How many calories in a day?

Verdenal

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

Verdenal wrote: »

mrspett323 wrote: »

It takes 1200 calories for a 3 year old to function. ... Nobody's BMR is 1200 unless you are 3 years old.

Our bodies evolved to function on few or new calories when necessary. Some people do very well on Intermittent Fasting or Calorie Reduction programs. Depending on the program, they eat nothing during long periods or 500 calories a day on selected days. They are carefully worked out and they're not for everyone, but it is not true that everyone must eat a minimum of 1200 calories a day to lose weight.

Some people, like myself, are just small. I have to be under 1000 calories a day to lose weight.

Our bodies did not evolve to survive on few or no calories for extended periods of time - that's why people die of malnutrition and starvation. 1200/1500 is just an approximation of when a diet starts to get possibly unhealthy. Certainly people can safely lose weight on less than that, but because of the potential side-effects (difficulty in reaching minimum nutrition on so few calories being a big one) it's best to be under a doctor's care if you're going to do the extremely low calorie thing.

It takes people several weeks to die of starvation after eating nothing. That is not the case with people on a planned diet. Medical supervision is helpful, but many healthy people are willing to do their homework, monitor themselves, and they get great results.

I suggest you Google "myth of starvation mode." Also look up IF, PSMF, and CR. These are not fringe or fad diets.

My main point is that blanket statements such as "Everyone must consume a minimum of___ calories" are inaccurate, unhelpful, and may prevent certain individuals from losing weight.