MFP warning about eating under BMR

CoderGal

I increased my calories and started Netting at my BMR +200. I am in week #4 and just saw a slight weight loss this week of 3 pounds. However, my concern is my body fat percentage has steadily increased by about 6% week over week. Any suggestions on this?

Yikes, if I had a 'slight' weight loss of 3 pounds I'd have a 'dangerously low' BMI in a little over a week. And interesting! How long have you been measuring previous to this? How are you measuring? and are you doing it accurately and at the same point in the day after the same amount of food and exercise etc? We're not professionals, we cannot tell you for sure. But read around, I've seen articles about restoring things in the body which can cause to temporary stalls (and probably water retention). This may not be the case tho, since you're female. Females are notoriously known for always jumping all over the place when it comes to body fat measurements. I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way to really compare 2 people.

cutchro

I increased my calories and started Netting at my BMR +200. I am in week #4 and just saw a slight weight loss this week of 3 pounds. However, my concern is my body fat percentage has steadily increased by about 6% week over week. Any suggestions on this?

Do you strength train?

If not, I would really recommend addiing strength training (low reps, heavy weights) to your routine.

Yes twice a week full body and core at least 3 times per week along with intense cardio

cutchro

I increased my calories and started Netting at my BMR +200. I am in week #4 and just saw a slight weight loss this week of 3 pounds. However, my concern is my body fat percentage has steadily increased by about 6% week over week. Any suggestions on this?

Yikes, if I had a 'slight' weight loss of 3 pounds I'd have a 'dangerously low' BMI in a little over a week. And interesting! How long have you been measuring previous to this? How are you measuring? and are you doing it accurately and at the same point in the day after the same amount of food and exercise etc? We're not professionals, we cannot tell you for sure. But read around, I've seen articles about restoring things in the body which can cause to temporary stalls (and probably water retention). This may not be the case tho, since you're female. Females are notoriously known for always jumping all over the place when it comes to body fat measurements. I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way to really compare 2 people.

Ha I started doing "Fat Tuesday" measuring fat with a machine in the gym...hand held same time same place....started 4 weeks ago...It is frustrating... I am trying to not get discouraged about the weight loss as I know it takes time for my body to adjust to the change in diet but I did not expect my Fat to increase even if my weight stayed basically the same.

CoderGal

I increased my calories and started Netting at my BMR +200. I am in week #4 and just saw a slight weight loss this week of 3 pounds. However, my concern is my body fat percentage has steadily increased by about 6% week over week. Any suggestions on this?

Yikes, if I had a 'slight' weight loss of 3 pounds I'd have a 'dangerously low' BMI in a little over a week. And interesting! How long have you been measuring previous to this? How are you measuring? and are you doing it accurately and at the same point in the day after the same amount of food and exercise etc? We're not professionals, we cannot tell you for sure. But read around, I've seen articles about restoring things in the body which can cause to temporary stalls (and probably water retention). This may not be the case tho, since you're female. Females are notoriously known for always jumping all over the place when it comes to body fat measurements. I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way to really compare 2 people.

Ha I started doing "Fat Tuesday" measuring fat with a machine in the gym...hand held same time same place....started 4 weeks ago...It is frustrating... I am trying to not get discouraged about the weight loss as I know it takes time for my body to adjust to the change in diet but I did not expect my Fat to increase even if my weight stayed basically the same.

But when did you start measuring for the first time? If it was 4 weeks ago...then this is likely just normal for you. Watch what happens over a couple months. Females do weird things. Don't get discouraged. You'd have to do this for months and months to get a feel for where your gains are. The gym usually tells you to compare yourself to where you were in your cycle or month by month. So instead of comparing to last week, you look at last months values. This still can be a bit tipsy.

Also, the hand held things are arguably inaccurate. I won't give any input because I don't know. But I've been looking at weight scales and hand helds and gym scales and calibers lately. Apparently most people seem to think the calibers are more accurate. But you'd have to get the same person to do the same spots the same way every week.

