I can't seem to let myself eat 1200 calories, how bad is being under?

I have always been overweight my whole life.  I am 192 lbs right now and have lost 8 lbs in 1 1/2 weeks watching my calories.  Since I have seen progress at such a small amount of calories and am eating anywhere from 600 to 1,000 calories a day just to make sure that the scale keeps going down because I just want to get the weight off.  People keep saying to make sure to get at least 1200 calories on here but i'm really not aware of the reason why it's so important when my body has more than enough fat to burn to keep it fueled.  So my question is, what's the big deal about consuming the 1200 and what's wrong with going under it?

Eating too low a calorie intake results in something called "starvation mode", where your body holds every last thing it can get in expectance of a famine. Water, food, calories. Explained:

Dieting & Metabolism - This article explains starvation mode and why undereating is counter productive.

The Body Neglected - This is what happens when you undereat for an extended period of time.

An adult woman needs 1200 calories per day to survive, a teenage girl or an adult man 1500 per day bare minimum, and a teenage boy 1800 per day minimum when SEDENTARY. Here is a very rough scientific break down provided by a dietician for a  5' 2", 19 year old female weighing approximately 100 pounds, sitting around all day and doing nothing:

-The heart needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The kidney needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The Liver needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The brain needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The skeletal muscle needs 30% of the calories (360 cals)

Reference: http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/3178 .html#6

As you weigh and stand at more than this you need a lot more! You really ought to increase your calories for sake of your health and your weight loss. Eating too little often also results in malnutrition and many other potential damages associated with that: osteoporosis, nutrient deficiency, blood disorders such as anemia, just to name a few. The mental woes that come alongside can be just as devestating.

Sure, your body will burn a little fat but the majority of your loss would come from healthy muscle and from losing water. To safely lose you would want to eat much, much more. Can I ask your gender? Your age? Your activity level? I would be able to give you a much better breakdown of the sort of calories you'd want to aim for with that information.

Still, you need to eat more than 600 to 1000 calories a day, even more than 1200. At your weight I'd guess you could likely lose on 1800-2000 calories a day at a decent pace.

throw your scale away!  they'Re evil!  that's what i think anyway.  go up to 1400 cals a day and get a measuring tape.  and fund an activity you like and will do 3-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes.  be focused on how you look and feel (stronger, healthier) instead of the scale.  there are SO many skinny people who donT' exercise/under-eat.  they might «look» better according to the standards society has set out, but they're damaging their bodies and going against nature.  muscle weighs more than fat anyway, so you might weigh a lot more than you look if you're slim.  scales=evil...

It doesn't matter how overweight you are - starving yourself will not help in the long run. Your body can only use a certain amount of bodyfat for fuel each day, and if it comes up short, it will go into conservation mode and slow your metabolism down to try and make up the difference. Imagine that your metabolism was a fire in the fireplace. Each time you eat you put fresh wood onto the fire and it gradually burns it up and turns it into energy. When the wood is gone, the fire dies down until it gets some more fuel, and if you DON'T put another log on, eventually it's going to die right away to coals that are barely glowing at all, and it might even go out... your body is that fire, but unlike the fireplace, it's smart enough to know that the fuel is missing and it will slow itself down to try and make it last longer, because if it ever goes out entirely you're dead! The secret to successful long-term weightloss is to give your body just the right amount of fuel to keep the fire burning nicely, and to exercise to stoke it up on a regular basis.

Thanks for the reply's.

I am 24 years old, I am a stay at home mom so my activity is fairly low though I try to exercise at least 30 minutes a couple days  a week and that doesn't always happen. I can't help but want to get it off fast because I'm tired of carrying all the weight around.

I still can't work out your BMR without your height. :s But "wanting to get it off fast" is often the major setback of many a dieter as it can result in plateau, starvation mode and eventual regain of weight. You need to employ patience else it'll be your downfall.

Have you used CC's Burn Meter yourself yet? You input your height, weight, gender, age and activity level and see what you get. To lose a lb a week you would take 500 calories from the number that comes out. Never have a deficit off of your BMR - basal metabolic rate, or burn - greater than 1000, and never below 1200.

I can understand that you want to lose the extra weight fast but crash-dieting tends to be counterproductive for the reasons outlined above.  And, even worse, when you get fed up with trying to survive on very little and inevitably revert to a more normal intake you risk regaining everything you lost in half the time it took you to lose it.  And that's very depressing.

Do listen to everyone.  It's not about eating as little as you can get away with but setting up some good healthy lifestyle habits to take forward for life and also pass on to your children in turn.

