I maintained a 16.8 bmi eating 1400 on weekdays

2500 on friday and saturday and burning off 800

and 1600 on sunday while burning off 400-500

and doing 3-4 days of circus training on weekdays burning 300

I lost very slowly until I stopped doing as much exercise bc my body was sorta like tired as shit

 

Woah op are stats are similar-ish as is our position on maintenance, so I'm going to follow to see if I can find anything from this thread ^-^

 

yes. i have maintained 41-42 since my teens. Im not eating disordered then and i still dont think im eating disordered how. im dipping into the 40s and 39s recently. i do have health issues like osteopenia for about 2 years now. there has also been once or twice where i experienced heart pain. so please take care.

 

im 23 btw. Dx with osteopenia through DXEA scan in a medical study facility when i was 21. probably due to dieting in my teens even though i was already underweight.

 

I've been maintaining a BMI of 16. For me it seems to be the loosing weight that effects my health, not the low weight, so I've been pretty healthy. More so than at higher weights when I was restricting or losing quickly.

 

My bmi is around 15.5 - 16, and I'm maintain around there with plus or minus 1500cals. For me I don't have any real current issues, but I do get very dizzy and cold sometimes.

The thing is, I think it depends at what your 'natural bmi' is. What I mean by this is the bmi your body is naturally set at, when you're not restricting / overeating. Like for me, I was always around 18 ( 5'7 and 112lbs ), so it wasn't such a drastic change for my body when I lost to a bmi of 15.5. So I'd say it really depends on you - i don't know your HW or anything, but really just listen to your body

 

I have been maintaining a BMI of 16.-16.5 for more than a year and a half now. Eating around 1500 calories a day, consistently.

 

My bmi is around 15.5 - 16, and I'm maintain around there with plus or minus 1500cals. For me I don't have any real current issues, but I do get very dizzy and cold sometimes.

The thing is, I think it depends at what your 'natural bmi' is. What I mean by this is the bmi your body is naturally set at, when you're not restricting / overeating. Like for me, I was always around 18 ( 5'7 and 112lbs ), so it wasn't such a drastic change for my body when I lost to a bmi of 15.5. So I'd say it really depends on you - i don't know your HW or anything, but really just listen to your body

My HW was 47kg, so I also have a naturally low BMI, fluctuating in the high 17s to low 18s when I'm eating 'normally' (2000+ cal per day) so I haven't lost too much weight to get to my current BMI. I also have a smallish frame so I don't look particularly unhealthy at an underweight BMI either. So I don't think I'm putting too much stress on my body in that sense.

 

I have maintained the BMI of 14.5-15.5 with the same height for a good couple of years already, eating around 1100-1300 kcal/day, low-carb diet, feeling fine, working out (strength) for visible muscular relief, having optimal bloodworks (implicitly provoking my GP and other docs with that every now and then).

 

I have a BMI of 15.5-16 (it fluctuates) and I usually eat about 1100 on weekdays and 2200 on weekends cause I'm forced by my parents. I'm slowly losing though.

 

My HW was 47kg, so I also have a naturally low BMI, fluctuating in the high 17s to low 18s when I'm eating 'normally' (2000+ cal per day) so I haven't lost too much weight to get to my current BMI. I also have a smallish frame so I don't look particularly unhealthy at an underweight BMI either. So I don't think I'm putting too much stress on my body in that sense.

God yes someone that understands me. When I say my highest weight was 47kg (it was exactly 47 too) they freak out like "but you were already skinnyyyy"

 

I maintained a BMI of 16 for 3 years. The only ill effect I had was anemia (which could be rectified by iron supplements), and I was always cold. Other than that, though, I was fine. Had the energy to go to school full-time, do my homework, and exercise daily without issues. This was ages 21-23.

 

I'm currently losing on 1500cal per day, so Im assuming my maintainence to be around 2000cal which I am going to slowly increase to when I hit 40kg.

I think it is highly improbable that your maintenence is as high as 2000 kcal because of the numbers I ran in the tdee-calc.

It said to maintain 40 kg I need 1557.

To maintain my current weight of 55.5 kg it would be 1745.

And I had to trial and error a bit to figure out the weight that 2000 would maintain and I got 77kg for that.

So the differences in calorie-intakes for maintaining different weights are much smaller than what you think.

 

Stuck with 15, 5 bmi and eating 700-1000 kcal a day AND exercising 5 times a week.. :-( scared as hell to eat more since i am barely losing at a redicolous slow rate now..

 

I think it is highly improbable that your maintenence is as high as 2000 kcal because of the numbers I ran in the tdee-calc.
It said to maintain 40 kg I need 1557.
To maintain my current weight of 55.5 kg it would be 1745.
And I had to trial and error a bit to figure out the weight that 2000 would maintain and I got 77kg for that.

So the differences in calorie-intakes for maintaining different weights are much smaller than what you think.

If they exercise it's possible to maintain at 2000 kcal.

 

Yes, I have maintained this for a few years. It's not that hard. I can eat about 1650 calories, more if I do a significant amount of exercise.

