Is anyone not drastically cutting calories i.e. going below their BMR?

[mopton]

I am on mounjaro and am still on the lowest dose of 2.5mg. This dose seems to have knocked my killer cravings of sugar on the head and without them I've been able to stick to a healthy eating plan and eating about 1800 - 2000 calories a day.

My BMR is approx. 1700 and then on top of that I will burn anywhere from 500 - 1000 calories a day through various forms of activity. Obviously I know that tracking isn't 100% accurate but accounting for that and the fact that I am losing between 1 and 2lbs of fat a week and according to my body scans I am also preserving and even gaining muscle as I go I think it seems to be working although it isn't fast.

I am still very overweight and have a long way to go but I did previously lose 60lbs crash dieting years ago i.e. ate a very low calorie diet and did a ton of cardio and I do feel like it damaged my metabolism and lost a ton of muscle so that when I went back to eating a more sustainable amount of calories (so between 1400 and 2000 a day) I just gained weight even when I was still exercising and eating healthily due to the fact that my body had adapted to the lower calorie intake during my crash diet. Not to mention my cravings we in overdrive after being deprived and starved for so long. I became very demoralised by this and just kind of gave up.

My goal this time is to get to a healthy weight with a a fit and strong body and to have the way I am eating and moving be healthy and sustainable over the longer term i.e. I am trying to eat and exercise now how I would expect to eat and move for the foreseeable future. I have changed my diet to include more protein which isn't easy for me as a vegetarian and am making exercise including strength training a part of my life from now on.

I do know not everyone is the same that we are all different sizes and have different body types I have a larger frame for my height and do tend to gain muscle more easily than other women for example. I also know that sometimes very low calories diets are medically necessary and that everyone has to do what is best for them.

So is anyone else do it this way or is the general trend to eat far fewer calories now i.e. cut and then worry about building muscle later?

I wasn't massively overweight but I have lost a stone since Christmas/gone down a dress size simply by changing a few of my eating habits and reducing my daily calorie intake by 200-300 calories per day.

I feel that what I am doing is sustainable and I am less likely to put the weight back on. I increased my protein and decreased my carbs but I still eat carbs in moderation so I don't really have cravings and I actually feel full.

Small changes include

Breakfast instead of 1 egg and 2 rounds of toast I eat 2 eggs and one round of toast. This means I no longer reach for the biscuits mid morning. Also I really watch the amount of butter etc I put on my toast (probably helps I don't actually like butter/spreads on sandwiches.)

I eat veg or salad with all meals now, so my chicken sandwich at lunch will have loads of salad on but the kind I actually enjoy like grated carrot & sweetcorn.

I have cut out processed potato products and instead have a jacked potato or air fryer wedges. I eat less calories because proper potato fills me up much more than say oven chips or waffles.

How are you burning an extra 1K calories a day?! That’s a lot. You need to consume less, I think, and then work on building muscle. If you’re consuming that many calories I don’t think the weight will drop off that fast (not trying to be harsh!)

For context I competed intentionally at my sport until I was mid20s and I only consumed 2.8-3K calories a day. That was training 4+hrs a day. I train 2 hours a day now in the pool and eat 2K worth of calories. I’m 5,5 and 75KG and have maintained my weight. My ‘BMR’ is 1,400 calories but 2,7,00 on intense exercise yet I know if I eat more than 2,000 calories then I put on weight. BMR is total tosh.

Everyone is an individual and we shouldn’t rely on things like BMR or BMI to guide us in dieting and eating healthily. Stop thinking about BMR and think about quantity of food and quality of exercise :)

@Comefromaway This is pretty much what I am doing and it is working which is really great and its good to hear it is working for you are well. I think it does happen more slowly or at least the scale comes down more slowly than others on these medications but I am happier with a slower loss if it is more sustainable for me. Yes more protein is much more filling, I should have increased the amount I was eating years ago! I always ate pretty healthy homecooked meals but they were low in protein and that probably sent me to the biscuit tin for an energy burst later but since upping my protein I often go without any sweet treat and if I have something it is just a small bit of chocolate with my cup of tea after dinner.

