bogus BMR

So in my.....................efforts, to make myself healthy again and to lose the weight I've carried most of my life, I'm always found some of the "science" fascinated, skewed and often out dated. One of those is the BMR calculations. Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you would burn if you did absolutely nothing all day.

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )


So, as with many calculations, if you enter a very large number, say 570 as the current weight, you end up with an abnormally large number that is, in effect, wrong. My BMR calculates out to 4316.28 

If I continue to follow the given standard formulas I would multiply that by a minimum of 1.2 giving me total caloric intake of  5179.536 to "maintain" my current mass. This is strictly maintenance, not gaining or losing, just being. 

Harris Benedict Formula

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

• If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
• If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
• If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
• If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
• If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

I think eating over 5k calories a day is what got me so fat to begin with. I'm currently sticking to the 2400 per day neighborhood. I'm not hear broken if I go slightly over that. At the same time I am keeping my protein consumption up and my fat and carb intake down as much as possible. 

So, I don't put a lot of faith in these "scientific" formula these days. The Harris Benedict formula was created my Harris and Benedict in a study of biometric metabolisn in man in 1919. I think it may time for some updated science. 

Calorie Needs to lose weight

There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise.

If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.

An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may increase this depending on your weight loss goals.

Hmm, so if I reduce my 5k calorie daily intake by 20% I'll lose weight? I highly doubt that. That would be a reduction of 1035.9 calories, still putting me at 4143 calories per day. The only people I know that can lose fat at 4k calories per day are full time body builders and other extreme athletes. Not my fat ass sitting around in pain doing much of nothing.