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BMR and TDEE (attempt to further explain using METs)

There is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation regarding BMR and TDEE. I used a different app to get to my goal weight back in 2012. That app uses a fixed sedentary multiplier (BMR * 1.45) to estimated TDEE. You enter your exercise separately and that exercise gets added to your TDEE. Essentially it calculates TDEE as: BMR * 1.45 + Exercise

 

Many people on that site argued that a 1.45 multiplier is too high for sedentary and the app was giving them credit for too many calories burned. I see a lot of similar statements here regarding fitbit overestimating TDEE.

 

One of the reasons for this misconception is the misrepresentation that you are burning your BMR if you aren't moving. The calculations below are based on the other app's definition of sedentary. I've added up all the activities and used METs to estimate TDEE. If you use METs to calculate a sedentary multiplier using normal daily activities (limited walking) you get a multiplier of 1.425.

 

Of course there are 1000s of websites that will use 1.2 as a sedentary multiplier but most of these are simply pulled out of the air. This is my attempt to provide a 3rd party (METs) mathematical proof instead of simply making up a number.

 

metsSedentary.png

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@FitBeforeFifty

 

Excellent post!

 

The problem most people encounter isn't the multiplier (which you nicely demonstrated); it's in the presumed BMR.

 

The BMR charts used everywhere are averaged based on age, weight, and height for people in a caloric steady state.

 

Once people go into a negative calorie balance, ie 'diet' (which almost everybody here is doing one way or another), the BMR falls...almost instantly. Much more than can be accounted for by any weight lost with the dieting. This leads people to do the math, and decide that the 'multiplier' is too high. In fact it isn't, it's simply that the BMR being multiplied has fallen way more than people know (or want to know...).

 

Nice info!  Rob

Warner Baxter won Best Actor 1930 for "In Old Arizona"
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interesting posts guys.

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