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One meal a day!! a fad diet or a true life style change?

Hello Well I'm

im 15 i worked hard at school and i ate nothing til like 4:oopm or 6:oopm when my mom got home and ate alot of fruit or very lil then it was time for bed but i was pretty healthy and felt normal

and on summer break i have been alone alot and found myself debating if i'm hungry or not cause for me my hunger signs are very confusing and often deceiving so there i go eating alot or binging after trying so hard to stick to eating healthy diet meals throughout the day like recommended and feeling bad or sick.

soo i then decided that for me being home alone and constantly having food on the brain what i should and shouldn't eat and how much i could eat til the next meal drove me crazy. So to gain control i now am trying a new no eating alone or one meal a day eating thing though it isnt about weight for me i mean i don't think Ive lost any im staying away from the scale cause im not a number on a scale im my own lil person lol =]

anywho here is a link of the food journal of what so far 4 days have looked like for me food wise http://caloriecount.about.com/users/scarlala/ 327929.html

I feel really good lately

• food and calories are not constantly on my mind at all
• more peaceful
• i have a stronger sense of self control and avoiding temptation
• in my eating along with my faith i have really its odd but been able to spend more devoted time with God and

• im more in the moment when it does come time to eat.

I began researching the whole meal a day thing just to see what i would get and and alot of people and there whole "starvation mode" and it "soo bad for you" or some that were like" i live by only one meal" yada yada i ran across the "warrior diet" though im not fan of that it kinda has the same principle

So I was just wondering your input

It's really not a smart idea..anyone here will tell you that.  At your age you should be eating 1500 calories a day MINIMUM. You need to also have a more balanced diet instead of just fruits all of the time.  You could start by also having a real breakfast instead of just coffee.  Like i said, anyone here will tell you the same thing.

I forgot to add...at 5'6" and 106 pounds you are underweight..with a BMI of about 17.  I don't think you need to be worrying about calories at all.

i have actually barley started drinking coffee

this beginning summer i started eating breakfast in the morning like of course everyone recommends and i especially loved kashi cereal but food in the morning just made me feel lazy or super full till later in the day i would get the munchies and eat alot haha as far as fruit goes i really love fruit its kinda my poison and my grandma always has tons of fruit from her garden.  thanks for sharing your concern imma add you as a friend =]

On meal a day is an unhealthy eating pattern for an active teenager who has a body that is trying to grow and develop strongly.  For that you need the very best nutrition and a steady stream of energy from good quality sources.... not starvation for most of the day and the real risk of malnutrition.  It's an even poorer idea for someone who is underweight and has a history of eating disorders.

Your emphasis on deriving pleasure and calmness from 'self-control' is a concern since that is a pattern seen at the root of many disordered eating problems.  Do talk to the people close to you about any concerns you have about food and your body....  It sounds like you need more help than the almighty to recover from this situation.

I'm pretty sure Jesus ate three squares a day.   Seriously, search your new faith for direction - not the whole "your body is a temple" stuff - really search it and you'll see that God's plan includes you weighing at least 115 pounds - I am not joking.

my eating disorder was binge eating i went from 175 to  the normal healthy weight i am now for my age.

i really do not feel deprived during the day considering i honestly do nothing  all day to really loose any weight at all pretty much certified couch potato food isnt really even on my mind at all which is kinda relieving and really shocking considering well me and compared to before haha

You still need regular meals even if you 'honestly do nothing all day'.  Doesn't have to be heavy meals, of course.  Currently, the way you describe it, you're in a kind of semi-trance-like state that you're mistaking for a religious experience.....  This type of mental disconnection or euphoria is a commonly reported feature of fasting/starving, it is connected to low blood-sugars/malnutrition and it's really not a good place to be.  

If you had always been extremely thin then your current weight would be healthy for your age.  Because you have lost a lot of weight to get to this stage 106lbs is really not healthy at all.  Rather than ignoring the problem and getting hooked back into the 'self-control'... talk to someone to help you deal with it and to gain weight to a healthy level. 

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okiee dokiee =]

sorry

Argh!  Stoopid mods always getting in the way... rules and all that... who needs em?

Hope that was an attempt at sarcasm....?

Ignoring the fact that you aren't eating enough (which I don't think you are), this sounds more like a fad diet then a lifestyle change to me.  You're going to have to eat A LOT in that one meal to maintain your weight, which is what you would have to do for this to truly be a "lifestyle change".  I understand you snack on fruits too, but I doubt that in one meal you are getting a day's worth of protein, let alone calories, fat, etc.

This might work for you as a while but it actually could potentially cause you to gain a lot of weight because if you are eating all of yours days calories in one sitting chances are that is a lot. Your body is going to get less efficient at burning/digesting that large amount of food at one time and it will just be stored as fat. I read that somewhere.

I do pretty much the same thing though, I eat maybe 200 calories throughout the day and eat what I want for dinner, usually like 500 calories.

Yeah..I am pretty sure Jesus wants you to be healthy. You know, so you can serve him your whole life and not just from a hospital. I really don't know what to tell you right now, it just makes me sad. You and the lady above me. Just...why? Please pray about it. I am. Like right now.

scarla,

The one big problem with eating only one meal a day, is that you tend to get so hungry that you end up eating too much at one time, or you make bad food choices.   Also, when you don't eat regular meals, your body goes into this starvation mode thing, where it stores fat because it thinks you are starving to death.

Everyone has to find what works for them, but I have found that if I eat sometimes, 6 or 7 times a day ( little mini-snacks, like a cucumber or tomatoe--healthy foods, veggies, mostly), I lose weight really quickly. 

