Low BMR + Deficit Plateau Help

ryleighjader30 wrote: »

I have been in an intense calorie deficit for 99% of the time since July 2023. I have recently plateaued, however my BMR is 1200 and my maintenance is 1400 so I don’t know how reverse dieting would work. How can I resume my fat loss?

Just take a break and eat at maintenence. Of you've been dieting for 6 months, it may be a good idea to eat at maintenence for about 3 months, then go back to a calirie deficit. It makes weight loss a slow process, but the body just doesn't deal great with being in a calorie deficit for more than about 6 months without a considerable break.

Those numbers are too low. Even my older daughter who is 120lbs her BMR is higher (1500 calories) based on minimal activity. Where did you calculate your numbers from? I highly recommend https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

Reverse dieting is easy I have done it, I went from 1200 calories and was maintaining on 2600 calories. If you want any help I can help you, feel free to message me.

"Six months" + "intense deficit" + "plateau" + apparently low estimate of current RMR/TDEE (which may be accurate depending on personal stats) all point to the need for a diet break imo. What you're putting your body through is stressful. It may respond by reducing your NEAT which reduces your TDEE, and other things.

Take a break, let the body get used to this new set-point for a while. You may add a few pounds of water and glycogen during this. Don't worry about that.

Reverse dieting means increasing current daily calories by about 100 each week, until you're at where you should be to maintain the new weight while feeling energetic. Your new maintenance TDEE will probably be a bit lower than your starting point maintenance calories, maybe about 7.5 calories per pound lost give or take. The slow ramping up of calories helps prevent fat gain.

Maintain your new set-point of say 3-6 pounds or 5-10 pounds (if you're larger), above current depleted levels (see above re water and glycogen gain), for at least three months. Then you'll feel physically ready to continue the diet process and a deficit from that new baseline should result in weight loss.