Is this normal?

Hello, this is my first day dieting. According to this site, I should be eatting a  minimum of 1200 calories. However, today I only consumed 956 calories; but I don't feel hungry at all! Actually, I only felt hungry twice today. Once before I ate dinner, which is why I ate dinner then. Also, once between my breakfast and lunch, but I think that was more of a craving since I was around candies and chips at the time. Anyway, I want to know if it's safe to eat under 1200 calories, as long as you don't feel hungry. Thank you!

No. It's not. Eating under the minimum will soon send your body into starvation mode and stall you weightloss for god knows how long, not to mention the gain you'll go through trrying to get it back on track. Also, eating 1200 calories a day is not safe. Unless you lay in in bed, not moving at all, you'll need more than that. That could also mess up your metabolisim.

Oh, well I guess I should definitely try to up my calories. Are there any ways to raise how many calories I take in without feeling like I'm eatting a lot? I do feel full with how much I'm eatting now, and I don't want to feel painfully stuffed to add in a few hundred more calories.

Yes, it's great to hear you want to up your cals. You can easily up your cals without feeling full. There are tons of threads on this but here are some ideas - maybe you should start your own thread in the Foods forum for some inspiration!!

• Avocado slices in your sandwiches or just plain with salt and pepper
• A nice frosty glass of milk or symilk
• Eat a handful of almonds or sprinkle them in your oatmeal or cereal
• PB sandwich

Occasionally, and I mean occasionally, eating less than 1200 won't harm you, but making a habit of it is a very bad idea.

Besides the slowing of the metabolism and other bad effects on your health in the long-term, in the short-term undereating can lead to diet frustration and binge eating as it's hard to maintain what amounts to a starvation diet - this is especially the case if you are working out and burning loads of cals! You need to provide your body with the energy it needs.

How old are you incidentally?

Why eating only 1200 calories or undereating doesn't work

http://caloriecount.about.com/wont-lose-faste r-eat-calories-q3127

In the long run, you won’t lose weight faster by eating 1200 calories a day. Under-eating deprives your body of essential nutrients and leads to muscle breakdown to provide energy. With less muscle, you require fewer calories and you reach a weight low plateau more quickly. Restrictive dieting also places you at risk for binge-eating which can lead to weigh gain and a life of yo-yo dieting.

Will I go into starvation mode if I eat 1000 – 1200 calories a day?

http://caloriecount.about.com/starvation-mode -eat-calories-q2046

Your body will not selectively burn stored fat because your central nervous system needs glucose and you can’t make glucose from fat. But protein can be converted to glucose, and so the body breaks down your muscles to provide it. Ultimately, you lose lots of muscle along with fat, and that drives down your calorie requirements because muscle burns calories but fat does not. You then maintain a higher weight on less food making weight gain inevitable. For best results, eat the number of calories prescribed by the Calorie Target calculator in the Tools section.

Thank you for the ideas! I'll try a glass of milk with my breakfast and lunch instead of just water, and I've always loved peanut butter.

I am currently 14 years old, I know many people will say "you don't have to diet, you're still growing!" However, I haven't grown an inch the past two years I've been measured. Even my doctor has said I'm finished growing. If it matters, I'm 5'1, many of the women in my family are short.

I was going to let you know that eating under 1200 occasionally isn't that bad, but 14? You should be eating AT THE LEAST 1500 calories. I know you've stopped growing IN HEIGHT; it happened to me, too. I've been 5'2'' since the 6th grade, but, your body, itself, has not stopped developing. You really should not adopt such a strict (and low, in this case) caloric intake at this age if you don't want to cause any damage to your growing body.

I think it's great that you will up your cals. But like the poster above has said, as a 14 year old you need to have a target of at least 1500 calories. Do you think you can reach this goal? Trust me, as a 5'1" woman myself (although much older than you), you can still lose significant weight at this number - I sure did!!

