Harris Benedict Over-Estimation?

Diet and Nutrition
1

according to the equation my BMR is 1801 (5ft 10 ~158-160lbs) and if im moderately active its x 1.55 which brings about ~2800 calories daily.

I think this is flawed b/c I eat around 2-2.3k calories a day, if I truly needed 2800 calories daily I would be “deficiting” 5-600 calories a day and would be losing weight, but lo and behold I am the same weight. If I were to eat 2800 calories a day I can guarantee you I would gain weight, albeit it probably slowly.

I even used the “Massive Eating” article to calculate the amount I should eat to maintain and got roughly the same results (2811 calories).

Are these formulas always right? I dont have any good scales, the ones at my university’s gym arent that accurate. Or is there some external factor like bodyfat thats playing into this conundrum?

2

The equations are a best fit curve for the data they have available, and tend to represent about two significant deviations worth of the population.

Translation: It works for most people, but not everyone.

If you’re losing bodyweight you have a calorie deficit, if you’re not, you don’t.

3

guess it doesnt work for me then =0

5

it just seems strange that it would overestimate my calorie needs by so much, but I guess the truth is that the body doesnt look at time the same way we do, its not like it sits there every day and at the end of the day calculates its intake vs output and gains/adds weight, its probably a gradual process.

6

I experienced the same problem…when trying to bulk, I followed the Harris-Benedict calorie estimation strictly. I ended up putting on a good amount of fat, despite eating clean.