2. Deficits below BMR
Chris says:
Hey guys,
Over the past 7 months, I've had great success following the Keto Masterclass. As far as weight-loss goes, I've lost about 42 lbs, and lowered my BF% from about 28% to about 19%. For the first 12 weeks, I ate at a 20% deficit, without a break. I weighed and measured all my food. I made sure I had my electrolytes dialed in, eating lots of potassium and magnesium rich foods, supplementing Na+ as well as Mg+ too. During that time, I was lifting 4x per week as well as a couple (15-20 min) interval workouts per week. Other than that, I was doing some light walking and playing with my kids.
Towards the end of that initial run, I started to get kind of bitchy (I'm a 45-year old male), and never really experienced the stable energy, or deep, solid sleep that a lot of people mention - two things I was really hoping for.
Recently, I have been alternating 4-week cuts, followed with 2-week "full diet breaks" (a'la Lyle McDonald) at maintenance. During those, carb sources have been clean, paleo foods. Coming off of each of these, I feel better and maintained a stable weight throughout. I was normally back in ketosis 48-72 hours after switching my carb and fat macros back up, and both times (so far) it has restarted weight loss. Still not great sleep, but I attribute that to having young kids (2 & 6).
After a recent DEXA scan, I was recalculating my macros with the Ketogains calculator (I'm 162# and 19% BF), and it dawned on me that the deficit it was recommending (-15%) was put me BELOW my Basal Metabolic Rate by about 105 calories, per day. For reference, I used the "sedentary" activity level and don't add back in workout calories.
So, to my question(s)...
Understanding that the calculator is based off the Katch-McCardle formula, basically giving a statistical norm, but BMR is the calories we need to maintain vital physiological functions, what are your thoughts on recommended deficits putting one below their BMR and what are the longer-term implications of extended diets doing so? Would it be better to just eat AT BMR on rest days and add back in some (all? a portion?) workout calories (protein & fat) on training days, while still being below TDEE?
It seems to me that BMR should be an absolute floor when it comes to caloric intake - I'm wondering if the aggressive deficits created some diet fatigue and hormonal disruption for me.
Love the podcast and anything the Wolf Pack puts out. Thanks for everything!