"But I was wondering if anyone has maintained (currently or in the past) a BMI in this range for a significant time period and whether they sufferered any consequences as a result?"

Physical problems that were not as bad as they were early on in my ED:

1) Chronic orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia, which can lead to fainting upon going from sitting to standing. Heat exacerbates this. I have to take showers sitting down.

2) Osteoporosis (as mentioned)

3) Cold that makes your bones shiver. (pretty standard)

4) Ugly, unexplained bruises pretty much all the time that do not go away

5) In a sense, I'm hungry all the time, but my body has somehow learned to "mislabel" hunger so that it just feels like general crappiness (cognitive impairment, backaches, headaches, inability to sleep, etc.). The only reason I know it's "hunger" is that if I eat, I feel better.

6) Hypokalemia (if you are vomiting to control weight)

7) Episodic edema

8) Constipation

9) Feeling tired all the time

Psychological problems that were not as bad as they were early on in my ED:

1) Increased depression and anxiety - studies show that antidepressants (at least SSRIs) do not work in underweight patients. I had to have ECT.

2) I have OCD anyway, but the amount of time I spend calculating how many calories I've eaten over and over and over and over... just in case I missed something or made an adding mistake borders on crazy. It makes concentration on anything else very hard.

3) I used to love to read, and I really can't now. I get to the bottom of the page and recognize I've processed none of it. (Being in school was VERY hard.) I actually score lower on IQ tests than I used to!

4) Wild emotional swings based on small weight shifts.

5) Fear of eating unknown things, which leads to ever-increasing social isolation. I have three friends, and I barely see them.

Edit: I think a lot of this depends on how long you've had an ED (14 years) and how different a BMI of 15/16 is from what your natural BMI is.

 

Yes! I maintained a bmi of 16 for like a few years then 15-whatever for a while. At 16 I was okay but in the 15s I was pretty weak all the time. It was pretty gradual and I actually didn't notice till I gained a bit more weight. I was always sore and cold etc. It wasn't fun.

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I am currently maintaining a BMI of 16.8 with 1000-1200 calories a day for six days a week and fasting at least one day a week. About a year ago I had a BMI of 15.6 which I maintained for 8 months by eating 400-700 calories a day

 

5) In a sense, I'm hungry all the time, but my body has somehow learned to "mislabel" hunger so that it just feels like general crappiness (cognitive impairment, backaches, headaches, inability to sleep, etc.). The only reason I know it's "hunger" is that if I eat, I feel better.

This is the big one for me. I don't have a lot of obvious physical symptoms. I'm not cold all the time. I'm not that orthostatic. My labs are great. But I have no idea when I should eat. When I finally feel like eating something and all the sudden feel much better I'm suprised everytime.

 

I've been loosely maintaining in the 15s and 16s for around 3 years now. I can't be sure of my intake, as I b/p at least once or twice daily and don't count calories when I binge (I eat very little outside b/p, I'd say <200 usually).

My health's not brilliant, tbh, but it could be a lot worse. Cold, tired and dizzy most days, moody and somewhat brain-befogged, bad skin, low immunity, a lot of headaches and appalling acid reflux (I wouldn't know about blood work as I'm a doctor dodger lol). That said, I manage to take care of my disabled mother and the house and walk my lovely dog several times a day. It's not ideal, but I get by.

I have no doubt, though, that I would feel 100% better if I was maintaining this weight through just restricting. I am sure it's the constant b/p (and resulting exhaustion and lack of sleep) which causes most of my issues, not my weight per se.

 

I maintained a BMI of in that range for years on around 2000 calories a day with only light physical activity at the most. I currently weigh a little less than that. I still had plenty of energy and the only major side effect was feeling cold all the time, but I felt that at my highest weight too because I don't put carry much weight on my upper half and everything is air conditioned to death where I live. I'm not sure the overall effect it would have long-term on a female though, as males generally can function better at underweight BMIs because they don't need near as much body fat to be healthy. Females tend to get more adverse health effects when they're underweight.

 

5) In a sense, I'm hungry all the time, but my body has somehow learned to "mislabel" hunger so that it just feels like general crappiness (cognitive impairment, backaches, headaches, inability to sleep, etc.). The only reason I know it's "hunger" is that if I eat, I feel better.

Yes to this! I still have this problem. My bf comments on it all the time.

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My HW was 47kg, so I also have a naturally low BMI, fluctuating in the high 17s to low 18s when I'm eating 'normally' (2000+ cal per day) so I haven't lost too much weight to get to my current BMI. I also have a smallish frame so I don't look particularly unhealthy at an underweight BMI either. So I don't think I'm putting too much stress on my body in that sense.

Then I guess if your bloods are fine you should be alright x

 

Yes. rn my bmi is 15.2, I've maintained around there for like a month so far.

(gw: bmi 14)

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My friend is BMI 16 (not eating disordered, I think she just has a crazy high metabolism honestly) and she's maintained around there ever since I've known her. The only side effects I've ever got from her are things like being cold, especially her feet (though she also has Reynaud's which effects that) and sometimes she'll be tired easily but as far as I know that's pretty much it. I think it just depends a lot on what kind of nutrition you are getting while you are maintaining.