Under Eating

deckster59

So, to preface the post, I'm a larger guy with quite a bit of weight to lose. (First goal is 75lbs)

Being this big, MFP is telling me I need 1800+ calories a day to avg. 2lbs per week lost. Awesome right? Well, I dont feel right eating that much. I feel like if I'm on this journey to lose weight and get healthy I need to hit things pretty hard.

Granted it's only been 3 days of logging, but I've been yelled at by the app twice for not eating enough calories. I've been right around 1200 calories for two of the three days and near 1500 the other. Aside from being a bit irritable, I'm not feeling any ill-effects.

I'm taking multi-vitamins to make sure I still get the nutrients needed daily, am I really endangering myself here?

Appreciate the help.

shadow2soul

Yes, you are still at risk of malnutrition. Even with a multivitamin. Multivitamins help fill in gaps, they don't completely cover all your nutritional needs. Malnutrition isn't something you will notice side effects from right away, it's a down the road thing.

Why don't you feel right eating that much?
I lost most of my weight eating around 2000 calories. At first it was around 3lbs per week and slowly tapered off as I got lighter. Which is to be expected. I'm only eating less than that right now, because I'm not working out atm. Your probably going to need to eat more than 2000 calories when you get to your goal weight and move to maintenance.

JinxedyJinx

You can probably get away with that sort of drastic calorie slashing for a little bit - I know I did. I ate beneath MFP recommendations for about 6 weeks for some nice, quick weight loss. It starts to catch up with you though! Recently I realized that I've been extremely irritable/quick tempered which is very unusual for me. Also, my appetite has returned with a vengeance. I just bumped up my calories to MFP's recommendations. I think the drastic calorie slashing is probably fine for a little bit, but at some point your body will protest and you have to respect that and adjust accordingly. Just my 2 cents based on my experience!

deckster59

Yea, obviously I have some food issues.

Its like, if I'm not feeling hungry I feel like I'm not working hard enough. Does that make any sense?

I get what you're saying about the maintenance piece and 2k calories. Looking back, I guess I've never truly eaten to maintain my weight. During school and sports (even into college) I could basically eat whatever I wanted as I was weight training daily and getting exercise in the afternoon.

I've steadily increased in weight ever since my first born was born....(he's 10 now).

Do I force myself to eat a significant less amount because I'm punishing myself? Perhaps.

JinxedyJinx

Oh no - If you're not eating enough to "punish" yourself, please start eating up to the MFP recommendations! This is a whole different thing! You do not and should not maintain some sort of chronic state of hunger for weight loss! You deserve to eat - you deserve to treat yourself well! Your body might be able to handle short term drastic under eating, but if you're in a head game with yourself, please step back and take a deep breath... get help if you need it and always, always put your mental and emotional health first!

Clobern80

It is possible. Also, if you aren't hungry but need more calories, try more calorie dense foods such as peanut butter, olive oil, avocados, etc. That way, you don't force yourself to eat more so much as eating more calories.

Mezzie1024

Multivitamins are only going to help you with your micronutrients; you still need carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Also, without enough dietary fats, you might not be able to absorb the fat soluble vitamins, so you'll be malnourished on that front as well.

Just eat the 1800 calories recommended. You said you wanted to lose weight AND get healthy; eating too little means you're really only focusing on the first one.

You'll lose about 100 pounds this year if you stick to the 2 pound/week recommendations; that's awesome, sustainable, and healthy.

jacksonpt

Are you endangering yourself? No, probably not... especially over shorter time frames. If you were to do this consistently for a year or more, than maybe the conversation changes. But for now, you're probably fine. That said, talking in terms of "danger" is taking it to an extreme, which I think you realize. There is a whole lot of progress to be made in the chasm that exists between dangerously low intake and a calorie surplus that causes weight gain.

The other factor at play here is sustainability. 1400 cals is great for progress, but if you can't sustain it (or worse, if you rebound to 4000 cals per day because of it), then is it really doing you any good?

Weight loss is one factor. Health is another. Happiness is yet another. How important those things are vary person to person.

Rdsgoal16

Hello and Welcome,

MFP says I need 2050cal to lose 2 pounds a week. I think that's pretty high. I went to a well known weight loss doctor in our area and he has me on much less (1000-1200). I was pretty sedentary and at 300 pounds and started this journey the day before Thanksgiving (45 days ago). I started working out on a bowflex the day I started and a week into it I bought a recumbent bike. I typically lift on the flex 3-4 times a week and ride the bike 30 minutes minimum a day. Now I understand this goes against 95% of the people on here but after a week my stomach shrank to the point I was feeling full at 1200.

I have lost 26 pounds and again everyone is saying too fast. My point is I feel fricking amazing. My strength is increasing as I went from 1 set of 5 reps at low weight to 3 sets of 12 reps at almost three times the original weight. My stint on the bike to start was painfull and slow (15-20 min), I push 14-15 miles an hour now for a solid 30 minutes sometimes longer. I think this program and calorie recommendation is a good guideline or baseline. I am an impatient dude so a couple pounds a week to start didn't really fit into my thoughts on transforming myself. I am taking a multivitamin and an additional b12 shot from my doctor and 5000 iu of vitamin D daily as my blood panel showed it low. My losses are slowing somewhat, I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I did 100% cardio, not thinking that I am packing on the muscle but definition and size (larger) in areas is changing. personally I would dance around the 1500 of clean foods for a while and see if the irritability goes away. Watch your progress and adjust accordingly. Good luck!

