BMR super low - How to lose weight?!

Amandy60

Hi,

My BMR on MyFitnessPal was 1500 and I wanted to lose the most I can i.e. 1kg a week as per the minimum on the app. So my calorie intake was 1200. I barely lost 2kg in 6 months.

However, I now have the latest smartwatch that calculates a live BMR depending on my body composition, movement, heart rate, etc. I.e. more accurate than an online calculator. Turns out my BMR is 1300!!!!!
So 1200 calories is not low enough for decent weight loss!

I've now set my calorie intake to 1100 but I doubt that's enough to keep me sane, as 1200 was already low enough I was barely eating 2 meals a day.

Any tips?

I'm 37yo, 82kg and 155cm.

spiriteagle99

I wouldn't eat less than 1200 calories, so you would do better to get more active. Not just deliberate exercise, but movement throughout the day. If you burn more, then you can eat more. You need to get sufficient nutrition, and that is impossible if you cut your calories too much.

Were you actually weighing every bite you ate? If you were not losing while eating 1200 calories, usually it's a question of not being exact on your measurements so you are actually eating more than you thought you were. It is very easy to do.

Theo166

Instead of eating less, increase your activity, which gives additional health benefits. Do daily walks as an easy way to increase calories out.

nooshi713

My BMR is 1250. It is tough being short. I feel your pain.

sheahughes

I have a couple questions (and I am not an expert by any means)...
Were you logging and eating back at least some of your exercise calories?
When you say BMR, do you mean Base Metabolic Rate as compared to TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) from a TDEE calculator like sailrabbit or are you perhaps confusing the calorie intake figure MFP gives you with BMR? The calories MFP recommends you eat do not include purposeful exercise, you are expected to log and eat those too.
Do you have your activity level set too low? I have seen recommendations that Sedentary would apply to anyone who gets less than 3000 steps per day.
Are you weighing your food and selecting appropriate entries from the database? Are you weighing/measuring everything, condiments, cooking fats/oils etc?
What is your device, how does it measure movement and is it correctly set up?
1200 calories would be the absolute minimum you should eat for a healthy body. Being petite like we are can be very difficult if we are not purposefully increasing our movement throughout the day or exercising.

Amandy60

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I agree.
1. No I'm not weighing or calculating exact calories. At times, I'd scan the barcode or if it's a home cooked meal, I would choose an appropriate one from the MFP inventory.
2. Yes, I am mostly sedentary with a desk job. But when I exercise, walk, treadmill, dancing, it links in with my Polar Beat device or Samsung Health app linked to my Samsung Galaxy Classic 4 Watch.
3. The Watch calculated my BMR, not TDEE. MFP made a calculation based on weight, height and lifestyle which I chose as sedentary.
4. Are all calories equal? I don't know. I don't eat chocolate, might snack on popcorn once a week and despise takeaway food. So I'm not eating crap. Probably just not moving enough.

In conclusion, I need to workout more, not eat less.

I know it does seem like a simple mathematical analysis of input and output, but having PCOS doesn't help as my doctor said it is twice as hard for me to lose weight than a non-PCOSer. 😞

Deviette

1. This is probably one of the first things you need to tighten up first. It's annoying but humans suck at guesstimating the amount of food we eat/how many calories they have. I've been in that position when I've been sitting there saying "this meal is probably around 500kcals" and then I actually measure it and it's more like 800 and there goes my deficit for the day. On the bright side that means that you're probably eating a little more than you think you are which might explain some of your struggles to lose weight. One thing that most people haven't said is that if you've really been eating ~1200kcals for 6 months, then you'd probably be feeling hungry every day and you don't seem to be complaining of that.

2. That's how I have my fitbit set up. It's a sensible way to do it.

3. I'm not sure why your BMR matters to be honest. Your TDEE is what matters as far as weight loss is concerned. As long as the amount of food you eat is less than your TDEE than you will lose weight. Doing more exercise won't increase your BMR, but it will increase your TDEE. There are things you can do to increase your BMR (replacing fat with muscles, be generally fitter, having a higher body mass) and some things that you can't control (getting older decreases BMR, as does having PCOS, as does being a woman). But almost all of these are pretty marginal compared to the change you can make to your TDEE. For example if you replace 1lb of body fat with 1lb of muscle, you'll burn around 7-10kcals extra a day. That's less than a 5 minute leisurely stroll.

4. Unless you're looking at lab based studies, calories are equal. You can eat 100kcals of plain sugar or 100kcals of carrots, it's still 100kcals.

nooshi713

When your caloric needs are lower, you MUST be accurate with your logging. Someone who is 500 lbs with a 1000 calorie deficit can afford to guess. Someone much smaller with a 250-500 calorie deficit can’t.

cmriverside

Yeah, BMR is pretty much a non-factor. The only time Myfitnesspal will tell you your BMR is if you specifically go to that obscure corner of the site. It doesn't tell you a BMR number while figuring your calorie goal.