Body fat, it's a hard thing to judge. Just look at what the different scales read, or even the same scales, or the US Department of Defense formula or the Covert Bailey Body Fat Calculator, they're all over the place.

KeriA

I agree.

Although I don't understand why people just don't use the tools here HONESTLY and accurately. If you actually input the correct info, it's unlikely to give you "bad" numbers. The low 1200 numbers are given to people who choose "Sedentary" and "Lose two pounds a week." Almost no one is Sedentary. And unless they have 50 or more pounds to lose, they shouldn't be set at two pounds. The site will prompt you to choose more reasonably, but people override the tool.

One of the big problems these days on the Boards is the ten thousand different ways to calculate what you should be eating.

I lost over 50 pounds by using this site only. I've kept it off. I didn't go to ten different sites to try to figure things out. I did it the way this site is set up. I used all the numbers given to me. I think people make it harder by trying to speed up the process, and reading too many forum threads.

Keep it simple.

I did the same thing you did. I didn't set my calories for 2 pounds but 1 pound loss even though I had alot to lose and ate my exercise calories back. I logged everyday. I exercised regularly. I barely lost. I would have been fine with a half a pound loss a week but nothing so I thought my setting was too high for me so I lowered it. Yes I lost - 30+ pounds in a year and but then hit a 9 month plateau where I tried everything but eating above my BMR since I didn't know that much about it and that I should keep my calories above it and nothing worked. What I heard was that losing 1 pound a week for my amount of weight to lose was safe. What I heard was calories in calories out. What I heard was don't underestimate your food intake or over estimate your exercise burn. I never lowered to 1200 calories and I never went for the quick loss. I just wanted some loss. It is just lately that I have seen recommendations on the board about eating above your BMR, about jmaking sure to not lower metabolism by eating too few calories. If it wasn't for forum threads I would still be eating under BMR. I did need to go to other sites to get better estimates of my BMR and other important estimates as well. I am now eating maintenance calorie settings using MFP after slowly increasing calories and yes I gained a bit at each upped level but settled back down again. Recently I have lost more than 2 pounds in the last 2 days with my calories set at maintenance. I have taken more than a month to increase my calories to this level and keep them up. Thank you for those posting information about eating above your BMR to lose. I have to see if I am just settling down and this is really my maintenance or if it is still a deficit for me. Oh and due to an injury I have had to really limit exercise as well. Except for exercise I am relatively sedentary and I used MFP setting as to how to set my activity level.

I think MFP is great. I am thankful for all of its tools and for some the settings may work at least for awhile. I did lose inches from exercise (but I started exercising before MFP) and I think I lost because I was in school and finals weeks saved me. I always stalled out on breaks since I upped my exercise and kept to my calorie goal with eating back exercise calories. It was when I eased up on things that I lost. It is because of the community and the forums that MFP is a great site and the free logging tools.

CoderGal

I did the same thing you did. I didn't set my calories for 2 pounds but 1 pound loss even though I had alot to lose and ate my exercise calories back. I logged everyday. I exercised regularly. I barely lost. I would have been fine with a half a pound loss a week but nothing so I thought my setting was too high for me so I lowered it. Yes I lost - 30+ pounds in a year and but then hit a 9 month plateau where I tried everything but eating above my BMR since I didn't know that much about it and that I should keep my calories above it and nothing worked. What I heard was that losing 1 pound a week for my amount of weight to lose was safe. What I heard was calories in calories out. What I heard was don't underestimate your food intake or over estimate your exercise burn. I never lowered to 1200 calories and I never went for the quick loss. I just wanted some loss. It is just lately that I have seen recommendations on the board about eating above your BMR, about jmaking sure to not lower metabolism by eating too few calories. If it wasn't for forum threads I would still be eating under BMR. I did need to go to other sites to get better estimates of my BMR and other important estimates as well. I am now eating maintenance calorie settings using MFP after slowly increasing calories and yes I gained a bit at each upped level but settled back down again. Recently I have lost more than 2 pounds in the last 2 days with my calories set at maintenance. I have taken more than a month to increase my calories to this level and keep them up. Thank you for those posting information about eating above your BMR to lose. I have to see if I am just settling down and this is really my maintenance or if it is still a deficit for me. Oh and due to an injury I have had to really limit exercise as well. Except for exercise I am relatively sedentary and I used MFP setting as to how to set my activity level.

