Can you eat too little?

MissusMoon

sbrandt37 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.

It is more complicated than that. When your caloric intake is below your basal metabolic rate--the amount of calories your body burns at rest--your metabolism slows and weight loss can stall. If your caloric intake goes even lower, you can still lose weight, but your body thinks you are starving and will scavenge nutrients from other parts of your body, which can harm your muscles, bones, and organs (which is why truly starving people are not generally buff hardbodies).

If that person doesn't have significant fat stores, yes. However, if you are obese or very overweight, a big nope.

trigden1991

sbrandt37 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.

It is more complicated than that. When your caloric intake is below your basal metabolic rate--the amount of calories your body burns at rest--your metabolism slows and weight loss can stall. If your caloric intake goes even lower, you can still lose weight, but your body thinks you are starving and will scavenge nutrients from other parts of your body, which can harm your muscles, bones, and organs (which is why truly starving people are not generally buff hardbodies).

I did say " The short answer". Hence why my answer was concise.

Yes metabolic adaptation is real and yes if your deficit is severe you will lose muscle. One additional point to make, there is no way to know BMR. The only measurable thing is TDEE. How can you know if you are eating below BMR if you can't know what BMR is?