Calories burned, consumed and BMR?

I’d like to know how much I should eat when I do a lot of exercise.

Today I’m going to bike a total of 84 kilometers, meaning I will burn almost 5000 calories my BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) is 2000 cal. and DailyBurn says I should eat about 2500cal to loose weight. ’

But then when I supposedly burn 5000 cal extra, should I eat extra, and how much?

My fitness report says this, but I’m still confused, should I try to hit 2000 net calories, 2500 or zero net calories?

Calories Consumed: 2518
Calories Burned: – 4798
Net Calories: -2280
Your BMR is 2076

Are trying to lose weight?

The net calories thing just confuses too many people. I pay no attention to it. I just shoot for a total weekly deficit. So, if I’m trying to loose weight I might shoot for a 3500 to 5000 calorie deficit. A 2000 calorie deficit in a single day is probably not a good idea when you’re working out that much.

Give us more details about what you’re trying to do.

The net calories thing just confuses too many people. I pay no attention to it. I just shoot for a total weekly deficit. So, if I’m trying to loose weight I might shoot for a 3500 to 5000 calorie deficit. A 2000 calorie deficit in a single day is probably not a good idea when you’re working out that much.

Tell me about it. I worked off over 500 calories yesterday and still ate within the specified calorie goals on the Nutrition Goals page. This resulted in a deficit of 1245…not the best as typically one shouldn’t have a deficit greater than 1000 calories.

Oh well, I’ll do better today. ;-)

Yes I’m trying to loose 20kg (44lbs) :D already lost 2.5kg/5pounds

Ok so if I don’t do anything all day then should I eat my 2000Cal BMR or the 2500 goal in my nutrition page?

And if I do work out or bike as I often do, should I aim for eating 2000 cals plus what I burn working out, or 2500 plus what I burn or should I just try alway to eat 2500 and then burn off as much as I can during a day?

The theory behind dailyburns calculations is that you eat those amounts daily regardless of your workout and you will achieve the goal. And those calories do work. I usually try to eat a little less than their calculations, but the calculations work. You would have to set your activity level at the highest because of your epic cardio sessions!

But, if you’re doing such epic cardio workouts I would deviate slightly. I’d probably shoot for a weekly average of 2500 per day. I’d likely eat around 2000 per day on non-workout days, and eat around 3000 for training days. I’d do whatever I needed to give me an average intake of 2500 per days, while fueling my workouts.

I am confused too.. so Chaddukes can I just confirm that you are saying to eat the calories that the log tells me to eat and not compensate for the exercise that I have done?

In general, yes! Those calories goals are already compensating for your exercise, as long as you’ve selected an appropriate activity level.

Opspin’s circumstances are a little on the extreme side. So, if you are a person who regularly find yourself burning 1200 or more calories in a day through exercise then perhaps you’ll need to reconsider, but most people aren’t in that situation.

My understanding is that you want your “net calories” to be around 500-1000 below your BMR for weight loss.

So if your BMR is 2076, you want the net calories part to say 1076-1576 for 1-2 pounds a week loss.

DB gives me a way high BMR when I use height/age/weight, but I have a high BF%, PCOS, and metabolism damaged by malnutrition. If I calculate it by BF% it’s closer, though getting an accurate-ish BF% can be a pain.

As it’s so confusing, I wish they’d at least use it for something, like calculating calorie goals met. I’d rather get that little apple icon for keeping my net cals on target vs being “penalized” for eating more on days I burn more, or not eating enough on days I burn less.

You don’t want to eat below your BMR. Your BMR is the calories your body needs just to subsist if you were lying in bed all day.
Check out the calculators at http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calcul….

Honestly, the dietary recommendation on your nutrition page will work for 90% of the people out there. The net calories thing just complicates it.

As for eating below your BMR. You can definitely do it. But, only for a couple of days, and you better have a good refeed planned. It doesn’t fall into the camp of “never do this,” but it should fall into the camp of “don’t do this without good reason and a solid plan.” There are plenty of good diets that have people eating below their BMR, but its for specific purposes, like show prep, pre-surgery, etc. In those cases the dieters are usually under the supervision of a doctor, dietician, or coach.

I have to say I’m still a bit confused, my fittness report for the past week tells me this:

Calories Consumed: 20621
Calories Burned: - 19480
Avg. Net Calories: 142.63 per day
Your BMR is 2025

I’ve basically eaten 2500-3000 calories a day and biked to and from work to almost burn all what I’ve eaten. And while I have lost weight I’ve only lost 0.5 kg/1.1lbs in one week. (ok having just checked with my calorie goals it says i should loose 1.26lbs a week so I guess it’s ok, just doesn’t feel like all that much)

So I guess I should just let the BMR be and trust that Dailyburn takes into account my activity level and try and eat my 2500 calories a day instead of the 3150 I should eat to maintain my weight.

