What if my cut is below BMR?

krisrpaz

I went to a weight loss clinic for 6 months and dropped lots of weight but wrecked my metabolism. I knew before I came here that I needed to eat more so I've been eating over 1,500 calories for over 6 weeks and after an initial gain of 4/5 pounds I am proud to report it finally went back down to where I was before.

However...I work a desk job and am unable to do a lot of exercise since I'm going through physical therapy for my neck/shoulder (Zumba injury) and lower back (herniated disc). I was working out too hard too fast. My BMR is 1637, my TDEE is 1915. If I cut 15% or 20% of my TDEE I end up below my BMR. So is it acceptable to eat at or slightly above my BMR and just eat back any exercise calories I may get?

gemiwing

Wow- tough run of luck you've had lately. Hope you heal fast and heal well

I would give yourself a smaller deficit- especially since your body is working hard to repair itself. Gotta have fuel for that. I'd personally (not a doc or personal trainer here) start at a 10% deficit. You'll still lose but you'll have plenty of fuel to heal- and bonus- smaller deficit keeps your metabolism healing as well

How have you calculated your TDEE? I filled out several with general inputs and for me- that didn't work because of medical stuff. I used a TDEE calculator that uses minute by minute breakdown of my day. This really helped me figure out what my burn really was because I thought I was sedentary but I really wasn't.

Try this one- http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced if you haven't and see what the breakdown is during the day.

jyska

Try this one- http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced if you haven't and see what the breakdown is during the day.

holy crap! this just told me that my tdee was 3039!!! That makes my cut of 15% 2583!!! And I even tried to err on the lower end of the activity I put in. I thought I was close at 2200 cut. I don't even know what to say right now!! :noway:

krisrpaz

Wow! That's a huge difference...and I underestimated...So can I expect another gain if I increase it this much?

gemiwing

Wow! That's a huge difference...and I underestimated...So can I expect another gain if I increase it this much?

It's all about math here- you're still an individual case- the TDEE calcs just give you a starting point. So if you start eating more- give a couple hundred more and ramp up- you'll be able to tell where your personal 'sweet spot' is and stick there till it stops working again. Then re-run numbers and keep going.

Whether you gain or not is impossible to guess. You might, you might not. You might grow beautiful butterfly wings and shock the heck out of all of us Only one way to find out

gemiwing

Try this one- http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced if you haven't and see what the breakdown is during the day.

holy crap! this just told me that my tdee was 3039!!! That makes my cut of 15% 2583!!! And I even tried to err on the lower end of the activity I put in. I thought I was close at 2200 cut. I don't even know what to say right now!! :noway:

Don't fret too much- you're close. It's all about what works in the real world for you- and in a healthy way. So if you're not getting results you want- now you know you have some wiggle room and room to go up from here. So that removes that level of fear of 'The Gain' and shoves it up higher. So lucky you- you busy lady you! You've got more wiggle room

jyska

Try this one- http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced if you haven't and see what the breakdown is during the day.

holy crap! this just told me that my tdee was 3039!!! That makes my cut of 15% 2583!!! And I even tried to err on the lower end of the activity I put in. I thought I was close at 2200 cut. I don't even know what to say right now!! :noway:

Don't fret too much- you're close. It's all about what works in the real world for you- and in a healthy way. So if you're not getting results you want- now you know you have some wiggle room and room to go up from here. So that removes that level of fear of 'The Gain' and shoves it up higher. So lucky you- you busy lady you! You've got more wiggle room

Wiggle room to lose the jiggle...I can handle that. :laugh: I have to say though, it shocked the heck outta me!

laurarpa

I would be really careful with that calculator. I think it is way high. At least for me it is, compared to gowear fit and every other formula I've used/seen. That calculator was about 600 calories over for me.

gemiwing

I would be really careful with that calculator. I think it is way high. At least for me it is, compared to gowear fit and every other formula I've used/seen. That calculator was about 600 calories over for me.

I agree it is on the high side but have several folks who say it gives them almost identical readouts as their BMF.

I recommend it for it's ease of use, hour by hour and to get an idea of the ceiling.

jyska

I would be really careful with that calculator. I think it is way high. At least for me it is, compared to gowear fit and every other formula I've used/seen. That calculator was about 600 calories over for me.

so noted! I plan to stay where I am right now anyways. I had just raised my calories today before using that calculator because I noticed I always had to eat back exercise calories to get to net which was my indicator that I was too low. Right now I'm borderline with the number I've set (2200), but I'll see how it goes for a week or two and then decide if it needs to go higher or lower.