Getting it off fast is a great way to gain it back fast. 8 pounds in 2 weeks is just TOO MUCH. I've been losing a 1 to 2 pounds every week that I've actively counted and that's still a lot when you consider in about a month I couldn't fit into my pants any more!

You need to consider what the other posters above have said or doom yourself to repeat this cycle all over again - or worse, end up with an eating disorder. =(

Eating that little will ultimately CRASH your metabolism.  You'll lose your hair and menstral cycle, suffer severe health problems and ruin your body.


People NEED food to live.  If we eat the right amount and participate in the right amount of physical activity, we'll naturally be the right size.


That caloric amount is NOT the right amount; trust me.  Depriving yourself messes things up.

Here's a tip:

The longer it takes to lose weight, the longer it will take to gain it back.

I too am running at about 1,000 calories a day, but I am rarely hungry, as the majority of my caloric intake is from fats and proteins. I am still getting my veggies, and also take vitamin supplements daily. I am not a real fruit fan, but do occasionally enjoy some berries or oranges. Am I still in danger of hitting the "starvation mode"?

Like everyone else has said, if you consume less than 1200 calories a day, your metabolism is going to adjust to having that little amount of food and burn fewer calories. As soon as you start eating more than that, all of the weight will come back on.

You're also probably not getting all the necessary nutrients at that calorie amount, and if consuming too little is used as a weight loss method for too long, it can easily lead to an eating disorder... speaking from personal experience.

Another danger in dropping below that number of calories is not a sluggish metabolism, though. Since muscles use more energy than fat, your body will break them down first when it's starved of nutrition. It truly is better to burn fat than to starve it, because only then will you end up with a toned physique.

You mentioned your lifestyle is mostly sedentary, but you should AT LEAST be consuming 1000-1200kcal a day. Don't worry--you'll still see progress on the scales. Good luck!

 

I have a problem much similar to this. Except I find it almost IMPOSIBLE to eat more than 1000 calories a day. my average per day is about 800. To get anywhere near 1000 calories I have to stuff my face and get over full at like every meal. However, with  such a low calorie count per day, I'm never hungry and I've only ever binged once, the day when we had no food in our house, and then went grocery shopping. I eat every 2-4 hours and I meet all of the Canadian Health Guide recomendations for servings of food per day.

So I was just wondering, basically the same question rossjamie, what's wrong with going under if I'm meeting all of the other intake recomendations set out by Health Canada?

Beautifulxcurse: Please see the first post/my reply to this thread. http://caloriecount.about.com/cant-seem-mysel f-eat-calories-bad-ft116825#1

... You really ought to increase your calories for sake of your health and your weight loss. Eating too little often also results in malnutrition and many other potential damages associated with that: osteoporosis, nutrient deficiency, blood disorders such as anemia, just to name a few. The mental woes that come alongside can be just as devestating.

You also put yourself at risk of starvation mode, also detailed in the first reply. If you are struggling to get your calories in try eating low density, high calorie foods. These're small quantities of food that kick up the calories. Nuts, nut butters, dried fruits, dense fruit like bananas and avocado, healthy cooking oils like olive oil, wholewheat or wholegrain pasta and noodles, full fat dairy products (and cheese in general, really), honey...

A PB and banana sandwich can rack you up 550 calories pronto. One large banana is about 110 calories. Four teaspoons of PB are about 60 calories each. Two slices of wholemeal bread will rack you about 90-100 calories per slice. Banana, plus bread? 310. Plus the four teaspoons of PB? 550. Very nice grilled or with a drizzle of honey added in if you're up for it.

You could try making a smoothie with some milk and/or yoghurt, honey, nuts and a banana, and other fruits of your choosing. Or an ice cream sundae in the same sort of manner. Oatmeal is also a good base for denser foods - you can easily stir in nut butters, nuts, and dried fruit into oatmeal and make it with milk and it's still easy on the stomach.

Stir fry is easily done. Just do it up in oil and throw in some cashews or peanuts or similar to help bring up calorie content. Peanut sauce works in the same manner, but there are all sorts of nut butters, not just peanuts! Macadamia and cashew are delicious. Pasta bakes can be made calorific. You could also make a grilled cheese sandwich or two!

Aim for wholegrains/complex carbohydrate, protein, healthy fats, some dairy or a dairy alternative and a serving of fruit or veg at every main meal as well as snacks between that also contain these essential things.

ok. thanks very much for the advice :)