I am confused about caloric needs

[Felxi]

Hello! First, I am new. I am so glad to have found a community like this where I can find information and speak with like-minded people.

My question for you all is this:
I train with a personal trainer 2x a week, and so far the results have been great. I'm just getting back after a long-term sports injury (torn ACL/meniscus) so I hired him to help me out with general conditioning and some weight loss. On the first day, he asked me to write down what I was eating for a week, which I did, and it was about 1600 calories/day, all healthy except for my Powerade weakness, which I've since gotten rid of. He weighed me with a specialized scale, and we came to the conclusion that I have a BMR of 1600, so he told me to cut down a bit to lose weight.
Now, recently I found out that my knee hasn't fully healed, and that I cannot participate in running or my sport until it has recovered...and I lost my apetite and eat around 8-900 calories. I asked my PT if that was okay and he was saying it is great, but I'm not sure.
Is 800/900 too low? Should I just eat the same on days I don't work out, but increase slightly on days I do?

At the moment, I'm losing over 1kg a week.

Thankyou in advance

[KaraPhoto]

Your PT friend is an idiot. Anyone who tells you that 800/900 calories is "great" is a complete freaking moron. And for any kind of decent PT to tell you that ... well, I just really don't have words.

And how did he come up with 1600 calories based on some "specialized scale"?

I am 4" shorter than you are and weigh only a few pounds more and can lose weight on 1500 calories w/out working out. When I work out, I have to boost it up to around 1800 (protein and fats as much as possible) or I wind up fatiguing myself and not being able to function well.

Over 1kg a week when you're 164 lbs is not a healthy rate of loss either. It's too fast and it pretty much guarantees that you're burning off lean muscle and healthy mass.

Use the calculations in the sticky posts. You can use the lowest possible multiplier if you're not able to work out .. but there is no way in heck that you should be eating 900 calories a day. Not if you want to still be healthy.

[andrerox80]

uhhh, yeah, no, that is not okay. first, never trust trainers' nutrition advice unless they have a separate certification or degree. and esp don't trust this trainer who says 800-900 is great. it's ridiculous. check out the sticky on calculating cals and macro's. what is the "specialized scale?" regardless, bmr is not the same as maintenance. you subtract from your maintanence, a number that's higher than your bmr. the sticky will clarify everything for you. the only good thing the trainer told you to do is to keep track of what you're eating and your intake. keep doing that. open an account on thedailyplate or one of those sites.

[vandalgirl59]

Ditto both!!! Trainers (unless they are specifically certified for it) are NOT suppose to give you nutrition help. And this one definitely shouldn't be. Your body CANNOT FUNCTION on that little food. And while your bmr 'may' be 1600, that is only if you lie in bed all day in a complete vegetative state lol. Just being up and about during the day will have you burning more calories. Honestly, 1600 may not even be enough food...

[Felxi]

Okay...it doesn't seem like a huge deficit; but I used the caloric needs formula, just the one that would assume the least, and it is at least a thousand under =x

Thank you three for your input, I'll disregard what he says about this from now on.