What is your opinion on eating below BMR for a period of time?

gettingto65
gettingto65 Posts: 78 Member
in Getting Started
I’m wanting to lose weight. My TDEE is 2325 and my BMR is 1938.

Would it be okay to eat say around 1800 calories and as I lose weight, gradually lower my calories as and when “needed”?

I don’t think I would ever aim to eat less than 1500 calories per day - I want this to be maintainable and realistic.

I’m just nervous to eat below my BMR for obvious reasons but also I have plenty of squishy stomach for my body to devour instead.

Thank you

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    What is your current weight, goal weight, sex and height?
    Generally, losing 0.5 to 1% of your bodyweight is the recommendation, no more.

    A 500 calorie deficit, which you are proposing, is the equivalent of losing 1lb per week, which could or could not be appropriate, depending on how much you have to lose.

    I think that's a more important consideration than 'eating less than your BMR' or not, personally.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    Depending on how overweight one is, it's okay to eat below BMR. If one only has a few pounds to lose, they want to focus on just eating less than their TDEE to lose.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    What is your current weight, goal weight, sex and height?
    Generally, losing 0.5 to 1% of your bodyweight is the recommendation, no more.

    A 500 calorie deficit, which you are proposing, is the equivalent of losing 1lb per week, which could or could not be appropriate, depending on how much you have to lose.

    I think that's a more important consideration than 'eating less than your BMR' or not, personally.

    ^^^ Endorsed.

    We all want to drop weight like it's hot. That's mostly not a great idea, unless weight itself is an acute health threat, and one is under close medical supervision for nutritional deficiencies or health complications.

    Losing slower as one gets lighter is a good plan, too, IMO . . . that is, I'm biased toward the lower end of that 0.5-1% per week.

    Another rule of thumb is not to cut more than 20% of estimated TDEE, less if closer to goal, maybe more if dangerously obese and medically supervised.

    Eating 1800 would be a 22.5% cut for you, assuming you're not following "the MFP way" of estimating base calories using pre-exercise activity, then logging exercise and eating exercise calories back in addition to the base calorie goal. (For clarity, it's fine to do that, i.e. a straight cut off estimated TDEE, if you prefer eat the same number of calories every day no matter how active. It just changes the limits' arithmetic a little.)

Categories