Under Calories

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Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    I worked with a nutritionist and a personal trainer. I need to eat 1130 calories a day to lose. For months I was eating minimum of 1200 and on days I worked out I was eating more and did not lose a pound. I would eat around 1400-1500 a day. I was running 4 days a week and nothing. I've dropped now and still continue to exercise and I am losing about a pound a week. I am within 30 lbs of my goal weight.

    Lets put this in context.. if you are losing 1 lb a week at 1130 calories, than means your TDEE or maintenance calories are 1610. That means that if you were eating 1200 or 1400, you would still be losing. That fact that you weren't, would bring me to question your logging practices... do you use a food scale and do you log daily and everything that goes into your mouth? It is actually very common for people to under estimate our calories by as much as 400 calories. If you still aren't using a food scale and logging daily, it's quite possible you are eating more than you think. What it really means, you would have a higher TDEE. So if you want to provide some data, we can look at your situation too and we can walk through the math.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    It IS ok to be under and I will not stop. I worked with a DIETICIAN.
    I once worked with a spinal surgeon would you let me loose on your spinal cord?
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    honey just see a dietician. people freak over 4, 5 and 600 calories when they do NOT know a back story or the persons personal nutritional needs. if you are not hungry don't eat. this board is consistently showing itself to be a place for impersonal generalized advice that really has no bases on each person as an individual. its all numbers numbers numbers. if you feel there is something wrong go see a doc. if you feel full and fine and healthy keep up the good work and don't change what your doing. Good luck
    you are giving some very scary advice what's even scarier is you don't see it
  • Trad_Barbie
    Trad_Barbie Posts: 166 Member
    Not true. Depending on how much you weigh vs a healthy weight for your height, you want to lose a certain amount per week to be healthy. For instance, if the OP is within 25 lbs of a healthy weight, she should not be losing 2+ lbs a week because that is above a healthy rate for her. If she is within 100+ lbs of a healthy weight, that rate of loss would be fine.

    OP, here is a good resource with all kinds of other links for you to check out. This has helped me immensely.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    I have never, ever had a doctor or nurse tell me that if I want to lose five or ten pounds that two pounds a week is an unhealthy amount to shoot for. As long as I eat enough and don't over exercise then two pounds a week is perfectly healthy. It's dependent on personal factors. Only OP and her doctor can make that decision.
  • Vigilance88
    Vigilance88 Posts: 95 Member
    find new doctors and nurses then.
  • Trad_Barbie
    Trad_Barbie Posts: 166 Member
    find new doctors and nurses then.

    Brb. Finding new family.
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    BrokenTide, while you've done a commendable job attempting to balance your nutrition on so few calories, you're under the RDA for most micronutrients including vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and iron.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    The tide has left...
  • georgina1970
    georgina1970 Posts: 333 Member
    OP, lets provide some context because obviously you are going to get some misguided information in this thread. At this point, we need to know more information about you to understand how "under" you truly are and make you aware of potential shortcomings based on some peoples recommendations currently. So we know your height, weight and age, but won't don't know your current workout schedule (length and number of days), what you do for a living or your medical conditions (if any).

    Since I don't know that information, i will provide some data points to make it easy to understand. This assumes you have a desk job like most of us. If you have an active job or SAHM the deficit you would be currently eating at would larger. This also assumes you are an average person.

    Your BMR or basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn if you slept 24 hrs) is around 1571 calories. Using the Harris-Benedict formula, if you were sedentary, you would have an activity multiplier of 1.2, which means your daily TDEE or total daily energy expended (maintenance calories would be:

    1571 x 1.2 =1885

    Looking at your diary and seeing that you are eating about 1000 calories a day, that would give you a deficit around 885 =/- 200 calories. That is a big aggressive for even a sedentary person. Additionally, the fitness community recommends higher protein % than basic RDA standards (which MFP follows). Given the fact, if you were sedentary and only getting about 50% of the protein you really need, there is a strong chance you will increase the amount of lean body mass (muscle, fibers, bone density, tissue, etc...) during your process. Loss of lean body mass, means a slower metabolic rate; both from a basal and resting standpoint.

    Now if you were lightly active your multiplier would be 1.375 (this is 3 to 4 hours a week) and if you were moderately (5 to 6 hours a week) your multiplier would be 1.55. The multipliers are against your BMR.

    Currently, we already would suggest increasing protein to around 1g per lb of lean body mass.. roughly 70% of your weight in grams of protein. Next, we would question if you do resistance training. Protein + resistance training will help maintain your metabolic functions and reduce your loss of your lean body mass.

    Next, hunger signals. Unfortunately, they are very unreliable to listen to. In fact, based on eating frequency and volume of food, you can modify it. You can see the difference in signals if you compare a person eating 6 meals a day vs interim fasting where they eat all their calories in a 4 hour window.

