BMR IS not for obese and morbidly obese people

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Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    ROFL, I needed a good laugh today, almost fell of my seat, i was 320 pounds, granted i dont eat all the recommended calories, and i dont eat back exercise calories, i still would never eat below 1500 calories, you sir just earned the dunce of they day award........ dirrrr diiiiiiieeeeee dddddddiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrr.

    Do you know what your BMR was when you were 320 lbs? I would think 1500 was below BMR for a 320 lb man.

    ETA: according to an online BMR calculator (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/), the BMR for a 320 lb 24 yo male would be over 2500 at any height from 5'0" to 7'0"
  • spekkio12345
    spekkio12345 Posts: 18 Member
    I have read that a more aggressive approach to weight loss is to calculate what your BMR would be at your goal weight and make that your daily calorie limit from the beginning.

    This site uses a more conservative approach by recalculating your BMR as you lose the weight, gradually reducing the amount of calories you eat daily.

    Either way is likely to result in weight loss, however the op is at least slightly correct in that morbidly obese folks probably could eat a whole lot less than their actual BMR and still have a healthy weight loss rate. Nobody short of extreme athletes needs to be eating 3500+ calories daily.
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    You have to remember that when you are larger, it takes more calories you body has to work harder to run your organs. Drastically cutting calories too low can have bad consequences, even if you lose weight. I'm just barely in the "morbidly obese" category and my BMR is about 1900. Not that high. I think you are thinking of MAINTENANCE calories (as in what it would take to maintain your current weight), which yes, you'd want to eat less than that if you are trying to lose weight.
  • kikokateyy
    kikokateyy Posts: 136 Member
    My BMR is 1900, i am obese and tried eating 1200 a day, I gained weight. Eating too little can cause your body to do weird things.
    I lift heavy and train hard, I'll eat the calories I need to for my body to work properly and still lose at the same time. Everyone needs to find what works for them
  • TheChocolatePrincess
    TheChocolatePrincess Posts: 137 Member
    I suggest you seek the assistance of a physician. I went to my general practioner to develop a weight loss plan. Everyone's situation is not going to be the same so I don't believe in taking the blanket advice of non-professionals.

    Whether your doctor/nutritionist decides to restrict your caloric intake or increase it is really up to that medical professional's opinion of what would be best for you.

    And in the end you still have to do what works for YOU.

    Good Luck to everyone out there!
  • Marge321
    Marge321 Posts: 131 Member
    English is not my first language and i can do better than that but i wanted to write my thoughts

    English is not my first language too but I do think that every language deserves respect. "Wanted to write my thoughts" is not an excuse for writing u instead of you and all that slang.

    I hate slang so much.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    My BMR is 1900, i am obese and tried eating 1200 a day, I gained weight.

    If you gained weight, it was just water weight. You didn't gain fat by eating under your BMR.
  • Graciecny
    Graciecny Posts: 302 Member
    I started out with a BMI of somewhere in the mid-30's, right smack in the middle of obese and well on my way to morbidly so. I started this journey eating what MFP told me to, but upped my calories to right around my BMR by changing my activity level about a month ago. This month I have been able to resist slaying people for food. :laugh: Seriously, even for someone with a BMI of 35, if you are female and short, you don't GET that many calories unless you are HIGHLY active - an unlikely, although possible, combination!

    So bottom line, in my opinion if you are obese you should probably err on the side of netting your BMR. As others have said, under doctor's supervision, if you are morbidly obese and issues related to your weight warrant it, a physician might put you on a strict weight loss regime, but that isn't something a web site like this should be telling you to do, IMHO.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    When your BMI is more than 30 u are obese and if it is more than 40 u are morbidly obese .

    The nutritionist and doctors say u should not eat less than your BMR but in this case , your BMR will be more than

    2800 cal and even 3500 cal with u workout , u will have at least 4000 cal to eat per day, and it is not makes sense when your

    weight is 300 400 or 500 pounds , it will take life to lose weight and your chance to avoid the obesity diseases become low .

    I know that u should eat more to lose more but not 4000 cal/day .

    As obese when u lose reasonable amount of pounds then u will think about bmr but until that u should not eat more than 1500 cal .

    Really? My BMR is about 2400 calories, TDEE between 2900 and 3500 depending on exercise. I pick my deficit based on that, and have lost over 40 pounds in 5 months. Granted, some people start out a lot heavier than my original 360 pounds, but it still didn't take that long to make a lot of progress. If I can keep it up all the way down to my goal, I should be there within two years... hardly "taking my life to lose the weight."
  • kikokateyy
    kikokateyy Posts: 136 Member
    My BMR is 1900, i am obese and tried eating 1200 a day, I gained weight.

