BMR, calorie targets, etc

Kargicq

Hi folks,

I've been on MFP for about ten weeks, and have lost a couple of pounds per week on average. I've been using the numbers provided by MFP, and follow IIFYM -- including eating back nearly all of my exercise calories. I'm delighted with progress: I don't feel particularly hungry, and am fitter and more energetic than I have been for years. Yay!

I have been reading around, and on playing with MFP's apps, have noticed that I'm currently netting under BMR. It seems there's a big disagreement about whether this is healthy or not, but that the consensus is "no." On the one hand, I'm feeling fine -- on the other hand, this is all pretty new and I don't want to mess up.

I'm a 5'10" male: currently at around 92kg (200lb) with a goal weight of 75kg (165lb). So my current plan is to hit my next mini-target (90kg, 198lb) and then increase my target calories, for a 1.5lb/wk loss. This would be pretty much netting my BMR. Then when I eventually hit 85kg (187lb), I'll change my goal to 1lb/wk, and finally I'll aim for 0.5lb/wk for the very last bit. I can see that psychologically it would be good to work out the sort of balanced diet I'll need for maintenance.

I just wanted to check that this sounds sensible to people! I know that if folk here spot a problem they won't be shy of telling me.

Kitship

Sounds like a great plan! Generally, if you don't feel the hunger pangs and are satiated (even if you are eating slightly below BMR), it's fine. It sounds like you have a good process in place, and congrats on your loss so far!

Quasita

Make sure that if you are relying on MFP that you force it to recalculate your numbers regularly. MFP only adjusts it after you've lost like 10 pounds, it does not change with every update unless you manually update your targets.

All calculators are estimates, so unless you get a measurement done of your personal metabolism, it's all just a guideline. So, you may not be under BMR at all, or you may be eating farther under than you thought, or just at it.

If you are seeing progress, that's great, I would just say allow yourself some high calories days on occasion to mix it up and offset any tendency of the metabolism to slow down. NETTING under BMR is not necessarily a bad thing, unless we are talking that you're getting under 1200-1500 calories (I said 1500 because you are an active male).

MFP is designed to calculate an average daily burn for you, then take a cut off the top, so if you're using this site for the numbers, eat what it tells you to and the exercise calories and you'll be fine.

Editing to say that the big argument isn't about netting under BMR. Eating over BMR is what got us overweight in the first place, eating over it without enough activity to make up for what we're eating. The net issue is about the 1200 goal. You should not net under 1200, as it is medically unsafe. There is A LOT of research to back this up. People here like to say it's okay especially for the very overweight, but it isn't okay to make that your goal. Every once in a while, no biggie. Intentionally coming in under 1200 every day is a biggie.

Kargicq

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I had stumbled on the fact that MFP doesn't recalculate unless you update goals (I like playing around with software...) I suppose that some people have weekly meal-plans and would be thrown if they also weighed daily and goals changed, but it would be nice to have an option to update goals automatically every time you check-in.

Good point about the 1200/1500 calories. At the moment I'm regularly netting around 1500, which is another reason to change things up.

Kargicq

Sounds like a great plan! Generally, if you don't feel the hunger pangs and are satiated (even if you are eating slightly below BMR), it's fine. It sounds like you have a good process in place, and congrats on your loss so far!

Thank you! We're all in this together!