Confused about healthy weight loss rate (BMR and losing more than 1 lb a week)
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Ducks47
Posts: 131 Member
Hi all,
So I went onto tdeecalculator.net and plugged in my information. My basal metabolic rate is something like 1550 calories. From my understanding we shouldn’t eat below this. What I’m confused about is how to create a deficit of more than 500 calories. If I’m lightly active and burn 2100 a day then the highest deficit I can safely have is 500 calories so as not to go below my BMR? I’ve been eating 1450 (with MFP) and wondering if I need to eat more for safety. The only way to safely lose more than 1 lb is by incorporating more exercise? I’m just wondering if I’m losing muscle, bone density etc. Thank you!
So I went onto tdeecalculator.net and plugged in my information. My basal metabolic rate is something like 1550 calories. From my understanding we shouldn’t eat below this. What I’m confused about is how to create a deficit of more than 500 calories. If I’m lightly active and burn 2100 a day then the highest deficit I can safely have is 500 calories so as not to go below my BMR? I’ve been eating 1450 (with MFP) and wondering if I need to eat more for safety. The only way to safely lose more than 1 lb is by incorporating more exercise? I’m just wondering if I’m losing muscle, bone density etc. Thank you!
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Replies
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The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?7 -
How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.1
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The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.0 -
The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
I think 1500 is about right. Log all your food, try to keep accurate records of your food, use a food scale.
I am also female 5'7"-5'8" and I lost the last 15 pounds from 155 to 140 at that level of food. I am pretty sedentary outside of purposeful exercise, though. I did log exercise and I ate about 300 calories more on days I would exercise moderately for an hour.
I think you're on the right track. Keep good records. The last 15 pounds is very slow and you have to have patience and diligence.
If you get really hungry, eat, you still may be set a little low - you don't mention how much activity you get in your daily regular life (school/work/kids/housework etc.) So give yourself a little breathing room and if you are legitimately hungry, eat, log it and learn from it. The last few pounds are hard and it is often two steps forward/one step back.1 -
The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
1 pound a week would be a better rate at your current stats.4 -
I walk 7500 steps a day on average and usually go to the gym 3x a week. Although, I am taking a break for two weeks. I’ll stick to 1500 and see how it goes!cmriverside wrote: »The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
I think 1500 is about right. Log all your food, try to keep accurate records of your food, use a food scale.
I am also female 5'7"-5'8" and I lost the last 15 pounds from 155 to 140 at that level of food. I am pretty sedentary outside of purposeful exercise, though. I did log exercise and I ate about 300 calories more on days I would exercise moderately for an hour.
I think you're on the right track. Keep good records. The last 15 pounds is very slow and you have to have patience and diligence.
If you get really hungry, eat, you still may be set a little low - you don't mention how much activity you get in your daily regular life (school/work/kids/housework etc.) So give yourself a little breathing room and if you are legitimately hungry, eat, log it and learn from it. The last few pounds are hard and it is often two steps forward/one step back.
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Ah, so slow it down and stay above BMR? Thank you!The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
1 pound a week would be a better rate at your current stats.
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Ah, so slow it down and stay above BMR? Thank you!The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
1 pound a week would be a better rate at your current stats.
1 pound per week is the fastest you should be trying to lose given your stats, and as you get closer to your goal--within the last 15 pounds or so--0.5 lb/week is likely a better approach. You don't have a lot to lose, so your body cannot safely sustain a large deficit.2 -
Ah, so slow it down and stay above BMR? Thank you!The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
1 pound a week would be a better rate at your current stats.
It's not about BMR as some kind of bright line. It's more that you don't have much excess fat left to draw from, and a conservative strategy would be to lose slowly, to minimize risk of losing unnecessarily large amounts of lean tissue (including muscle) alongside the fat loss. Getting enough protein, and some kind of strength training, would also be an additional help to minimize that risk. Muscle is slow/hard to regain, especially for women. Better to keep as much as possible.5 -
Can someone help me please? I am 40, female, 5ft and currently 124lbs. I put in a goal of 101lbs as that would be a size 8 for me (what I am comfortable at as I am so smaller) and to lose 1.5lbs a week. The calorie goal MFP gave me is 1200 but my BMR is about 1290 and I exercise regularly. Am I starving myself as I am not losing anything?1
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Can someone help me please? I am 40, female, 5ft and currently 124lbs. I put in a goal of 101lbs as that would be a size 8 for me (what I am comfortable at as I am so smaller) and to lose 1.5lbs a week. The calorie goal MFP gave me is 1200 but my BMR is about 1290 and I exercise regularly. Am I starving myself as I am not losing anything?
