Confused about my caloric intake

emyleer115
emyleer115 Posts: 19 Member
edited November 29 in Health and Weight Loss
So I've been eating around 1200 calories a day for the past 8 months. I occasionally eat out and go above this and for almost a month I wasn't paying attention to calories much. But I just recently calculated my BMR and found that it's 1400 calories. I've been eating less than that about 90% of the time since last June. Is it made to consume less than your calculated BMR? I feel like it would be and now I'm afraid I've caused some metabolic damage and I'm thinking maybe I soils eat more but I'm afraid to gain weight

Replies

  • CassidyScaglione
    CassidyScaglione Posts: 673 Member
    You have to eat at a deficit to lose weight. That's what mfp is for
  • Br3ntG
    Br3ntG Posts: 29 Member
    CassidyScaglione wrote: »
    You have to eat at a deficit to lose weight. That's what mfp is for

    Exactly. Eat less than your BMR to lose weight. Eat more than your BMR to gain weight.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Br3ntG wrote: »
    CassidyScaglione wrote: »
    You have to eat at a deficit to lose weight. That's what mfp is for

    Exactly. Eat less than your BMR to lose weight. Eat more than your BMR to gain weight.

    Nope. Your BMR is the calories you need if you're in a coma. Eat less than your TDEE to lose weight - eat more than your TDEE to gain. You shouldn't eat less than BMR except maybe in cases where you're extremely overweight.
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
    No you should eat less than your TDEE but you should not go below BMR for long periods of time.

    I'd bump it up to BMR personally.
  • Terraforcejenny
    Terraforcejenny Posts: 47 Member
    Your BMR is if you were at your most sedentary; this is you not exercising, not standing for most of the day, etc. This is what you should eat to maintain basic functions; you can go below it, but your body wont be burning fat effeciently, etc (you'll start getting slim but losing muscle, you'll start becoming nutrient deficient, etc).

    TDEE is how much energy you expend in the day, including your activity levels (Work, exercise, etc). The "healthy/suggested" amount to shave off of that is 20% of the total calories. Example, I work out about 5 days a week for 30-45 minutes, and have a job where I stand for about 20 hours a week. This puts me around 1700 or so TDEE; I've adjusted MFP to have my caloric intake at 1422 per day. (This is me as a female at 5'2", 125lbs).

    If I followed MFP's suggestion, I'd be consuming 1200 per day; I DID try this for a time, and started losing weight more slowly, losing muscle mass, feeling dizzy/sick, having more incidences of intense and painful food cravings, etc.

    Make sure you aren't cutting out all of your protein, fat, and carbs as well. Too little protein, you'll lose muscle. Too few carbs, you'll get a lot more hunger and your energy will feel super depleted. Too little fat, youll also have other issues (for me it results in issues with hunger and sleep, as well as shakiness).

    It's about balance, not just sacrifice. If you're cutting, it needs to be relevant to your lifestyle. You should probably give it 2-3 weeks as well; if you aren't losing estimated weight, adjust your diet and activity levels accordingly. The deficit can be created without exercising at all, but if you *are* exercising, you need to eat accordingly.

  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
    OP, do you mind sharing your stats? Current weight, height and goals?

    Your profile states that you're 23 years old, and at this age, it's definitely unsafe to eat below your BMR, but increasing your caloric intake is tricky. First, maybe take an honest look at your diary - are you eyeballing portions? Conveniently not logging bites of other people's food? What about alcohol? It's perfectly reasonable to estimate, but if you think you're under-logging, you might not have to change anything. If you truly are eating 1200 calories, I would raise it by adding more lean protein or more fibrous veggies.
  • emyleer115
    emyleer115 Posts: 19 Member
    Hmm I'm not sure why it says 23, I'm 20. I'm 4'11. I started at 175 (yikes, I know), now I'm about 133. I don't drink alcohol and I usually put EVERYTHING I eat into my food diary. Sometimes I don't make it to 1200 calories. Not trying to starve myself by any means but I really feel good about what I eat and not craving anything bad. And I hit all of my micronutrient goals usually. I thought 1200 was fine especially for my size. But as I've read more it just scares me because now I'm worried I've *kitten* up my weight loss/metabolism by not eating at least 1400 calories which is my BMR. I've just recently started exercising every day but nothing intense. Pilates and sometimes short cardio Youtube videos. But idk. I've been losing about a pound a week since September so maybe that's a sign I'm doing ok on this 1200 calorie/day thing :/
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    Br3ntG wrote: »
    CassidyScaglione wrote: »
    You have to eat at a deficit to lose weight. That's what mfp is for

    Exactly. Eat less than your BMR to lose weight. Eat more than your BMR to gain weight.

    Nope. Your BMR is the calories you need if you're in a coma. .

    Nope. No coma involved in BMR measurement. Think of the ethics.

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    emyleer115 wrote: »
    So I've been eating around 1200 calories a day for the past 8 months. I occasionally eat out and go above this and for almost a month I wasn't paying attention to calories much. But I just recently calculated my BMR and found that it's 1400 calories. I've been eating less than that about 90% of the time since last June. Is it made to consume less than your calculated BMR? I feel like it would be and now I'm afraid I've caused some metabolic damage and I'm thinking maybe I soils eat more but I'm afraid to gain weight

    There is no need to eat your BMR as a specific number, most people setting sedentary and 1 lb/week will be given a goal under their BMR.
    The man who invented predictive text died yesterday……………..

    His funfair in next monkey.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    Some of you people are really misleading other users. You're not clear on how things work. Please learn.

    BMR is veryyyyy different from TDEE. The person should eat in deficit of TDEE not BMR.
  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
    How did you measure your BMR? Unless it was done in a laboratory setting, it's only a guess anyway.
  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
    OP I wouldn't worry that you have messed up by eating 1200. But slowly increasing your calories isn't a bad idea either, certainly if you are adding exercise and don't want to fiddle with trying to calculate that.

    No rush, try 1250 for a few weeks. If you are still losing, bump it up again to 1300, and so on.

    At some point you will hit YOUR maintenance...the level of intake where you neither lose nor gain. Ideally that happens just when you are at or near your goal, but if no then you can always reduce your intake again to get the loss re-started.
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