Is it safe if my NET calorie is under my BMR?

Tsyle

Hi guys. I tried searching for this but couldn't find any answers.

I'm confused about my calorie intake suggestion.

I'm 5'10, 170 lbs, and my BMR is roughly 1800.

The myfitnesspal calculator says that I should eat about 1200 net calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week. Is it safe to be under your BMR? Isn't the BMR the amount of calories your body need to survive?

Lets say I eat 2200 calories and burn 500. That puts me at 1700 net calories. Is that safe? What If I eat 2000 calories and burn 500? That puts me at 1500 net calories.

Thoughts?

NightOwl1

I just looked at your goals. If you are trying to lose only 20 pounds, 2 pounds a week is too quickly.

Your body's metabolism stays in its best state when you're somewhere between 500 calories over, and 1000 calories below your maintenance levels. Anything above or below will slow your metabolism, and isn't healthy. Now, since you are not trying to lose a lot weight, 1000 below maintenance is probably too high a deficit for you. You probably want to be no more than 500 calories below maintenance per day, or 1 pound a week.

So I would revise your goal, and as long as you stick to that, don't worry too much about your BMR

Leannek74

Hi,
You need take in under your BMR to lose weight. Equal calories to you BMR will maintain your weight and taking in more calories will cause you to gain.
Keep in mind that if you are too far below your BMR your body will start to store fat as rapidly as possible (starvation mode) so you need to take in a certain amount of calories (at least 1200 for women).
Now try to take in calories that have the most food value possible to stay healthy. The food tracker
It is all very mathematical, ie; Once you take in 3600 less calories than you burn you will lose one pound. Thats why it takes time to lose weight properly.
This site is fabulous for tracking it all but you must log pretty much everything (all food, drinks, and exercise) to get a real handle on how your body works!

Tsyle

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm confused about maintenance level. I calculated my BMR and multiplied it by my activity level from this site:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

I have a desktop job so I really don't move much except for when I exercise.

So with my BMR at about 1800, I multiply it by 1.2 so thats 2160. So is this my maintenance level if I want to maintain my weight and not work out at all?

Now since I try to work out 5 days a week, I'm going to estimate that I burn about 500 calories a day.

I eat right now about 1800 calories total so after burning 500 calories, I'm at 1300.

Do you think thats too low? Should I aim to eat 2200 calories a day instead? That will put me at 1700 calories net consumed which is about 500 under my calorie requirement to maintain my weight.

vettle

Hi,
You need take in under your BMR to lose weight. Equal calories to you BMR will maintain your weight and taking in more calories will cause you to gain.
Keep in mind that if you are too far below your BMR your body will start to store fat as rapidly as possible (starvation mode) so you need to take in a certain amount of calories (at least 1200 for women).
Now try to take in calories that have the most food value possible to stay healthy. The food tracker
It is all very mathematical, ie; Once you take in 3600 less calories than you burn you will lose one pound. Thats why it takes time to lose weight properly.
This site is fabulous for tracking it all but you must log pretty much everything (all food, drinks, and exercise) to get a real handle on how your body works!

oh no!! You absoluetly do not have to take in under your BMR to lose weight. Your BMR is what you burn doing absolutely nothing all day and sat in bed...and you need to eat at least that to keep your organs functioning. You will burn muscle this way instead of fat!!

Your maintaince level is called your AMR - Active metabolic rate. Even walking around, making dinner, cleaning, doing your hair, taking a shower, walking from your car to work, etc... all burn calories and they add up. You also factor in your workouts into this rate, which should be at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. Your maintaince calories (AMR) are not the same as your BMR calories. So you need to be between your BMR and your AMR to lose weight healthy.

Believe me, I've been eating 1300 calories a day which is about 150 below my BMR. Sure, I dropped weight, but now I'm stuck and I may be doing damage to my body and losing weight I don't want to lose. I've upped it to just above my BRM and making sure my NET calories stays above my BMR.

I believe your calculation is correct, You should aim to eat 2200 calories a day if your net calories are at 1700. You will lose the right kind of weight, at a healthy pace and you will keep it off.

cabaluchi

Vettle is right on the money. Eat above your BMR always. For an extra kick, eat about 5% above your AMR staggered at least 3 days a week to keep your metabolism moving.