TDEE minus 20% is under my BMR-what to do?

Daisy80
Daisy80 Posts: 755 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

I have been eating TDEE minus 20% which has been working well for me. I have lost 19lbs and I am now recalculating my calories. My BMR is 1,532 my TDEE minus 20% is 1517. I have learned to not eat under my BMR so what should I do? Should I set my calories to 1532 and just eat at my BMR?

Would be great if someone could help.

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Eat 1,532 calories per day for two weeks, then reevaluate your progress.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    There's actually no real reason not to eat under BMR. It's one of those things that people go on about (along with things like starvation mode,) that really doesn't have any scientific backing. While BMR for a very active person or a very lean person can be a good "rule of thumb," a lot of people end up going below BMR often. Your body makes up a food deficit by digging into your fat stores. As long as the overall deficit is reasonable to the amount of body fat you have, don't worry whether it's a bit above or below BMR.
  • uconnwinsnc
    uconnwinsnc Posts: 1,054 Member
    There's actually no real reason not to eat under BMR. It's one of those things that people go on about (along with things like starvation mode,) that really doesn't have any scientific backing. While BMR for a very active person or a very lean person can be a good "rule of thumb," a lot of people end up going below BMR often. Your body makes up a food deficit by digging into your fat stores. As long as the overall deficit is reasonable to the amount of body fat you have, don't worry whether it's a bit above or below BMR.

    I figure eating under your BMR is just going to lead to feeling unnecessarily hungry when you can successfully lose weight without experiencing that.
  • F00LofaT00K
    F00LofaT00K Posts: 688 Member
    There's actually no real reason not to eat under BMR. It's one of those things that people go on about (along with things like starvation mode,) that really doesn't have any scientific backing. While BMR for a very active person or a very lean person can be a good "rule of thumb," a lot of people end up going below BMR often. Your body makes up a food deficit by digging into your fat stores. As long as the overall deficit is reasonable to the amount of body fat you have, don't worry whether it's a bit above or below BMR.

    I figure eating under your BMR is just going to lead to feeling unnecessarily hungry when you can successfully lose weight without experiencing that.

    I have been eating under my BMR since mid-November now and I have yet to feel hungry. I'm starting to get used to feeling satiated and not "stuffed," my stomach doesn't growl unless I'm significantly late for a meal and I my energy level has been unaffected. I think if you focus on eating foods high in protein, fat and fiber you will feel satiated. I thought that I was hungry in the beginning but I finally realized I was just bored. I can recognize the difference at this point. If somebody is genuinely hungry while eating at a deficit, then yes they should eat more; but, as long as they are losing weight at a healthy rate and don't feel hungry then I don't see why they can't eat below their BMR.
  • MeMyCatsandI
    MeMyCatsandI Posts: 704 Member
    You're talking about a difference of 15 calories. I think you'll be okay!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    To me that would suggest that you don't have a substantial amount left to lose and don't have the fat stores necessary for that deficit. So you could do TDEE -15% or 10%. Also, it could be that you don't have your TDEE calculated appropriately....have you included all of your activity or are you putting sedentary or something? With TDEE you need to include all of your activity in your activity level...this will increase your TDEE and thus -X% number would be greater as well.

    While you aren't going into starvation mode or any such nonsense, larger deficits with little to lose can result in loss of more muscle mass than necessary because you simply do not have the fat stores to sustain such a deficit.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    but, as long as they are losing weight at a healthy rate and don't feel hungry then I don't see why they can't eat below their BMR.

    Sure...if all you care about is the actual number on the scale and don't give a rats *kitten* about your lean mass...
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Eating 15 guesstimated calories below a guesstimated BMR isn't going to make a rat ****'s worth of differene to weight or lean body mass.
  • Daisy80
    Daisy80 Posts: 755 Member
    To me that would suggest that you don't have a substantial amount left to lose and don't have the fat stores necessary for that deficit. So you could do TDEE -15% or 10%. Also, it could be that you don't have your TDEE calculated appropriately....have you included all of your activity or are you putting sedentary or something? With TDEE you need to include all of your activity in your activity level...this will increase your TDEE and thus -X% number would be greater as well.

    While you aren't going into starvation mode or any such nonsense, larger deficits with little to lose can result in loss of more muscle mass than necessary because you simply do not have the fat stores to sustain such a deficit.

    Thank you for the input. I am just under 5"7 and weigh 175lbs so definitely still a bit to lose. In my calculations I put myself as sedentary which a big part of my day is and then I use a HRM while I am exercising and add them on top. Usually that gives me about 1800 to eat (300 cals from exercising) and as I said this method has been working well for me.

    And I am aware of course that 15 cals or so won't make or break anything. I was just generally interested what the advise would be. It seems my TDEE - 20% might not be sustainable for a very long time so the tip to change it to -15% is very helpful!

    Thank you

    Daisy

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