Eating below bmr, isn't that bad?

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willis84
willis84 Posts: 86 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've read, if you want to lose weight, don't net below your bmr. Then why do some people have a daily calorie goal of 1200? Won't that just put your body into starvation mode? Any anything you eat will, be stored away?
Im not finding the logic to this. I need to lose 25lb and my daily calorie intake is 1625 and I don't net below my bmr of 1481

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  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    You'll get different thoughts on this but in my opinion, unless you are obesely overweight and your body has lot's of energy stores to pull from, eating below BMR is a bad idea. This is the minimum your body needs to function before any activity. Honestly, I think most of those people with a calorie goal of 1200 are nuts! They got overweight over time and now want to drop it all by starving themselves. When you go into "starvation mode" you don't actually store everything you eat. Your metabolism adapts to the intake and slows down so that you don't burn fat stores. Thus you stall. Sounds like you plan is a reasonable one without knowing all the other stats.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Goals of 1200 (many of which would be lower if it wasn't set as a minimum) arise when a smaller lighter person with a modest BMR and sedentary activity levels sets a weight loss goal of 1 lb/week or higher, this takes off 500 cals/day.

    Eating below BMR is also kind of inevitable for sedentary people if they want to lose weight at 1 lb/week, their total daily energy expenditure will be BMR*1.2 and target intake BMR*1.2-500. The maths geeks will spot that any BMR below 2500 (!) involves eating below BMR for a target weight loss of 1 pound a week.

    On the positive side, nothing radical happens if you eat 200 less than your BMR compared to 200 more than your BMR. As long as you have fat reserves to supply the deficit - 20 lbs will supply the 500 calories daily - and eat at least 50g of protein and a variety of foods including healthy fats you can be completely nourished at 1200 calories.
    Won't that just put your body into starvation mode? Any anything you eat will, be stored away?
    No. You would die if that was to happen, your body will use what it can get from food, what it can use from reserves and probably slow down a bit too.
  • skinnylion
    skinnylion Posts: 213
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    If you eat below your BMR for an extended period of time, bad things will happen to your body. I.e. your hair might start falling out, your nails will get weaker. You need those calories for your body to function correctly.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    If you eat below your BMR for an extended period of time, bad things will happen to your body. I.e. your hair might start falling out, your nails will get weaker. You need those calories for your body to function correctly.

    you need a whole range of micronutrients minerals and vitamins to avoid those things, but not simply calories. A balanced diet of less than BMR does not involve any specific risks or side effects. Let's face it, we don't know exactly what our BMR is anyway.

    Try this - if eat just below my BMR or I add 300 calories of olive oil or starch to get me above it, would that be better ?

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