Ok, so what happens when you eat less than your BMR?

daisy968
daisy968 Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard both sides here - that as long as there's a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, but others say that if you don't eat enough calories your body won't have energy to burn fat?
I'd like to hear other's info on this!

Replies

  • MissKris14
    MissKris14 Posts: 65 Member
    As long as you are still eating enough calories to prevent yourself from going into starvation mode, you should be fine. Either way, you're going to lose weight. A lot of people have to eat below their BMR to lose even half a pound a week. For example, my TDEE is about 1650, and my BMR is around 1400. So even on a 1200 calorie plan, weight loss is still slow for me.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    As long as you are still eating enough calories to prevent yourself from going into starvation mode, you should be fine. Either way, you're going to lose weight. A lot of people have to eat below their BMR to lose even half a pound a week. For example, my TDEE is about 1650, and my BMR is around 1400. So even on a 1200 calorie plan, weight loss is still slow for me.

    what is starvation mode?
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
    As long as you are still eating enough calories to prevent yourself from going into starvation mode, you should be fine. Either way, you're going to lose weight. A lot of people have to eat below their BMR to lose even half a pound a week. For example, my TDEE is about 1650, and my BMR is around 1400. So even on a 1200 calorie plan, weight loss is still slow for me.

    what is starvation mode?

    I see what you did there. :wink:
  • MissKris14
    MissKris14 Posts: 65 Member

    what is starvation mode?

    Starvation mode is your body's response to prolonged periods of low calorie intake. Basically, you go from burning fat (which is good), to burning lean muscle tissue for energy (bad). Your metabolism also crashes, and when you start eating again, you pack the weight back on. No fun!
  • CMB1979
    CMB1979 Posts: 588 Member

    what is starvation mode?

    Starvation mode is your body's response to prolonged periods of low calorie intake. Basically, you go from burning fat (which is good), to burning lean muscle tissue for energy (bad). Your metabolism also crashes, and when you start eating again, you pack the weight back on. No fun!

    At ANY caloric deficit, you'll lose fat AND muscle. You will never store fat (or build muscle) at a deficit. Still, the Starvation Mode myth is just that - a myth.

    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    A good read
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1077746-starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I've heard both sides here - that as long as there's a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, but others say that if you don't eat enough calories your body won't have energy to burn fat?

    If you eat below BMR, you will lose weight - guaranteed.

    This is true no matter how heavy or how fit or how thin or how emaciate or how anything you are.

    Eat below BMR -> lose weight.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    As long as you are still eating enough calories to prevent yourself from going into starvation mode, you should be fine. Either way, you're going to lose weight. A lot of people have to eat below their BMR to lose even half a pound a week. For example, my TDEE is about 1650, and my BMR is around 1400. So even on a 1200 calorie plan, weight loss is still slow for me.

    what is starvation mode?

    The dieting world's equivalent of a unicorn fart.
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
    Yeah I'm going to go with you lose weight too.

    I use the entire nation of Ethiopia during any given famine as a reference.
  • MissKris14
    MissKris14 Posts: 65 Member
    To clarify, I didn't mean that you won't lose weight if you go into starvation mode. As others have said, if you eat below your BMR, you're going to lose weight, period. Starvation mode just crashes your metabolism, which is detrimental for when you want to start maintaining.
  • cvcman
    cvcman Posts: 438 Member
    starvation mode is pure bs,,,,if you eat under your allowed bnr calories,,,you WILL loose weight...period
  • cvcman
    cvcman Posts: 438 Member
    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • likehemingway
    likehemingway Posts: 37 Member
    starvation mode is pure bs,,,,if you eat under your allowed bnr calories,,,you WILL loose weight...period

    agreed
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
    on complete rest days i eat well under my bmr. it is fine. starvation mode is bs (for people not living 3rd world)
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Just because "starvation mode" or eating too few calories doesn't stop weight loss doesn't mean there isn't a concern with eating too few calories.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    But concern for "eating too few calories" usually starts at 800 or 1000 or in the case of MFP, 1200. Not BMR.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    But concern for "eating too few calories" usually starts at 800 or 1000 or in the case of MFP, 1200. Not BMR.

    I tend to be concerned about how many calories vs how active, not just specific numbers. You can eat above BMR and still be eating too few calories if one is very active.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    But concern for "eating too few calories" usually starts at 800 or 1000 or in the case of MFP, 1200. Not BMR.

    I tend to be concerned about how many calories vs how active, not just specific numbers.