    If you gained weight, it was just water weight. You didn't gain fat by eating under your BMR.

    It very well could have been. But its very discouraging to eat 1200 a day(for quite a while) and train and gain weight in the end.
  • LovingLisa2012
    LovingLisa2012 Posts: 775 Member
    at my current 295.4 my BMR 2,067 calories/day ( i average 2,000 - 2500 calories a day and I AM losing weight ( i'm not about to starve myself b/c some one said so



    your calculations are already wrong OP

    please DO NOT tell people what to do

    oh and at my highest of 312 it was 2142
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Your BMR estimate using the calc's that use age/weight/height are inflated, and more inflated, the more overweight you are.

    Unless you somehow managed to maintain the same ratio of LBM / Fat the study participants had in the studies already at healthy weight. And that is rare, but possible.

    Otherwise, get a BodPod test, or some other estimate of bodyfat%, and use the Katch-McArdle BMR calc, which will actually be deflated the more overweight you are.

    That's why it's said obese can eat under their BMR safely with no problems, they either are really not, or at least not by much.

    That being said, their BMR is a whole lot higher than when they lose weight.

    And they'd hate to lose their muscle mass before they lose the weight - because carrying it around is a great all day fat/calories burning activity.

    Of course at some point, you don't need big muscular calves if not carrying around the weight, so you will eventually be burning off some muscle and hopefully having chance to build where desired.
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    I cannot quite understand what he is trying to say but I was in the obese to morbidly obese range I cut my calories down to 1600 to 2000 a day not eating anything back and excerised 3-5 times a week and to be honest the weight melted off me. Also I was not starving myself I was eating healthier and some days at 1600 calories I felt way full and other days 1600 calories I was still hungry so it varied a bit. But I did not Starve myself by far.
  • DesignGuy
    DesignGuy Posts: 457 Member
    I understand you wanting to write your thoughts. But what are those thoughts based on? Years of MD experience? Many hours pouring over case files of morbidly obese people? Any fact? Or just fun thoughts that materialize?

    You said to eat under my BMR for 3-4 months. What is this based on? Why 3-4 months? Because I have a lot to lose? Not sure that's really a medical way to phrase things.

    Forget logic, science, rational thought. This site alone is full of case studies that debunk your theory. Case closed.
  • mrsnathanandrew
    mrsnathanandrew Posts: 631 Member
    I didn't have a headache, then I read this and now I do.:grumble:
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    My BMR is 1900, i am obese and tried eating 1200 a day, I gained weight.

    If you gained weight, it was just water weight. You didn't gain fat by eating under your BMR.

    It very well could have been. But its very discouraging to eat 1200 a day(for quite a while) and train and gain weight in the end.

    Not really a part of this topic, but 1200 calories is too low if your BMR is 1900. Even at a sedentary lifestyle with no exercise, you'd be burning around 2300 calories per day. Doing that for too long will slow your metabolism down and inhibit weight loss.
  • kikokateyy
    kikokateyy Posts: 136 Member
    My BMR is 1900, i am obese and tried eating 1200 a day, I gained weight.

    If you gained weight, it was just water weight. You didn't gain fat by eating under your BMR.

    It very well could have been. But its very discouraging to eat 1200 a day(for quite a while) and train and gain weight in the end.

    Not really a part of this topic, but 1200 calories is too low if your BMR is 1900. Even at a sedentary lifestyle with no exercise, you'd be burning around 2300 calories per day. Doing that for too long will slow your metabolism down and inhibit weight loss.


    Exactly my point! It was way too little and hurt my body
  • om98
    om98 Posts: 48
    I cannot quite understand what he is trying to say but I was in the obese to morbidly obese range I cut my calories down to 1600 to 2000 a day not eating anything back and excerised 3-5 times a week and to be honest the weight melted off me.

    exactly this is what i want to say . if you are obese or morbidly obese and u manage to cut your cal less than your bmr
    you will lose weight and in healthy way and you have big chance to continue to your goal
  • So a little away from what the OP said, in general I don''t think the BMR is accurate for everyone. I posted something about this last night. If I ate what that told me to eat, I would not lose any weight (2100 calories). I am 5'8, with a large frame and am in the 300's. I only know that because I know my own body, my genetics, my family history, and that even weight loss surgery under supervision of doctors did not work for me. I know that I have to eat under 1500 a day and lots of exercise to see ANY results. It comes down to the individual. Everyone is different.
  • om98
    om98 Posts: 48
    I understand you wanting to write your thoughts. But what are those thoughts based on? Years of MD experience? Many hours pouring over case files of morbidly obese people? Any fact? Or just fun thoughts that materialize?

