What's the reasoning behind eating AT LEAST your BMR?
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I believe the biggest element is.. What is the individual's purpose? & the OP's original statement is correct, if you eat below BMR your body will take it from stored energy. By eating less than your BMR / TDEE requirements, your body will tap into your body's resources (body fat + muscle) (we all know this) and Yes, the individual can lose muscle mass by doing this (esp. if they are working out, example below)
** but whether it's body fat or muscle, your weight will decrease, your size will decrease.
Your body burns in this sequence: immediate energy sources (carbs, sugar, etc from food intake) then body fat then muscle
Ex: working out early in the morning, your body will tap into your body's resources b/c there isn't that immediate "food energy" supply b/c you haven't ate. (vs.) working out later in the day, your body will go through the day's "food energy" before tapping into your body's resources. But when you work out (if your metabolism is low d/t your eating habits or out of shape) you can easily go into a high HR that burns protein. (ex: Fat burning HR vs. Cardio HR, aerobic vs. anaerobic work outs)
If you want to lose weight, decrease body fat, increase metabolism, and maintain muscle tone, it's all a BALANCING ACT. If you just want to decrease your "mass" / "size" / "scale weight" then eating your < BMR is effective. Let's admit it. That whole eating less than your BMR is dangerous is an exaggerated statement. You can eat low calorie, high quality foods and get more nutrition, vitamins, and minerals than someone eating high calorie, low quality foods meeting their BMR.
Yes, ideally you would like to at least meet your BMR and balance it w. exercise, protein intake, healthy dieting, etc. but what is the individual's purpose. Referring back to the gentlemen who actually DID THIS, when you plateau, adjust. There are so many methods to accomplish your goal.. and everyone is different. (also the OP wasn't talking about the healthiest method either just what works)
RNursing Graduate, studied nutrition, fitness, and physiology.0 -
Actually I'm a guy and I didn't eat much below my BMR. You will end up looking flabby with a high body fat % its not a mythical ideology, scientists have devoted their entire lives to the study of the human body and how it operates to work this information out. Whether you chalk BMR up as scientific hokum is on you boss hoss lol your body may function slightly different than mine but the simple science is that the body needs energy and it will pull from those muscle stores whether you notice or whether or not you like it if its not getting what it needs from your fat/diet. Truth. You'll lose weight either way its whether you want to look fit or not lol that's up to you. Want to look fit eat between your BMR and TDEE. Want to look flabby and still meet your weight goals eat below your BMR.0
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I ate below my BMR for quite some time.
If I did HEAVY exercise then I'd eat back about half the calories, but otherwise tried to stick to my "goal" BMR ( BMR of my goal weight, rather than what my current BMR was )
After I lost 50 pounds, I concentrated on fitness gains, and ate back all of my burned calories.
Few months later I started to lose again by simply eating at a deficit, while keeping my activity level high.
Now I'm down 10 more, with only about 10 to go.
It can work, but you have to adjust as you go, and when you're really active, eat more than your BMR, and allow for plenty of cheating, your body needs it
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I've been averaging nearly 1000 calories burned a day and lemme tell ya its hard to eat that back without cheating.0
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Yep. Only reason I've been able to maintain a thousand calorie deficit some days is simply from sheer volume of aerobic activity, and then filling up after and then being able to be "full" even though I took in way less than I burned.
It's a damn good thing I'm training for an Ironman in august
Most of it's low intensity, so I'm staying in fat burning mode 0 -
Why would the body burn muscle before fat?
Fat is way more calorie dense!
Especially when you have adequate protein and resistance training.0 -
It doesnt unless youre at an extreme deficit. It is because muscle is easier to break down and more efficient at providing the energy your body craves. Fat doesn't provide as much energy per pound as breaking down muscle can provide. When you hit that extreme deficit your body will resort to extreme measures. Your body looks to fat first but when.you start asking too much from your body then it pulls from lean muscle mass. The body is ahighly efficient machine and it wants to live.0
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It is because muscle is easier to break down and more efficient at providing the energy your body craves. Fat doesn't provide as much energy per pound as breaking down muscle can provide. When you hit that extreme deficit your body will resort to extreme measures.
Sorry but this is 100 inaccurate!0 -
That's how my doctor explained it.0
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I am doing the 5:2 diet which involves eating only 500 calories 2 days per week. That is well below my BMR and I haven't died. I would never be able to sustain such low calorie intake everyday (because that's what they call having an eating disorder, which is very dangerous and unhealthy), but doing it intermittently is not harmful (quite the contrary).
So I guess the short answer is you can eat less than your BMR, but you should not do it everyday. I don't really know why, but your body reacts different to short fasts than it does to long, sustained periods of starvations. That's my experience anyway.0 -
So you can survive.0
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That's how my doctor explained it.
As I recall (and it's been a long time and I quite obviously have limited practical experience)
...
In a deficient - it will tear down muscle to get protein, but energy will come primarily from fat.