@Killingoffmyflowersonebyone Yesterday according to my tracker I burned an additional 1100 over my BMR. Which was done by walking into town a 30 minute walk doing some errands then going to the gym for about an hour where I did more walking at an incline on the treadmill and I also did the elliptical machine. Then I had my various housework jobs, cooking dinner, hanging washings, hoovering. I work from home and sit at a desk while I work (part time). I am much heavier than you would have been in your 20's so I will be burning more calories just doing normal stuff like hoovering that an already fit healthy weight person would be.

So yesterday my calorie intake was about 1800 and my BMR + Activity Calories was about 2900. So before you say anything, I don't expect all these measures to be correct at all, I do understand that so all I have to go on is my results as a measure of my process and I am losing weight at between 1lb to 2 lbs a week consistently. I have paid for professional assessment and scans and I do appear to be holding on to muscle while losing fat and have even gained muscle since I increased my protein intake from about 50g a day to 100g a day and started weight training.

Some days I don't burn as much as 1000 calories some I do and as I said I am eating about 1800 to 2000 a day and over the week that works out to a calorie deficit for me of between 3500 and 7000 which then results in a 1lb to 2lb loss. If I wasn't actually losing weight then I'd know it wasn't working but I am losing and feeling very good on it as well as opposed to how I felt in the past when I ate far fewer calories and yes I was losing more weight i.e. 5 or 6 pounds a week but that was also a lot of other tissue, not just fat.

I know I likely will still lose some muscle and other tissue as I go and that if I hit a plateau I will need to reassess as I will as I lose weight and my caloric needs go down, as always the proof will be in the results I see on the scale, with my clothes and tape measure and scans if I have them again.

The other think I have learnt is not to worry about fluctuations. I know there are certain days where I will retain more water and that my weight will fluctuate 1-2lb either way from day to day. What is more important is the average over a week and how my clothes fit.

It sounds like you are doing really well.

@Comefromaway Thanks, you make a good point about weight fluctuations I was always told only weight yourself once a week but actually an average over the week so weighing yourself daily is better in many cases because as you say there are fluctuations and for us women our cycle affects things as well. I try not to stress too much as long as there is a general trend downwards in the scale or my measurements!

What sort of things in a day do you eat to get 100g protein? I eat gluten free and try to eat eggs, yogurt, nuts, chicken etc. but still struggle to hit 100g are people having protein shakes?

Interesting that it works for you... In a tent but envious. Also on MJ and aiming around 1000 calories each day. My BMR was apparently 1750 when I started dieting but I know at that amount I've actually gain hence lower target. I've been in gym almost daily and trying to add walking etc. I've lost almost 10kg in 9 weeks and definitely can feel more muscle and am fitter finding eg. Treadmill running easier. I'm on programme which will recalculate my body fat percentage in a few weeks so hopefully will see a good chance there to increase my BMR for maintaince stage.

I don’t think I hit 100g very often. More like 70-80g most days I think.

a typical day for me would be

2 eggs on 1 round thick bread. Teaspoon anchor spreadable, splash of milk in the eggs. Tea with splash of milk

5-6 slices wafer thin ham on 2 slices medium bread (no butter) lettuce, sweetcorn, grated carrot. Bag of frazzles

cup of tea, fun size chocolate bar or 1 biscuit

200g mini chicken fillets on a small bread roll. Medium potato made into air fryer wedges, large salad

or 2 cod loins, medium jacket potato, peas/sweetcorn/mixed veg

Thanks @Comefromaway im probably not far off that level of protein then just need to focus on being consistent with it daily.

You see previously I’d have 1 egg scrambled & divided between 2 rounds of toast.

And id have 3 slices of bread and less ham at lunch.

evening meal would be less meat, twice as many chips/potatoes & two bread rolls.