As a petite woman (4’11) every calculator tells me to eat roughly 1200-1300 calories to lose weight because my TDEE is roughly 1500-1600.
My BMR is roughly 1350.
I have a sedentary office job lifestyle and I’m a mom. My goal to lose 1lb a week would mean I quite literally have to eat 1100 calories during my 8 hour eating window (16:8). Isn’t that unhealthy low? Aren’t I supposed to eat at least my BMR for normal body function? I’m so confused on how to burn enough calories to lose weight.
Does this mean my goal should be to lose .5lbs a week rather than 1lb so that I can at least eat enough calories up to my BMR?
No, it’s all proportioned to your size. BMR is just your basic body needs if you were completely sedentary. Add in your daily walking around etc and that’s your TDEE.
What happens when you lose weight is you are eating less calories than your body ‘needs’. Then your body uses your fat stores to make up the difference.
It’s not unhealthily low, especially at your size and activity level. 800-900 calories for the average person would be too low.
Eventually, your body will adapt to the lower amount, but only after 3-4 weeks. So you could do a weight loss sprint for 4 weeks, then add in a few more calories near your TDEE for a couple of weeks, then do another sprint and repeat. This helps offset metabolic adaptation.
No, you don’t need to eat at least your BMR for bodily function because BMR is a function of your current weight. People become overweight because they are eating more calories than the required amount for a person with a smaller BMR. If you start off weighing 120 pounds but you’re always eating twice as many calories as you need to sustain that body size then eventually you will weigh 240 pounds. To take off the excess weight, you do not eat your BMR at 240 pounds because that would keep you at that weight.
When it comes to calculating the calorie deficit that you need to lose weight, focus on the total daily energy expenditure, which takes your BMR plus add some calories based on your level of activity. For instance, I weigh 125 pounds and I’m 5‘6“ tall. My BMR is 1350ish but I work out hard 4-5x/week so my TDEE is about 1850. That means I could cut any amount of calories below my TDEE eat in order to lose weight based on the rate at which I want to lose it. As I am super active, I actually do not need to eat fewer calories than my BMR because I already have that extra 500 cal that I’m burning through exercise. This means I could just eat at my BMR of 1350 to lose a pound per week (which would be gross because I’m thin enough).
Because you are relatively sedentary, you do need to cut your daily calories below your BMR because you aren’t expending extra calories through exercise.
My only suggestion is that you don’t need to lose a pound per weight considering how small you are. Half a pound is fine. Eventually, it all adds up and you’ll be exactly where you want to be :-)
I hope that makes sense!
I’m 5 1” and had my bmr measured by dexa scan. It was 980. I maintain but don’t lose at c1350. I think .5 lbs a week is reasonable. The hardest part is getting enough nutrients. There’s no room for any empty calories.