So, my theory is that if you go low and want to preserve muscle - you should probably kick up your protein intake.
But yeah, obviously no expert.0 -
OP, I understand your question - actually I was wondering about the exact same thing. My understanding is that the BMR is just a guideline so that it stops you from having a deficit that's too large. Other than that I don't see where it plays a role.0
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This is what I'm worried about right now. Since I got an upper denture a little over a week ago, I haven't been able to get an ideal amount of calories in. I don't want lectures about how many soft foods are out there, if you haven't been in this position. Trying to eat and drink with a big hunk of plastic in your mouth that has never been there before is extremely tough. I am just now learning how to finally chew properly. And the first day or 2 I couldn't even drink water because it was so foreign. And no, you can not just take it out to eat so that you can get proper calories in, because you have to figure it out sooner or later.
So sometimes you are forced to eat quite a bit under BMR and there's really not much you can do about it. But luckily I'm satisfied and not hungry, and my body has PLENTY of fat stores to go to.0 -
As I see it, your BMR calories are the energy your body needs to
pump blodd around your body
repair/mainatin your muscles
repair/maintain your organs
regulate your temerature
grow your hair/nails etc
But it's more than just calories. you also need a certain amount of fats and protein, vitamins and minerals to perform these functions.
So, if you body is getting in less calories than it needs, yes it can take some from stored fat, but where does it get the protein, vitamins/minerals from?
We've seen plenty of cases here where ladies eating low calorie have found that their body has decided to stop some of those functions, such as growing hair.
yes, that may only happen to about 1% of people who chose to regularly eat under BMR, but personally I'd rather not take the risk of being in the 1%.
I figure, yes, I can lose weight eating under BMR, but why would I want to if I can still lose it eating a little more, but still under TDEE?0 -
Wow. You really have to ask?
BMR is absolute minimum. No moving. Just laying in bed.
When you get up, go to work, walk to the pub, have a beer and a sandwich, then go to the gym and lift heavy weights for an hour, all that is on top of BMR. That's your TDEE, which you seem to know o by are you asking. So, most people gain weight because they eat way above their TDEE. If you eat at TDEE. You will neither gain nor lose. If you eat less than TDEE, you lose. But, because your basic survival needs are at BMR, You don't want to eat below BMR. Somewhere above BMR and below TDEE is your weight loss program.
I hope that's clear.
It is clear; however, it doesn't answer my question as it completely disregards my argument.
Ok -- how about the following since you understand that below TDEE already creates a deficit.
Eating below your BMR is ok under certain conditions -- limited amount of time and for someone who has nutrient/calorie stores.
The issue isn't that you have to eat above a certain magical number. It is that at eating well-below a reasonable deficit you are going to have the following things going on:
1) insufficient nutrients - the less you eat, the less likelyhood you will have sufficient diversity and volume of essential nutrients. oops.
2) protein catabolic/anabolic balance - at large deficits the on going processes will tend to shift to a balance which favors using up protein from your muscles elsewhere. One particular place is nutrient transport - do you prefer to have muscles or have them go to make albumin miscelles to tranport food (that you aren't eating). Everyone that loses weight fights with this balance. Large deficits make it harder, much harder. About 1-3% of your protein is being replaced every day. One wants to assure that their is sufficient nutrients to keep that equilibrium in the right direction. Otherwise oops.
3) energy levels - if you are active, lower energy will impact performance in activities and general life. oops.
4) metabolic processes governed by hormonal balance - these process manage things your metabolism but also like hair, hunger, mood, skin and brain function. Long term you really do not want to screw up with that. big oops.
4b) fast drops impact your body in other ways: loose skin, internal elasticity and kidney stones are some of the other macro physiological risks.
5) mental - large deficits are mentally hard and lead to some disfunction (some of it driven by point 4) - this includes simply dropping the lifestyle change (too hard), binging, depression, moodiness to full eating disorders (see startvation studies). Another big oops.
6) lifestyle - one should be developing long term habits that work for a lifetime, and in all situations - below BMR eating is boring, painful and socially difficult.0 -
Can somebody help me with this whole BMR and TDEE business? I've really plateaued recently and think it could be because I'm not eating enough? I really don't know how to work it out and MFP says to lose 2lb a week I need to consume 1200 which meant I was constantly hungry. I added 1300 to allow for an extra snack and whilst I've lost over 40lbs in just over a year, recently I either maintain or lose a maximum of 1/2lb a week.
Thank you!0 -
My BMR is about 1500. My personal trainer thinks I should have between 1400 and 1500 calories a day, so BMR or even less.
I workout 5 times a week - PT, gym, Zumba, spinning, aerobics - I have 2 small children and I work part time as a teacher. I am always on the go. I've lost a lot of weight and am down to my last 13lbs. It seems to have worked for me.0 -
I doubt your BMR is 1500. That's Probably TDEE.
Why? That seems reasonable to me. My BMR is around 1500 and my TDEE is closer to 1900-2100 (I forget it's been awhile since I calculated it.)0 -
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