Losing 2lbs per week puts me under my BMR?? Safe or not..

Now many sources say that eating under your BMR is bad and will trigger your body into starvation mode which wont result in weight loss because I am not giving my body enough energy to even keep my vital organs functioning since they require 1897 calories if I am in a coma. This method would be in other words very dangerous and ineffective for my weight loss.

Being under your BMR may or may not be safe, because what's safe isn't directly correlated to your BMR as a threshold. In other words, don't worry about being under your BMR - worry about how much of a deficit you're creating and how much you have left to use. The problem with the above quote is that it doesn't work that way. As a simple example, your body is going to burn X calories per day (your TDEE is an estimate of X) - if you eat X-500 calories, your body will take 500 calories from your fat stores and burn them for energy. If you eat X-1000 calories, your body will take 1000 calories from your fat stores and burn them from energy. Whether X-500 and X-1000 calories are at, under or below your BMR is absolutely irrelevant. The problem comes when your body cannot pull enough calories from your fat stores to meet your X calories burned per day and instead has to go looking for calories in other places (e.g., lean mass). But stop worrying about BMR - that's a myth I really wish would die. BMR is useful for calculating your TDEE and that's about it.

Personally I wouldn't go all the way to 1278 calories, but you can set a fairly aggressive deficit in terms of healthy weight loss (what's sustainable is a more subjective and personal question). Maybe shoot for something like 1500 net calories and see how that goes for a bit?

Your calculations are a bit flawed. TDEE is supposed to include all activity. Your actual TDEE with your 7 day per week 2 hour walks would be 2978 (2278 + 700) so if you deduct 1000 calories per day from that in order to lose 2 pounds per week, that gives you 1978 calories per day which is slightly above your BMR.

As I understand it, for those who are obese, eating slightly below BMR isn't a huge concern becuase you have fat stores to spare - it's more of a concern with those who are at a lower BMI. That said, it is a nice gradual way to lose weight. I played around with all those BMR and TDEE numbers a while back and what I settled on that works best for me is a daily goal based on a number slightly below my BMR (1450 instead of 1500) and to eat back my exercise calories (or at least half of them if not sure of the source). That way if I don't happen to exercise as much as I plan to, I don't risk overeating.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

If that's really your BMR I envy you and beg, PLEASE PLEASE don't mess it up. Eating less than you are supposed to will just mess up your metabolism, and when you hit 30 like me, you will wish you hadn't damaged something that is so important for maintaining your weight.

Because I didn't know better and was on and off unhealthy diets, today I really struggle with losing weight. My metabolism is soooo slow. Like someone here said, it might not affect you right away but in the long term it will. Wouldn't it be nice to eat a good amount of food and still lose weight? Well, you have that advantage right now. Why be so hard on yourself when you don't have to?

Can I interest you in the strength training approach? This article inspired me:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

My goal is to slowly build up my metabolism again and lose fat in the process. By lifting heavy weights and eating the right foods you will lose weight and look great in the end. Let me know if you want more info and I'd be happy to help you.

If that's really your BMR I envy you and beg, PLEASE PLEASE don't mess it up. Eating less than you are supposed to will just mess up your metabolism, and when you hit 30 like me, you will wish you hadn't damaged something that is so important for maintaining your weight.

Because I didn't know better and was on and off unhealthy diets, today I really struggle with losing weight. My metabolism is soooo slow. Like someone here said, it might not affect you right away but in the long term it will. Wouldn't it be nice to eat a good amount of food and still lose weight? Well, you have that advantage right now. Why be so hard on yourself when you don't to?

Can I interest you in the strength training approach? This article inspired me:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

My goal is to slowly build up my metabolism again and lose fat in the process. By lifting heavy weights and eating the right foods you will lose weight and look great in the end. Let me know if you want more info and I'd be happy to help you.

*sigh* She is not going to 'ruin' her metabolism with a 2 lb a week weight loss goal. Especially since she has (probably) more than 75 lbs to lose.

But OP, as you go, you will want a less aggressive deficit. I hope someone will come along and post those guidelines because I can never remember where I put them. :grumble:

My BMR is 1897

Seems unlikely, unless you had it measured or are very tall. Try the Katch-McArdle equation which uses % body fat and isn't extrapolating outside its range of validity like some equations.

If that's really your BMR I envy you and beg, PLEASE PLEASE don't mess it up. Eating less than you are supposed to will just mess up your metabolism, and when you hit 30 like me, you will wish you hadn't damaged something that is so important for maintaining your weight.

Because I didn't know better and was on and off unhealthy diets, today I really struggle with losing weight. My metabolism is soooo slow. Like someone here said, it might not affect you right away but in the long term it will. Wouldn't it be nice to eat a good amount of food and still lose weight? Well, you have that advantage right now. Why be so hard on yourself when you don't to?

Can I interest you in the strength training approach? This article inspired me:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

My goal is to slowly build up my metabolism again and lose fat in the process. By lifting heavy weights and eating the right foods you will lose weight and look great in the end. Let me know if you want more info and I'd be happy to help you.