Here is the official explanation of how MFP calculates: https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

My suggestion? Buy a food scale. Use it on all your meals. It's pretty easy to underestimate using cups and spoons, and also don't trust the barcode scans (or any of the database entries) until you've double checked them against the label of the product you're using. They have been entered by users.

A couple helpful posts:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk

wunderkindking

nooshi713 wrote: »

When your caloric needs are lower, you MUST be accurate with your logging. Someone who is 500 lbs with a 1000 calorie deficit can afford to guess. Someone much smaller with a 250-500 calorie deficit can’t.

If you're having trouble with weight loss not guessing is the first, most important, trouble shooting to do. I don't disagree.

But I lost from 190 to 125 and I didn't weigh my food more than twice out of curiosity to see how good I was at guessing. Excellent, as it turns out. The real key there is "DO WHAT WORKS AND IF IT ISN"T WORKING OR STOPS WORKING, CHANGE IT".

kshama2001

This:

1. No I'm not weighing or calculating exact calories. At times, I'd scan the barcode or if it's a home cooked meal, I would choose an appropriate one from the MFP inventory.

Explains this:

My BMR on MyFitnessPal was 1500 and I wanted to lose the most I can i.e. 1kg a week as per the minimum on the app. So my calorie intake was 1200. I barely lost 2kg in 6 months.

AnnPT77

I agree that not everyone needs to do the precision food logging/calorie counting in order to succeed . . . but that it's a good diagnostic to do it for at least a few weeks, to find out what the issue may be.

I'd add this: Using database entries for other people's fully prepared foods (lasagna, meatloaf, ham sandwich, whatever) on a "per meal" basis . . . that's one of the least likely to be even remotely accurate methods. Even a tablespoon of oil/butter difference is going to be a calorie swing of 120 calories for the meal, let alone portion sizes and whatnot.

Also, I'd point out that exercise isn't the only way to move more. It's possible to bump up daily life calories, too, and that can quite easily amount to a couple of hundred calories daily. (Researchers see that magnitude of difference between fidgety people vs. non-fidgety ones. I'm not necessarily suggesting you try to fidget, just using that to point out how meaningful small changes can be.)

There's a thread about that here, and it links to some other similar threads IIRC:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Not all those ideas will work in your life, but some might. The calories form those don't add up quickly, because it's about small habits changes. However, many of us when overweight have developed long-term habits of subtle inactivity. Working at changing that can help create a "bias toward movement" in daily habits that can not only help us reach a healthy weight, but stay there. There are folks here maintaining on calories similar to what they ate when much more overweight, just because they've become so much more spritely and energetic overall.

ETA: My fitness tracker thinks my BMR/RMR is 1339 - I'm 5'5", mid-120s pounds, turn age 66 tomorrow, sedentary outside of intentional exercise, and severely hypothyroid besides (though properly medicated). My maintenance calorie requirement, before including exercise, is close to 2000, as validated by 7+ years of fairly precise logging so far. Some of that gap, I suspect, is from incorrect BMR estimate, some of it is body composition (I'm not a body builder, but somewhat more muscular than average for my demographic), some of it is daily life movement. A low BMR estimate is not doom.

mom22dogs

Your BMR doesn't matter. You need to eat more than your BMR. Your BMR is the calories you burn being in a coma, not moving. That is not the amount of calories you burn. Sounds like you aren't tracking calories correctly. As others have said, track correctly first to see if that is the issue.

sijomial

FYI - apart from being of very little use apart from just a part of your overall needs the BMR estimate from your watch is using the same metrics as any old BMR estimate you might get.
You don't know your body composition, you movement is nothing to do with BMR at all as it's a total rest estimate and heartrate only has loosest connection to calorie expenditure and again as soon as you aren't at rest that's not BMR.

It's not using any special data just because it's a wearable device, it's just given you a different number and with no guarantee it's any closer to reality.

If you want a bigger food allowance you need to move more, both general activity and exercise.

cwolfman13

Amandy60 wrote: »

Hi,

My BMR on MyFitnessPal was 1500 and I wanted to lose the most I can i.e. 1kg a week as per the minimum on the app. So my calorie intake was 1200. I barely lost 2kg in 6 months.

However, I now have the latest smartwatch that calculates a live BMR depending on my body composition, movement, heart rate, etc. I.e. more accurate than an online calculator. Turns out my BMR is 1300!!!!!
So 1200 calories is not low enough for decent weight loss!

I've now set my calorie intake to 1100 but I doubt that's enough to keep me sane, as 1200 was already low enough I was barely eating 2 meals a day.

Any tips?

I'm 37yo, 82kg and 155cm.