    Listening to your body: this also isn't sound advice. Unfortunately, our bodies are reactive when it comes to issues. What I mean, you generally don't know until it's too late. So that means your body won't tell you are malnourished until it's too late.... i.e - hair falling out, poor skin, brittle nails, exhaustion, etc... Heck, if you want an extreme example of why your body sucks... look how many people get stage 4 cancer before they figure it out. It's one reason you are supposed to get regular checkups. The proactive approach to health and fitness is always better than the lets wait and see crap.

    Great post!!!
    Well stated.
    From a Nurse knowledgable in nutrition and exercise.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    Didn't know lemon head, was a nurse...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Didn't know lemon head, was a nurse...

    Thats because I am not :laugh:
  • action_figure
    action_figure Posts: 511 Member
    It IS ok to be under and I will not stop. I worked with a DIETICIAN. Its fine to be under as long as you are getting the proper calories and nutrients for you. People are going off BASE guidelines. Everyone is different. She needs to see a dietician or doctor because everyone here is going off of generalized information. Im not new either. Ive used mfp on and off. im just back. I will continue to tell people the truth.

    However your advice seems very pro-ANA. We are not here to counsel people into an eating disorder. In fact, loss of appetite is one of the KEY signs and symptoms of anorexia or a very low calorie diet.

    OP, I've lost the majority of my 150 lbs while eating 1500 - 1800 calories per day. I'm 5'2", female, 46 years old, started out at 347.2 lbs ----> 197.9 this morning
    > goal 145.) I started on October 1, 2012. Edit to add that I say "majority" because at one point when I was just using MFP's guidelines instead of doing TDEE - 15%, MFP had me down to 1280 calories. I decided then that 1200 was complete and utter BS.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    honey just see a dietician. people freak over 4, 5 and 600 calories when they do NOT know a back story or the persons personal nutritional needs. if you are not hungry don't eat. this board is consistently showing itself to be a place for impersonal generalized advice that really has no bases on each person as an individual. its all numbers numbers numbers. if you feel there is something wrong go see a doc. if you feel full and fine and healthy keep up the good work and don't change what your doing. Good luck
    you are giving some very scary advice what's even scarier is you don't see it
    +1000
  • Trad_Barbie
    Trad_Barbie Posts: 166 Member
    It IS ok to be under and I will not stop. I worked with a DIETICIAN. Its fine to be under as long as you are getting the proper calories and nutrients for you. People are going off BASE guidelines. Everyone is different. She needs to see a dietician or doctor because everyone here is going off of generalized information. Im not new either. Ive used mfp on and off. im just back. I will continue to tell people the truth.

    However your advice seems very pro-ANA. We are not here to counsel people into an eating disorder. In fact, loss of appetite is one of the KEY signs and symptoms of anorexia or a very low calorie diet.

    OP, I've lost the majority of my 150 lbs while eating 1500 - 1800 calories per day. I'm 5'2", female, 46 years old, started out at 347.2 lbs ----> 197.9 this morning
    > goal 145.) I started on October 1, 2012. Edit to add that I say "majority" because at one point when I was just using MFP's guidelines instead of doing TDEE - 15%, MFP had me down to 1280 calories. I decided then that 1200 was complete and utter BS.

    As someone that used to suffer from a significant level of disordered eating habits- what she proposed was pro-ANAZ.
    Pro-ana is a really, really hurtful term for many of the people (at least the ones I know) that are or were ever in the grips of that disease at one point. There is no such as thing pro eating disorder. That's like saying "I'M PRO CANCER!"
    There are however people that glorify the disorder as a lifestyle choice and willingly destroy themselves in homage to their Goddess, Ana. We called them Anaz and made fun of them relentlessly back in the day, don't know if it still goes on now. I haven't had any contact with any of the girls I used to talk to in a really long time, save for one who I ended up being close friends with.
    Not arguing with anyone or trying to start drama either way, just making a statement. :flowerforyou:

    Edited for typo.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,284 Member
    out of curiosity, what does the Z stand for in pro ANAZ?
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    honey just see a dietician. people freak over 4, 5 and 600 calories when they do NOT know a back story or the persons personal nutritional needs. if you are not hungry don't eat. this board is consistently showing itself to be a place for impersonal generalized advice that really has no bases on each person as an individual. its all numbers numbers numbers. if you feel there is something wrong go see a doc. if you feel full and fine and healthy keep up the good work and don't change what your doing. Good luck

    Noooo. This is terrible advice! There isn't any way possible that eating 400-600 calories a day is in any way heathy. Shame on you for promoting your eating disorders to others.

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