Talk:Harris–Benedict equation

How was this equaon derived?
"nor does it account for the additional calories provided by excess body fat" This is wholly irrelevant. If one is provided with 100 calories per day by their body fat, then they must eat another 100 calories per day to maintain their body fat. The Harris-Benedict equation is for determining neutral energy balance. If a person were provided with 100 calories per day by their body fat and not replenishing it, they would be losing weight, in negative energy balance.

Constant in metric vs english doesn't make sense
Why is the constant different for english versus metric values? Kd4ttc (talk) 01:04, 4 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Because 5 times 100kg is different from 5 times 220lbs, despite 100kg being 220lbs Esteban Outeiral Dias (talk) 01:50, 21 January 2022 (UTC)
 * In the equations for the imperial units the coefficients were given inaccurately (compared to the metric data in H-B's original work) and the constants were mistyped. Corrected them. Marosi Gyula (talk) 20:28, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

We realy need the original reference
Cmon, for this we really need the original citation. Kd4ttc (talk) 01:06, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

External Link
The WebMD link is not using Harris-Benedict it is using the Mifflin formula — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.57.172.77 (talk) 23:51, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Gender differences, Metric and Imperial?
The article does nothing to explain why one of the four formulas is 655, why the others are in the mid 60s, with decimal place values. Typo or is there a well-founded reason? ThuranX (talk) 01:23, 6 August 2012 (UTC)


 * In the equations for the imperial units the coefficients were given inaccurately (compared to the metric data in H-B's original work) and the constants were mistyped. Corrected them. Marosi Gyula (talk) 20:29, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

Some fixes
I tracked down links to the original papers and added them to the reference list. I fixed the original equations so they matched what was published in 1918. (Someone had rounded the coefficients.) I deleted the imperial equations, since they had errors in them. I don't see the need for them anyway. They shouldn't be added back in without doing a proper check of the conversions. I verified the coefficients in the revised equations.

This page still needs work. Someone should track down the original source of the multiplier values for no, light, medium, heavy exercise. The intro should be rewritten. This article really isn't about the equations as it is how to use them for dietary computations. Maybe I will come back later and work on this again. It was fun. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2000:FFC0:E5:650D:CEC2:7F54:9EC8 (talk) 18:50, 12 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The "light, medium, heavy" exercise section should probably be wiped, unless there is evidence that Harris-Benedict actually addressed anything other than the basal rate. Also it does not define what "light exercise" is, and as such it is useless. Such material belongs in pages like Metabolic_equivalent.  Also note that the Resting_Metabolic_Rate page has perhaps included too much of the material on this page. (71.233.167.118 (talk) 03:20, 22 July 2013 (UTC))

for those interested in maintaining weight loss and stopping obesity in the medical community please verify
The basic value of 3500 calories = 1lb of bodyweight is incorrect.

The correct value is 700 calories = 1lb bodyweight increase when eating.

The exception to this is foods that have fluids like water added as water contrary to medical misinformation is not "zero caloric". You actualy gain 1/2 lb or .5 lbs per cup drinking water.

Its likely that food & fluids play a major role in blood production, the difference between an obese and anorexic starvation person is the amount of blood in thier body not just fat and likely food & fluids are absorbed into the blood wich is why people gain weight, not just from fat production.

If you eat a 700 calorie double quarter pounder with cheese and weigh yourself before and after you will gain 1lb per burger, wich is likely what the burger weighs.

What your foods weigh including fluids added going into your stomach is the weight you will gain when eating & drinking. If you do not give time after a meal doing cardio or fasting, keep stacking on your weight. You will gain fat in addition to bloodmass volume.

According to my bmr, i need to eat 1750 calories a day to loose weight. This is blatantly incorrect and puts me in a position to gain weight. I believe fluid weight gain is not being factored into the equation. i maintain my weight at 1400 calories, 2 cups fluids. More if its hot or im overtired unaturaly and overworked. chronic fatigue and lowered abnormal bloodpressure is a sign your ill and likely malnurished or overexausted. By maintain i mean weigh the same each day without excersize. When loosing weight its healthy to maintain your weight first so you dont yo yo diet and learn to drop a little at a time as loosing weight causes exhaustion and lowering of heartrate and chronic fatigue symptoms wich is why people die of starvation.

People loose weight constantly, its why people eat and drink, to maintain heartrate and energy levels in addition to helping provide nutrients for bodygrowth.

In order to loose weight you have to gain less than you loose in a given time period.

In order to maintain your weight and weigh the same each day you have to eat equal to the amount of weight you loose in food & fluid weight.

I also in 45 min of cardio drop about 1lb depending on activity intensity and weather. clothing can also speed & slow weightloss. so can weather. the hotter a person gets the more accelerated weight loss (and severe dehydration symptoms are). at 700 calories on a stationary bike i also drop 1lb in 45 min.

For a digital scale its 70 calories per .1 for a total of ten .1's per 1lb, the exception being fruit and water based foods weight gain is off as well as some low calorie foods & vegetables like greenbeans do to water added. If you eat an apple or an orange youll gain about 1.2 lbs per wich takes about 6 hours of sitting down fasting to loose. i drop weight at the rate of .2 lbs an hour wich is equal to 16 wheat thins or 140 calories. it takes me 3 hours of sitting down fasting to drop the weight of 1 cup of water.

fat is likely hard to drop in weight because food in the stomach takes priority digesting, turning food into stool is likely the bodys first priority. largely water is dropped during excersize not food burned, food is largley digested over several days although doing excersize helps turn food into stool & urine. If you fast after eating a large meal you will see you continue to go to the bathroom #1 and #2 over several days showing this.

I personaly recommend eating before or during doing mild cardio and simply walking enough to drop meal weight and giving about 4-5 hours between meals to maintain weightloss and low bodyfat levels. I also eat before bed about 3-4 hours as I'm a huge believer people wakeup do to having some calories in thier stomach. I also make sure to give myself cooldown time and normalize my heartrate and bodytemperatures to remove dehydration symptoms. Occasionaly i will give myself a safe 12 hour fast by doing 2 hours fasting before and after my 8 hours sleep. people do not need to eat first thing as sleep revitalizes your bodys energy if not overdone.

The average person needs to walk 2 hours a day if you talk to obese people we are a nation of people who sit on our couches in our air conditioned homes and watch tv, we sit in our vehicles, we sit at desk jobs or stand.

Small meals, small fluids, weight gain under 1lb per meal + walking is recommended by me. food & fluids can be taken during the walk as long. most people who are running into problems doing weight loss are starving themselves and overexcersizing.

cardio should not be done to fatigue or while fatigued. if chronic fatigue, advanced fever symptoms such as chronic sweating occur or dehydration symptoms you should stop, get dry, drink & eat watery ice cold foods and fluids and keep room temp at around 55-65 degrees and cool off, fresh cool air will also likely help. try and normalize your bodytemperature and heartrate levels and bodyweight. when you sweat is a key indicator you have a fever wich fevers are responsible for dehydration symptoms. the longer you have a fever the more accelerated the weight loss and more advanced dehdydration symptoms will be.

you may prove this by doing cardio excersize in 80-90+ temps for 3-4 hours, you will get hotter and hotter, start to sweat. when you sweat check your fever, you will have accelerated weight loss with mild to advanced dehydration symptoms including possible heatstroke, heart attack and heat exhaustion if you do not eat, drink or allow rest and body cooldown times. heat from body and environment causes evaporation and sweating and starves the body of its water during excersize and fever in general causing dehydration symptoms and cardiac exhaustion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anonramen (talk • contribs) 19:33, 4 October 2012 (UTC)