Below BMR?

rhye
rhye Posts: 104 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm 251 pounds and have plenty to lose. I have been losing for a year and have lost 35 pounds, which is about a half pound a week-- pretty slow loss at my weight. I saw a nutritionist this past weekend who told me to aim for 1700 calories a day. I changed my MFP goal from 1 pound/week to 2 pounds/week and it set my goal around 1700 so I thought-- perfect! This is what I will do.

But MFP puts my BMR at almost 1900 calories. I thought we were not supposed to eat below our BMR? Is 1700 too low? Is the BMR calculator incorrect? Am I misunderstanding BMR? Something is going astray.

Thanks.

Replies

  • xbeth77x
    xbeth77x Posts: 80 Member
    I'm sure your nutritionist knows what he/she is doing. I would take their advice over mfp.

    Also, I believe the body gets the energy it needs by "digesting" your fat cells when you eat below your bmr. I would think that your nutritionist wouldn't have you below your bmr for a long span of time. Did you ask if he/she suggests eating back your exercise calories? A lot of us eat back our exercise calories. It's more motivation to workout :)
  • DaveneGfit
    DaveneGfit Posts: 338 Member
    I agree I would trust your nutritionist. I personally have noticed if I go below my BMR my metabolism slows way down. For a while I was eating 1300 calories a day and confused as to why I wasn't loosing any weight. Well discovered I wasn't eating enough. I work out pretty heavily and am on my feet for work so it wasn't near enough. I am now eating between 2000-2500 calories a day and seeing changes in my body.
  • rhye
    rhye Posts: 104 Member
    I'm sure your nutritionist knows what he/she is doing. I would take their advice over mfp.

    Also, I believe the body gets the energy it needs by "digesting" your fat cells when you eat below your bmr. I would think that your nutritionist wouldn't have you below your bmr for a long span of time. Did you ask if he/she suggests eating back your exercise calories? A lot of us eat back our exercise calories. It's more motivation to workout :)

    She actually said I should be getting 1700/day not including fruits and veggies, so I am doing 1700/day including fruits & veggies and eating back my exercise calories because I do really like to eat them back for the motivation, as you said, and I figure it's probably about the same as the fruits & veggies. Well, on days I work out anyway. Today I was sick, but I usually earn 200-500 calories from exercise a day.
  • nelinelineli
    nelinelineli Posts: 330 Member
    A 1700 cal diet should give you plenty of nutrition. There's no evidence to support that eating below your BMR is an actual problem.
  • rhye
    rhye Posts: 104 Member
    A 1700 cal diet should give you plenty of nutrition. There's no evidence to support that eating below your BMR is an actual problem.

    Thanks! I was confused by this apparent paradox but I'll just keep doing the 1700 cals. I'm not feeling hungry or anything. The concept of the BMR is that you should not eat below it because your body will not be able to function, but this makes me suspicious that the BMR calculation on this site is incorrect.
  • shaydon80
    shaydon80 Posts: 138 Member
    I started out at 247 and would eat anywhere between 1500 and 1750 calories each day, exercise 6 days a week (300 calories burned per day) and not eat those calories back and I lost about 50 lbs in the first 6 months. The second 6 months I continued to lose at a slower rate (probably another 30lbs) and then another 20 lbs in the first 6 months of the following year. This was all before I was on MFP (I was on a different online tracker that didn't make things so complicated ;))

    I think 1700 is totally reasonable.

    Wishing you the best of luck! Just remember that any loss is a good loss! Keep up the good work!

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