The relationship between basal metabolic rate, calories, and activity level

Question

I have a base BMR of about 2200 calories without the activity multiplier using this formula:

66 + (6.23*240) + (12.7 * 70) - (6.88*31)

I supervise an automotive shop and generally consider walking, sitting, and standing as my daily activities (about 1500 calories burned using weight times METS). In the context of weight loss and calorie intake and calories burned, would my said daily activities be the multiplier (1.2) or is that multiplier added in regardless of what daily activity is?

I ask because 2200 x 1.2 would be 2640 calories burned + work = 4140 which seems high. Without the multiplier 2200 + 1500 = 3700 still seems high. If I'm deducting 500 per day, 3200 calories seems really high. I'm 240lbs with a 5'10" frame and this doesn't really make sense to me. Am I missing something? Is my estimation on calories burned for my daily activities way off? I consume anywhere from 2000 to 3000 calories per day on average.

Answer 1

You are confusing the formulae a bit. The 1.2 is from the Harris Benedict equation IIRC, which already takes into account your activity level. If you are mostly sedentary, then you will multiply by 1.2, to get a daily need of 2640 calories.

At 5'10" and 240, unless you are a seriously competitive bodybuilder, you are probably in the obese to morbidly obese range. This means that you actually need slightly less calories than the equations say, due to the difference in calorie needs to maintain lean mass versus non lean mass.

So, you are probably in the 2600-3000 calories range for daily maintenance.

I also think that you are way overestimating using the METS equations. I'm also 5'10", about 165 lbs. I don't need 1500 calories over my BMR on days when I have an hour run workout (at about 7:45 min/mile).