1800 Calories?

The database suggested that I was to eat 1800 calories to maintain, however I only eat between 1200-1300 on an average day - and already maintain on those. My activity level is light activity, and Im 17 years old.

Is the database wrong?

1300 is really too low, you shouldn't eat less than 1500 even on a diet in the long term, otherwise your body starts eating from your muscles to get the energy it needs, and also starts consuming far less. Consider that a normal diet should be 2000, I'd say if you go up to 1600 would be better, and increase your activity level if you need to rather than cutting too many calories. Also bear in mind that the info they give you here are very rough and generalised, so they wont fit everyone..

The CC calculators are designed for people aged 20+ so, if anything, they are understating what you need.    At 17, the absolute bare minimum daily calories you need to ensure you are in good health is 1800.  If you were a little more active, that number would be 2000+  If you are maintaining your weight on 1200-1300 a day then you're either eating a lot more than you think or you have a very slow metabolism.  And since a slow metabolism is one side-effect of chronic undereating ... and since you're recovering from an ED... that's probably not a bad bet.

When you increase your intake you may see a temporary weight-gain.  But if you stay at 1200-1300 you will gradually keep losing weight and you may start to experience health problems, physically and mentally.   Do talk this through with whoever is supervising your recovery.

hey sweetie, i used to maintain on 1200-1300 cals a day too....i promise if you keep doing this you will ruin your metabolism. I now maintain on about 1800-2000! And acutally ive lost weight since eating more! You are so young and you dont need to diet. Take the opportunities you have with this website to become healthy and strong...eating too little will make you weak, tired and grumpy. trust me ive been there...

I actually felt the same you did at first.  But actually, I am maintaining just fine on 1800 or so.  Although, I just starting working again, so there is a chance that I am burning more calories than I thought, but it is really working for me.  Try it out and see what happens.  There is a chance that the initial upage will temporarily make the scale go up a bit (although it didn't for me) but it should even out pretty quickly.  Good luck!

Its not wrong.  YOu've just either 1) not accurate in your calories (are you weighing everything?  Using measuring cups is not accurate), or 2) your body has just lowered its BMR due to the lowered food intake.

Most people measure their food wrong, so chances are you are eating more than you think you are.

You really should talk to your pediatrician or family doctor about this.  If you don't want to speak to them, ask them to find a nutritionist for you.

You are at an age where many health professionals will see you by yourself if you don't want your parents involved. Or you can ask that the person you see keep everything in confidence and it is THE LAW that they respect your wishes.

But for the sake of your still evolving brain (the physical growth may have stopped but the intellect and advanced skills of reasoning have NOT) follow the advice of this program.  And start taking a Multivitamin, because even if you are "maintaining" on 1200-1300 cals, you are NOT getting all of your daily vitamin requirements.

I can understand on a VERY busy day, forgetting to get your caloric needs in (which has happened to me when I work 12 hour shifts at work) but when those days happened, at least for me, binging occurs after this.

Good luck and don't starve yourself!  Love your body, it can do amazing things!

Thanks for the advice everyone, it makes alot of sence!

I dont think im eating more than I think Iam?
I split my meals into 300 calories each (Bfast, Lunch, Dinner)
and then leave another 300 for snacking.
I gained all of my weight at once when I started to eat again in my recovery,
so im guessing that my motabolism is slow. However, I had lots of blood tests recently, on a numerous amount of things, my metabolic rate being one of them. No results were positive, so who knows whats going on.

I go to school and walk alot. Im in my last year, so there are lots of activites to take part in. After school on a wednesday I work as a home help with my aunt - usually cleaning vigorously. Thursdays I help out at the local primary school until 5pm with the kids teaching study support. At the weekends I go out and dont come back until sunday lol. I used to excercise most days of the week for one and half hours - but as Ive been so busy lately I havnt for a few weeks.
So Iam active. I dont really know whats going on with my motabolism.

I do have a nutritionist, but I hardly see her.
I dont get many apointments with my pshycologist because Im nearer a healthier BMI she obviously has people that need more support than I to talk to. My parents havn't got a clue about anorexia. So Im kind of stuck guessing what to do most of the time. A reason why I joined CC.

I was thinking of starting aerobics twice a week for two hour sessions.
If I upped the calories and did this form of exercise, would I benefit?
because im still too afarid to up them for no reason (ie. being more active etc).