Last time I lost weight I was on a powder diet and only got 900 calories a week and I think I lost about 2kg/4.4lbs a week, but loosing 0.5-1kg a week is probably a lot more healthy. But still 28 weeks might not sound like a lot, but that’s almost 200 days, and with this speed, I won’t be down to my goal until sometime in March next year, and I thought I’d be slim by christmas :(

According to your weight chart, in the 4 weeks you’ve lost 6.8 kilo’s, or 13+ pounds. Whats the problem???

EAT MORE PROTEIN AND LESS FAT. Looking at your daily intake the last week you’ve had a high fat low protein diet. It’s not just about calories in vs. calories out.

@opspin,

If you want your weight loss to be permanant, it is much better to lose your weight slowly and steadily. 0.5 kg a week is actually perfect, you shouldn’t aim for more than 1 kg.

The goal is to learn new nutrition habits that will become lifelong ones. Don’t think of this as a diet. When you have reached your goal, you can add a few more calories but you should be learning now how you want to eat then.

After all, last time you lost weight on a 900 calorie diet didn’t last, or else you wouldn’t be trying something else.

@chaddukes, how are you tracking your weekly deficit, is there a report on here? I haven’t been able to look at a week at a glance, maybe it is just for “pro” users?

Your average weight loss of 0.5 kg/1.1lbs in a week is the perfect thing to do. You might not want all the loose skin on your body if you do more than that. As long as you burn more calories than what you eat, I guess that is already good.

@Susan,
You receive a weekly report in your email with weekly burnt and eaten calories…and you calculate.
In addition, I copy the data from my dailyburn calendar to an Excel sheet. Then I can add up figures as I like, make the difference with my BMR.
Actually, when I calculate the lost weight, it seems my BMR is 400 to 600 calories above what Dailyburn says…. or I underevaluate the calories I burn, or I overevaluate my food. That does not matter much.

Oops, guess I should be reading my emails :-)

Opspin, The site does take into account your activity level, but its a rather generic multiplier put onto your BMR. The highest level is probably for someone who workout an hour ot two, with great intensity for 5 or 6 days per week.

You’re doing something (from a calorie point of view) that is even beyond this. So, if your BMR is 2000 and you’re burning another 2000 then you need 4000 on that day in order to maintain weight. If you eat 3000 then you’ll be getting a 1000 calorie deficit. If you were to do this 7 days per week you’d lose about a kilo per week. Obviously, you aren’t doing this 7 days per week and yet you’re still losing a kilo per week. So, you must be eating less than 3000 calories per day.

With that much exercise I don’t even know if I’d track calories. I might allow myself to eat whatever I want, as long as it’s not junk food. It’s difficult to eat more than 3000 calories while eating lots of lean meats and veggies. You can do it, but it takes effort!

I’d just keep your activity up. I’d strongly encourage some sort of strength training….even if its just once per week. Eat normally, but no junk food. Be sure to eat around your workouts. And watch your scale weight. If you’re losing a kilo or more, you probably want to eat more. If you’re not losing, or losing only .25 kilos, then eat less.

But with that much activity just focus on eating quality food and don’t get bogged down in the details.

Sorry, to revisit this but I really would like to understand it properly. So this site tells me that to meet my goals I should eat around 2300-2500 calories, but it says my BMR is 1778. Does this mean that the 2300-2500 will create enough of a long-term deficit to reach my goals since perhaps with working out and getting out of bed and moving I’m probably burning more like 2500-2800? And like for a given period lets say my average net calories a day is around 1850. So if my BMR is 1778 and avg net is 1850 anything my body burns (excluding workouts which are tracked and used to compute the avg net calories) above about 100 calories becomes a deficit?

@brettb,

Your BMR is what you’d need if you stayed asleep in bed all day. Including your normal activities and getting out of bed, you burn a lot more. How much more depends on how active you are.

If you were given a range of 2300-2500 calories to consume, they want you to average 2400. This is to lose about a pound a week. This means you are really burning like 2800-2900 calories a week.

So anything below 2850 is a deficit, not anythin below 1800.

After you’ve calculated how many calories you need to maintain your weight, forget you even knew what your BMR was. You should not be basing your deficit on your BMR at all.