confused about minimum calories a day

mintie

i'm short (barely five feet), and in the tools section, it tells me that my BMR is 1,214 (sedentary +short, haha). i've looked over some sites (and some people told me, too) to subtract 500 from that and eat that much. that brings me to 700 calories and i'm pretty sure that will lead me to starvation mode.

still, the minimum of 1,200 is only 14 calories under my supposed bmr, and now i'm wondering if that's why it's taking me so long to lose these pounds... what do you guys think? should i make my minimum to 900-1,000 at least? some sources (like this site) say that it's a bad idea, while other sites and people say that it's what they do and that it works. i'm so confused.

mintie

i'm short (barely five feet), and in the tools section, it tells me that my BMR is 1,214 (sedentary +short, haha). i've looked over some sites (and some people told me, too) to subtract 500 from that and eat that much. that brings me to 700 calories and i'm pretty sure that will lead me to starvation mode.

still, the minimum of 1,200 is only 14 calories under my supposed bmr, and now i'm wondering if that's why it's taking me so long to lose these pounds... what do you guys think? should i make my minimum to 900-1,000 at least? some sources (like this site) say that it's a bad idea, while other sites and people say that it's what they do and that it works. i'm so confused.

banks1850

read this please:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

mintie

read it, thank you, but i still have questions. if 1,200 is the minimum calorie intake for all people, how come some say that their nutritionists or whatever allowed them less than that? isn't it possible that it really depends on a person's body, and isn't there a site that can compute for these without actually having to go to a nutritionist? ):

banks1850

read it, thank you, but i still have questions. if 1,200 is the minimum calorie intake for all people, how come some say that their nutritionists or whatever allowed them less than that? isn't it possible that it really depends on a person's body, and isn't there a site that can compute for these without actually having to go to a nutritionist? ):

mintie, it does depend on your body, 1200 is a bit of a generalization based on averages. If you are a small person with small bone structure, then it is possible that you can go below 1200 calories and still maintain a healthy deficit. I do know this site put's a governor on it's deficit just to be safe, because few people need to actually go below this. If you want to do the calculations yourself, you can find out your maintenance calories (www.mayoclinic.com has a calorie calculator that works pretty well), and the general rule is, if your BMI is over 30 (you can find your BMI in the tools section) you can have up to a 1000 calorie a day deficit or more (more than 1000 is generally done under doctor's supervision), if it's between 25 and 30 most doctors will tell you 1 lb a week deficit is normal to expect (500 calories a day deficit). The thing to watch for is starvation mode, where your body will desperately try to hold on to every fat calorie, if it does that, losing weight will become near impossible. There is no "line" that you cross for starvation, it's a gradual thing, as you begin to cross the threshold, you lose less weight then you normally can, you become a little lethargic, some people can get headaches, and your appetite lessens.

I hope this helps.

mintie

ohh. that does help a lot. thank you!