Is 1200 really the minimum?

You're a 22 year old male-- I'd argue that 1200 is below the minimum for you. It's not about starvation mode, it's about losing your lean mass (including your muscle) and getting adequate nutrients. To protect your muscle you should be aiming for 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or if you don't know your LBM, 0.8 grams per pound of weight. Then you should aim for .35 grams of fat per pound of weight. Between those two things your calorie intake should get considerably higher.

You're young and possibly still growing. There's no reason to eat so little.

eta: also you only want to lose 10 lbs-- that means your body physically cannot burn fat quickly enough to keep up with your low intake. You should be aiming to lose half a pound per week TOPS.

:noway:

I don't recommend it for anyone.. Not healthy. At all.
I understand about the progress and giving up... But trust me... It is so much better to be slow and steady. You're body and health will appreciate it in the long run..

my only fear is not losing fast enough to notice progress. That's been a major issue with previous diets and my result of giving up

Is it worth it to you to lose your muscle? As others have said, you will lose that if you do not eat enough protein. Lift weights, eat at a small deficit of no more than 500 calories under your TDEE a week and be patient.

For a 22 year old male, 1200 is well below the minimum...I believe the minimum recommendation for a male that is not morbidly obese is in the neighborhood of 1800 calories or so.

1200 is the minimum for sedentary females...and it's pretty damned hard to actually get proper nutrition going lower than that.

The problem I'm having is mixed information. I've been told it's as simple as cutting x amount of calories based on how fast I want to lose, even getting down to 800 calories, while extreme, is not entirely bad as long as they're all from healthy food.

I, obviously was put under the impression that 1200 was a minimum if I want to stay relatively safe and still lose as much as possible, and now here I'm being told I should be eating my BMR which is something I haven't even heard of till now.

I was under the impression anything less than maintenance is automatic weight loss, after looking around forums it seems people are saying you need to deficit your BMR? Then I was reading all over the place that your body weight x7 is the minimum you can safely go down to, I'm only 140lbs, so...

It's confusing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dispute anyone, not that I could because I don't know much about dieting and fitness in general, but it just seems like one group of people say you can safely do "x" while the others say doing "x" is going to cause you bodily harm and hinder progress.

I just want a straight forward solution. If eating BMR calories is a must then obviously I'll do it (it just means more food, which is fine by me) I just want to make sure I'm losing at a decent rate without hurting much.

1200 is the "accepted" minimum...for women. For men, it's more like 1600. Any less than that and you're probably not getting in the nutrients you need to stay healthy. Sure, you could load up on vitamins and other supplements, but getting it from food is ideal. Why in the world would you want to limit yourself to 1200 or less calories per day? If you did that, you'd certainly lose weight, but you'd almost certainly be hungry and miserable. This is the only body you'll ever have - treat it right and it'll thank you. If you're relatively active, your BMR is the lowest you should be netting daily.

No, you do not need to deficit your BMR. The deficit should come from your TDEE. Google it, find an online calculator, put in your info, and find out what it is. Then, since you're (hopefully) not trying to lose much weight, subtract 10-15% from that number and eat that many calories. I'm not sure what you'd consider a "decent rate" of weight loss, but at your current weight, you should only be losing about .5 lb/week. That's perfectly normal and plenty.

There are plenty of weight loss misconceptions out there, so do your own research and stop listening to random people. Don't eat under your BMR, don't eat your body weight x7 (that is complete nonsense), and for God's sake - EAT! Why do you want to starve yourself in order to lose weight if you can safely lose weight while eating at a reasonable deficit?

My main question is, if you're 140 lbs, why the hell are you trying to lose weight? How tall are you?

My BMR is 1650
So I should be bumping my calorie in take up to around 400 cals? I can easily do that, but my only fear is not losing fast enough to notice progress. That's been a major issue with previous diets and my result of giving up. I suppose I just have to be patient. I've mentioned before on here that my issue isn't significant weight loss, just enough to get rid of stubborn fat around my glutes, hips, and stomach.

What about exercise calories? If I were to consume 1400 before my workout, burn 200 - 300, then I should be eating back 400 or 500?

Slow and steady wins the race.

I actually came upon/was given links to articles about studies saying I could starve myself, not that I was trying to, and wouldn't have to worry about anything like starvation mode until around 5% bodyfat. I wasn't trying to follow that path, but like I said, confusing information.

But thank you to those with the tips and feedback. I've taken my cals up quite a bit.

And at Ireed: I'm 5'7". I actually posted about how my losing weight was..conflicting, since I didn't/don't want to lose weight, essentially. I just have this really stubborn fat around my stomach, hips, and glutes, even thighs. Probably 10lbs worth. Mostly towards my rear. I'm talking if I wear anything remotely tight I get lovehandles, especially towards the back, and my butt sticks out/looks about an inch more. If I grab the fat around the back of my hips and tug it up, my rear becomes noticably flatter/smaller. I thought it was loose skin, upon inspection and from what I've found out online, it's not skin.
I was simply trying to get rid of these areas for Summer.

Are you currently lifting weights?


There's a difference between the argument that starvation mode is a myth and the argument that eating as little as possible isn't healthy. Most of us are not referring to it being unsafe because it will shut down your metabolism. We're saying it's not safe because you won't get adequate nutrition and you won't retain your muscle mass while you lose weight, which means your body fat percentage will stay the same you'll just be smaller.

If you want to look good for summer my recommendation is to do a progressive loading strength training program based on compound lifts, eat .8 grams of protein and .35 grams of fat per pound of weight, run a very small deficit (think 250 calories lower than your TDEE) and be patient.