I Burn More Calories than I consume... safe?

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  • Unknown
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  • Ambergrace24
    Ambergrace24 Posts: 34 Member
    I've been where you are. I did that for about 3 months and I reached my goal. However, my hair fell out in clumps, I fainted a lot, I was an emotional wreck and I developed a hormonal imbalance that I'm still dealing with 5 yrs later. Please consider eating more. It's unsustainable long term and I'm telling you it's not worth it. I gained it all back plus some.

    what kind of hormonal imbalances did you have? I know off topic, but I am curious
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    "I'm just a very impatient person and want to lose it fast. I'm tired of feeling crappy. I don't want to be miserable forever"

    You're not going to "lose it fast", at least not if you want to stay healthy.

    If you stay fat, you're probably going to stay miserable, so that's not an option.

    If you keep starving yourself, you're probably going to be miserable, so that's not an option. (Plus you're likely to run out of willpower and go on a binge to make up for what you've been lacking, which will make you miserable.)

    If you realize that you got fat slowly and you'll have to get un-fat slowly, you're going to be a little frustrated for a while, but you'll start seeing results and build on that success and will be neither frustrated nor miserable for very long.

    Do this slowly, make lasting changes, and you shouldn't have to do it again.
    (At least, not for so much weight... we all need tune-ups from time to time.)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    At a minimum you need to eat 1,200 calories. Eat up to your minimum, then burn your calories by working out. Eating 400 calories a day is crazy and it's going to hurt your body. You're not going to lose fat, you're going to lose muscle, so you're going to lose form. Your body fat can only take so much, if you create too big of a deficit you're going to severely destroy your muscles. Also, when you're on such an extreme limitation, you can't work your body out.

    You need to change the way you look at things. Work on creating a more fit body, not a thin body.

    OP is an 18 year old male, presumably taller than 5 feet.

    The minimum he needs to eat is not 1200.

    I'm not sure what it but is a lot more than that. Even more again if he exercises.
  • craziedazie
    craziedazie Posts: 185 Member
    I've been where you are. I did that for about 3 months and I reached my goal. However, my hair fell out in clumps, I fainted a lot, I was an emotional wreck and I developed a hormonal imbalance that I'm still dealing with 5 yrs later. Please consider eating more. It's unsustainable long term and I'm telling you it's not worth it. I gained it all back plus some.

    what kind of hormonal imbalances did you have? I know off topic, but I am curious



    My body stopped producing progesterone completely and my adrenals weren't functioning at all. That was based on a 30 day hormonal test.
    can I say for sure it was from starving myself? No. But I was fine before that.
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
    First off, welcome to MFP. :flowerforyou:
    Secondly, everything they said: you need to eat more, what you're doing is unhealthy, etc. :sick:

    Don't eat less than 1200 cal per day. That's plain total calories, not calories minus exercise. When you don't eat enough, it's harder to lose weight, and MUCH harder to control your eating. Also, you'll eventually start burning muscle, which will slow your weight loss even more. Instead, do muscle-building exercise, even if it's just with your own weight, or lifting bags of kitty litter. Muscle uses more calories at rest than fat does, so building muscle will spiral into losing more weight.

    A healthy rate of weight loss for most people is 1-2 lb per week.
    1 lb of fat is 3500 calories, which is an average of 500 calories per day to short yourself, through eating less & exercising more. (But eating properly is the most important part. It can take an hour on the elliptical for me to burn 700 calories, but I can eat more than that in much less time.)

    So where do you start? :ohwell:

    1 - Let's figure out what you "should" weigh, so you have a healthy goal.
    How tall are you? Because that's used to determine your body mass index (BMI). A healthy BMI is between 19 - 24.9.
    This page has a BMI calculator, as well as charts: http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi_index.html
    I think the charts are more informative, easier to see where you are and where you need to be. One side has height, the other has weight. Where they intersect is your number. Now look to the left to see where it changes to green. Look up to see your goal weight.
    In January, I was at 39. Right now, I'm at 36. Down 25 lb. :bigsmile: For me, at 5'10", the top end of that range is 173 lb.

    2 - Then figure out how many calories you need.
    2a - The simplest way to figure out your calorie needs is to take your healthy goal weight and add a 0 on the end. (This is the method my doctor & dietician use.)
    For me, that would be 1700. That's my goal calories for the day, and will eventually, slowly, in a healthy way, get me to my goal weight.
    (Then if you feel hungry, you can add 1/3 - 1/2 of the calories you used in exercise.)

    2b - Another way is to find your resting metabolic rate, or basal metabolic rate, then add part of the calories you use in exercise.
    Here's a RMR calculator: http://www.shapeup.org/resources/rmr1.html
    Again using me as an example, it says my current RMR is 1850 cal, and at my goal weight it will be 1468. If I eat what's required to support my goal weight, I'll eventually weigh that much. Today MFP says I did 652 cal of exercise, so I'd add 200-300 to that 1468, to get about 1750.

    2c - Another way is to take your current weight (200), add a zero (2000), and subtract 500 (1500). If you eat 1500 cal per day, in a week you should lose 1 pound. Don't go below 1200.
    Look at what MFP says you're using in exercise, and add about 1/3 - 1/2 of those calories. Walking a mile takes about 100 calories, so if you're walking 2 miles a day, you could eat 1600 cal per day.
    As you lose weight, you'll have to recalculate & eat less.
    Using this method on me, I should have 1900 calories for now, and eventually drop to 1200 when I'm nearing my goal weight but still need to lose. That seems awfully low, though I won't have to do that indefinitely.

    3 - Now eat healthy meals. Include protein at each meal & snack so you feel full longer. Choose whole grains, usually avoiding simple white starches. Eat vegetables of all sorts, fruits. Don't drink your calories! (I used to go through several quarts of gatorade every day! EEK!!)
    This page has sample meal plans for 1200,1400, and 1600 calories.
    http://www.choosemyplate.gov/preschoolers/meal-snack-patterns-ideas/1600-calories-patterns.html


    For more nutrition resources:
    http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
    http://www.shapeup.org/

    .

    I can not thank you enough for posting this. I'm left-handed (that's my excuse when I can't understand something :tongue: ) I've been on Mfp for over 2 years now and haven't understood how to eat the right cals/BMR/TTEE, etc. and all that stuff at ALL. :embarassed: (even though I've read hundreds of "how-to's" here on mfp as well as many many different health/weight-loss websites).

    After reading this post (YES...it's an old thread--I was looking for something else and accidentally found this post)...By George, I THINK I've got it now (figuring out how many cals to eat)!!!!

    Not sure if you're still on here, but if you are and see this old post :flowerforyou: :drinker: :heart: :drinker: :flowerforyou:
    You ROCK for posting this!!!!!

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