Please start your own thread on this, otherwise you are sort of highjacking this thread, and it is not only confusing but against the site Guidelines. You'll get more help on your own thread. :flowerforyou:2 -
I walk 7500 steps a day on average and usually go to the gym 3x a week. Although, I am taking a break for two weeks. I’ll stick to 1500 and see how it goes!cmriverside wrote: »The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
I think 1500 is about right. Log all your food, try to keep accurate records of your food, use a food scale.
I am also female 5'7"-5'8" and I lost the last 15 pounds from 155 to 140 at that level of food. I am pretty sedentary outside of purposeful exercise, though. I did log exercise and I ate about 300 calories more on days I would exercise moderately for an hour.
I think you're on the right track. Keep good records. The last 15 pounds is very slow and you have to have patience and diligence.
If you get really hungry, eat, you still may be set a little low - you don't mention how much activity you get in your daily regular life (school/work/kids/housework etc.) So give yourself a little breathing room and if you are legitimately hungry, eat, log it and learn from it. The last few pounds are hard and it is often two steps forward/one step back.
I'd say stick at the 1500 PLUS Exercise calories. When you do purposeful exercise, like going to the gym, log that on the Exercise tab and then eat more.
1500 + Exercise cals. Do that for 4-6 weeks and adjust at the end of that time when you have good trending data.
NOT for the 7500 steps, just "exercise" done on purpose.
Are you using a FitBit?5 -
I think if you’re eating a reasonable deficit it doesn’t matter how fast you lose since you’re doing it the healthy way. Some people lose 3-5lb a week for a month or two when they start and I think that’s fine. If they’re not cutting to 800-1200 calories or some other low number inappropriate for THEM and making sure to stay hydrated then there is no harm. Some people carry more water and therefore have more water weight loss in the beginning of their diet change. Not to mention that some people lose fat more easily than others due to genetics. I’m 5’10” low-middle of the healthy BMI range and have been on the super low end before. When I lost weight eating slightly less and not tracking I lost 3lb every week for 2 months to lose 24 lbs. This was a year ago. Now I’m in maintenance and have been all year. I didn’t lose muscle or bone mass, I have had those measurements taken in a lab out of curiosity. I think the amount of healthy weight loss is relative based on so many environmental and genetic factors that it’s hard to say 1-2 lb a week is the max healthy loss. Lots of obese people lose 5-7lb a week in a healthy manner. I think the literature needs to be updated to reflect this.7
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cmriverside wrote: »Can someone help me please? I am 40, female, 5ft and currently 124lbs. I put in a goal of 101lbs as that would be a size 8 for me (what I am comfortable at as I am so smaller) and to lose 1.5lbs a week. The calorie goal MFP gave me is 1200 but my BMR is about 1290 and I exercise regularly. Am I starving myself as I am not losing anything?
Please start your own thread on this, otherwise you are sort of highjacking this thread, and it is not only confusing but against the site Guidelines. You'll get more help on your own thread. :flowerforyou:
Sorry 😊1 -
Yes, I have negative calorie adjustment turned on for a Fitbit zip. It usually adds about 150 calories, but I usually eat over the number it gives me hahah (but still in deficit).cmriverside wrote: »I walk 7500 steps a day on average and usually go to the gym 3x a week. Although, I am taking a break for two weeks. I’ll stick to 1500 and see how it goes!cmriverside wrote: »The "don't eat below your BMR" advice is really just a general guide to help people avoid having too big a deficit. BMR is just a number, I wouldn't follow it as gospel.
Your acceptable weight of loss really has more to do with the amount of weight your are trying to lose. What is your current weight and your goal weight?How much are you trying to lose? 1 pound per week may or may not be appropriate for you.
Hi, that’s a good point. My current goal is to lose 20 pounds to go from 171 to 150 pounds. I am 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches), female, young, and 171 lbs (77.5 kg). I am trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week.
