BMR and minimum Calories..

Tasha1476

Ok all, apparently I am not as "off' my plateau" as I thought, my almost 2 lb loss was just part of the fun as this week with good eating and exercise (also unfortunately TOM--who just left and may still be the cause of this) I am up 1 Lb!

Which has prompted me to ask this.. I eat 1200 a day, usually around 1350 when I exercise... and sometimes I zigzag calories.. But I have calculated my BMR on here and in a few other places just to guesstimate accuracy. All the results put my BMR somewhere between 1500 and 1600.. Should I be eating at least that amount to effectively lose weight??

Anyone's insight and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

JustAmy

here are all the answers:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

and more specific to your question:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6832-eating-all-of-your-calories-bmr

best of luck!

renae5

I was stuck on a 6 month plateau. Eating 1200 cals a day, exercising 6 days a week and burning between 500-800 cals a day... the scale wouldn't move! Grr... calculated and recalulated my BMR, did a bunch of research on starvation mode, set points and setting your metabolism and decided that if my BMR for a 35 year old 5'7 160 pound female was 1450 cals a day ... obviouslt if the scale wasn't moving, then I was just lowering my metabolic happy point. So, starting this week I have maintained my exercise but bumped my cals up to 1400-1600 cals and guess what, the scale hasn't moved down yet, but it hasn't moved up either. I have more energy and I am Definitely Never hungry. It is an experiment in progress, but I thik you may be better off eating a liitle more!

RaggedyPond

I was stuck when I was eating 1200 calories and working out 6x a week also. My BMR says I need 1800 calories, I thought that was a little high so I make it 1500 as a goal on MFP. I ate only the 1500 and did not eat the exercise calories and I dropped 4 lbs that week. It's like my body was waiting for the right moment to just throw it away. I will find out if it has stalled again or not this weekend when I weight again. Hope this helps GL!

Tasha1476

thanks for the replies everyone!

I have been reading this book "Skinny chicks don't eat salad" which is written by a nutritionist, and she says a lot about how girls NEED to at least 1500 calories.. Its just so hard to swallow when you have been eating 1200 for months and its really hard to think that eating more can HELP you lose.. haha

FitnessTim

I was stuck on a 6 month plateau. Eating 1200 cals a day, exercising 6 days a week and burning between 500-800 cals a day... the scale wouldn't move! Grr... calculated and recalulated my BMR, did a bunch of research on starvation mode, set points and setting your metabolism and decided that if my BMR for a 35 year old 5'7 160 pound female was 1450 cals a day ... obviouslt if the scale wasn't moving, then I was just lowering my metabolic happy point. So, starting this week I have maintained my exercise but bumped my cals up to 1400-1600 cals and guess what, the scale hasn't moved down yet, but it hasn't moved up either. I have more energy and I am Definitely Never hungry. It is an experiment in progress, but I thik you may be better off eating a liitle more!

I just love this post as an example of what people should be doing, experiment. Decrease calories, increase calories, change exercise patterns, do it all. Learn about what works for you.

I think the best advice for getting fit is to keep learning. Read exercise books, blogs, articles. Take it all in. I've been studying fitness for the past 20 years and I'm stilling learning new things. I sometime learn that what was once recommended is now considered wrong, like doing situps.

Tasha1476

I just love this post as an example of what people should be doing, experiment. Decrease calories, increase calories, change exercise patterns, do it all. Learn about what works for you.

I think the best advice for getting fit is to keep learning. Read exercise books, blogs, articles. Take it all in. I've been studying fitness for the past 20 years and I'm stilling learning new things. I sometime learn that what was once recommended is now considered wrong, like doing situps.

Thanks, I do read up on health and fitness quite a lot. and am going to start experimenting more with what I have read to find what really really works best for me.