    ^^This. Can we lose weight eating only 1200? Sure. But many of us (um, me, totally) will have zero energy to do what makes us happy: strength training, running, energy to play with the kids, be active with friends, etc. And, unless those calories are "very" carefully chosen, one runs the risk of not meeting certain micronutrient goals. Over the long run, this can lead to sluggishness, fatigue, depression, lightheadedness, and HANGRY B!tch syndrome. I know, I've been all of those things. Two weeks of sub 1200 calorie eating, and my family had had enough of my grouchy, tired attitude.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    OP depending on your exerciser routine and frequency of eating below BMR you can develop some interesting issues. You may want to google search metabolic damage, 51 year old trains for tri and gains 15 pounds eating below XXX calories for extended period of time. Metabolic damage can be repaired it just takes time. Good luck.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    But concern for "eating too few calories" usually starts at 800 or 1000 or in the case of MFP, 1200. Not BMR.

    I tend to be concerned about how many calories vs how active, not just specific numbers. You can eat above BMR and still be eating too few calories if one is very active.
    The authorities recommend not eating at a deficit that causes you to lose more than 2 lbs/week, on average. Your BMR estimate might be above or below that but it's just a number and should have no bearing on one's intake decision, except possibly to help estimate how much you burn in a day.
  • ianrea1
    ianrea1 Posts: 6 Member
    I think what people are getting at with "starvation mode" is that if you eat too few calories, your BMR goes down, which makes it more difficult to lose weight. Your BMR is the rate at which you burn calories without doing any exercise, but if you're not eating enough, your body tries to protect itself by making you feel sluggish and weak, and by slowing down your internal processes. This means that you end up being less active and burn fewer calories in the course of a day than you would otherwise.

    Plus, a starvation diet will make you miserable and sap your willpower, so it's probably counterproductive in the long run if you're trying to lose weight, because you may just end up cracking and abandoning your diet altogether.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I've heard both sides here - that as long as there's a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, but others say that if you don't eat enough calories your body won't have energy to burn fat?
    I'd like to hear other's info on this!

    There is no debate there. One group is right, the other group are completely illogical and make no sense. I'll leave it up to you to determine which is which. Hint, the one that makes no sense is the one that is nonsense.
  • ianrea1
    ianrea1 Posts: 6 Member
    Note also that there are all sorts of hormonal things that push your BMR up and down, and that the amount and type of foods that you eat contribute to this. If you want a more exact calculation on what will happen if you make diet and exercise changes, here's tool from the National Institutes of Health that asks for a bunch of inputs, but gives you a more precise idea of what will happen than the back of the envelope calculations on MFP.
    http://www.niddk.nih.gov/research-funding/at-niddk/labs-branches/LBM/integrative-physiology-section/body-weight-simulator/Pages/body-weight-simulator.aspx
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    But concern for "eating too few calories" usually starts at 800 or 1000 or in the case of MFP, 1200. Not BMR.

    I tend to be concerned about how many calories vs how active, not just specific numbers. You can eat above BMR and still be eating too few calories if one is very active.
    The authorities recommend not eating at a deficit that causes you to lose more than 2 lbs/week, on average. Your BMR estimate might be above or below that but it's just a number and should have no bearing on one's intake decision, except possibly to help estimate how much you burn in a day.

    And 2lbs a week is another one of those numbers. For some it is a completely appropriate goal. For others, it is far too aggressive. For someone close to their goal weight a 1000 calorie deficit is extremely aggressive.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    In my opinion that is another MFPism. In the actual industry of professionals in the field, 1000 calories is considered a safe deficit level for virtually anyone as long as it doesn't put you below whatever number they consider a safe floor value, usually 1000-1200. And they mean that you can up your activity to create a 1000 calorie deficit if it does put you close to the floor value. Only here are smaller people encouraged to take on only tiny deficits.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    In my opinion that is another MFPism. In the actual industry of professionals in the field, 1000 calories is considered a safe deficit level for virtually anyone as long as it doesn't put you below whatever number they consider a safe floor value, usually 1000-1200. And they mean that you can up your activity to create a 1000 calorie deficit if it does put you close to the floor value. Only here are smaller people encouraged to take on only tiny deficits.

    I'm not sure I exactly follow what you are saying. But I do know that the advice for more modest deficits goes well beyond MFP.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I would be interested in seeing any authoritative source, WedMD, Mayo Clinic, WW, any reputable diet book or plan, any published article or book, any reputable site, that advises against eating below BMR or that says only the very overweight or obese can safely run 1000 calorie per day deficits or aim for losing 2 lbs/week.
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  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
    I've heard both sides here - that as long as there's a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, but others say that if you don't eat enough calories your body won't have energy to burn fat?
    I'd like to hear other's info on this!

    This is a participant in the famous Minnesota Starvation Experiment.
    2nv5yd4.jpg

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