Supporting MFP friends on very low calorie diets

AliluniqueOne

I didn't even look at my net calories. I didn't this was an issue. Now I am going to look :flowerforyou:

lithezebra

I'm sad to see that so people have such animosity toward people who either have eating disorders or are trying extreme diets. Anorexia is an illness. It isn't a character flaw. No one is going to cause someone else to die of anorexia by failing to tell that person to eat more. People can do what they want with their friend lists. I don't think that self-righteous negativity toward people who are suffering from a mental illness belongs in a public forum.

nrjackson84

I post that they aren't eating enough and that it could harm them by doing so. I have actually had to delete a few people because of it. I can't stand to see people do that to themselves. I don't feel like I can't motivate or condone such behavior. I understand sometimes being under (for example, I was sick the other week and honestly couldn't eat more than 800 calories for like 2-3 days) but to do it consistently is not someone that I want on my friend's list.

LINIA

@NR JACKSON --- why Judge? Those of us on this website who have never been OBESE are not critical of people who are or have been 65 pounds overweight or 200 pounds overweight, giving our support is the best we can do to assist one another.

IMHO, those of us in the normal weight range as well as people who may be overweight are most likely overestimating our calorie burns and underestimating our food intake. We just all log the best we can but our record keeping is probably off by 20% .

If you were my friend, i would not delete you beCause you slipped up one day and exceeded your calories by 2,000 -- that could be one meal in a restaurant, so why would i judge you, then delete you.......but it is likely how many here became overweight.

People who have eaten sensibly all of our lives, also those that overeat as well as those who undereat deserve our support on MFP.

arcticfox04

If they eat over 1200 and net under 1000 thats fine. Some people don't eat back exercise calories more of a personal preference.

If they don't eat over 1200 you can always try to encourage them. If they don't for weeks you might want to PM and ask if they log everything or there's anything you can help them with because its normal to eat so little. Maybe giving a couple links to a couple articles about how under eating can affect the body and weight loss and educate them if there confused which can happen.

If they don't want your advice or give you attitude just delete and move along. Its out of your hands its more of a real life matter with the person. Sadly alot people run into ED problems and think removing all calories is the only way and end up in the hospital or sick. Quite sad but it happens.

jimmmer

I'm sad to see that so people have such animosity toward people who either have eating disorders or are trying extreme diets. Anorexia is an illness. It isn't a character flaw. No one is going to cause someone else to die of anorexia by failing to tell that person to eat more. People can do what they want with their friend lists. I don't think that self-righteous negativity toward people who are suffering from a mental illness belongs in a public forum.

Except, I'm not going to be a cheerleader for this kind of behaviour. And if I'm not going to help, or have any kind of positive impact amongst a whole crowd of similarly self-destructive people shouting "wtg", then what's the point? I have also found in the past that people when asked to justify such eating behaviour often delete their accounts (and probably start a new one where they can continue their destructive behaviour without anyone calling them on it.)

At the end of the day, you can't make an alcoholic stop drinking, or stop a smackhead shooting up any more than you can cure an anorexic without their consent. It's not being self-righteous- it's understanding self-destructive human nature and the role you can play in recovery when the person is willing, able and committed to change themselves. Without that admission of a problem and a commitment to change from the person, what can you do? What should you do?

candiceh3

I have a similar issue - but with people who eat 1000 cals and log an hour of jogging in at one calorie... I know it is so it doesn't make their net APPEAR low, but the reality is that they are netting 400 cals. It is ridiculous. I don't even question them anymore, I just delete them from my FL.

About the one calorie workout; one of my friends did that and I had to reply "is x amount of minutes of exercise really 1 calorie?" Of course, I got no response back on that, just shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

when you are using the TDEE method your exercise is already factored into your cal goals so you cannot put the real amount of cals u burned b/c it would raise your daily allowance for the day and give you too high net cals for weight loss. Ignore that, that's happening by ppl who know what they are doing.

^^^^ this

I log 1 calorie exercise burns (currently, didn't use to) because it encourages me to stay on track with my scheduled workouts. My exercise is already accounted for in my calorie goal. A lot of people on my friend's list do this as well.

thanks all

I understand the tdee method but these people are eating 1000 cals and then jogging for an hour and logging it as 1 cal. I suspect ed

Llorry

I have a similar issue - but with people who eat 1000 cals and log an hour of jogging in at one calorie... I know it is so it doesn't make their net APPEAR low, but the reality is that they are netting 400 cals. It is ridiculous. I don't even question them anymore, I just delete them from my FL.

About the one calorie workout; one of my friends did that and I had to reply "is x amount of minutes of exercise really 1 calorie?" Of course, I got no response back on that, just shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

Some doing TDEE would have 1 calorie on their exercise amounts because we already have it figured in to the TDEE. I know I just started trying this format so unsure how well it would work
If they are doing TDEE they are assurely NOT supposed to be eating 1000 or less calories though

Llorry

I have a similar issue - but with people who eat 1000 cals and log an hour of jogging in at one calorie... I know it is so it doesn't make their net APPEAR low, but the reality is that they are netting 400 cals. It is ridiculous. I don't even question them anymore, I just delete them from my FL.

About the one calorie workout; one of my friends did that and I had to reply "is x amount of minutes of exercise really 1 calorie?" Of course, I got no response back on that, just shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

People who use the TDEE method typically log their cardio exercise as 1 calorie because they want to keep track of the activity but the calorie burn is already included in their total daily energy expenditure.

Thanks to everyone for that information! I didn't think about that scenario and I stand corrected!

It was odd that this person did not correct me when I asked; so I am not sure if she was using the TDEE method or not. But again, thank you for taking the time to answer!

