Very Low Cal Diet

Robbycu

Hello,

I started up FMP a few (maybe 3) weeks ago, and I have lost about 15 pounds. By and large I stay under goal and eat about 1,400 cals a day. But this week I noticed I staying around 1200 or below. Today I'll likely add fake food to get MFP to save. I feel compelled to under eat to not exceed the number. I am 5'10" and now 262 lbs. My actiity level hasn't changed, and I want to try to get the diet in check before exercising. I am walking more etc, but I trying to focus on eating and diet. I am using the Dash Diet as inspirtion because I have hypertension. I've secusfully not yo-yoed but I do allow a day, typically Friday to eat a non restricive dinner. Is there a danger to not eating 1200 cals a day.

Rayman79

Done sparingly, eating under 1200 cals will not be harmful (eg once or twice a week) but it is not healthy for a guy of your size (or almost any size for that matter) to eat so little. Because you have a lot of body fat you could do it for a little while without too many repercussions but I'd be more worried about the habits and 'all or nothing' dieting mentality that tends to come with this way of eating.

You may have been able to maintain it for a couple of weeks now, but this isn't sustainable in the long term. Now I'm sure there are several layers of complexity here, you likely have trigger foods that you need to avoid altogether which limits your intake, you want results FAST, and any number of other things that affect you personally.

My advice though, would be not to sustain this level of caloric intake. For the following reasons:
Your body will not function well on this level of intake. Your mood, energy levels, hormonal function will all be effected in the longer term
Adherence will be difficult when the initial motivation wears off, and more often than not this leads to a real diet 'blow out' when it occurs
You will not just lose fat with a deficit this large. Over time you will also lose muscle mass, and lower your metabolism.

Soooo, what I would suggest is that you slowly up your intake. Add a couple of hundred calories to your intake each week until you are at a 1000 calorie per week deficit (as per the numbers from MFP's calculator at 2lb per week loss).
Focus on getting as much walking in as you can, and any other non-strenuous activity. Water walking/swimming is also great.
As soon as you feel comfortable, start some resistance exercise. Nothing crazy, but start to get your body used to working against resistance. It will be GREAT for muscle preservation during your weightloss.

I hope that helped a little.

loulamb7

Rayman79 wrote: »

....

My advice though, would be not to sustain this level of caloric intake. For the following reasons:
Your body will not function well on this level of intake. ....Over time you will also lose muscle mass, and lower your metabolism.

Ditto on Rayman's advise. Losing weight isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Slow and steady yields the best end results. Use MFP's numbers and eat up to your calorie goals and you will lose weight at a good, healthy pace. No need for extremes. Good luck.

PlunderingSteelGorilla

I have no real advice only an anecdote.

I have tried more diets than I can count, and I can count high. 3 years ago I tried the 4 hour body for 6 or 7 weeks. It is a super low cal diet, very restrictive diet.

I dropped 35 pounds, felt awesome, had loads of energy and enjoyed it. Sounds awesome, right? It was.

*kitten* happens and as soon as I stopped I packed it all back just as fast. 35 pounds in 6 weeks is dramatic to lose and gain.

If your happy, feeling good and dropping weight then keep at it for the moment. But do as the others said and start bumping the intake and getting in more exercise to build healthy habits. The healthy habits will stick and be better long term.