If you are not supposed to eat below your BMR...

sweebum

If you have a considerable amount to lose you can get away with not eating your BMR because it's based on a certain percentage of lean body mass. When you are obese it messes up the numbers because it's assuming a percentage of lean body mass that isn't there and you don't need the extra calories to feed the fat.

BMR becomes far more important the closer you get to being a normal weight. 1200 calories is a low end for a woman of normal weight to maintain body functions.

This. Numbers are just *estimates*. Why not try a cut of 25% for a few weeks and then judge your progress.

pavrg

why does MFP set my calories at 1260. That is using Lightly active and 2 lbs per week weight loss. I still have 60 lbs left to lose, I'm 38 yo, 5'6" female and I was exercising an hour each day.

I have figured my BMR at 1730 and my TDEE is 2150 using an activity level calculator. If I take 20% off of 2150 and I get 1750. That is my BMR!!

I have been using TDEE-20% since the first of August. Averaging 1750 a day and not eating back exercise calories. My diary is open. I'm down 4 lbs since I started this, but I'm still not sold on it. Plus now I am injured and will be limited in my exercise for the next month or so and I was going to refigure my calories without exercise and eat them back when I do. I was thinking that I would just take 300 off my daily calories to count for lack of exercise but that would put me at 1450, way below BMR.

I'm really confused. Is eating below BMR such a no-no?

Your body doesn't have a calorie counter. It only has negative feedback mechanisms to tell it if it needs more or less of a substance. If it needs more and you don't eat it, it pulls from storage.

If you are using the TDEE method, BMR is nothing more than a "that's cool" measurement. BMR is the same thing as TDEE if you stayed in bed all day. TDEE is the energy you need to sustain your metabolism at your current weight and activity level, not BMR. Eating under TDEE stimulates the body to make up energy loss, mostly from stored fat. Your body doesn't know its BMR and won't shut down if you go under it provided you are staying moderately below tdee. And most Americans living a sedentary lifestyle working a desk job will have a tdee-500 under bmr. If you were more active than that you probably wouldn't be here.

So bottom line: your tdee is your daily energy needs. BMR is useless and it's not a magic omg starvation mode number.

likitisplit

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/4/6/625.full.pdf

"The basic minimum daily requirement of the average adult at bed rest consists of a diet containing approximately 70 g
protein and 2400 calories, 30 per cent as fat, in addition to vitamins and minerals."

You see, hospitals use these guidelines.

pavrg

What's your point? Hospitals are trying to make people retain and sometimes gain weight after being ill.

likitisplit

"basic minimum daily requirement" does not equal "gaining weight after illness."

and the title of the paper is "The Care and Nutrition of a Patient in Prolonged Coma"

pavrg

Their minimum of 2400 cal is way off -- I do a lot more activity than a coma patient with significantly less intake, and my net intake is routinely below bmr. If that really were a min, I'd be dead. The paper is written with the goal of sustaining a patient's weight.

BMR only applies to bed ridden people. If you move around use tdee because that's what applies to you.

jimshine

"What's your point? Hospitals are trying to make people retain and sometimes gain weight after being ill. "

Sometimes hospitals just give you enough to survive. I was on life support for a month..they gave me 1200 calories a day via feeding tube. When I finally woke up, I was all fat, no muscle. I could barely hold a cup.

trogalicious

because the initial setup process for MFP is effectively broken. While it's a calculator, as many other websites are, it allows you to put in information that may not be accurate.

Anyone can just show up and go "Oh hey, I wanna lose 2lbs per week even though I only have about 10 to really lose"... so they set up the account, set that goal, get 1200 calories as their goal for daily calories, and then don't even eat that much.

The tool is great if used correctly, but most folks don't.

pavrg

Medical practices can vary widely based on a whole slew of factors. My wife had babies in two different states and they did more different than the same.

Still has nothing to do with the topic at hand, which is the misconception op has that going below bmr will flip a switch in his body to go into starving.

deksgrl

why does MFP set my calories at 1260. That is using Lightly active and 2 lbs per week weight loss. I still have 60 lbs left to lose, I'm 38 yo, 5'6" female and I was exercising an hour each day.

I have figured my BMR at 1730 and my TDEE is 2150 using an activity level calculator. If I take 20% off of 2150 and I get 1750. That is my BMR!!

I have been using TDEE-20% since the first of August. Averaging 1750 a day and not eating back exercise calories. My diary is open. I'm down 4 lbs since I started this, but I'm still not sold on it. Plus now I am injured and will be limited in my exercise for the next month or so and I was going to refigure my calories without exercise and eat them back when I do. I was thinking that I would just take 300 off my daily calories to count for lack of exercise but that would put me at 1450, way below BMR.

I'm really confused. Is eating below BMR such a no-no?

You are set at 2 pounds per week, which is a bit too aggressive for your amount left to lose. Set it to 1 pound per week.

A properly set MFP goal PLUS exercise calories should be somewhere around the same ballpark as a TDEE -20% calorie goal, and if you set it to 1 pound per week I think this will give you a much closer number.