Doctor says eating below BMR is fine

bacitracin

Sounds like your talents are being wasted bro, i say get out there and show em how its done, your obviously an expert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwzOlWDVMw

DitchTheMcFlurry

Why the **** would anyone want to eat below their BMR? I could see if you had upwards of 100+ Lbs to lose...but barring that it's completely unnecessary. Personally, I like ****ing food...and drink. If I can lose weight at a steady pace eating more (but obviously still at a deficit of TDEE) then why would I choose to eat so much less. My BMR is 1,850 and I lost steadily grossing 2100 - 2200 calories per day when I was "dieting." What's the rush?

Also, people who eat at severe calorie deficits for prolonged periods of time may not die...but they sure look like **** with all the muscle loss and what not. Whatever OP...you have it all figured out...carry on.

Maybe its not the case a person WANTS to eat below their bmr? have you ever considered this? maybe a person uses their bmr to work out their TDEE and roughly what they burn a day and builds a weight loss plan around that? maybe a person dosnt live their life obsessing over an estimated bmr number? if that plan then leads them to eating less than a nice glossy bmr number estimated via an online calculator then so be it, if they feel comfortable eating at that level with no ill affects why shouldn't they if it works for them?

Here is an example, a guy has a bmr of 2500, he is house bound, he cant exercise due to physical problems, he lives a very sedentary life but wants to lose weight, how then does he do this eating 2500 calories a day? coz he sure as hell isnt burning 500 sat around the house all day.

What is the online obsession with this number? a number that varies on every website you use, a number that people havnt even been aware of for generations and have successfully lost weight? surely its better to live your life through listening to your body rather than listening to a calculator?

DitchTheMcFlurry

I've ran into a few posts in which people said that your organs will shut down, hair will fall out, and nails will brittle if you eat below BMR. Only on these forums!

Christ, its amazing how anyone ever lost weight, havnt seen many bald anorexic girls lately though, maybe they use wigs?

bacitracin

Sounds like your talents are being wasted bro, i say get out there and show em how its done, your obviously an expert.

Yep, compared to them, I am. I'm fitter and healthier than they are. Sadly, LA Fitness will pretty much hire any Joe Schmoe off the street with a pulse as a personal trainer. IQ above room temperature not required.

DitchTheMcFlurry

Sounds like your talents are being wasted bro, i say get out there and show em how its done, your obviously an expert.

Yep, compared to them, I am. I'm fitter and healthier than they are. Sadly, LA Fitness will pretty much hire any Joe Schmoe off the street with a pulse as a personal trainer. IQ above room temperature not required.

Surely given your superior qualifications theyd hire you in a shot over these no nothing fools though? and that wasn't sarcasm its a genuine question, if these people are so dumb how did they get qualified in the first place? and if you know so much more why did you insist on seeing one in the first place?

Cheers for the youtube link by the way, found a video id be meaning to watch for ages

micheabr

I would take the knowledge of a trained doctor over the so called knowledge of a non medically trained user of MFP. Any day.

rassha01

Are you kidding me?!?!? Why would you listen to a doctor and not just search these forums for the answers?!?! :explode:

DitchTheMcFlurry

I would take the knowledge of a trained doctor over the so called knowledge of a non medically trained user of MFP. Any day.

Most sane people would id imagine, can you imagine walking into a doctor or dieticians room listening to his/her advice and then going" NO your soo wrong, Mr ilovestrawberrys from the internet told me that isnt right so im ignoring your advice see ya!

Youve then wasted time and money and made yourself look like a nob in the process.

chad_phillips1123

bump!

astrovivi

There are so many armchair experts on these forums and the interwebs :laugh:

Eating below BMR for EXTENDED periods of time is unlikely to be a great idea as it can lead to problems with metabolic rate and a few other issues.

however, if you are doing it for a relatively short period of time, it's not going to kill you.

the question I would ask is how quickly do you plan to drop to 10% BF or below and why are you doing it? ie are you doing it so that you can get there and sustain that level long term? If so, a slow, measured approach is a better path than dropping kcals too low and getting there fast. Less chance of a weight gain/fat gain rebound once there. Also more time for your body to reset and adapt. The body is amazing in its ability to adapt

Being a full time carer also has it stressful side at times (mum and I are carers for my elderly dad). Make sure you look after mind and spirit as well as that body

Mr_Knight

BMR is just a number used as a proxy for what should be a large number of numbers. Once corrected for lean body mass and etc, there is still a 25-30% variation in BMR between otherwise "identical" bodies. BMR also varies over time, depending on what the body in question has been engaged in and what it has been fed.

The published/calculated numbers are just guidelines, and using them blindly without adjusting for individual results/circumstances is probably not the most desirable path.

toutmonpossible

BMR is just a number used as a proxy for what should be a large number of numbers. Once corrected for lean body mass and etc, there is still a 25-30% variation in BMR between otherwise "identical" bodies. BMR also varies over time, depending on what the body in question has been engaged in and what it has been fed.

The published/calculated numbers are just guidelines, and using them blindly without adjusting for individual results/circumstances is probably not the most desirable path.

:flowerforyou:

LAW_714

I've ran into a few posts in which people said that your organs will shut down, hair will fall out, and nails will brittle if you eat below BMR. Only on these forums!