BUT,  once when I was young, like you, (about 100 years ago, now,ha)  I once lost so much weight so quickly that my hair began to fall out because I was not eating enough protein, vitamins, and stuff that my body needed........so, just be careful to make sure you get all the nourishment your body needs, however you decide to plan your meals.

You are a beautiful young lady, I think maybe you should just concentrate on being healthy and not so much on numbers on a scale, you know?  I am very old, so my goal to lose weight is not about how I look, it is about how I feel and wanting to be more active, so, the advice I would give you, at your young age, is to live a healthy life, no matter what you weigh. 

Part of being at peace with yourself is loving yourself as you are, while trying to become a better you every day, and appreciating all the things your body does for you each day.  I guess that may sound kind of strange to you now, but, as we get older, we  appreciate the ability to walk, see, hear, think clearly, and function on a daily basis.  When you are young, you kind of take those things for granted.  So, just enjoy your life, sweetheart, and be happy, healthy, and love yourself and your life.

Good luck,

forevermejb,

Jan

You may have been on the opposite end of the spectrum before by being a binge eater, but now you're becoming anorexic. Your history with eating disorders already shows that it might be easy for you to become obessive with your weight. And that sounds like what's happening from your statement and your profile.

Drinking coffee, not being very active--these things only disguise the fact that you are slowly losing the energy you would normally have if you were eating correctly.

Please read up on it: http://www.something-fishy.org/dangers/danger s.php I started listing symptoms, then I realized how long the list was. You can really hurt yourself this way.

I know you might think that you're not doing anything wrong (in fact, you seem to think that it's a really good thing) and that anorexics just don't eat at all, but that's not true. 500 calories, especially at your age, is like not eating. It's like putting 1 gallon in a gas tank and then taking a 400 mile trip...eventually, you'll notice when the car starts sputtering on empty.

Please, talk to someone.

Original Post by jnicole90:

This might work for you as a while but it actually could potentially cause you to gain a lot of weight because if you are eating all of yours days calories in one sitting chances are that is a lot. Your body is going to get less efficient at burning/digesting that large amount of food at one time and it will just be stored as fat. I read that somewhere.

I do pretty much the same thing though, I eat maybe 200 calories throughout the day and eat what I want for dinner, usually like 500 calories.

 If you know this information, why do you continue to starve yourself on 700 cals a day? Please, up your calorie intake.

Eating one meal per day is perfectly healthy....for a ROBOT.  Since I assume you are not one of those, you should know that your behavior is potentially very dangerous. 

I agree with others who have recommended that you get some help.  Some people who abuse drugs feel like they get closer to God too, but you wouldn't do that, would you? 

Start by seeing your doctor and he or she can make recommendations for you. Eating disorders can be life-threatening. Nothing to mess around with. I'm sure God has many plans for you right here on Earth... Perhaps you need to take care of yourself in order to best serve Him?

Original Post by baylily:

Eating one meal per day is perfectly healthy....for a ROBOT.  Since I assume you are not one of those, you should know that your behavior is potentially very dangerous. 

I didn't know that robots eat, but I'm quite glad that I know now.  I guess that's why the robotic dog my dad got me for Christmas one year died. 

Do you understand how much damage you are doing to your growing body by starving yourself?  Here's a clue, and I hope you take it seriously:

The Body Neglected
Quote from this article "

"There's a narrow window of time to accrue bone mass to last a lifetime," says Diane Mickley, MD, co-president of the National Eating Disorders Association and the founder and director of the Wilkins Center for Eating Disorders in Greenwich, Conn. "You're supposed to be pouring in bone, and you're losing it instead." Such bone loss can set in as soon as six months after anorexic behavior begins, and is one of the most irreversible complications of the disease."

"But the most life-threatening damage is usually the havoc wreaked on the heart. As the body loses muscle mass, it loses heart muscle at a preferential rate -- so the heart gets smaller and weaker. "It gets worse at increasing your circulation in response to exercise, and your pulse and your blood pressure get lower," says Mickley. "The cardiac tolls are acute and significant, and set in quickly." Heart damage, which ultimately killed singer Karen Carpenter, is the most common reason for hospitalization in most people with anorexia."

i'm going to tell you something from experience. i started eating less and less as i was growing up b/c i liked being slim. i first started skipping breakfast, then ate less and less at lunch, but always had a full dinner and usually a bowl of cereal at night. i was working out for 3+ hours a day, very vigorous training, so a soft pretzel for lunch, normal dinner and bowl of cereal at night wasn't enough. i convinced myself for years that i needed to do this to stay thin, even once i slowed down with the exercise, i got rid of the nightly bowl of cereal and stayed slim for awhile that way.

then i completely messed up my body. i turned into a binger b/c one day i got sick of being hungry all the time. i got sick of starving all day and just eating fruit or something. i realized my relationship with food was unhealthy and then ended up building new unhealthy habits...binging. i am still working on fixing the binging and honestly wish every day that i never messed up my body/mind the way i did. if i could go back, i would eat my breakfast, lunch and dinners in the past and make myself normal. still to this day, i am working hard to have a normal, healthy relationship with both food and exercise. i work hard everyday to try to free my mind of all of the worried, preoccupied thoughts i have with food b/c i screwed myself up so many years ago. no i was never anorexic or overweight, but yes i still do have issues. dont get like that it is no way to live your life. trust me. i did it. i'm finally turning the corner but it is taking so long. i am so lucky that i didn't destroy my metabolism completely probably just b/c i am young and was able to recover more easily. if you keep heading down this road you are going to either ruin your body or mind or even both. take care of yourself. God wants you to be good to your body-"your body is your temple". so feed it.