XD it's ridiculous how many people have messaged me to thank me for posting this thread (and have already lost weight with it). I know the BMR threads get tiring but I'm glad I spotted them. How do you know what to look for when you've never heard of it?

I guess there will always be that set of people who:
- shrink their organs until they are satisfied on very little without realizing/believing they can have more and refuse to try it for more then a few weeks even if they do loose
- stall...and stumble upon a thread :P

Unfortunate. Thanks for your post!

hanna6774

Having read several fiery threads regarding low calorie intake, eating/not eating your exercise calories, not eating below your BMR etc. I certainly can understand the confusion many people are experiencing, myself starting to be one of them. MFP calculated my calories to be 1349 based on moderate exercise for a 2lb a week loss. Any extra exercise I did basically riding a stationery bike (357 calories) I ate back for a total of 1700 calories. I have enjoyed a reasonable weight loss, certainly not the two pounds a week calculated by MFP. I have been in a plateau for almost a couple of months, but happy I am maintaining. Physically I am able to do more now so I want to step it up. As such, looking at all options.

I am very impressed by the before and after pictures of the MFP members that do Power90 and researched the Beachbody site. Their nutritional information, based on moderate exercise, put my calorie intake at 3000 calories. To lose 2 lb a week I would reduce this by 1000/day for a total of 2000 calories per day and not eat exercise calories back. Not much more info available to me on this site unless I pay to become a club member.

Then I checked out the link fat2fit and found the following. My BMR is 1509 (Katch method) 1788 (Harris method). I choose to go with the Katch method as Harris does not take into account lean body mass (water, bone & tissue). One reason I'm not obsessed with the scale as it is just weight, includes everything, not just fat. According to this site, If I was sedentary I need 2071 calories, exercise 1 - 3x/week I need 2071 calories, and exercise 3 - 4x/week I'd need 2334 calories. Seems high but the explanation is below:

"We advocate eating like the thin, healthy person that you want to become. The calorie levels you see in the chart are not extreme, but they do create that all important caloric deficit that is required to get you to your goal weight in a safe manner. Once you reach your goal weight, you will continue eating the same number of calories for the rest of your life to maintain that weight. You'll never be on a diet again.

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point." (Again, that would put me at about 2000 calories based on my current exercise)

Based on everything I have read, the healthier and fitter I get, the more leaner muscle mass I will build (that's the plan anyway). Muscle burns faster and requires more calories to sustain so my thinking is I want to be able to eat more. That being said, I am proposing a little experiment for the next month. I am going to eat 2000 calories while exercising no more than I did before and see what happens. Worse case scenario is that I gain but I still have quite a lot of wiggle room as far as calorie intake and my BMR to play with. I can also just increase my exercise if I am up to it. I am more scared of not eating enough rather than eating too much so here goes.

CoderGal

Having read several fiery threads regarding low calorie intake, eating/not eating your exercise calories, not eating below your BMR etc. I certainly can understand the confusion many people are experiencing, myself starting to be one of them. MFP calculated my calories to be 1349 based on moderate exercise for a 2lb a week loss. Any extra exercise I did basically riding a stationery bike (357 calories) I ate back for a total of 1700 calories. I have enjoyed a reasonable weight loss, certainly not the two pounds a week calculated by MFP. Physically I am able to do more now so I want to step it up. As such, looking at all options.

