going to be honest...

Huffdogg

Your metaboism has almost definitely bottomed out, sending you into a cycle of undereating. I would try to force yourself to eat small high-fiber or high-protein calorie-dense foods every couple of hours.

Almonds
Walnuts
Berries (almost any kind)
Broccoli
Greek Yogurt
Oatmeal
Spinach
Chicken breast

Power foods like these will help inject sorely-needed nutrients into your system to help get you a metabolic kickstart and let your body know that you are not stranded on a raft somewhere with no rescue in sight. 1/4 cup of raw almonds is 170 calories. I can guarantee you can eat 1 cup of almonds over the course of a day. Nibble on them continuously to get them all into your system. That's 680 calories right there

A very good multivitamin would also likely be a godsend for you at this point.

Pebble321

You HAVE to eat more to stay healthy, but you already know that already.
Don't increase your calories all at once if it is too hard, try going up 50 cals, stay there for a few days, then increase again.
Plan your meals, add small snacks that are calorie and nutrient dense (nuts, avocado of wholegrain crackers, yoghurt (not fat free) with banana etc).
Don't wait to feel hungry, I think that mechanism is right out of whack at the moment, so you need to retrain your body to get used to regular meals that have lots of nutrients and energy to keep you healthy and provide good fuel so you can keep working out.

If you can't do all that on your own, go to your doctor and ask for a referral to someone who can help get your eating back on track.
Take care.

tn92

thanks everyone. i guess what i wanted was someone to tell it to me straight and just shake me out of this. im gonna try to increase my intake a little bit everyday. thanks again! and the reason that i got stuck in this starvation mode thing is because my mom has been eating like this and she lost 25lbs and she has been able to keep it off for 4 yrs. i guess what works for her wont work for me.

JasonD334

I can understand your concerns, but increasing your calorie intake to healthy levels will not make you gain the weight back, of this I am sure. Now in the immediate you may notice a little increase, but that is because you've basically been putting your metabolism on standby (or turning it off), so it will take an adjustment. Over the long term, however, you'll feel better, have more energy, and actually lose more weight (if you so desire). -- My recommendation is to open your dairy to a select few friends, then have them help keep you accountable to a baseline calorie number (which should be at least 1200, especially with exercise).

Our bodies aren't made to run on E all the time, and the calories are our fuel, so please take the time to fuel up. You're going to do great!

P.S- Last week I lost nearly 4lbs, and my calorie intake was 1600+ daily. I am not a "big" guy either, as my weight is 185 and my BMI is in the perfect range, so you can absolutely lose weight even while taking in the calories. Exercise is the key.

dewgirl321

I don't know much about eating disorders, but it sounds to me like you may be dealing with feelings and habits that can turn into one. I think meeting with a nutritionist (or at least a doctor) would be a good idea. It seems like you are so worried about gaining weight or not losing weight that you are convincing yourself that you aren't hungry and don't need to eat. I hope that you find help with the stress of eating and can move forward with your weight loss in a healthy manner.

Reading success stories, especially the ones who outline how they did it, should be helpful too. I don't recall reading a single one where the person said they lost weight by eating 850 calories per day. Most are around 1200 PLUS exercise calories. Maybe that will help you gain the confidence and ability to eat the calories recommended here.

Best of luck to you.

Huffdogg

You probably have been losing muscle too so make sure you are getting at least 80 g of protein (really, over 100 is best)

Sadly, this is almost guaranteed. the body will catabolize muscle very quickly if not fueled properly.

Misiaxcore

Sounds like you need to see a doctor about a possible eating disorder.

When my weight stops going down at a normal pace, I UP my calories and the pounds fall right off. So don't be scared.
But since your metabolism is more than likely super slow now from not eating, you might gain a pound or two back until your body is working properly again.

whatwentwrong

EAT

HELPFUL

i know how hard it is to get up to 1200 i agree with some of the other posters- try going up to 1200 slowly, hopefully it won't be as scary if you're only adding 100 calories a day

if your menu for today is typical, maybe you could try adding some veggies? i'm kind of at a loss, since i'm having trouble getting my calories up too *watches thread closely for ideas*

slp2112

I just did a quick look at what your BMR might be (your profile doesn't give any height and weight so I made a conservative estimate - a 5'4" female who weighs 150 lbs). I'm getting numbers in the 1400-1700 ballpark.

Let's be SUPER conservative and assume that your BMR is 1200 calories (I don't see how that's even possible. It HAS to be higher. But we'll stick with this for the sake of argument).

That means that on a day that you don't exercise and you sit and do nothing, you're running up a 400 calorie deficit and you'll lose about a pound a week. But what about exercise? If you're running up deficits of 700, 800, or even 1000 calories a day then your body is going to start hanging on to the food you eat and you won't drop weight.

Two months ago I was on a 2-month plateau. I was working out incredibly hard, eating 1800 calories a day (so already 1000 calories more than you) and dropping no weight. I met with an RD, increased my intake to 2100 calories a day (my rBMR is 1780, fyi) and started losing weight again.

