under 1200 calories a day, is that really a bad thing???

what happens to the body when we dont consume 1200 or more calories. i consume around 600-900 cals a day, i burn upward 700-1000 cals daily .. im not hungry dizzy or really feel any affects that im aware of.. iv been at this consumption rate for nearly 2 months, actually probably the last few years, i wouldnt know, i didnt start counting calories until recent and discovered i was not eating enough by healthy standards ... but if feels like enough. someone please help.. im confused???

this is bad. do not do this to yourself. it only "seems" like enough because you've deprived yoursel for so long.

yep i keep reading that but i cant seem to find out why??

isnt it possible for some people with extrmely low metabolisms to consume less than the "avg" and still be healthy?

despite whether or not my metabolism is slow, what effects does calorie deprivation have on the body, are there warning signs of declining health that i should be aware of and looking for?

thanx again

I don't want to give the wrong advice, but it seems odd that you are not feeling dizzy, exhausted and almost brain dead.  Are you sure?  When I was eating like that, I was dizzy every time I stood up, completely exhausted, brain dead, didn't want to do anything etc.  Sometimes I would get so hungry during the night that I would dream about eating food and sometimes it would actually keep me up at night.  Its weird you're not experiencing this.  Are you losing weight?  Maybe you should see a doc.

I can't give you exact medical details on what will happen if you continue eating so little. I recommend to go see a doctor or nutritionist and ask him/her what this is doing to your body to get a full scope of things.

At that time you can also find out what you really burn everyday.

700-1000cals burned sounds very low unless these are your exercise cals. I'm quite sure you burn more in a day than 700 - 1000 cals. And if you indeed burn 700-1000 cals from exercising then it's quite clear that your caloric intake is insanely low.

I can see that you're not feeling dizzy if you spread those cals out nicely you can trick yourself into feeling good.

Here's a link to a collection of thesises relating to the subject of negative effects of low cal dieting:

http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowca rb/VLCD-Research.html

That depends on the age, height and weight. You might be underestimating the calories but it's totally fine for a light frame, not very tall, lightly active, young woman to live on 800-1300 cals a day.

This thread actually answered a lot of questions for me personally.

Thank you! :)  I always wondered about the 1200 cal. rule.

 

If you don't eat enough, your body starts to consume other tissues like muscle, bone and vital organs. I'm assuming you like your liver, heart and lungs?

i love em couldnt live without em!

ok i get it .. eat more..

im 5'9, not small framed, 2 kids, work, school.. and buring 700-1000 cals extra through exercise a day. i still feel great other than not insomnia, but after reading everyones responses, i will educate myself further on this .. obviously what im doing isnt right... after all the entire point is to be healthy.

thanx for the suggestions

 if anyone has anything on slow metabolism, im all ears.

 

There's a whole big group of people that believe restricted calories and intentionally slowing one's metabolism will make them live longer.  I'm not one of these people and I don't think you'll find very many of them in the forums on this site.

I think it is a great idea for you to do some research on the issue.  People can tell you all kinds of things on the forum but if you do the research yourself you'll understand better the negative affects of such a low calorie diet.  Try looking on sites for institutions like The Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, or WebMD.  MSN also tends to have some really informative and well documented articles in it's Health section.

I'd also like to mention that the 1200 calorie minimum is very generalized.  For many people, even some women, 1200 calories is still too few.  This is what I would assume for you because you are tall, very active, and don't have a small frame.  Again, do some research to find out what amount of calories your body needs.  This site's tools can help.

Once you start increasing your daily caloric intake, don't do it all at once.  If your body is in starvation mode and you start giving it almost twice as many calories, it is going to freak-out and hold on to everything you give it and you'll see your weight increase quickly.  Start slow.  For example, maybe add 50 calories to each meal the first week, then 50 more to each meal the next week until you get to your goal.

Good Luck.

Here's a good explanation of why you need at least 1200 calories, from the CC+ Library Q&A

"Why must I eat at least 1,200 calories a day when I want to eat less?"

"In order to get the daily food servings you need for a balanced diet, it takes about 1200 calories a day. With careful planning, you could have a balanced diet on 1000 calories, but the restrictiveness of a very low calorie level can lead to binging and weight cycling, which will take you further from your weight loss goal. What's more, very low calorie diets can cause excessive muscle breakdown and metabolic adaptations, which can drive down your calorie requirements. In the end, you'll need fewer calories to maintain a higher weight."

so heres another question.. like i said iv been dieting and losing weight now for two years, iv reached many plateaus. times when the weight wouldnt budge, i think that is one of the reasons that my cal intake has dropped so much, everytime my body becomes stubborn id respond in eating less..exercising harder.. this being said, what is the best way for someone to get off those final 20-30 lb's????

are there specific tactics that i need to follow vs. someone who is just beginning there diet?? 

someone help i feel like iv sabotoged my metabolism!

btw the link above is extremely informative!! check it out.

 

thanks. 

There's a whole big group of people that believe restricted calories and intentionally slowing one's metabolism will make them live longer.  I'm not one of these people and I don't think you'll find very many of them in the forums on this site.

That's the Calorie Restriction Society and almost all of them eat around 1500 calories.

blika babe, it took me 3 months to get out of starvation mode after doing just what you were doing.  My nutritionist put me on a 2000 calorie regimen and I gained back 8 pounds, then leveled off.  Now I'm able to maintain at 1800 to 2000, and lose, very slowly, at 1500.  I'm under doctor's orders to lose only 2 pounds a month, no more. 

We all get sucked in by the mindset of eat less and exercise more to lose weight, then when we hit a plateau, we are made to feel like failures.  I can't tell you how many diet plans I failed at before coming here and learning the truth.

Do some reading.  That's what I did.  I learned a lot about nutrition and portion control.  PM me if you want links to the CC resources and other websites I used.