Is This Unhealthy? (Please help)

 OK, about a year ago, I decided to drop a little weight by laying off all of the HungryMan dinners and Little Debbie cakes, which I ate every single day....
 I got an exersize bike (which I use for 15 min a day); I started walking about 2 miles per day; and I dropped my daily calorie intake to about...well...that's where it gets complicated.

 Here's the deal:

 I USED to drink anywhere from 6 to 9 beers a night, and I'd eat maybe 2400-2800 calories worth of food per day. When I started dieting, I dropped my FOOD intake to about 1200, but continued drinking (I figured if I were sacrifice something, I'd rather it be food and not booze). You're all going to be shocked by what I ate to lose weight, as well: A granola bar and glass of milk for breakfast; a 5 piece chicken nugget and Caeser's side salad from Wendy's for lunch; and a small Chilli (from Wendy's) every day for dinner. Plus, handfuls of various breakfast cereals when I wanted a snack.

 I lost about 40 pounds in 6 months that way, and was satisfied. I stopped weighing myself for a while at that point, and stopped walking.

 THEN, about 2 months ago, I stopped drinking, as well (not for weight loss, but just because I was tired of buying three 30-packs of Bud Light each week). However, I did not adjust my food intake. Therefore, I've been taking in about 1200 (or maybe as little as 1000 on some days) since I stopped drinking.

 When friends told me recently that I was looking much too skinny, I weighed in, and was somewhat frightened to see that my weight has dropped another 15 pounds or so. My BMI is now as low as 17.

 Again, I am somewhat scared. I had heard that it's dangerous to be going on as few calories a day as I had been, and I want to know how to best go about putting some weight back on, without going overboard. I have read that once you get to a certain low weight, your metabolism slows down. Does this mean that if I try to eat an extra cheeseburger each day, I'm going to experience runaway weight gain? Should I eat fruit?

 What do you think I should do?

 Thank you.

 Oh, and by the way, I'm a 27 year-old male....

Ok, you are eating way too little. You lost so much and look to skinny cos you lost muscle. Been there done that :)
Just slowly increase your cals but this is very important - with teh extra cals make it HEALTHY food. If you dont, then you could gain too much weight (IMHO) cos your body lacks nutrition and therfore cannot fucntion properly. So tomorrow have 1300 cals but make sure that the EXTRA 100 cals comes from fruit and wholegrains. In two days up it to 1400 cals, maybe add a serve of low-fat dairy. Go to whfoods.com to get new food ideas.
Your meals choices arent that healthy. You coudl have much better stuff for hte same cals and EAT MORE anyway if you made it  yourself or something.
Good luck. if the problem continues see a nutritionist
Oh and get into the nuts :) raw and unsalted.

are you still eating the same thing all the time? What about adding a piece of fruit to breakfast (like an apple or banana)? Changing lunch from nuggets and a side ceasar to one of wendy's "meal" salads - the BLT, oriental, taco... they all have lean chicken in them, but also have more vegetables and are a bit more substantial as a meal, and maybe get a V8 or a milk with it? And for dinner, go to subway, swiss chalet if you have one (chicken with a salad and baked potato, just as fast to pick up as wendy's chili), or even add a baked potato and a side salad to your chili at wendy's...

Good job on kicking the 6 - 9 beers a day habit!!

Try making a better, more balanced food plan.  Use the Tools to determine your expediture and that will indicate your maintainence level calories.  You'll be surprised at how much you can eat and not gain.

You want to have 3 servings of lean protein, whole grain products, and dairy products.  Add 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and 3 small servings of good fats.  Log your food in advance.  Keep on with your exercise. If you do extra exercise, then log it and eat that many more calories (this could be a beer for a treat or something else)  You will begin feeling really great!

The only snag will be if you have been undereating for too long and your body decides it has to grab onto every last calorie while it has the chance.  If this happens, your weight will rise.  Don't panic! It will level off after a while.  Besides, it sounds like you might want to gain a few pounds.

yeah....so not a good diet there. You need more fruits, vegetables, whole-grains. Also, go for the Omega fats (nuts, oils, eggs). Get your protein to be around 30-40% of your diet. Start weight training about 3 times a week, and do some walking/jogging around 3 times a week too. Its a very good thing that you cut your drinking habit short. Good job!.....trust me, if you can work up a plan including better food and exercise.....you will feel much better =) Give it a go.

 Thanks, everyone....
 Upping my calorie intake is what concerns me -- I haven't really been counting the whole time, but I estimate that, without the alcohol, my intake has been maybe 1,000 calories a day for maybe 2 months or so. I've read about "starvation mode", and am concerned that if I DO eat more, I will balloon out too much.

 Does it make any difference  that the 500-800 extra calories a day that I was taking in before were in the form of beer, and not food?

 In any event, I had an extra glass of milk and piece of toast with peanut butter for breakfast today. That's healthy, right?

 I have to see my doctor in a few days on an unrelated matter. I'm concerned that he's going to see how much less I weight, and think I've become nuts with manorexia.

Hi Zoidberg ~ Good questions. 

No.  for weight loss purposes, it does not matter if you drink or eat your calories.  It matters for a whole lot more reasons ~ nutrition and exercise and sleep are the 3 best tools you have for improving your health!

Now that you have quit drinking, you really need to replace those calories with food.

Also, a healthy normal bmi bare minimum is 18.5, so you are underweight and should work on regaining some weight, and if you do strength and resistance exercise, you can help yourself to regain the weight as muscle structure instead of just body flab ~ what they call a spare tire or beer belly ;)

Work on higher calorie food choices...  BBQ lean meats, fresh veggies & fruits, but also add in more things like nuts, avocados, whole grain breads, pasta and cereals, brown rice, even sweet treats....

Hope this helps :)

For the first few months of the year I (25/m/190) was eating about 1200 calories a day plus working out a ridiculous amount.  I lost about 30 lbs of fat and gained muscle.  It's been a week since I got back from a 2 week vacation on which I ate whatever I wanted and drank a lot.  Since then my eating habits are still pretty bad but am working out again.  I've only gained about 4 or 5 lbs over these 3 weeks so I wouldn't worry about ballooning.  Your metabolism is never broken and doesn't really change that much unless you drop a ton of weight.

"In any event, I had an extra glass of milk and piece of toast with peanut butter for breakfast today. That's healthy, right?"

Depends on what you compare it to. Also, on the particular ingredients...what kind of milk? whole, skim, 2%? Was it whole wheat (real whole wheat) bread? Was the peanut butter just plain peanuts, or the junk with added oil and sugars?

If you are worried about adding too many calories too fast, work on adding healthy calories: plain fruits and vegetables, whole grains, etc.

eat and extra wholemeal sandwich loaded with like turkey or chicken. or eat lots of yoghurt :)

hey...

well i am underweight too... not as much as you though... sorry

nevertheless i guess you are a functional eater...

and well just keep your foodlog on bout 2300calories a day

stick to the good food, wholeweat and that stuff, yoghurt, fruit, veggies

if you were drinking... i do that sometimes too but more vodka :)

then you should take more fruit and stuff in any case...

well hope that helped... but if you want to gain weight or loose it... it's just a matter if you really want it... keep it up lass ;) ps. i am a guy... still share the same problems don't we