Starvation & what not

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kelseey73x
kelseey73x Posts: 65 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So they say you must eat 1200 calories a day. I have a metabolism of 1390. I was wondering if this is still true? I eat 1050-1390 calories a day, on average of 1150.

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    1390 is your BMR. You don't have much to lose so set your goal to .5 lbs/week. That should put you eating above your BMR but still below your TDEE. You want a modest deficit since you're so close to your goal weight.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,021 Member
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    I've never heard that. I've heard some websites and diet promoters default to 1200, probably because of legal issues with regards to malnutrition, eating disorders, etc......nobody want to get sued. If someone is bed ridden, old and sedentary, or basically doesn't do anything all day, 1200 might work if the right foods were consumed, but considering most people don't eat very well, 1200 could be disastrous on a health level, not to mention on a satiety level, and other physiologically triggering events that could be deleterious to someones overall well being, or I could be just skeptical of numbers written in the sand with no science behind it.
  • freckledrats
    freckledrats Posts: 251 Member
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    Honestly, with a BMR of 1390, dieting on 1150 isn't going to be a big deal. Those 50 calories aren't made of magic and fairy dust. Just be careful and make sure you're getting adequate nutrition, which is good advice for anybody eating any amount of calories.
  • ihateroses
    ihateroses Posts: 893 Member
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    You are forgetting that those are calories you'd be using if you laid in bed all day and did zero physical activity.

    What you really burn in a day is significantly higher than that number because your body is in motion (I'm assuming you don't work out of bed?)

    Do yourself a favor and stay over 1200cals. I'm the same height and started maintaining at 115lbs (1700 cals) and ended up losing 5 more lbs without indending to. Plateaus are easier to break when you are not looking haha.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    If you want to lose fat, set your goal to 1/2 lb per week, eat 50% of your exercise calories, eat adequate protein and heavy weight training. If you want to lose fat and muscle (at this point more muscle than fat probably) continue what you are doing. Btw, more muscle means a tighter body... its all about muscle.

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