I am 4'9 136 pounds (if I had a right leg lol which I needed to add one to do this) Anyhow my 15% is 1369 and my 25% is 1460 with my exercise set at 3xs a week ... I doubt someone logging 1000cal is doing TDEE.

Llorry

Not sure how accurate the burned calories estimates are. Some look way too high. I see people recording pretty light exercise like slow walking pace for 30 minutes, with a burn estimate of 1000 cal. Looks really suspicious. So, when they come in under their total calorie target, with those bizarre burn estimates, I'm not sure what to think.

Yes, I kind of have the same issues.

Is 60 minutes of heavy weight lifting the 600 calories I tend to put in for exercise? I don't own a HRM and it is my understanding from the MFP gurus that a HRM is not an accurate method of tracking exercise calories for weight lifting. So, in this instance, I will eat about 75% of those exercise calories back to allow some wiggle room since I am really just taking a WAG at the exercise expenditures.

Once I get closer to my weight goal, I might need to revisit this again if my weight loss stalls.

You may also want to consider trying TDEE and take that out of the equation for you
You can change your goals manually on here to put in your TDEE value.
If you are interested..Here is a calculator
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

FixIngMe13

I actually have a person on my FL that does this, and to be honest, I can't bring myself to delete her.

I refuse to look at her food journal. She would only eat 800 calories a day as it was, and then on top of it, pull out 600 calorie burns. She's been doing this for a very long time now, and almost every day is the same.

I just hope that she looks at what others are doing and starts following in their footsteps. That is my hope for her. So maybe that is why I don't really delete her. She's been at the same weight for almost a year now.. so obviously the lack of calories is not helping her. I brought up a few times about eating more, and she states she can't. Well... she can't lose weight either, so she is stuck.

Hope you find a solution.

arrseegee

I have this dilemma and I am curious on how the general MFP population would deal with this issue (of course, this is assuming that one would be using their MFP friends list for motitivation and support).

I have noticed this trend that a decent amount of my MFP friends are eating nowhere the amount of calories they should be like logging an insane amount of exercise calories and netting something like 400 calories for the day. There was even one friend that had a daily calorie goal of 600 calories. I mean, is this *even* possible to do when setting up a MFP account? I always assumed that there was a 1200 daily calorie cap on MFP but I guess not since I peaked at her diary and saw this with my very own eyes.

I suppose the purpose of MFP friends list is to be able to support and motivate one another, but I have a problem of supporting people that are either a) not exercising and logging under 1000 calories or b) eating over 1200 calories, but netting well under 1000. I just can't bring myself to support such behavior and was wondering what other people have done (or would do) under these circumstances. Do you ignore it? Remove them from your friends list? Preach to them that what they are doing is not a viable long term solution?

Anyways, I will look forward to any comments that will come my way (good or bad) and good luck to all on their weight loss journey and may you get to your desired goal!

P.S. I am not referring to anyone that is occasionally doing this (like if they are sick and/or not hungry that day). I am talking about friends that are doing this consistently everyday.

Thought I'd dig this thread out.

I also have someone on my FL who is doing this. In the last 10 days they have netted -2700 calories (that is not a typo), yet every day there are 10+ 'way to go' and 'so inspirational' comments on the diary entries. This is not someone who has a lot of weight to lose, and I am also not sure what to say. It's obviously not sustainable so a part of me just thinks I should ignore it and wait until it inevitably stops.

jimmmer

I have this dilemma and I am curious on how the general MFP population would deal with this issue (of course, this is assuming that one would be using their MFP friends list for motitivation and support).

I have noticed this trend that a decent amount of my MFP friends are eating nowhere the amount of calories they should be like logging an insane amount of exercise calories and netting something like 400 calories for the day. There was even one friend that had a daily calorie goal of 600 calories. I mean, is this *even* possible to do when setting up a MFP account? I always assumed that there was a 1200 daily calorie cap on MFP but I guess not since I peaked at her diary and saw this with my very own eyes.

I suppose the purpose of MFP friends list is to be able to support and motivate one another, but I have a problem of supporting people that are either a) not exercising and logging under 1000 calories or b) eating over 1200 calories, but netting well under 1000. I just can't bring myself to support such behavior and was wondering what other people have done (or would do) under these circumstances. Do you ignore it? Remove them from your friends list? Preach to them that what they are doing is not a viable long term solution?

Anyways, I will look forward to any comments that will come my way (good or bad) and good luck to all on their weight loss journey and may you get to your desired goal!

P.S. I am not referring to anyone that is occasionally doing this (like if they are sick and/or not hungry that day). I am talking about friends that are doing this consistently everyday.

Thought I'd dig this thread out.

I also have someone on my FL who is doing this. In the last 10 days they have netted -2700 calories (that is not a typo), yet every day there are 10+ 'way to go' and 'so inspirational' comments on the diary entries. This is not someone who has a lot of weight to lose, and I am also not sure what to say. It's obviously not sustainable so a part of me just thinks I should ignore it and wait until it inevitably stops.

I'll repeat my original post, since I think it still stands:

Except, I'm not going to be a cheerleader for this kind of behaviour. And if I'm not going to help, or have any kind of positive impact amongst a whole crowd of similarly self-destructive people shouting "wtg", then what's the point? I have also found in the past that people when asked to justify such eating behaviour often delete their accounts (and probably start a new one where they can continue their destructive behaviour without anyone calling them on it.)

At the end of the day, you can't make an alcoholic stop drinking, or stop a smackhead shooting up any more than you can cure an anorexic without their consent. It's not being self-righteous- it's understanding self-destructive human nature and the role you can play in recovery when the person is willing, able and committed to change themselves. Without that admission of a problem and a commitment to change from the person, what can you do? What should you do?