RMR

kateyb

I know I've seen tons of people ask this question, and I've seen plenty of answers but nothing that seems concrete - so I'm asking again. Someone posted yesterday (and I'm sorry I can't remember who it was) but someone posted an article that stated that you had to consume at least your RMR calories each day to avoid your body going into starvation mode. It provided an online calculator which stated my RMR was 1675. Now my understanding from the article and the calculator is that if you don't consume at least your RMR every day (without exercise or exercise calories) then your body will go into starvation mode, weightloss will slow/plateau and all the sticking rigidly to 1200 cal goals will be in vain.

Is that right?

HappyJamese17

It is your RMR less 350 calories. The site calculates that for you.

stormieweather

There is a lot of disagreement on this (hotly debated!). :grumble: :explode:

I recently read several experts that claim that starvation mode comes into play when a person eats less than 50% of "what their body needs". Ok, but they didn't define that..is that maintenance or RMR? In addition, I've read that all calorie restrictions are treated as famine by the body, which causes slow downs to occur. The severity of such are determined by how large the calorie restriction is and how long. Then there are the hormones....leptin, ghrelin, insulin...how does eating below RMR affect their production? Wish I could find some solid answers too...with documentation, not just opinions or lore.

My own story is that I've been at a plateau for 6 months, eating and logging calories, between 1200 and 1450 calories a day (I tried increasing them at one point). I had my metabolism tested professionally and my RMR is 1800 and maintenance around 2500. Is that why I'm not losing? And yet, some people will tell you that it doesn't matter...eat less than you burn and you HAVE to lose weight. Uh huh...well I should be a stick by now!!

Ahaverland

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2634841/?tool=pmcentrez

Here is an article posted by the Pennington Research Center explaining calorie restriction and resting metabolic rate, this is a scientific article and might make things more confusing but if you want solid research here it is :bigsmile:

Ahaverland

In simplest terms possible your RMR = the energy your body requires to SUSTAIN LIFE, this does not include daily activities or the energy it takes to get dressed, pee or even eat... after a series of calculations we get what we call your BEE or basel energy exenditure which calculates the energy requires to not only sustain life but to sustain activity/function, depleting your BEE is what causes weight loss, when you deplete below your RMR you cause your body to react by slowing the metabolism so it burns energy at a slower rate to account for the drop in calorie consumption, yes it is true that EVENTUALLY you will loose weight eating below your RMR, how do you think anorexia works? BUT it takes a long time, it depletes muscles stores, cauases cardiac stress and a number of other 'bad' things to your body, advise from a dietitian: DO NOT EAT BELOW YOUR RMR

If there is any other way I can clear this up please let me know, this is a VERY confusing topic, and getting incorrect information can be harmfull, please be safe and if you need any more clarification let me know!!!!!!!

stormieweather

Thanks Ahaverland. :flowerforyou:

I've slowly increased my calorie intake to (tested) RMR of 1800. Eating so low has apparently not harmed my metabolism much at all, as it tested 24% faster than average. But, I can't lose weight on 1200-1500.

So, I'm going to just eat at least at RMR, work out, relax and see what shakes out :laugh:

But I'll keep studying and researching, thanks for the link!

kateyb

Yes thanks for the info. It's great to get some clarification. I am going to trial a week easting 1600 then and see what happens. Watch this space!!!