    You said to eat under my BMR for 3-4 months. What is this based on? Why 3-4 months? Because I have a lot to lose? Not sure that's really a medical way to phrase things.

    Forget logic, science, rational thought. This site alone is full of case studies that debunk your theory. Case closed.

    being obese and morbidly obese for almost whole my life , i think i can have some thoughts , is it true or not i dont know , but i have the right to write it
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    being obese and morbidly obese for almost whole my life , i think i can have some thoughts , is it true or not i dont know , but i have the right to write it

    Have the right to write it? Sure.

    Have the right to write it without being criticized? No, you don't.
    Obesity is related to many of diseases and if u want to lose 1-2/week , it will not works , u have big chance to give up in first 2-3 months and return to your old habits

    You also have a big chance to give up if you're putting yourself low enough that you're lacking energy to perform functions of daily life and you're spending all your time dreaming constantly about food. If you feel the only choices are feeling like you're starving for the rest of your life and being fat, you may very well choose being fat.
  • om98
    om98 Posts: 48
    So a little away from what the OP said, in general I don''t think the BMR is accurate for everyone. I posted something about this last night. If I ate what that told me to eat, I would not lose any weight (2100 calories). I am 5'8, with a large frame and am in the 300's. I only know that because I know my own body, my genetics, my family history, and that even weight loss surgery under supervision of doctors did not work for me. I know that I have to eat under 1500 a day and lots of exercise to see ANY results. It comes down to the individual. Everyone is different.

    As me if we want life saving surgery maybe we will die from it

    so we need to lose reasonable amount of pounds before we start talk about bmr and rmr
  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
    That made my eyes bleed.

    Hahahaha!
  • giselle9938
    giselle9938 Posts: 194 Member
    This really makes me sad, There is a lot of people out there trying to find answers and looking for help and threads like this one are going to confuse them. I was the type of people that everytime I tried to lose weight I got some many different comments that I hold myself back and continue with the bad eating habits and didn't do anything.... People go to a Doctor and find was best for YOU!
  • om98
    om98 Posts: 48
    being obese and morbidly obese for almost whole my life , i think i can have some thoughts , is it true or not i dont know , but i have the right to write it

    Have the right to write it? Sure.

    Have the right to write it without being criticized? No, you don't.
    Obesity is related to many of diseases and if u want to lose 1-2/week , it will not works , u have big chance to give up in first 2-3 months and return to your old habits

    You also have a big chance to give up if you're putting yourself low enough that you're lacking energy to perform functions of daily life and you're spending all your time dreaming constantly about food. If you feel the only choices are feeling like you're starving for the rest of your life and being fat, you may very well choose being fat.

    i don't say starve your self , you can eat 1500 cal/day with all healthy food( fruits veg protein ) and feel full whole day and still lose
    weight
  • My1985Freckles
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    PLEASE no one take this person's advice!

    you mean you understood that ?

    Almost snorted my coffee! Thanks! lol
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Have the right to write it without being criticized? No, you don't.

    Well that is just sad. Disagreeing is one thing. There is no need to criticize someone else's thoughts though.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    I think people are more likely to reach their goal if they are not going to bed hungry each night or giving up assuming themselves to be failures due to trying to restrict themselves to unnecessarily low daily calorie allowances.

    This is as much about learning how to eat properly as it is to lose weight for most here.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    i don't say starve your self , you can eat 1500 cal/day with all healthy food( fruits veg protein ) and feel full whole day and still lose
    weight

    This is very much arguable and depends on the weight that you are and the exercise level that you have. Many people still feel hungry even on 1500.

    OP, you are essentially saying "my way is the only way that you should lose weight if you're morbidly obese." That just plain isn't true -- there are some people here with extremely impressive losses, over 200 lbs -- there's one person I'm aware of who's lost well over 300 and certainly hasn't been restricting to 1500 calories during that time.
  • Obesity is related to many of diseases and if u want to lose 1-2/week , it will not works , u have big chance to give up in first 2-3 months and return to your old habits

    so lose as possible as u can and then u can control your plan .


    when u are obese , life saving surgery become very dangerous !!!!!

    You are more likely to give up if you starve yourself (unnecessarily I might add) by eating below your BMR.