My calorie intake is less than my BMR should I change?

Emma1903

iv just worked out my BMR which is 1440 cals a day, at the moment I'm on 1200 cals a day. Will I loose less if I carry on eating less than my BMR?

NoAdditives

It depends on your body and your metabolism. You can change your setting so you're trying to lose less per week or you can increase your daily activity level so that you're eating more if you want.

baisleac

iv just worked out my BMR which is 1440 cals a day, at the moment I'm on 1200 cals a day. Will I loose less if I carry on eating less than my BMR?

You might have your weight loss goal per week set to high. My BMR is similar to yours, but at 1 lb/week, my daily goal is around 1400 (though I also eat over that due to exercise)... and I zig zag so my daily average is above my BMR, but that's another matter.

Eating below your BMR will cause you to lose weight, but you will eventually stall and may harm your metabolism. Slowing down weight loss rarely hurts a person.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/baisleac/view/net-calories-bmr-tdee-reference-96731

cerysrhi

mine is below my BMR too but its working for me so I don't plan on changing a thing however that doesn't mean it will be the same for you as there are so many factors that affect your weight loss progress I would try it for a couple of weeks see how you feel and what goals you achieve and take it from there x

Emma1903

My goal is 2pm a week , but I changed it to 1pm and it still says 1200 cals a day. I am trying the zig zaging method also. I will keep it at 1200 and see what happens.

ladyhawk00

My goal is 2pm a week , but I changed it to 1pm and it still says 1200 cals a day. I am trying the zig zaging method also. I will keep it at 1200 and see what happens.

Since your BMR is pretty low, and MFP's lower limit is 1200, it won't let you go below that. But with only 11 lbs to lose, I'd strongly recommend you choose the 1/2 lb per week goal. The body (especially for women) prefers to have a cushion of fat. So you when you have very little to lose, you need to coax the body into accessing that very small amount of fat stores. The way you do this is by letting it KNOW there will be enough fuel coming in - so you want a very conservative deficit.

angiesills

What is the zig zag method?

emmaleigh47

You cannot eat under your BMR - in fact you should eat at 1.2x your bMR to ensure that your metabolism stays fired on all cyclinders. Sure there will be people who will tell you that its ok... and for a short period of time you will lose weight... but wouldnt you like to lose weight eating as much as possible... much more sustainable for the rest of your life!

BTW ... my BMR is 1600 ... I eat 2300 ... and you can see the results below!

baisleac

What is the zig zag method?

I like this one. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/212510-how-to-zig-zag-cals-properly-caloric-cycling-properly

But you can Google for alternate methods. You're essentially eating lower calories on some days and higher on others to keep your body guessing.

kmreynolds11

I read somewhere that the healthiest way to lose weight is to keep your calorie intake IN BETWEEN your BMR and your maintenance amount. I try my best to follow that guideline. Then I know that I'm eating enough for my basic body functioning, but less than the amount I would need to stay at exactly the same weight. In my case I always *try* to NET between 1350 (BMR) and 1850 (maintenance) every day. Even when I'm zigzagging, I choose daily calorie goals between these two numbers.

Emma1903

The 11 lbs to loose is so that I will be just within the healthy bmi range. I think that puts me dead on a bmi of 25.
If I set it at half a pound a week it still only gives me 1300 cals a day.

ladyhawk00

The 11 lbs to loose is so that I will be just within the healthy bmi range. I think that puts me dead on a bmi of 25.
If I set it at half a pound a week it still only gives me 1300 cals a day.

What is your maintenance cals? You can find it under Goals, at the top right where it says "Calories burned from Normal Daily Activity."

baisleac

If your BMR is 1440, and you are Sedentary (lowest option) then your Daily Caloric Expenditure is 1728. 1 lb/week would be 1228, half pound per week would be 1478.

BMR is not Daily Calorie Burn. Are you mixing the two up?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure (also called Maintenance calories)
Calorie = (unit of measurement), a unit of energy or heat variously defined. In nutrition terms, the word calorie is commonly used to refer to a unit of food energy. (The word calorie is used instead of the more precise scientific term kilocalorie.)

BMR and TDEE are two different things..

BMR is the amount of energy (calories) your body needs to function in a coma.

TDEE is the amount of energy (calories) that your body actually uses (burns) each day by living your life.

Eating less than your TDEE will give you a calorie deficit and you will lose weight.

Eat less than your BMR and you risk slowing your metabolism down; making it that much harder to continue to lose weight and that much more likely that you will regain that weight when you get to maintenance.

Emma1903

The 11 lbs to loose is so that I will be just within the healthy bmi range. I think that puts me dead on a bmi of 25.
If I set it at half a pound a week it still only gives me 1300 cals a day.

What is your maintenance cals? You can find it under Goals, at the top right where it says "Calories burned from Normal Daily Activity."

1800 cals

ladyhawk00

The 11 lbs to loose is so that I will be just within the healthy bmi range. I think that puts me dead on a bmi of 25.
If I set it at half a pound a week it still only gives me 1300 cals a day.

What is your maintenance cals? You can find it under Goals, at the top right where it says "Calories burned from Normal Daily Activity."

1800 cals

If your maintenance is 1800, then 1/2 lb per week shouldn't give you 1300.

Daily Deficits:
1/2 lb = 250
1 lb = 500
1.5 lb = 750
2 lb = 1000

So at 1/2 lb per week, your daily goal should be about 1550, before exercise.

sleepy184

Im Confused. According to MFP my Daily Cal intake is 1410 but my BMR (again according to MFP is 1789. Is this wrong?

ladyhawk00

Im Confused. According to MFP my Daily Cal intake is 1410 but my BMR (again according to MFP is 1789. Is this wrong?

First, make sure you're using the right numbers. Is the BMR from the calculator on the Tools page?

But again, if the numbers are right, it probably means your loss per week goal is too high for how much you have to lose. Based on your ticker (I'd need info like height, weight, age, activity level, etc to be more precise/accurate), I would guess you shouldn't have a loss per week goal higher than 1 lb per week, and possibly 1/2 lb.

Atlantique

I'm in this situation as well, and have been since I began MFP. I'm set at 1lb per week, although after I lost the first 10 MFP put me at .9 lbs per week loss. I have 17-22 pounds left to lose.

5'7"
BMR: 1387
Normal Daily Calorie burn: 1730
MFP Goal: 1270
BMI: 24.6

ladyhawk00

I'm in this situation as well, and have been since I began MFP. I'm set at 1lb per week, although after I lost the first 10 MFP put me at .9 lbs per week loss. I have 17-22 pounds left to lose.

5'7"
BMR: 1387
Normal Daily Calorie burn: 1730
MFP Goal: 1270
BMI: 24.6

I'd say you should lower loss goal to 1/2 lb per week with ~ 20 lbs to lose.

sleepy184

HI,

First, make sure you're using the right numbers. Is the BMR from the calculator on the Tools page?

But again, if the numbers are right, it probably means your loss per week goal is too high for how much you have to lose. Based on your ticker (I'd need info like height, weight, age, activity level, etc to be more precise/accurate), I would guess you shouldn't have a loss per week goal higher than 1 lb per week, and possibly 1/2 lb.

The BMR is from the calculator on the tools page.

My Loss per week goal is 2lb. I still have to loose around 3 stone!
My height is 5ft 6 my current weight is 202lbs age 37 activity level = light

MyNameIsNotBob

I got really stalled out trying to do 12-1300 cal. / day. I then started keeping my intake between my BMR (about 1500) and maintenance (about 2100). Since I switched, I've been losing much quicker and easier.