Caloric Defecit: How Low is Too Low?

alone_aqua

I caught myself watching "My 600 pound life" yesterday....and saw that for nearly 4 months gastric bypass patients had to restrict their daily calories to 1,000 at the maximum. This caught me off guard because I'd always read that anything below 1,200 calories a day is dangerous territory no matter who you are. It's hard to tell if the surgery is REALLY doing the work given those numbers are so low.

I admit I have a hard time sticking to my 1500/day goal. But perhaps that's too high anyway.
Long story short: Can that "bikini" body ever be achieved without a SEVERE caloric fast/restriction/diet (by Severe I mean below 1,200 calories).

Has anyone ever heard a medical professional state that these low-cal diets are indeed okay?

My goal weight is about 20 pounds south of here. The only time I've ever successfully reached it was via unhealthy means as a teenager (500cal/day diet). Clearly this is less than ideal and unrealistic and those sorts of extremes turn me off.

More to this point......I spoke with a nutritionist recently who told me in laments terms: Once people get fat, we remain fat, OR we'll have to work much harder than someone whose never been obese to maintain the same size. Example: a 140pound woman who has never been obese may eat1,700 calories a day. While a person trying to maintain a 140lb. frame after extensive weight loss may require no more than 1,400 calories. That's just an example.

Any thoughts?

megsmom2

Those folks who are post surgery are under a doctor's care...they check in with their doctor often. The rules are different in that case. For most of us, 1200 is probably as low (or too low) as we should go.