Eating BMR and not losing

milk_bottle
milk_bottle Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I eat my BMR and walk (4mph) 40 minutes and 20 minutes of pilates (blogilates) every day and I've been stuck at this weight for the last 3 weeks. I don't have much weight to lose so I'm not expecting to lose 2lbs/week but none at all? What's going on! How do I break through this plateau?

I'll open my diary now.

Replies

  • oh_em_gee
    oh_em_gee Posts: 887 Member
    You shouldn't net lower than BMR, which is what you do if you eat at that level and do anything besides be in a coma.
  • KirstenTheFamilyCoach
    KirstenTheFamilyCoach Posts: 327 Member
    Try eating at your TDEE for a couple of weeks -- you'll initially gain some weight and that's okay! But it'll help tell your body that food is coming and there's no need to store fat.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    You should be eating more than your BMR, but less than your TDEE.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • milk_bottle
    milk_bottle Posts: 22 Member
    You should be eating more than your BMR, but less than your TDEE.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Did this work for you? I am really skeptical about eating more calories because I was at 1300 and losing really slowly and then I stopped so I upped to 1400 and then the same thing happened. I am scared to eat that much to be honest!
  • laylaness
    laylaness Posts: 262 Member
    You should be eating more than your BMR, but less than your TDEE.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Did this work for you? I am really skeptical about eating more calories because I was at 1300 and losing really slowly and then I stopped so I upped to 1400 and then the same thing happened. I am scared to eat that much to be honest!

    It works for a lot of people, me included. I've been doing it for about 3 weeks after eating at TDEE for a week. I gained about 2 pounds of water weight initially, but I'm now losing about a pound a week.
  • SmileyFaceGuy
    SmileyFaceGuy Posts: 201
    What's your TDEE? What's your daily goal? How much weight do you have to lose?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You should be eating more than your BMR, but less than your TDEE.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Did this work for you? I am really skeptical about eating more calories because I was at 1300 and losing really slowly and then I stopped so I upped to 1400 and then the same thing happened. I am scared to eat that much to be honest!

    Yes, this works...it's science and math. Your BMR is the bare minimum your body needs in a coma. If you're eating BMR and then exercising and not eating those calories back, you're netting below your BMR...even if you were eating those back, you just be netting to a coma level of calories necessary to maintain proper organ function...I hardly doubt you are in a coma.

    My BMR: 1,794 (Katch McKardle formula)
    My TDEE: ~ 2,650 (includes my routine exercise and day to day activity)
    My Calorie Goal: 2,150 calories (to lose, on average, 1 Lb per week..and on average I am in fact losing 1 Lb per week)

    When you net below your BMR, your body just starts storing. Your metabolism slows and you just store and maintain rather than lose. You will ultimately start losing again in that manner, but it will be very unhealthy and most of it will be muscle loss, not fat. You also start doing some internal damage at some point.
  • SmileyFaceGuy
    SmileyFaceGuy Posts: 201
    ^^^ Pseudo-science and math. None of that is necessarily true for the same reason that your body doesn't go into "starvation mode" when you eat below your TDEE (technically, your metabolism slows with any caloric deficit). If you don't eat your TDEE in calories every day (maintenance), then you aren't consuming enough energy to meet the body's expenditure, so it takes the rest from stored energy (fat), which is obviously the whole goal of weight loss. The same can be said of BMR. Of course, that assumes you have enough stored energy that your body can efficiently use it. What causes stalling is when your deficit is too big relative to how much fat you have, which is why I asked those questions above.
  • milk_bottle
    milk_bottle Posts: 22 Member
    What's your TDEE? What's your daily goal? How much weight do you have to lose?

    TDEE is 2106, daily goal is 1400, I have about 10lbs. I'm 5'4.5 and 132. I focus more on measurements now and at the moment they're 38-26-38, thighs 21. My bf% ranges from 20-24% depending on different sites so I haven't got an accurate one there but I know I'm more about reducing bf% and inches than necessarily scale loss. But nothing's going down! I spoke to a friend yesterday and they said increase protein because at the moment it's hovering aroung 50g/day

    I've increased my cals to 1580 just now

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