[Palestrina]

Anyone else try to match their BMR in calories?

[ainslie]

No because then yoy body can go into starvation mode and when I start eating proply you gain weight. I also found that going too low cal leads to hunger and binges. I did herbal magic for a while and they have really low cal eating plans. Gained the weight back after stopping. I didn't complete the program as the supplents were expensive and the new formula wouldnt work with my add meds. They wanted me to buy the shakes and bars. While convient still too expensive. Now I track my cal with shapeup app. I put in height weight age and it tells me how nany calories. Also adjusts as I lose weight.

[Palestrina]

Why would it be too unhealthy? My BMR is around 1600, that's not a low calorie range. In fact the LoseIt app and MyFitnessPal calculate that I should be eating less than that.

I figure that if I eat around 1600 then any motion I make counts as exercise hehe!

[Bright Angel]

Originally Posted by Wannabeskinny

Anyone else try to match their BMR in calories?

It' might a bad idea to eat UNDER one's BMR/RMR for a long period of time,
although there are quite a few studies that don't think this is a problem.
It is interesting that the purpose of Weight Loss Surgery is to force people to do just that.
And people lose weight in that manner without creating new metabolic problems.

For many people, the problem here is not the mythical "starvation mode" as it is commonly perceived,
but the difficulty of actually FINDING one's true personal BMR or RMR,
since ALL of the charts are based on mathmatical formulas which are based on overall AVERAGES,
and the actual basic resting metabolism of individual people is often quite different, sometimes more than 20%,
For people with tendencies toward obesity, that difference is usually lower than average.

People also commonly overestimate the amount of energy they burn through Activity,
and use an activity factor % far higher than their bodies' Reality.

Charts are a good place to START,
but I think the only way anyone can really know their own MR is to track every bite
through a software food journal for a long time, at least 6 months to 1 year.
The results can be surprising. It is amazing how little food a short, older, obese person requires to maintain their weight.

I am a short, elderly, "reduced obese" female at "normal" weight.
The "minimum 1200 calorie" rule definitely doesn't apply to me,
and in fact, after 8 years of tracking my food,
My records prove that 1200 calories is a weight-gain amount up to obesity for my individual body.

[Palestrina]

Yes it's probably difficult to compute through the little BMR calculators online. But it seems to be working for now. Obviously when my BMR gets to be low this won't be a good option but for now my BMR is equal to my caloric limit.