What happens if I eat less than my Basal metabolic rate?

Question

My basal metabolic rate is 1361. If I only eat 1000 calories a day, will it harm my body? Or will I just lose weight with no side effects? I don't want to starve my body!

Answer 1

No you will not starve. You will loose weight though. I mean if you want to loose wieght then thats a great way to do it. And you body is not starving. People get the wrong idea when someone says they aren't eating enough or whatever...your body is not technically starving until all the fat on your body has been eaten up (i.e. loosing weight) and your body starts trying to eat up muscles. Like the littlek ids you see o nthe infommercials like Save The Kids..yea those kids are starving...going a day without eating or eating less than your BMR will not starve your body.

The body doesn't use up every vitamin, mineral, calorie and everytihng else you consume, in one day. That is whats stored in our fat on our bodys. Did you know that 10lbs of fat (350,000 calories) has the equivelant nutritional value of 30lbs of corn or 50lbs of fish. I would much rather my body eat my fat and loose weight than to eat all that corn and fish.

Answer 2

BMR is the number of calories you need to eat at your current height/weight to *maintain* your current weight with no physical exertion. Eating less than your BMR will make you lose weight, period. Best advice is to start maybe 300-400 cal under your BMR and be content with losing a pound or two a week. As you lose weight, your BMR will drop and you will *gradually* need to adjust your calorie target downwards. If your BMR is up at 2400, don't drop straight down to 1500, your body will go into starvation mode and the weight will not come off in addition to you being miserable from being hungry all the time. Slow and steady is the way to go, not yo-yo crash diets. As far as exercise, start with a half hour of light exercise, like walking, three days a week. And don't cheat your calorie count as a reward.

Answer 3

Sounds like you may not need to loose weight. But with a BMR of 1361, consuming 1000 calories will contribute to weight loss. If you figure 1 lb. of body fat is 3500 calories, then about every 10 days you should loose 1 lb. Check with your Doctor first. If he agrees that you need to loose weight, then cutting back on your calories and 45 minutes of exercise a day, should do you good!

Answer 4

Well, I heard if you eat less (like, actually fast) than your BMR for a couple days, it's OK. It'll surely burn calories. But any more days and your body might give out. You may not collapse and die, but you'll become easily fatigued and your hair will fall out.

But that's what I've heard. I don't suggest this, but for a few months, I continuously ate less than my BMR. I lost a lot of weight, and I don't remember feeling sick or anything. I didn't have a period during those times, but that was the worst.

Answer 5

You will starve and lack nutrients

Answer 6

yes you'll lose weight