Why eating too little calories is a bad idea.....

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  • RamboKitty87
    RamboKitty87 Posts: 272 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    Giving this discussion a bump, the more people that see it the better.

    There seems to have been an unusual number of people on the forums lately determined to pursue unsupervised VLCDs or simply make unnecessarily drastic cuts. :(

    I was one of them and now I have gallstones and I'm in pain quite often even after lowering my total daily fat to 10g :neutral: a lot of people out there seem to think the less they eat and the more they exercise the more weight they will lose which is true and the proof of their success is going to bed starving but this is so not true... so many downsides to this, it doesn't help that a lot of doctors out there just don't seem to care, that was my case anyway.... rambling again lol but yeah you don't have to take drastic measures to lose weight, cutting just a little and exercising a little has great benefits :)
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    folgers86 wrote: »
    My only issue with posts like these is regarding people, like myself, who work with their doctor and are cleared for a medically supervised low calorie diet. Right now my doctor is ok with me eating 900-1000 calories a day and I work with her, a trained professional who knows my medical history. I understand there are people who really need information like this, but it really irks me when MFP tries to reset my goals that I discussed ad nauseum with my doctor.

    MFP defaults to those minimums because most people who try VLCD are not medically supervised and the app doesn't want to be seen as promoting unhealthy behaviors. There are a lot of people, with stats that would allow them to eat way more, that are at 1200 because that's as low as the system will go. If it let anyone set any goal then there would be a whole lot more under eating.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    Giving this discussion a bump, the more people that see it the better.

    There seems to have been an unusual number of people on the forums lately determined to pursue unsupervised VLCDs or simply make unnecessarily drastic cuts. :(

    I was one of them and now I have gallstones and I'm in pain quite often even after lowering my total daily fat to 10g :neutral: a lot of people out there seem to think the less they eat and the more they exercise the more weight they will lose which is true and the proof of their success is going to bed starving but this is so not true... so many downsides to this, it doesn't help that a lot of doctors out there just don't seem to care, that was my case anyway.... rambling again lol but yeah you don't have to take drastic measures to lose weight, cutting just a little and exercising a little has great benefits :)

    Aha! I was on a thread this morning where someone was eating very low calories and wanted to share your experience, but couldn't remember where I'd read it :) More people should know about that danger.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,142 Member
    @DamieBird I Did post once asking for people's input as I was unsure how many calories I should intake and how many I should burn etc, I told them my calories in and calories out to which I pretty much got attacked and called a liar, I was very new to this and still am, I ended up in tears, deleting the discussion and nearly actually leaving MFP, there are a lot of people that will just attack you instead of advising, I have come across many discussions where people have not even read the posters full post, just pretty much jumping to conclusions about that person and being pretty nasty about it, I was told I was a liar as apparently it was "impossible" to burn more than 500 calories a day.... I'm big, the bigger a person is the more calories they burn, at one point I was doing 90 - 120 mins on my exercise bike per day which was burning between 1200 - 1500 calories, I know MFP does over estimate so sometimes I'd do an extra couple of minutes that I wouldn't count. Sorry I rambled too much.

    Glad you decided to stick it out, there is some fantastic advice to be had on these forums.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Ultimately, if a person's results match their data, it doesn't really matter. It's only when there's a discrepancy that it becomes an issue. Or back to the topic of the thread, when there's a concern that an OP is severely undereating, or unknowingly overeating.
  • DM_78
    DM_78 Posts: 57 Member
    Great post.
  • VeronicaA76
    VeronicaA76 Posts: 1,116 Member
    Because it gets insanely hard to build muscle. That's where I'm at, losing fat, building muscle. Nightmare to balance that.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,142 Member

    Excellent read and info. I do question the 1 to 2 pound weight loss for individuals who are obese meaning over say 50 pounds. I for example started at 350. I lost weight in the early stages of my journey at around 15 to 20 a month. Then I would maintain to insure I could embrace the new changes in eating. Then I would eat in deficit and lose more, then maintain and so forth. Of course in the beginning I would gain some back as I was still learning my bodies needs. I am now at 270 with a average weight loss of 3 to 4 pounds a week. I do not undereat and some weeks the scale will go up as like anyone but the 1 to 2 pound thing in my opinion can not be the rule for all body types.

    @jasummers76 that's an average 1-2 pounds per week over a longer period, my own weight swings up and down with water retention up to 5lb but those are normal fluctuations, the trend over time is still around 1lb per week. Some people who are extremely obese can lose more and I think it's recommended no more than 1% of your body weight as a weekly rate. Either way the 1-2lb rate is a general recommendation for your average person. Those who have less to lose need a lower weight loss rate, those have more to lose can get away with a bit more.
  • moxiept
    moxiept Posts: 200 Member
    Great advice!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    I have a question, I'm relatively new on here. Here's my stats. I'm 5'4, I was 158 and now I'm at 138. When does the weight loss kinda come to a halt and you stop losing weight? I feel like I'm at that point and I eat about 1,300 calories a day. I'm a stay at home mom. So I say my life is pretty sedentary, except the few strength training exercises I do which it doesn't say in the app that it doesn't burn any calories. I do 60 sit ups a day, 50 v ups. A minute of side planks( each side), a minute of normal planks, every other day I do leg day 100 squats, and iron titans til my legs can't do it anymore. On tuesdays and Thursday I take my baby for a walk which is gonna have to stop here soon because it's getting cold, and I run on saturdays. My fiancé is active duty in the military and my step son is 6 and my son is 9 months. My fiancé works from about 6am to 8/9pm and I can't take my children to the gym and my fiancé gets home too late to watch the kids while I go for a run or what not.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    @tinkerbellang83 yes I weigh all of my food, yes my 6 year old is in school but it's literally impossible to get my 9 month old to go down for a nap more than 15 minutes! And what's TDEE? I'm still new to this so bare with me lol
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,142 Member
    edited September 2017
    @tinkerbellang83 yes I weigh all of my food, yes my 6 year old is in school but it's literally impossible to get my 9 month old to go down for a nap more than 15 minutes! And what's TDEE? I'm still new to this so bare with me lol

    @rickiimarieee Good news some of them are only 10-15 mins long :smile:

    TDEE is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (similar to your NEAT calculation which is shown in the infographic on the 1st page but accounts for exercise level as well) which is basically an approximation of what you have burned over the course of a normal day.
  • ihp2015
    ihp2015 Posts: 221 Member
    OK, so I get the whole CICO thing, but how accurate is the Fitbit in calculating calories burned? I have linked MFP to Fitbit, so my Fitbit app shows exactly how much deficit I have. However, I'm not really sure how trustworthy this calculation is.

    Any ideas?