I think 1500 is about right. Log all your food, try to keep accurate records of your food, use a food scale.
I am also female 5'7"-5'8" and I lost the last 15 pounds from 155 to 140 at that level of food. I am pretty sedentary outside of purposeful exercise, though. I did log exercise and I ate about 300 calories more on days I would exercise moderately for an hour.
I think you're on the right track. Keep good records. The last 15 pounds is very slow and you have to have patience and diligence.
If you get really hungry, eat, you still may be set a little low - you don't mention how much activity you get in your daily regular life (school/work/kids/housework etc.) So give yourself a little breathing room and if you are legitimately hungry, eat, log it and learn from it. The last few pounds are hard and it is often two steps forward/one step back.
I'd say stick at the 1500 PLUS Exercise calories. When you do purposeful exercise, like going to the gym, log that on the Exercise tab and then eat more.
1500 + Exercise cals. Do that for 4-6 weeks and adjust at the end of that time when you have good trending data.
NOT for the 7500 steps, just "exercise" done on purpose.
Are you using a FitBit?
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Also, my activity level on MFP is at “little to no activity” because I assumed that the Fitbit would add it in.0
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Sorry for responding again!
I don’t know how to count the amount of exercise calories burned from strength training and am too cheap to buy a heart rate monitor, so I just ignore those calories 😬0 -
Also, my activity level on MFP is at “little to no activity” because I assumed that the Fitbit would add it in.
Okay, so FitBit changes things a bit...
Read through this thread, there are settings you want to use and settings to NOT use, but I never used a FitBit.
FAQs from the FitBit Group:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-amp-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p12 -
takemetosingapore2019 wrote: »I think if you’re eating a reasonable deficit it doesn’t matter how fast you lose since you’re doing it the healthy way. Some people lose 3-5lb a week for a month or two when they start and I think that’s fine. If they’re not cutting to 800-1200 calories or some other low number inappropriate for THEM and making sure to stay hydrated then there is no harm. Some people carry more water and therefore have more water weight loss in the beginning of their diet change. Not to mention that some people lose fat more easily than others due to genetics. I’m 5’10” low-middle of the healthy BMI range and have been on the super low end before. When I lost weight eating slightly less and not tracking I lost 3lb every week for 2 months to lose 24 lbs. This was a year ago. Now I’m in maintenance and have been all year. I didn’t lose muscle or bone mass, I have had those measurements taken in a lab out of curiosity. I think the amount of healthy weight loss is relative based on so many environmental and genetic factors that it’s hard to say 1-2 lb a week is the max healthy loss. Lots of obese people lose 5-7lb a week in a healthy manner. I think the literature needs to be updated to reflect this.
Your (actual real life) deficit and your weight loss rate are literally different measurements of exactly the same phenomenon. A pound of fat equates to very roughly 3500 calories. If you lose a pound a week in reality (after the first week or two of water weight fluctuations), then your average daily deficit is approximately 500 calories.
It doesn't matter what some calculator thinks your TDEE or NEAT or BMR is (that's just a statistical estimate). It matters what your body actually burns.
I'm sincerely happy that you were able to lose rapidly for a couple of months without negative consequences, and certainly I wouldn't argue that negative consequences are an inevitable result of fast loss . . . but they are a risk. Limiting loss rate is a risk tolerance/risk management issue.
I lost about 2 pounds a week for a while by accident (MFP underestimated my calorie needs), and got weak and fatigued. It took weeks to recover normal strength and energy. But that's just me.
It's a risk, not a guarantee. Losing too slowly is frustrating. Losing too fast is potentially harmful. It's a personal choice about tradeoffs.3 -
Sorry for responding again!
I don’t know how to count the amount of exercise calories burned from strength training and am too cheap to buy a heart rate monitor, so I just ignore those calories 😬
A heart rate monitor is a waste of time for strength training - it's not an aerobic exercise and heart rate during strength training is no indication of calorie burns.
I would normally say log it under the Cardiovascular part of your exercise diary (search for "strength training" and input total duration) but.....
A linked Fitbit changes everything, you need to understand how it interacts with MyFitnessPal or you will get confused and/or start double counting.
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