I wouldn't expect your BMR to be lower than 1600.

If you used a BMR calculator just using height/weight/age - it's probably not accurate for someone with a high body fat percentage, because all the numbers it uses are based on average body fat.

If you have any idea what your estimated body fat is (either from a scale, or measurements, or just a visual guess), then you are probably going to get a more accurate BMR from one of the formulas that uses Lean Body Mass rather than just height/weight/age.

This is true for everyone who is not an average body fat percentage.

Also, you mention menopause in your profile, but you don't have your age listed...so just on the off chance that you are early to menopause, then the drop in BMR that typically hits around menopause may not be factored into a BMR calculator that uses Age as a metric.

That's just a guess because you don't look old enough for menopause in your photos.

Assuming the BMR you are using is accurate, then yes, you do want to eat at least that amount. Not necessarily every day, a day here and there that are low will not be too much of a problem. The hormone shifts will kick in after about 3 weeks of starvation (again, this is averages) so, a few days or even a week are not that big a deal. Long term is a problem. Long term you start metabolizing muscle and bone and being unable to repair your body. You have excess fat for energy, but fat doesn't really provide nutrients beyond energy. Your body needs other nutrients and raw materials to maintain itself in a healthy state.

Also, not eating doesn't mean your body is starving. True starvation doesn't happen until body fat stores are depleted, not just after a specific time of no eating. BUT, a diet that's too low calorie every day can decrease your metabolism. You could try alternate day fasting, that should definitely leave plenty of time for your appetite to bounce back between meals LOL! https://www.dietdoctor.com/fasting-muscle-mass

I wouldn't call appetite returning a problem tho. I think the OP would want her appetite to return so she doesn't have to worry about eating extremely low calories. ..Or am I misinterpreting to concern?

The average person can only metabolize about 1% body fat per week...so no matter how little you eat, your body can currently only replace about 12K calories per week (3.37 lbs x 3,500 cal/lb). The math will shift as you lose weight.

Eating any greater a deficit isn't going to burn fat. But it will compromise muscle tissue.

Based on your previous comments your maintenance is 2750/day (2200 was a 20% deficit in your original post - if it's a 25% deficit then your maintenance is 2933).

So, in theory (because it's based on averages) you can be short of that by 1600 calories a day and be burning max fat possible...so, minimum intake 1150 cals (or 1333)...and yes, if you are eating quality nutrition, you can fit your nutritional needs into 1200 cal/day.

You should lose about 3 lbs a week to start...as you get smaller and your fat stores deplete, your weight loss will slow, and this is normal, so don't panic.

Max fat loss is a great goal, but be alert for fatigue, muscle/joint soreness, sleep issues or other symptoms that you are putting too much stress on your body...maybe consider a couple weeks at maintenance or at a smaller deficit if you start to have issues.

Not all nutrients are fat soluble, so getting good nutrition is still important even though you are using fat stores. Getting plenty of salt and protein is always important.

I hope you will keep us posted on your results!!! And thank you for being willing to share the numbers, I love doing the math!!!

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

The problem is... once you fat adapt. Your hunger returns. The you have to work at it again.
Keto or low carb isn’t a free for all.

This explains something, Thanks for sharing. I thought it was odd that I'm all of a sudden hungry more frequently. Maybe I'm just now fat adapted??? I'm a little over 3 months in and T2D but the past few weeks I'm hungry more often. I thought Fat Adapted would mean I'd be less hungry...

And there's the amount that causes long term organ damage. At 5'8" going down to 1200 or less can do a lot of damage. (Not a fast or Just a day here or there, but eating that low over a time can cause muscle mass loss and organ failure, especially if active). The heart is a muscle and experiences muscle mass loss like any other muscle in body. Except when heart loses muscle mass it causes chamber/s to swell and slow. It can't pump fluid, so entire body starts swelling (mine was over 100 lbs in less than two months). Then fluid pushes on other organs... Can't breathe due to fluid on lungs. I couldn't breathe walking from bed to toilet.

1200 is meant as a minimum for someone who is very short and immobile!

Losing weight "quickly" is not worth the risk of death. When dropping that low, hunger signals break due to hormonal changes (adrenaline, endorphins, cortisol, etc). So when I ate very low calorie, I never felt hungry or starved. I felt healthy and fine until my heart failed and I woke up unable to breathe and all over body edema.

I recently posted my before and afters over three months here in group. I'm 5'8" I started at 1410 no working out, pretty sedentary. Was losing too fast. At about a month in upped my calories to around 1600-1700 to slow weight loss down... But even at 1700 am still dropping fairly rapid.

Your overall percentage body fat is a calculation based on your total body weight. So, 1% = 1% no matter if your body fat is 50% or 10%, in a week you can only drop to 49% or 9%.

Because body fat is a percentage of total weight, that number is shifting every week that you lose weight, particularly if your goal is to always be losing fat and not lean body mass. So if you want to crunch the numbers every week, fantastic, that's the most accurate way to hit maximum fat loss over time.

I hope that made more sense.

The 3 months thing is a hormone response to reduced calories. Like everything else, it's based on averages. It's stressful for your body to rely on adipose fat - this is fat your body chose to store in case of famine, not eating as much as before will make you body think there is in fact a famine. Your body will freak out about this at some point.

Probably the biggest thing to watch for is symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue is really just overstimulated adrenals due to increased cortisol from weight loss (or anything else), but it's commonly called adrenal fatigue even though your adrenals don't really need a nap and it's a bit poorly named thing. Excessive fatigue, trouble sleeping, cravings/excessive hunger, anger, things like that. Cortisol will hit your adrenals first, which will then cascade into your thyroid, and on throughout the entire endocrine system. Most hormone testing won't show out of range until you are at the crash and burn level of problems. It's not good to let it get that far.

Again - this is all based on averages. Some people manage a calorie deficit for a full year or two and never run into the hormone response. Maybe they destress a lot in other ways, maybe they don't produce a lot of cortisol, maybe their body just isn't sensitive to cortisol. Some people hit this wall sooner. 3 months is an average, but if you are paying attention to your body, you should notice that "something is off" feeling. Or, you can go out of your way to make the process as stress free as possible with good nutrition and other stress relief methods like yoga, or hot baths, or whatever.

My favorite adrenal supporting herb is licorice root - it makes a lovely tea and it's a cheap supplement. There is a small portion of the population that will experience an increase in blood pressure with consumption of licorice, so it should not be taken by anyone with high blood pressure. There is a TCM (traditional chineese medicine) formula called Nervous Fatigue that will also be very nourishing for the adrenals and does not contain any herbs that will boost blood pressure.

For me, I take licorice every day when I am in a deficit. If I don't, I usually hit that cranky semi-homicidal point where even trees start to look edible about 3-6 weeks into a diet, and it's not fun for anyone. Not everyone is a fan of herbs, that cool too, but do listen to your body and adjust if you start to feel something is not quite right.

A suggestion would be to go get an RMR test done and get your maintenance calorie numbers every few months. Takes the guessing out of it. At one point I needed 3700 just to maintain weight now I'm down to 2300. Metabolism slows down and revs up with a lot of it tied into lean muscle levels and many other things. Lots of moving parts but eating properly with a small deficit along with exercise burn with some muscle work will get you success if you play the long plan vs chasing a random number on a scale. Keto, low carb, plant based, paleo all work. Some just have bigger benefits than others in the long game. I'm a big fan of keto for short periods because it naturally limits the hunger hormones without pills. 18 months of fat adapted (confirmed with RMR testing) and I eat over 100 total carbs a day. The trick is timing and fiber