Also, you should know that this site is not really appropriate, at this stage, for teenagers. The site tools are meant for adults, and not children. For children, sites like http://www.kidsnutrition.org/ are much more appropriate. They can tell you how many calories you should be eating, along with how much you should be weighing.

1500? Wow, that's definitely much more than I ate! I guess I can try for that much, don't know how well it'll work out. Will there be much damage if my daily calorie intake ends in the 1400s? That's what my guess is it'll be, unless I make my stomach mad at me for "over filling" it.

Also, if you've just started you must make sure you are measuring correctly!

Original Post by 0snickers:

1500? Wow, that's definitely much more than I ate! I guess I can try for that much, don't know how well it'll work out. Will there be much damage if my daily calorie intake ends in the 1400s? That's what my guess is it'll be, unless I make my stomach mad at me for "over filling" it.

Well ultimately I guess it's up to you. Continue undereating and your hair and teeth may be affected, you may end up with osteoporosis as a young woman, your period may stop and you may become infertile. In addition, you may strain your heart and have a heart attack. This is just the beginning. As I said, very very occasional undereeating won't be the end of you, but make it a habit and your health will be affected, long-term and potentially irrevocably. It's harsh but it's the truth.

Read these threads to see what happens when you undereat for a long-time:

• The Body Neglected - This is what happens when you undereat for an extended period of time.
• From Ask Mary, the segment provided by our CC nutritionist Mary Hartley: On the dangers of undereating and what it does to your body.

You won't burn any more calories if you eat under 1200, instead you will train your body to establish your "set point" at under 1200.  You need at least the 1200 to manage and balance good nutrition.  I used to teach diet classes, and yes, I am back to losing this again.  However, I am using this site because I think it is a good one to help me manage and monitor my nutrition. I am also one that can easily eat less than the 1200 if I am not careful.  Up your exercise to lose more and tone up.  But eat the calories stated.  Best to you!!!  You are a rock star!!!

Hi! First off, let me congratulate you for becoming informed and seeking advice on proper nutrition. If only more teens would learn to develop good eating habits, there would be a lot less overweight adults struggling to lose both the extra pounds and the unhealthy mindset.

Secondly, please take all this wonderful advice given to you. If people sound overly concerned or like they are trying to scare you, it`s because around here we see many teens who stubbornly refuse to eat as much as their bodies need and spiral into eating disorders of all kinds.

The healthiest way to lose weight and keep it off is to incorporate good food in your diet. Some very nutritious and tasty calorie dense foods are nuts and nut butters, olive, olive oil, avocadoes, cheeses and fatty fish (such as salmon). Also, whole grain breads are denser and more nutritious than refined ones.

Try to get a good balance of low cal and high cal foods - a good example of this would be a little peanut butter on a banana or an apple, carrot sticks dipped in hummus, or a big leafy green salad with a nice olive oil vinaigrette. The common pattern is that you eat a lot of low cal fruit or veggies "seasoned" with just enough high cal sauces. By the way, did you know that if you eat a lot of vitamins (found in fruit and veggies) but no fat along with them, the vitamins are not absorbed and just pass through your body?

And one last thing: as a young teen, you shouldn`t focus so much on counting calories, it takes so much time and fun out of everyday life. Instead, eat frequent, small meals, with a good balance of low and high cal foods, as I said, and try to stay active as much as possible. Take up some team sports or sports classes and you`ll see how nicely your body shapes up. Now`s the best time to educate yourself on proper nutrition as well as proper activity level.

Best of luck to you!

Occasionally (read not-at-all-often) accidentally eating under 1200 can be ok.  What you should be looking at is a balanced approach to dieting that includes enough calories to fulfill your daily requirements while maintaining a healthy deficit.  Simply counting the amount you take in is pretty useless... 

By way of examply; if you use a wheelchair, and have severe motoristic limitations, that number of calories per day might be enough - but if you are a healthy bi-ped with no limitations then it's probably really low and should be rethought.

When it comes to the actual diet advice though - listen to everyone BUT me.

Good luck!