I am very impressed by the before and after pictures of the MFP members that do Power90 and researched the Beachbody site. Their nutritional information, based on moderate exercise, put my calorie intake at 3000 calories. To lose 2 lb a week I would reduce this by 1000/day for a total of 2000 calories per day and not eat exercise calories back. Not much more info available to me on this site unless I pay to become a club member.

Then I checked out the link fat2fit and found the following. My BMR is 1509 (Katch method) 1788 (Harris method). I choose to go with the Katch method as Harris does not take into account lean body mass (water, bone & tissue). One reason I'm not obsessed with the scale as it is just weight, includes everything, not just fat. According to this site, If I was sedentary I need 2071 calories, exercise 1 - 3x/week I need 2071 calories, and exercise 3 - 4x/week I'd need 2334 calories. Seems high but the explanation is below:

"We advocate eating like the thin, healthy person that you want to become. The calorie levels you see in the chart are not extreme, but they do create that all important caloric deficit that is required to get you to your goal weight in a safe manner. Once you reach your goal weight, you will continue eating the same number of calories for the rest of your life to maintain that weight. You'll never be on a diet again.

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point." (Again, that would put me at about 2000 calories based on my current exercise)

Based on everything I have read, the healthier and fitter I get, the more leaner muscle mass I will build (that's the plan anyway). Muscle burns faster and requires more calories to sustain so my thinking is I want to be able to eat more. That being said, I am proposing a little experiment for the next month. I am going to eat 2000 calories while exercising no more than I did before and see what happens. Worse case scenario is that I gain but I still have quite a lot of wiggle room as far as calorie intake and my BMR to play with. I can also just increase my exercise if I am up to it. I am more scared of not eating enough rather than eating too much so here goes.

Thanks for sharing! It's normal to feel what you're feeling, you'll get to the point where you don't worry about it later because you're loosing. Personally though, I found that going from an average of 4000 calories to 1200 was pretty extreme. And in the 2000 range is not allot of food! It's what your average nutritional recommendations are based on.

FlaxMilk

I agree.

Although I don't understand why people just don't use the tools here HONESTLY and accurately. If you actually input the correct info, it's unlikely to give you "bad" numbers. The low 1200 numbers are given to people who choose "Sedentary" and "Lose two pounds a week." Almost no one is Sedentary. And unless they have 50 or more pounds to lose, they shouldn't be set at two pounds. The site will prompt you to choose more reasonably, but people override the tool.

One of the big problems these days on the Boards is the ten thousand different ways to calculate what you should be eating.

I lost over 50 pounds by using this site only. I've kept it off. I didn't go to ten different sites to try to figure things out. I did it the way this site is set up. I used all the numbers given to me. I think people make it harder by trying to speed up the process, and reading too many forum threads.

Keep it simple.

I was given a 1200 limit on sedentary, lightly active. Even at very active (which I'm not) it only gave me 1350. And that was at 1 lb a week, two pounds a week, and .5 pounds a week. I think it says to base your activity level on your job, doesn't it?

Linda6580

bump

KeriA

I cannot remember where I read this but I was under the impression that for obese or severely obese individuals it is ok to eat under BMR due to much lower meabolisms and a high fat storage %.

