probably get stuffed half way. That's like eating 4 Burger King whoppers every day.
Body Fat Percentage
-----------------------
I weigh 260 and have a waist size of 40 inches. My body fat % is 19.33% which is "acceptable". That means about 50 lbs of my weight is body fat. That good, bad? I'm guessing I'd have to get down to about 222 lbs to get about 8% body fat and notice that six pack, but my waist size would also decrease as I lose weight, so it's just a guesstimate. 222 still seems like a lot.
Body Mass Index
-------------------
BMI (body mass calculator) is a lie IMO....it says I'd have to be like 160 lbs just to be a normal weight? Yeah right that's way too skinny even for what I want.
So what do I do?
---------------
A lot of this stuff doesn't make much sense to me, and is probably more complicated than I'm making it out to be.
Like I said I eat about 1000 calories a day and try to burn more than 1000 each day, it's a hard and boring, but eh....I wish someone could just do the math for me and I'd take care of the rest. I've been eating less, exercising more. The way these websites are explaining it though, seems I should be eating more and exercising more. That's good, in my case, I just wanna make sure I'm doing the right thing and that I'm not gonna gain back the weight I've already lost so far.
At my current weight....how many calories should I REALLY be consuming and burning each day?
It sounds crazy to have to eat 3000+ calories a day, and trying to burn more than 3000 off a day through exercise sounds almost impossible. I don't think I even consumed that many calories daily when I WASN'T exercising and gaining weight. I think I'm burning a lot of calories off already just from my confusion and trying to find the right answer from an accomplished expert that know what I'm talking about, and what they are talking about. *sigh*
Please help if you can, thanks.
Ok, I'm still confused about exactly how many calories I need to burn and eat each day to lose around .5 - 2 lbs a week.
I'm 21 years old, 6'3" and 260 lbs so far, I was 280 about a month ago. My goal is to try to get below 200.
I cut all unhealthy stuff out of my diet such as fast food, Doritos, eating a box of pizza, soft drinks, etc. and started eating more veggies like brocoli and carrots, apples, bananas, green tea, lots of water, whole grain rices, cereals high in fiber, etc.
I think I eat about 1000 calories a day (was probably less than that) if I'm counting everything right, and I was losing about 4-5 lbs each week, which I heard was unhealthy. I heard you should never go below 1200 without consulting a doctor. 1000 doesn't even feel that bad to me, I don't ever get starved hardly. A lot of people don't believe me when I say that, but that's how I've been doing for the past month. I check the calories and serving sizes on everything, and what I drink usually contains 0 calories.
I was eating about 3 meals a day only, but trying to bring that up to 5 small meals a day now to increase my metabolism. For exercise, I've been biking on a exercise bike every day. I try to use it 3 times a day and it says I burn about 365 calories (10 miles each time). It's very a very long and boring task but I know I gotta do it every day or I'll gain weight back. The resistance belt on my exercise bike burned off from wear and tear though....so I'm not sure how much it really is. I did turn the resistance knob to the lowest setting in hopes it'd be somewhat accurate.
I weigh myself on my digital scale everyday. People say you should do it only once a week or you'll get discouraged, but I don't. I like to keep a careful monitor on my weight. I weigh every time after I eat, after I exercise, etc. to see how much of an effect it's had. I notice I weigh the least in hte morning, and I'll gain like 4 - 5 lbs through out the day and it's enough to freak anyone out, but then that weight is gone again next morning, interesting.
BMR
-----
I found how to calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) off some website which is, the amount of calories your body burns on it's own to function, when you're sleeping, etc.
My BMR is 2528.7 which means my body burns 2528.7 calories a day on it's own, that sure is a lot.
Harris Benedict Equation
---------------------------
It tells you how many calories you need to consume daily to maintain your weight.
BMR ( 2528.7 ) + Moderate Exercise ( 40% of BMR which is 1011.48 ) = 3540.18
Even with moderate exercise, I need 3540.18 calories daily.
That's a loooot of calories. I couldn't even get myself to eat that much a day if I wanted. I'd probably get stuffed half way. That's like eating 4 Burger King whoppers every day.
Body Fat Percentage
-----------------------
I weigh 260 and have a waist size of 40 inches. My body fat % is 19.33% which is "acceptable". That means about 50 lbs of my weight is body fat. That good, bad? I'm guessing I'd have to get down to about 222 lbs to get about 8% body fat and notice that six pack, but my waist size would also decrease as I lose weight, so it's just a guesstimate. 222 still seems like a lot.
Body Mass Index
-------------------
BMI (body mass calculator) is a lie IMO....it says I'd have to be like 160 lbs just to be a normal weight? Yeah right that's way too skinny even for what I want.
So what do I do?
---------------
A lot of this stuff doesn't make much sense to me, and is probably more complicated than I'm making it out to be.
Like I said I eat about 1000 calories a day and try to burn more than 1000 each day, it's a hard and boring, but eh....I wish someone could just do the math for me and I'd take care of the rest. I've been eating less, exercising more. The way these websites are explaining it though, seems I should be eating more and exercising more. That's good, in my case, I just wanna make sure I'm doing the right thing and that I'm not gonna gain back the weight I've already lost so far.
At my current weight....how many calories should I REALLY be consuming and burning each day?
It sounds crazy to have to eat 3000+ calories a day, and trying to burn more than 3000 off a day through exercise sounds almost impossible. I don't think I even consumed that many calories daily when I WASN'T exercising and gaining weight. I think I'm burning a lot of calories off already just from my confusion and trying to find the right answer from an accomplished expert that know what I'm talking about, and what they are talking about. *sigh*
Please help if you can, thanks.
Last edited:
