Consistently Way Under My 1,200 Calorie Goal

Stinger97

I realize this is a problem because of starvation mode and blah, blah, blah, but I often find that I refuse to allow myself to reach anywhere near the 1,200 calorie goal. I can honestly say, though, that I'm not hungry. I rarely limit myself from having things that I want. A piece of chocolate there, some sugary cereal there. I treat myself, I'm content, and the weight is seemingly coming off quickly.

Like I said, I realize that being under the 1,200 calories is a problem, but I can't seem to force myself to rectify it. I'm nervous that if I start reaching the 1,200 calorie goal, I'll either stop losing weight at such a rapid pace or I'll start gaining weight. I'm not sure how illogical that fear is, but it's there.

I've lost about 15 pounds since early November and I'm hoping to lose another 20 to 30. Friends tell me that if I lost any more, I'd look TOO skinny, but I can't say I agree with them. I feel like I know my body better than they do, and I'd like to fall somewhere in the range of 140 to 150. For a male that's 5'7" (5'8" on a good day), that's apparently healthy.

Advice?

00trayn

Take this advice from personal experience. Those awesome weight loss numbers may look good now, but they will stop soon, trust me. I had a few weeks of eating under 1200 calories by quite a bit, usually around 1000 for the day, sometimes less. And the scale dropped pretty quickly, I think I shed 5 lbs in 3 weeks (which for a girl my size is quite a bit, and much faster than the pace before I cut the calories). Then it stopped. Completely. I was stuck around 154-155 for a solid month. And I had no idea why. I was eating my 1000 calories and working out daily and the scale still wasn't moving. And then I realized I was starving myself! Even if those numbers looked great for a few weeks, I really wish I hadn't done that just to get to a mini goal. So now a few weeks after I started eating more (1300 or so calories a day, and I'm a petite girl), the scale has started to move downward again and I've slowly lost a few pounds.

So the moral of the story is that if you have 20-30 pounds to go, don't starve yourself to do it. Eat more calories, with healthy food (not extra cookies... haha) and keep working out. That will honestly get the weight off faster than undereating and having the scale get stuck for a few months because you kill your metabolism. My metabolism is till fighting to catch up to where it was before.

shanolap

Remember, you will lose a lot of weight at first and fight to lose anything at the end. Find a way to eat 1200 calories a day and lose the weight in a healthy manner.

vandy29

Think of it more as a life style change than a diet...can you survive on less than 1200 calories a day for the rest of your life?

Stinger97

My only thing is, if I was effectively starving myself, wouldn't I feel ... hungry? I'll have occasional hunger pangs, sure, but for the most part I satiate them. I'm usually the most hungry in the middle of the night, around 1:30 or 2AM, and I'll treat myself to a bowl of cereal. It's just hard to comprehend how I could be in starvation mode but not hungry.

Tonight I have about 800 calories just sitting there, and I'm wondering what to do with them. That actually sounds terrible typing that out. I obviously should be eating more.

Edit: I also usually sleep through breakfast, so I'm consistently missing out on those calories. That's probably where the late-night bowl of cereal comes in.

bethrs

Hi Stinger.
The thing about hunger is it is influenced by a number of factors: hormones, psychology, stress etc. Your body needs food to live, but the way it communicates this can be changed up by a bunch of things, not excluding depression, addiction, and eating disorders. I'm not saying you have any of those things, just saying it is possible to be doing damage to your body and not feel hungry. You might want to consider eating at least 1000 calories each day. It's not terribly hard if you eat whole healthy foods.

HTH.

DJJW

Coming from someone who JUST posted on the same question only staying above the 1200 mark, I understand the not being hungry. But when I was in High school I was SOO busy that I never made time to eat. I wasn't ever hungry then either, I unknowing put myself into an anorexic mode! PLEASE be careful. Having 800 calories left is SCARY! You've got to build your stomach back up to take in atleast 1100 a day to be healthy.

DJJW

I just looked at your profile and noticed you are a man. You should be eating even more than that. If you exercise you should be having around 1500.

Stinger97

Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

With missing out on breakfast, I guess I'm going to have to make lunch and dinner hit about 500 calories each. That seems extremely difficult but I'll give it a shot.

ATT949

Heh, new member here (< 1 week).

I'm in the same boat as you. After eating how much of whatever I wanted for decades (and watching my weight go up and up and up), I changed my life last Tuesday.

I haven't eaten 1k calories since I joined MFP, much less the 1750 cals I'm supposed to be eating. I'm rarely hungry and I feel satisfied when I eat the foods that I've listed. I even went so far far as to put 24 almonds in a tupper for a snack and then I put them back 'cause I didn't want the 160 calories.

Rapid weight loss is great but, as other posters have said, we've got to start eating more or we'll "crash".

nsueflorence

I may be mistaken but if you are not taking in enough "fuel" for you body it will get it from your muscles and organs breaking your body down. Loosing weight should be about getting healthy and being healthy is putting the correct things in your body. Just something to consider.

You may not feel hungry but thats because your body thinks it has to get what it needs on its own. eat every two hours even if it is just a hand full of almonds or other higher calorie HEALTHY snacks. you will hit 1200 before you know it.

NightOwl1

Yeah man, that will definitely be bad for you. You'll stop losing weight, and you'll start to get weaker. You body is resilient at surviving, so if youre not eating a lot of calories, your body will adjust, and be less hungry, but it won't lose weight.

Can I recommend a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch? I eat those a lot, and they help get my calorie count higher easily without making me feel extra full or bloated. I use whole wheat bread, 1.5 servings of Omega 3 enriched peanut butter, and 3 servings of jelly enriched with fiber. It comes out to about 600 calories, and it's all good stuff youre putting into your body. That could be a healthy way to up your calories.

Stinger97

I may be mistaken but if you are not taking in enough "fuel" for you body it will get it from your muscles and organs breaking your body down. Loosing weight should be about getting healthy and being healthy is putting the correct things in your body. Just something to consider.

You're totally right that without the necessary fuel to keep my body going, it'll begin to use my muscle mass. I've always been a relatively smaller guy and not athletic at that, so muscle mass is something I have in short supply.

Can I recommend a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch? I eat those a lot, and they help get my calorie count higher easily without making me feel extra full or bloated. I use whole wheat bread, 1.5 servings of Omega 3 enriched peanut butter, and 3 servings of jelly enriched with fiber. It comes out to about 600 calories, and it's all good stuff youre putting into your body. That could be a healthy way to up your calories.

I love PB&J and I know that's definitely a healthy option for me, but the fact that it's 600 calories ... frightens me? If that makes sense. I'm so used to eating only a little more than that a day, it's just scary to see one meal reach that calorie amount in itself. It's a habit I'm going to have to break, I guess.

Edit: If I was going to have a PB&J sandwich, I know that I'd make it with only a single slice of wheat bread, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a table spoon of jelly. And then I'd take two bites and throw it away. The effort is there to eat it, but something forces me not to. I don't get why I have such an issue.

NightOwl1

"Edit: If I was going to have a PB&J sandwich, I know that I'd make it with only a single slice of wheat bread, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a table spoon of jelly. And then I'd take two bites and throw it away. The effort is there to eat it, but something forces me not to. I don't get why I have such an issue."

Sounds like you might need to consult the help of a medical professional. 400 calories a day is anorexic levels and will cause serious health problems. it may sound weird to say that from one guy to another guy, but it's true. You should look at getting help for it before it becomes something serious.

Stinger97

"Edit: If I was going to have a PB&J sandwich, I know that I'd make it with only a single slice of wheat bread, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a table spoon of jelly. And then I'd take two bites and throw it away. The effort is there to eat it, but something forces me not to. I don't get why I have such an issue."

Sounds like you might need to consult the help of a medical professional. 400 calories a day is anorexic levels and will cause serious health problems. it may sound weird to say that from one guy to another guy, but it's true. You should look at getting help for it before it becomes something serious.

Yea, I do appreciate the concern, but I don't believe I've reached eating disorder levels yet. I've always enjoyed food and, at times, have had an unhealthy relationship with it. When I was younger, it was overeating. Now that I've gotten older and am able to make my own choices about the foods that I eat, it's turned into the complete opposite of under-eating.

I hear what everyone is telling me, but I'm still so torn. As I'm typing this, I'm thinking about having that bowl of cereal I was talking about before, but then wondering if I really should. It's ridiculous.

NightOwl1

Yeah man, I hear you. It can be a tough road to climb. Maybe one way to look at it is to try to up your calorie intake 100 or so every couple of days, so you can reach a normal level more naturally. Think about eating more like you would using the treadmill at the gym. It may not be something you want to do or enjoyable, but it's actually helping you lose weight.

Make sure to stay in touch. Support through these issues can only help.

Stinger97

I think I've made my food diary public. I just wanted to see if a few people could check it out and explain how with the food I eat, I could be in danger of starvation mode.

I totally realize I'm not eating properly. I'm not eating tons of fresh veggies and drinking glasses and glasses of water. I'm actually eating a Starbursts on occasion and bowls of Cap'n Crunch. That said, I'm always within my calorie goal. I think my real question is, how could someone go into starvation mode eating Cap'n Crunch. Heh.

I also rarely eat breakfast because I don't wake up until later in the day. So there's obviously a big gap in calories there.

GiGi76

You use energy no matter what you're doing, even when sleeping. You need to know your BMR (the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day) and at least eat that amount in calories. You can harm you organs if your are not getting enough calories especially if you arent eating the right kinds of food!!! And the worst part you wont even know that your hurting yourself until the damage is done!!! Not trying to scare you but only eating 500-700calories a day like you are doing is not healthy!!! Do some research!!! Im not saying you have to eat 1200 calories but you should be eating more!!!

cmriverside

Yea, I do appreciate the concern, but I don't believe I've reached eating disorder levels yet. I've always enjoyed food and, at times, have had an unhealthy relationship with it. When I was younger, it was overeating. Now that I've gotten older and am able to make my own choices about the foods that I eat, it's turned into the complete opposite of under-eating.

This right here screams at me "eating disorder". Any time you think you have an unhealthy relationship......you do.

Overeating is an eating disorder just like undereating. Please do some research tonight on eating disorders and addiction. There is some pain going on in you that you are trying to control by not eating. 800 calories a day is not okay! Please get help.

itsbella

AnorexIa is the refusal of maintaining a healthy weight. In addition to previous posts, the reason you are not hungry is because your metabolism is shot!! If you had a healthy metabolism, a guy like you would be eating the house!! Good luck!!

garedds

My only thing is, if I was effectively starving myself, wouldn't I feel ... hungry?


No, You wouldn't feel hungry. If you don't eat, you don't feel hungry once you get passed the first hunger stage. I have a 6 year old who doens't feel hunger because she has "turned off" her appetite. If you don't eat at regular times, and enough to keep your body fueled you won't feel hunger.

kat_1972

1. You say that you don't think that your body is starving because you don't feel hungry. Sleeping is a symptom of starvation. People who don't give their body enough nutrients to function sleep all the time.

2. Do you like your current relationship with food? The biggest signal to me that I have disordered eating was that I didn't like my relationship with food. I sought help to change because I wanted to have a better life.

Stinger97

Reading everyone's responses to me has kinda made me think that there could be a serious issue developing. I honestly DO want to start eating more, but the thought scares me. I'm afraid of gaining the weight and as of right now, it feels like my only means of making sure i don't is to eat as little as possible. As for seeing a professional about it, I don't know if I'd be willing to at this point.

I did some research on the internet like was suggested to me, and I did have a number of the warning signs of malnutrition and the beginnings of an eating disorder. And that scares me. I do feel a little ridiculous about this though because, I always believed issues like anorexia were mostly just ploys for attention. Sitting in this position makes me think otherwise.

I'm embarrassed.

kat_1972

There is no reason to be embarrassed. You asked a question about something you were concerned about. You did some research and found out that you are at risk for disordered eating. You have done all the right things. You should be proud of yourself for caring about your health.

Now, you have some knowledge about yourself and what it means to continue down a path that may be unhealthy. So, the question is, what is next? Okay, so you don't want to seek a professional. Okay, but what about trying to eat the 1200 calories and see how you feel? The other thing you can do is go through other people's food diaries. Look for men about your age and size and see what they are eating. Look at their calorie count. Look at the succes board with before and after pics and ask them how they lost the weight.

GiGi76

Start out small, since you have been under 1200 calories for so long you need to reintroduce more food back into your diet!!! Start off trying to get at least 1000 calories for a week or 2 then up it to 1200 then find out what your BMR is and start eating that amount.... you may gain a little weight to begin with but it will come back off and more if you stick to eating more and eating more often!!! You needed to kick start your metabolism and to do that you have to eat more!!! Good Luck!!!

Lyadeia

I think the easiest thing you can do right now is try to introduce a decent breakfast into your daily nutrition. It could be a bowl of cereal, some toast and eggs, whatever...just start your body right in the day by giving it some fuel.

Don't think of food as something that will make you gain weight. Think of it as what your body needs to do what your body does. You can't even get up out of bed without fuel to make your muscles move, and that fuel is proper nutrition. Think of food as fuel for your body much like gas for cars.

Once you have gotten accustomed to eating breakfast, you can add a few calories to other meals or snacks slowly to bring yourself up to where you need to be.

And remember, the more you exercise, the more you NEED to eat. :flowerforyou:

spitfire1962

Men should consume at least 1500 calories a day, women no less than 1200 daily. Have you considered supplementing the additional calories with protein shakes? Maybe you can drink a shake in place of breakfast rather than skip it altogether. Add fruit, and milk to the shake and that will also provide you with more nutrients.

itsbella

Reading everyone's responses to me has kinda made me think that there could be a serious issue developing. I honestly DO want to start eating more, but the thought scares me. I'm afraid of gaining the weight and as of right now, it feels like my only means of making sure i don't is to eat as little as possible. As for seeing a professional about it, I don't know if I'd be willing to at this point.

I did some research on the internet like was suggested to me, and I did have a number of the warning signs of malnutrition and the beginnings of an eating disorder. And that scares me. I do feel a little ridiculous about this though because, I always believed issues like anorexia were mostly just ploys for attention. Sitting in this position makes me think otherwise.

I'm embarrassed.

Hey! Nothing to be embarrassed about. You can if you want but honestly there's no need. When you say 'I honestly DO want to start eating more, but the thought scares me.' This is an indicator that it may be a psychological component to this. This is common among men too. The reason we don't hear much about the men is that men don't talk as much about it as us women.

Give your SELF the gift of calling a professional for this. Someone that knows what they are doing and talking about!!

MyViolet

I asked the same question a bit ago. I was in the same boat as you, feeling full at 600-700 calories a day but in the long run, I knew this was not healthy. Is your goal to lose weight or is it to be healthy? In the end I realized that what I really want is to be HEALTHY. I took some time and looked to see what my BMI and a healthy weight should be. I am focusing on eating the right foods so that my body functions properly, as a result I am also losing weight even with the increased calories and working out and I feel great!

I wish you much healthy success!

KarenBorter

I realize this is a problem because of starvation mode and blah, blah, blah, but I often find that I refuse to allow myself to reach anywhere near the 1,200 calorie goal. I can honestly say, though, that I'm not hungry. I rarely limit myself from having things that I want. A piece of chocolate there, some sugary cereal there. I treat myself, I'm content, and the weight is seemingly coming off quickly.

Like I said, I realize that being under the 1,200 calories is a problem, but I can't seem to force myself to rectify it. I'm nervous that if I start reaching the 1,200 calorie goal, I'll either stop losing weight at such a rapid pace or I'll start gaining weight. I'm not sure how illogical that fear is, but it's there.

I've lost about 15 pounds since early November and I'm hoping to lose another 20 to 30. Friends tell me that if I lost any more, I'd look TOO skinny, but I can't say I agree with them. I feel like I know my body better than they do, and I'd like to fall somewhere in the range of 140 to 150. For a male that's 5'7" (5'8" on a good day), that's apparently healthy.

Advice?

I typically won't read threads like this because there is so much information here that you can search to show you why you must eat not only the 1200 calories but any calories you burn if you exercise.

I think we all need to quit using the term "starvation mode" ... there is at least 1 person on this site who get's pretty uppity when you use that term and begins to post links about how it's a myth. It's not. Your body DOES go into "SURVIVAL MODE".

All that being said: To the OP ... What is going on with you is fear. Fear that you are going to over eat, fear that the weight isn't going to come off, fear that if you eat food you will gain. Each pound of weight is equal to 3,500 calories consumed. PERIOD. The ONLY WAY you are going to gain any weight using this site and the food diary here is if you consume over 3,500 calories a day and do nothing but sit on your *kitten* and breathe. I KNOW it's hard to wrap your head around the concept of "eat more to lose weight" but it really works! I have been with this site since September 1 and I have lost close to 31 lbs so far. I am within 10 lbs of my goal weight which is 140 (I am 5'8") ... I am steadily losing and I am eating UPWARDS OF 1600 CALORIES A DAY with my caloric goal being 1200 plus exercise calories.

If you are losing weight like you say you are I can assure you that you are not losing fat, you are losing lean muscle. That is the first to go when your body goes into survival mode. You will continue to lose until your muscle mass cannot shed anymore then you won't lose anymore. You will think you are plateauing but in actuality your body has hit the wall and can't get rid of anything else (ie fat) because you are not nourishing the body. It will begin to not only live off the fat you already have stored BUT it will convert the little you do eat INTO more fat and at that point you may actually BEGIN TO GAIN WEIGHT.

You have to eat YOU HAVE TO EAT YOU HAVE TO EAT to lose weight. If you consume under 1,000 calories/day your metabolism will slow down as well. This will also cause weight gain. When your metabolism is revved it will burn more calories. This is one of the reasons why you hear people often say "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". It get's your metabolism going for the day ... it wakes it up, as it were.

YOU HAVE TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT. Especially if you exercise. For instance:

You have 1200 calories/day allotted to you via MFP. Say you exercise and burn 400 calories you are really only consuming 800 calories. You should eat at least 200-300 of those calories back. You can't drive a car with an empty gas tank right? Your body can't run without enough fuel either.

Besides the weight loss/weigh gain issues you have other medical issues to consider. Your organs over time will become damaged if they are not properly fueled.

YOU HAVE TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT.

I don't know how much more I can say on this ... Trust me, you will not gain if you are HONEST IN YOUR LOGGING. If you don't have a food scale, get one. It has made all the difference in my world of weight loss.

Friend me if you need help.

KarenBorter

also just looked at your food diary ; TRACK SODIUM that is a culprit that will give you false gains on the scale. Trust me I know.

Also ... you NEED TO EAT MORE

I know I said it in my other post but after looking at your diary ...

And drink water ... at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces / per day