You don't cut from BMR...BMR is the calories you burn merely existing on this planet. You would burn them in a coma. You cut from your TDEE. Avg Female BMR is around 1300-1400 calories...male is 1700-1800 calories give or take. My BMR is estimated right around 1800 calories. With my daily and regular exercise, my TDEE is 3,000+ calories. I lose about 1 Lb per week on 2300-2500 calories per day, far more than my BMR. Simply eating BMR calories would result in fairly rapid weight loss.

You need to tighten up your logging and be more accurate. Choosing some home cooked meal from the MFP database is just some other users recipe that user through in there and you have zero clue what's actually in it. You need to vet the entries you're using...the bar code scanner means nothing, it just pulls from the same exact user created database. Your issue is in your logging.

debrag12

your deficit comes from your TDEE not your BMR. On MFP is generally goal + exercise/increase in activity level.

springlering62

Theo166 wrote: »

Instead of eating less, increase your activity, which gives additional health benefits. Do daily walks as an easy way to increase calories out.

But only if you’re adding calories back to accommodate the calories burned.

Adding more exercise on top of an already low calorie goal is a recipe for disaster.

And agree with others. Til you’re in the habit of weighing, you truly have no idea what a serving size is. Old me honestly thought a serving was whatever I spooned on my plate prior to going for seconds.

russellholtslander1

A better option is to use a TDEE calculator. https://tdeecalculator.net/

This will let you choose activity level, body fat %, and give you a caloric level to maintain. Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Then cut 500 calories a day from that number, to lose 1 lb. a week. See what happens. I think you will be surprised to lose faster, on more calories.

As fat % drops, your TDEE goes UP.. more muscle burns more calories..

So if you do moderate exercise, and have 35% fat.. your TDEE is 2350.. so 1,850 calories should help you lose 1 lb. a week... 1600 calories helps you lose 1.5.

I would stay ABOVE 1500 calories a day. Try the TDEE - 500 calories, and see how you do in the next 2 weeks.. then adjust accordingly.

westrich20940

OK...the only reason that your BMR is important here is that you want to eat MORE than your BMR. Your BMR is what your body would need to survive if you were in a coma.

I don't know how much you are wanting to lose but in a lot of circumstances....losing 2lbs/week isn't going to be ideal. I know that when people want to lose weight they want to do it quickly - the only ways to do that are unhealthy. So just don't.

Your TDEE (if you are a female) is probably around 1700/day. Your BMR is 13/1400......these are all just ESTIMATES though.

So you want to set your calorie goal to something less than your TDEE, but more than your BMR. If I were you, I'd shoot to eat 1500 cals per day. Since you have 'sedentary' as your lifestyle then you can also incorporate some workouts into that routine if you would like to try to extend your caloric deficit a bit. Do not go overboard and I'd suggest that if you burn a LOT of calories through cardio workouts you eat back some or all of those calories.

Also - if you are short, or the room you have to work with between your BMR and TDEE is tight....your weight loss will HAVE to be slow. And it becomes increasingly important to log properly when it comes to what you've eaten and what you've burned.

If you just choose a similar dish from someone else's homemade entry in the database it could be SIGNIFICANTLY different than what you actually ate. I don't agree with being obsessive about calorie counting but being within +/- a couple hundred is important - generally speaking (I'm not talking about a day or meal every once in a while where you go way over or something).

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Amandy60

Thanks everyone. You guys are great. I'm such a beginner on these matters.
Given how crappy my logging is, it's a miracle I lost anything at all.
Love the tips!
I'll post again in a few months and let you know how I go!!

callsitlikeiseeit

Learn how to weigh and log your food ACCURATELY and come back in 4-6 weeks and let us know how things are going.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

paperpudding

Also - you have about 20 kg to lose to get into healthy BMI range.

Probably not realistic to aim for 1 kg per week.

1/2 kg per week perhaps.

TxTiffani

Im also 5’1. The couple times I’ve managed to lose weight I have tracked every bite and included cardio (exercise bike). I have yet to learn maintenance which is why I’m in weightloss mode again at 151lbs with a goal of 115. We could support one another if you’d like.

barefootbridgey

In addition to all of this....

I see you're using a Samsung watch to base this off of. Samsung watches are trash (ask me how I know...) and are notorious for being WILDLY off on calorie count. Yes, yes, we all know watches just give estimates....

I've used multiple brands of watches though, and in terms of fitness tracking, Samsung was the absolue worst.

luxia2020

barefootbridgey wrote: »

In addition to all of this....

I see you're using a Samsung watch to base this off of. Samsung watches are trash (ask me how I know...) and are notorious for being WILDLY off on calorie count. Yes, yes, we all know watches just give estimates....

I've used multiple brands of watches though, and in terms of fitness tracking, Samsung was the absolue worst.

I'm curious to know how it was off for you as I use a Samsung Galaxy Active 2, and I haven't seen anything off about it. Granted, I always choose the workout, and I don't let the watch adjust my calories, so I'm not sure if we're doing the same things.