I am in that range and eating below that didn't work and I hardly ever get sick but I did when my calories were too low. I was trying to lose weight healthily and think this type of advice is counter productive especially if you want to up your exercise. My metabolism isn't all that slow it seems since it was way underestimated my MFP. However I am sure it did slow over the years and with difficult pregnancies where I couldn't keep food down for months. So lowering it yet again by eating below my BMR didn't help me. Now I am losing on my supposed maintenance calories finally. Maybe for short periods it might be "safe" but is it productive to lower your metabolism when you want to lose weight? It is hard to get the right nutrition on less calories no matter what your weight is. It is hard to lose bodyfat and increase muscle without the right nutrition. It is hard to up your metabolism when your calories are too low. Why would I want to go from being fat to being skinny fat? You can be normal weight your whole life and have alot of dangerous interabdominal fat. It may be that eating like that (under BMR) was a major cause of many people's weight gain in the first place. Yoyo dieting is the problem for many. So what helps is to actually eat what you need for good nutrition with a moderate deficit and exercise if you can. When you have lower calories you avoid foods you need such as avocados, fruits, nuts certain and healthy essential fats. I was not a yoyo dieter and the last thing I wanted was to add that to the mix. So yes I am sure you did read it but I don't think it is really that helpful. Lowering your calories below your BMR lowers your metabolism. I did lower my bodyfat, I did lose inches due to exercising which I began before MFP but eating below my BMR I lost very inconsistently and finally completely stalled. What you want to do is lose weight and get healthier. I think that those who didn't exercise much may have lost ok on lower calories. However every time I kept under my 1500-1350 calorie goal plus exercise caloreis and upped my exercise I stalled out. I didn't lose. Now that I have taken 1 and a half months to repair the damage of eating below my BMR I am seeing the pounds come off finally.

hanna6774

Thanks for sharing! It's normal to feel what you're feeling, you'll get to the point where you don't worry about it later because you're loosing. Personally though, I found that going from an average of 4000 calories to 1200 was pretty extreme. And in the 2000 range is not allot of food! It's what your average nutritional recommendations are based on.
[/quote]

No worries, if today is any example, I'll definitely not be eating any less than 2000 and closer to the higher end as I exercise more. Like I said, I'm not so much focused on my scale as I am eating healthy and increasing my exercise and endurance. I am out of the "morbidly obese" category (ugh - who comes up with these names?!) and quite happy to take as long as it takes to get to my goal.

hanna6774

QUOTE:

I cannot remember where I read this but I was under the impression that for obese or severely obese individuals it is ok to eat under BMR due to much lower meabolisms and a high fat storage %.



I also read this but read it was to be under supervision and for a short period of time - already sounded too restrictive for me. I have also read that if you do this long term that ultimately this would be the most you would be able to eat - definitely not what I want. Hence, my little experiment.

sondra216379

So my TDEE is 2300 and my BMR is 1740...what should I be eating? I started at 1200 and lost 18 pounds then stalled.....upped it to 1400 and lost about 4 and am stalled again. IDK WHAT I SHOULD BE ATING

samra2012

you've lost 12kg so far, how was that achieved and what's your current regime ?

I just stop eating junk food and did three months of p90x. Im new here, and I I thought that this worked, but now I dont know, sometimes the counter said that I have to eat 1500 or 1600 cal, and I think its too much!

samra2012

you've lost 12kg so far, how was that achieved and what's your current regime ?

I just stop eating junk food and did three months of p90x. Im new here, and I I thought that this worked, but now I dont know, sometimes the counter said that I have to eat 1500 or 1600 cal, and I think its too much!

samra2012

you've lost 12kg so far, how was that achieved and what's your current regime ?
sorry I dont know how to remove it!!!:mad:

deedaltz

After reading this thread the main idea I got out of it was that healthy eating is somewhere between your BMR and TDDE. BUT is this your net caloric intake or is this your total intake regardless of how much you exercised that day? I generally lose 350-650 calories doing cardio six days a week and I also do strength training four days a week. Can anyone help me out?

GDavis25

I agree there should be warnings for that. It says my BMR is 1515 and for losing 1 lb a week it has me set at 1540 cals a day. Ive often ate below that but now Im gonna strive to atleast hit the 1515 mark. Thanks for this post.... I hadnt checked my BMR until now.

Sarauk2sf

After reading this thread the main idea I got out of it was that healthy eating is somewhere between your BMR and TDDE. BUT is this your net caloric intake or is this your total intake regardless of how much you exercised that day? I generally lose 350-650 calories doing cardio six days a week and I also do strength training four days a week. Can anyone help me out?

It's net.