Amit,

About your concern about losing muscle mass, you can maintain it with a balance of diet and exercise. This too is helpful for your bone density along with calcium. To improve your calcium absorption, include getting some sunlight because Vitamin D is key. This is another reason why keeping active (even just by walking) is so important.

Kanna

sorry about that...
bizi

Hi Kiwi33,

You explained very nicely in your post as to what happens when one eats less than the BMR daily. But how would a person know what is his BMR ?

Also I have one more query.

Consider the process just for a single day. Say I do not exercise at all and my BMR is 1900 and I eat 1200 calories today. I have a lot of fat say 25kgs surplus above ideal BMI. So will it burn 700 calories of fat to get the energy or will it burn 500 calories of fat and 200 calories of muscle tissue ? In other words,what I wish to ask is will it take all the energy from the excess fat available till it is exhausted or will it take some from the excess fat and some from the muscle tissue ?

Thank you.

Amit.

Kiwi33,

I used online calculator from some Indian sites where they ask to input height,age and weight .I always described myself as a 'No exercise' person.

My BMR showed to be between 1800 to 2200 as per different calculators on different sites.Each site showed a different value (I suppose they use different equations).

So I suppose I should consume 1200 calorie diet to lose 6-700 calories daily. So in 5 days that would amount to losing a pound.

I will be seeing a dietician shortly - just trying to search for a good one in my area.

yes 1200 calories a day, you will lose weight.
I hope you find a dietitian soon.
Yes I think you will lose muscle too. Maybe not if you are able to lift weights and eat enough protein.....
bizi

Hi,

Also I have one more question.

I weigh 92.7 kgs. When I intend to lose weight on a 1200 calorie diet ,what I have read is it is required to take 92 g(grams equal to weight in kgs) of protein daily to prevent muscle loss.

When I would aim for 92 g protein from whole food sources,I would be ingesting more calories as well. That would defeat the purpose of losing weight.

This is a tricky situation. Indian vegan diet is extremely low in protein.
That is why many (almost all) Indians cant excel in sports like football where stamina and muscle power matters. They are obese but no muscle power.

There are great sources of low fat vegetarian protein. If you mix lentils (or beans) with rice, you get a great low fat protein. So, daal is really a good choice especially if you have rice at the same meal. Also nut butters are great for protein and I know that some of the sauce bases are made out of nut butters. There's also protein in yogurt, cheese, and soy products.

Don't forget eggs. These are germinal foods, and have many trace nutrients in them. Choline....for the brain. is one example.
Lots of protein and few calories.

People in India have a real problem with low B12... in fact much of the research now comes from India it is so common.

example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3168103/

Hi Amit

I see that you have found some BMR calculators.

Fat is "energy-dense" - one gram of fat represents about 10 calories. Fat is used in preference to muscle protein so 700 calories of fat is about 70 grams.

I hope that you find a good dietitian. Although I am a doctor it is a PhD in biochemistry - I don't have medical qualifications but have taught medical and dietitian students the theory of metabolism. A dietitian will be able to offer your much more detailed advice than I can.

Good luck.

Thank you kiwi!
It is nice to have some one here with knowledge to share.

I don't think that we need that much protein.
YOu want to shoot for 20 grams of protein at every meal.
like 3 scrambled eggs has 21 grams of protein.
there is a good book to read it is called protein power written by Eades.
I think that this would answer some of your questions.
bizi