Eating under my bmr but is it okay?

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coconutlove93
coconutlove93 Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm still a newbie and my question concerns my calorie intake. I've started reducing my caloric intake about 5 or 6 weeks ago and so far I have lost about 17 pounds. I have been under medical supervision because of my high weight. When I started, I found out what my bmr is and I read up on how people incorporate it into how much they're eating. I'm still working on transitioning to the most nutritious foods (made some really good changes but still have some things I need to cut back on or replace completely) but so far I've been able to lose weight by the calorie reduction in itself. I've also started walking 30 min a day as suggested by my doctor. My BMR is roughly around 2700 calories (just to function). For me, I've been consuming 3 regular meals a day (not much of a snack person) and have started 6 weeks ago at around 1500 calories a day. Knowing that I should be eating at least my bmr and more if I'm doing a lot of exercise, I'm still only eating roughly 1800-2000 calories a day but feeling comfortable at that.
Should I increase my calorie intake? I know if I do it will slow down the weight loss because I'm not really at the point where I feel comfortable doing more than 30 minutes of walking yet.

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  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Have you asked your doctor?

    How fast are you losing? I'm in the camp that believes 2 lbs. or 1% of your weight per week is a safe rate, regardless of calorie level (above 1200) IF you feel fine and the calorie level doesn't make you want to quit the plan.

    Good luck!
  • Fayve
    Fayve Posts: 411 Member
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    2700 sounds like your TDEE, not your BMR.

    Being under medical supervision is a good idea. I would try not to go below 2000 with your weight, but your doctor likely knows best in this case. Good luck :)
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
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    How are you arriving at 2,700 as your BMR?

    ETA: If you have a lot of weight to lose, that could be why. I definitely think if that's the case, to have a chat with your doctor. Most people will say NO you shouldn't do that, but if your current weight is high enough, it might be ok to temporarily do. It might not. A lot depends on your body/personal situation. :flowerforyou:
  • JasonPC2
    JasonPC2 Posts: 19 Member
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    If its 6 weeks you are losing 2.8 lbs/week, if its 5 weeks you are losing 3.4 lbs/week. Going by 1%, it's fine if you are 280/340 lbs. If you are less than those weights, then you should probably eat a little bit more. Maybe 100-200 kcal.
  • coconutlove93
    coconutlove93 Posts: 20 Member
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    @walkingalong I'm trying to lose 2 pounds a week but sometimes its more like 3 or 4. I have tried to ask my doctor about it but he says that as long as I don't feel overly tired or energy drained and that I'm not losing more than 2-3 pounds then its okay.
  • coconutlove93
    coconutlove93 Posts: 20 Member
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    @itsfuntobenor My starting weight was 454. so yes, high weight lol.
  • JasonPC2
    JasonPC2 Posts: 19 Member
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    Most people here vote against losing 1-2 lbs per week, but at your weight I think you can lose 3 safely. Your going to need surgery to get rid of the loose skin anyway. Just record your data and try not to exceed 3 lbs/week.
  • coconutlove93
    coconutlove93 Posts: 20 Member
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    Not concerned about the loose skin. I'm concerned about what's healthy for me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I'd talk to your doctor about it specifically (sounds like you kind of have, but maybe without referencing BMR?), but I've never seen anything that supports the claim that there's some terrible thing that happens if you go below your BMR. Essentially it's a shorthand for not having a too aggressive deficit, that would lead to a loss of muscle mass or feeling bad/non-energetic or making this too hard to sustain. If you are more overweight or your TDEE is higher, you can generally sustain a larger deficit, although there might also be a lot of pressure to make it too large, which you would want to resist, certainly without medical advice to the contrary, and it sounds like that's what your doctor is saying by referencing how you feel and not dropping too much per week.

    The other thing is that all the BMR calculators are just estimates anyway and may not be particularly accurate, depending on the circumstances. For example, when you have a body fat percentage more than the average you can get a really big difference is estimate between the different formulas, since the Mifflin one doesn't use BF%--which is helpful, since most people probably don't have an accurate number. But the one with BF% is more accurate. I know when I check out the two I get quite different numbers depending on what I reasonably guess my BF% to be. So depending on which calculator you are using your BMR might not be quite that high anyway. If you feel good at 1800-2000, I'd think that was a reasonable number, although again I'd defer to the doctor.

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