Christ, its amazing how anyone ever lost weight, havnt seen many bald anorexic girls lately though, maybe they use wigs?

You don't go bald, your hair gets thin. It happens, and it happens to anorexics (but it doesn't have to go that far. You just have to end up with a vitamin b dificiency for it happen).

cdavhd1

Dude. I am 16 inches shorter than you are, nearly 100 lbs lighter, 5 years older, and I'm a chick. And I eat as much as you do. And I'm losing weight. Eat more.

P.S. Some doctors are idiots.

hehehe shes awesome!

WalkingAlong

Dude. I am 16 inches shorter than you are, nearly 100 lbs lighter, 5 years older, and I'm a chick. And I eat as much as you do. And I'm losing weight. Eat more.

P.S. Some doctors are idiots.

hehehe shes awesome!

She thinks she's got more knowledge than medical doctors because she eats a lot. And you think that's awesome. Great.

BenjaminMFP88

I know this is rather a sensitive subject on here from reading quite a few threads basically discussing this very matter and reading the comments i convinced myself i absolutely had to eat at my bmr minimum or i was going to get very ill etc which is what most people on this forum strongly say whenever BMR is mentioned, never eat below bmr is often trotted out on here so i went for a professional opinion.

Im 6 feet 4 inches tall, i weigh around 215 pounds and im a 25 year old male looking to get my body fat % down to around 10%, i went to the doc today and basically went through what i was eating which was somewhere between 1600-2000 cals per day, now my bmr which i calculated using various online calculators is around 2200, considering my lifestyle is VERY sedentary ie i dont have a job and im at home watching tv etc everyday as im a registered carer i roughly estimated that my daily burn was around 2500, fair enough? i do 30 mins cardio on a exercise bike 6 nights a week with a bit of strength training and warm up just before depending on the day, if i estimate i burn 200 cals during this workout period im roughly guessing my body burns around 2700 calories a day? seems about right? ok as i said earlier ive been eating between 1600-2000 a day giving me roughly a 1000 deficit which = 2lb a week weight loss which every trainer ive spoken to says is perfectly acceptable, ive been doing this for just over 3 weeks happily and seeing the scale drop, but then i panic, i read forums like this one where nearly everyone to a man/woman is protesting never to eat below your bmr its dangerous youll go into starvation mode etc etc, so as i said i went to the doctor and basically told her everything ive written above, what i do what ive been eating etc, her first words were "bmr obsession is a load of rubbish, ive known tons of people have perfectly healthy weight loss eating well below bmr" her words not mine, she said im eating fine between 1600-2000 even though my bmr is 2200 which according to a lot on here is NOT fine, i told her id been panicked by people saying you shouldnt eat below bmr which is what ive been doing for a few weeks now daily, she said to ignore it, a better way to look at is is whats your goal weight and whats the bmr for that weight, my goal weight is 180lbs with low body fat, the average bmr for 180lbs for someone my age gender and height is around 1800 calories, roughly what im eating now, plus she also said your bmr naturally comes down when you lose weight, meaning its hardly some life threatening occurrence when in a few weeks your bmr could easily be the number of calories your eating now anyway!

So then i threw in the old coma comments, ya know the one that goes "bmr is what the hospital would feed you in a coma, why would you want to eat less" her response? well when your in a coma the nurses are hardly sitting around working out how best for you to lose body fat" to which i laughed as its a rather good point.

My point is im not trying to cause a fit of rage on here im simply wondering where people get this never eat below bmr is dangerous stuff from? ive read hundreds of diet studies hundreds of nutritionist stuff etc and never once seen anything about this, its only on these forums where i see this trotted out, hence to be safe i booked a doc appointment and had it confirmed, im sure if i was to simply come on here and say my bmr is 2200 and im eating around 1700 is that ok id get scaremongering telling me how im undereating and going into starvation mode, when put simply it really isnt true.

First off, anyone that mentions a starvation mode is immediately discredited in my book. It's simply a load of rubbish perpetuated by many fads.

Second, assessing your BMR will almost always give you only a slight estimation. It is true that this theoretical number is the amount of calories your body will burn through. It will not convert these calories to fat, it will use to produce optimal function. If you eat less then this value, you are doing nothing less then depriving the body of "optimal function". However, there are many many factors that no one takes into consideration such as how exactly your body reacts when it doesn't receive a caloric value equal to this mystic number. Eating below this semi impossible to determine number shouldn't become any signivicance of an issue until you are already in a healthy state where your body is more limited the stores it can pull from. (This is why Dr tend to recommend very low calorie diets to morbidly obese individuals, they have the fat stores to support them for a while).

Third, so why even use BMR? Even though calculating the perfect BMR is going to be fairly impossible, it's still close enough to serve a purpose. It gives people a goal to shoot for, guidelines if you will that will ultimately lead to weightloss. You don't need to eat just a few hundred calories a day to lose weight, and most people poorly overestimate the caloric deficit they need to be on. Utilizing the BMR properly, can help people by guiding them on a healthy path to weightloss. Sure, it's only one aspect, but it works.

*Just know that your BMR will adjust slightly with every lb you gain or lose

This is just my 2 cents derived from my own experiences and research

JoRocka

derp... we got necro'ed