Too few calories? Really?!?

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

When I joined MFP I was eating around 900 cals per day and my weight loss was totally stalled. I took a leap of faith here and upped my calories to 1200. I gained for two weeks and then lost significantly after that. I upped my calories to 1470 and maintained for awhile without gaining anything. Now I eat around 1300 and am losing again. The only thing with eating so close to 1200 is that you have to be really careful to eat real food (non processed) and get enough nutrients. If you find that you're hungry you should increase your calories. 1200 is not a magic number, but it is considered the minimum safe intake for a reason. I'm not saying *no one* should eat less, but for me personally eating less was not good and I think there are WAY too many people undereating on this site. Starving yourself is not a sustainable or happy lifestyle.

bllowry

I started here at 1200 calories; three weeks later I met with a RD and when she reviewed my food diary her first comment was I wasn't eating enough~and upped me to a minimum of 1500 a day. I've been losing steadily every since.

Carrie704

bump

rainbowbow

I started at 135 and lost 15 pounds in 2 months. Then I stayed at 120 pounds for SEVEN WEEKS! I increased my strength training and I upped my calories from 1200 to 1450. Ou la la, ive been steadily losing since.

SavCal71

When I was losing my initial 89 pounds, I hit three major plateaus. All three times, what got me off that plateau was increasing my calorie intake.

emmyvera

When I first started I didn't get it. Then I DID eat back my calories and I lost the weight. People were saying "But you eat all day long". Yes, I did. I ate/eat 5 "meals" a day. But I was burning off the fuel my body needed. Also, what has helped me this time around (started getting back into having a food and exercise routine the past couple of months).... is cutting CARBS and SODIUM. This has helped me personally. It's more about the carbs for me I think. If I'm over in calories a little, so what. I gotta watch the starch.

spazzticaunt

I can honestly say that I have experienced this. There are times I go stretches without eating at least 3 times a day and usually that is when I stop losing and start gaining a lot of weight. But every time I start eating at least 3 times a day the pounds start falling off. I told my doctor and she had said that its because my body goes into starvation mode and hangs on to the foods that I do eat when I eat because it never knows when it will get more nutrients. So I believe it whole heatedly.

snowbab

BUMP! I have been stuck losing and gaining back weight for almost 2 months now and being too scared to eat exercise cals. Now I'll make sure I net 1530 every day after all this info!

siabevis

Good responses!

cmodde

if you are eating 1200 calories a day with exercise. do you have to eat the calories you have burned in exercise or is the 1200 enough?