*sigh* She is not going to 'ruin' her metabolism with a 2 lb a week weight loss goal. Especially since she has (probably) more than 75 lbs to lose.

But OP, as you go, you will want a less aggressive deficit. I hope someone will come along and post those guidelines because I can never remember where I put them. :grumble:

No need to sigh. Like I agreed with someone else here, I think it will be ok for now but it can affect her metabolism if she keeps eating way below her BMR until she reaches her goal weight. I know super overweight people are put on a 1000 calories diet by doctors, which is necessary. I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't continue on it as she loses more weight. It's easy to get caught on it when it works for you even though it might not be the healthiest way of losing weight.

I've been eating 1k under my BMR, I lift for strength 3 times a week and do 3 two hour cardio sessions a week. I've lost 3 lb's a week consistently for the last 4 weeks. That said I am near 25% bf and want to get to about 10% bf. The only issue i've notice is that my recovery times from my strength training days is about 2-3 days compared to 1 day when I eat normally.

To lose 25 lbs., set your goal to .5 lb. per week and be patient. 2 lbs. per week is way too aggressive a goal at your size.

Please, read the Sexypants post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-Sexypants

I was looking for this post. Definitely read this and the one about setting your macros:

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

OP, I've read a few times that starting with TDEE - 30% when you have a good amount to lose is a good starting point. And adjust it from there.

I think you're making it too complicated for yourself.

Go in to MFP, enter your weight, age, activity level, and set your goal at 2lbs/wk loss, and just manage your calories.

I have a "sedentary" activity level because i work at a desk all day, and at 250lbs I was eating 1450cals/day, now that i'm near 200lbs it's 1280/day which I boost up by running or walking pretty much daily so I can eat more like 1500-1600 daily. It is completely manageable and i've been losing around 2lbs/wk for the last 4 months, for the first 6-7 weeks it was actually resulting in nearly 3lbs/wk loss.

What I DIDN'T do was worry about all the BMR, tdee, etc stuff. Let MFP worry about that for you. Once you are closer to your goal weight and have to slow the weight loss down then you can worry about it more. At this point, the way I looked at it, not much I could do was going to be more unhealthy for my body than being 250lbs!

At the moment I am eating between 1500-1800 and not eating back my exercise calories...

I was just not sure if im under feeding my body but what others seem to say makes sense... if i eat under my BMR, my body will just use up the stored fat thus helping my weight loss..

It will, but it will also use up some of your muscle which you need to keep burning calories. That's why it's recommended that you do strength training + eat enough protein so you lose mostly fat and keep the muscle you have.

The iifym calculator tells you how much protein/fat/carbs you should eat to maintain your lean body mass.

I think you're making it too complicated for yourself.

Go in to MFP, enter your weight, age, activity level, and set your goal at 2lbs/wk loss, and just manage your calories.

I have a "sedentary" activity level because i work at a desk all day, and at 250lbs I was eating 1450cals/day, now that i'm near 200lbs it's 1280/day which I boost up by running or walking pretty much daily so I can eat more like 1500-1600 daily. It is completely manageable and i've been losing around 2lbs/wk for the last 4 months, for the first 6-7 weeks it was actually resulting in nearly 3lbs/wk loss.

What I DIDN'T do was worry about all the BMR, tdee, etc stuff. Let MFP worry about that for you. Once you are closer to your goal weight and have to slow the weight loss down then you can worry about it more. At this point, the way I looked at it, not much I could do was going to be more unhealthy for my body than being 250lbs!

only problem is mfp will probably give you 1200 which is probably too low. I have my goal as 1200 but i generally eat at least 1400 - 1600 and am still losing - I probably have similar stats to OP. Think its just a bit of trial and error really.

People freak out too much about undereating and BMR. If you're getting adequate vitamins and minerals you could live several months off of your fat stores alone consuming literally 0 calories a day.

This whole notion of starvation is ridiculous. No one here in a 1st world country has any idea what starvation is, there is no such thing as starvation when you're 100 lbs overweight. Guess why your body is 100 lbs overweight? because your body stores excess calories as fat to use in times when you're not eating enough food. You're body is designed to store fat so you CAN UNDEREAT. In fact there are tons of studies that show that people and animals who undereat regularly actually live longer and have way less disease!

You have to pick a starting point for your calories. Whether it's 2000 calories or 1800 calories or 1500 calories or whatever you do. That's not even important where you start off. Every calculation you do out there is an education guess. You have to make adjustments after depending on what happens.

I would ignore the first couple weeks as your body will adjust to lower carb intake and youll shed water and probably lose 5-10 lbs in those first 2 weeks

After the first couple weeks adjust your calories intake as needed. If you start off at 1800(which is probably a good starting point) and you find you are only losing 1 lb a week and you want to lose 2 lbs then either add in 3500 calories worth of exercise a week or subtraction 3500 calories from your diet for the week(500 calories per day) or a combination of both.