MKEgal

1200 calories is the minimum for average-size women.
(IIRC, for men it's supposed to be 1500.)
Neither of the men (rdsgoal & deckster) are women, and neither is average size -
they're both pretty heavy.

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI (so you can
figure out a healthy weight range), but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain
that weight. It does consider activity level, but I've always used inactive, because my doctor &
dietician say to ignore exercise calories.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

In the short term (several weeks, maybe a couple months) extreme malnutrition & calorie deficit
probably won't do any long-term damage. But don't continue unless you're monitored by a
doctor. Losing too quickly can cause problems.
Also, after a while, drastically cutting calories prompts your body to burn calories more slowly.

Here's info from Britain's NHS explaining some of the possible effects of crash dieting.
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2468.aspx?CategoryID=51&SubCategoryID=165

And info about healthy weight loss.
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/851.aspx


.

I am an impatient dude so a couple pounds a week to start didn't really fit into my thoughts
on transforming myself

Depending on how overweight you are, you might get away with losing more in the beginning.
There have been weeks where I've lost 5 lb or more. Many in the 3-4 lb range.
But I also started off 110 lb over the TOP end of a healthy BMI weight range,
AND I was closely monitored by my doctor.
For most people, those who don't start out morbidly obese, 2 lb per week is considered the maximum
safe amount to lose, and as you get closer to a healthy weight, that's going to decrease.

auddii

You're irritable after 3 days; that's not a good sign. Fast weight loss is often difficult for people to sustain, and as previously mentioned, it would be hard to get your required nutrition. The highest rate of weight loss typically recommended without doctor supervision is 1% of your body weight. I didn't see that you said how much you weight, but you might be able to sustain a little more than the generally recommended 2lbs per week.

But, that rate of loss is likely still more than what you are eating now. Everyone wants to lose fast, but it can lead to nutrient deficiencies (which in turn could lead to brittle nails, having your hair fall out, and serious health concerns depending on what the deficiencies are), and a disproportionate loss of muscle mass (this does depend on other factors as well).

I would recommend eating what MFP recommends. If you exercise, eat those calories back; you need to fuel your workouts. Weight loss does not have to be a punishment or painful. And it will be much easier for you to continue until goal if every step of the way is not painful for you.

And honestly, if you're losing weight for your son, you should consider that you don't want to be irritable around your family and make them jumpy around you just because you're impatient and think "dieting" should be associated with a certain amount of sacrifice. Work on making yourself a better personal all around, not just in body.

Clobern80

These can all be done on online calculators, but here is a bit of a description:

There are two standard equations for figuring out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is the amount of calories you would need to survive if you were to stay in bed for 24 hours straight and do no activity.

The Harris-Benedict was the original method but in the past couple decades they've found that the Mifflin St Jeor equation is actually more accurate.

For men: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
For women: BMR = 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161

Unfortunately it is in kg but you can convert from pounds to kgs by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.20462262

So for me, I am 35 years old, I weigh 171kg and am 188cm tall. So for me it would be:

BMR = (10 x 171) + (6.25 x 188) - (5 x 35) +5
BMR = 1710 + 1175 - 175 + 5
BMR = 2715

Using a calculator, it tells me 2720 is my BMR which is probably the decimals I rounded.

But basically what this is saying is that I need to eat 2715 calories to maintain my weight I if I were to stay in bed. As soon as I start getting out of bed and moving around and doing other things, that goes up.

I don't know what you weigh but even if you are 225 pounds and 5' 10" tall you should eat 2139 calories just to maintain your weight while lying in bed. Again, getting up and moving around will make that go up.

Unless you are bedridden or absolutely refuse to walk other than from the couch to the fridge and into/out of work, I normally never eat below my BMR.

The thing to keep in mind with this is that number will decrease as you lose weight.

Finally, all of this is done by MFP when you put in your goals and choose sedentary, lightly active, etc. Accurately input this information and you can eat whatever MFP tells you.

allyphoe

MKEgal wrote: »

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI (so you can
figure out a healthy weight range), but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain
that weight. It does consider activity level, but I've always used inactive, because my doctor &
dietician say to ignore exercise calories.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

That calculator is nutso. It gives me 1,058 calories per day to maintain. My actual maintenance calories are more like 2,050. It also claims that I'd burn 700 calories in an hour of exercise.

deckster59

Awesome, loving all the posts folks. Ultimately, I guess I knew that I wasn't eating enough but was trying to justify to myself why.

Lots of passionate replies here, and I really appreciate all of them.

For some bigger context, I'm currently 284.8lbs, so yes...I do have a ways to go. I was up as high as 325 and was able to get down to 275 simply by cutting out soda and severely restricting my alcohol intake.

The holidays were "good" to me, so definitely trying to get back on the wagon. Either way, I see what's being said here. While once in a while eating a severe deficit isn't going to do any real harm...continued deficits could cause me to stall out my progress longterm and possibly cause some problems.