 

 An average young active adult female can maintain their weight on 1900-2100 calories a day, give or take.   If you've been undereating you may be able to maintain on 1200-1300 a day because you've artificially depressed your metabolism.   Eating more and eating regularly  will bring that back up to normal although it could take a few weeks.    There are some excellent and compelling reasons why you should up your calories.   The benefits to you would be that you'll have more energy to live life.  You'll feel happier and more positive.   Your appetite will improve and you'll be less sleepy.  You'll be getting better nutrition so your immune system will be stronger.  You'll be less at risk of deficiency-related problems such as anaemia and long term issues with infertility and skeletal weakness.

The 'weight gain' board has some good suggestions on the types of foods that will help you increase calories easily.... by and large, energy dense but low in bulk.   If you find you start maintaining at 2000 cals then increase further... 2500 wouldn't be untypical.

Try starting with 500 cals each - breakfast lunch and supper - and another 500 cals of snacks.   I wouldn't do aerobics initially because all you'll acheive is to burn off more of the energy you're taking in.... not what you need at this stage.

twiggy...

In 'recovery' I only ate about 1200-1300cal for about a year and gained 20lbs... I thought I had plateaued around 100lbs for a while, but guess what, I kept gaining... when I hit 107lbs, I just broke down. How could the same amount of calories that I was eating when I was 104lbs last year, make me gain?

I upped my calories to 1600-1800 and was 105lbs a few days later... success? Nope, now I'm up to about 112-113lbs and I don't know when this will stop... I feel so hopeless.... I never knew how good I had it a few years ago when I weighed 103-105lbs and could maintain that.... now I struggle everyday to be at peace with myself.

I know in my heart that once my metabolism recovers I will be able to lose weight again, but right now since I've had such a hectic schedual my intake has been all over the place.. 1600, 800, 1500, 1200, 1800... I don't know how many calories I need, or if I am eating enough, or too much? I've heard wonder stories of others who gain on 1600, lose on 1800... or maintain on 2000+... perhaps I need to eat more? but then again when I was at my highest I dont think that I ever ate THAT much... I'm as lost as you are and I need answers.

1900-2100cal to MAINTAIN current wieght? problem is, they dont say what this "current weight" is... sure I could eat 1900-2100cal and maintain weight, BUT that wieght will probably be a lot higher then I would ideally like it to be...

problem is, if you actually are maintaining... do you really want to eat a 'diet' amount of calories for the rest of your life? ultimately your body is only going to burn 1200-1300cal, and then store anything that is over this amount... You'll find that it will get harder and harder to maintain your weight, and I pressume that is what happened to me.

 

 

everyday I wish I never did this to myself :(

Id love to eat 1500 calories and maintain my weight at 105lbs. Sometimes I wonder what i would look like right now (wight, height, looks in general) if I never had an ED. My motabolism used to be so fast. I could eat forever. But that was my problem, I wasnt as big as some of my friends who ate less. They counted calories, so I must just be the big blob who eats what she dares.
And now I wish I go back and love who I was. I have no idea what Im going to do about my intake, especially as my dietitian always says: "If you're eating three times a day, then youre doing well''... I think I was past that stage a long time ago. When I tell her I snack etc.. Iam patronised with a ''GOOOD WELLL DONE!!''. I just want advice and support.

I think you're right.. you should experiment. What works for one may not [and probably won't] work for another.. but I definitely think you should be maintaining on more than 1200 cals! To give you some perspective, I used to maintain 100 pounds on 1600 calories. [Later, during ED recovery, I went from eating 2000 to 1600 and GAINED thirty pounds in less than 3 months!] Our bodies work in mysterious--and different--ways. Soo eat more! And see what happens (: And remember that an initial gain is not a permanent one.

Original Post by carmenxox:

problem is, if you actually are maintaining... do you really want to eat a 'diet' amount of calories for the rest of your life? ultimately your body is only going to burn 1200-1300cal, and then store anything that is over this amount... You'll find that it will get harder and harder to maintain your weight, and I pressume that is what happened to me.

 

This makes a lot of sense.

Thanks carmenxox :)

According to Ultra-Metabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman, an Adult Man/Woman need 2000/1500 calories a day or more.
Growing teen boys/girls need 2500/2000 as their body is growing and needs more energy.

So if you are averaging 1800 your coming close. Have an extra apple.

 

argh i have a similar problem. over the summer i started counting calories. first i ate 1800 calories...no weight loss. then 1500 calories...still no weight loss. finally 1200 calories...i lost some weight, but the weight loss soon stopped because 1200 is such a low number of calories to live on. now i am stuck here, maintaining on 1200. my body sucks. i can't lose weight.