You are starving yourself. No person can function on 800 calories a day. There's no way you are getting the appropriate amounts of macro- and micronutrients. Start eating more and give your body 2-3 weeks to adjust. I think you'll see a difference.

That said, I also want to point out that the behavior you're demonstrating is very similar to that of my sister's and she has an eating disorder. If you find that you're trying to whittle your body down to nothing, please seek professional help .If that's the case, this site and it's users can't provide you with the help and support you need.

jbudge1

As everyone else has said, you are not eating enough. You are starving yourself . I consider 800 calories a day anorexia.

EdensMummy

The fact that you don't feel comfy sharing your diary and the lack of calories does seem to indicate that there's a bit of an ED going on here, but I could be wrong? 800 cals per day is so little...to echo the others, it seems your body has gone into starvation mode and is hanging onto every morsel you give it...especially if you're working out.

Even if you just add a little more protein - perhaps an egg, or something like quinoa or some carbs just to bump up your cals, you'll probably see the results...

Good luck

NoAdditives

I am going to be honest, if you are not willing to be honest with the public diary, you probably arent willing to take the advice given.

if you know you should be doing something, and you aren't... and you dont want to make changes, you can't expect results.
Not trying to be a douche, but its reality.

Eat more fruit.. more veggies.. drink milk eat yogurt, make a wrap, have a salad with lean meat and cheese and nuts... there are tons of ways to bulk up the calories. you get in the mindset of hitting a "magic number" and its going to seem like an unatainable goal. You think of how many serivings that you have had from the food pyramid and in no time you will be meeting goals.

But again, if you aren;t willing to make changes.. you cant expect to see anything.

I agree.

starracer23

I don't get it...why do people continue to post things like this?

Do they thrive off of negative attention?

Do they need to be told what they already know??

Do they think that we will just boo-who with them and tell them it's ok??

What happened to common sense? Is it dead now?

Pebble321

I am the same, I eat 700-1100 usually and eat back nothing. My weight has been stuck for over 2 weeks. I am trying various things to help out my metabolism like more exercise, front-loading calories and mixing up my exercise routine. So far no luck.

Looking at your stats, you may want to work up to eating at maintenance (go up greadually to work out the right number for you to maintain) and focus in exercises that work on strength and toning. You appear to be at a healthy weight for your height so dropping more numbers on the scales probably won't change your "look" much, whereas exercise will.

ChristineMarie89

EAT

God, people like you annoy me. She's trying, she might be suffering from mild symptoms of an ED so don't type the word "eat" to her in capital letters. Jesus christ, give the girl tips instead of this crap.

^^^
sometimes i cant eat all my calories n i look for help n everyone puts EAT EAT EAT well if we felt like/could EAT EAT EAT we wouldnt be asking for help
and for the op
eat some snacks not just meals. walk into the kitchen find something to cook n cook it after you have worked on cooking it and smelling it you might jus be hungry :P works for me

ATT949

i have been eating less than 800 cals on most days and i workout on top of that (some days just 30day shred and 2x a week i do ellipticals for an hr) and i don't eat back my exercise cals. i have been at the same weight for a month and i know i should bump my intake to 1200 but I'm just so scared of doing that and then gaining all the weight that i have lost back. and today i tried to plan my meal so that i will be as close to 1200 as possible and it seems that no matter what i do I'm coming up to only about 850. I don't know what to do. I know my diary is closed and I'm not comfortable with opening it up to the public.

What I Ate Today:
Breakfast:
1 pack of low sugar oatmeal (120)
1/3 skim milk (40)
1/3 cup of sliced bananas (40)
1/2 watermelon (25)
Total: 225

Lunch:
1 whole wheat english muffin (130)
1 tb of pb (95)
Total: 225

I wasn't even hungry at lunch but i forced myself to eat. oh and i drink anywhere from 6-12 glasses of water a day. no soda or juice of any kind. i have also given up coffee.

I lost weight at 800 to 1k net cals/day with excellent results.

Note that "net cals/day".

Your exercise is lowering your net calories to well under 800 and that may well be why you're not losing weight.

You are eating so few calories that you are probably starving your body. No, not "starvation mode" where you will burst into flames if you only eat 1199 calories but the real starvation mode that kicks in at about 500 net cals/day.

No need to give up coffee (unless you just don't want to drink it) and, since you've been able to curb your appetite, drinking that much water might isn't serving its purpose of filling you up so you don't feel hungry.

When I stopped losing weight on July 1, I was concerned that my weight might "pop up" so I upped my calories to 1750. Didn't happen. You can see my weight here:

http://cbeinfo.net/weight.htm

Yes, I jumped over 200 once but that was water retention due to heavily salted food but otherwise it's been OK. No sudden weight gains in two months.


Allow me to suggest that you eat your exercise calories back, go back to enjoying coffee, keep exercising, and weight yourself every day.

SergeantSunshine_reused

I don't get it...why do people continue to post things like this?

Do they thrive off of negative attention?

Do they need to be told what they already know??

Do they think that we will just boo-who with them and tell them it's ok??

What happened to common sense? Is it dead now?

I have to agree with this. I had an ED for quite sometime in high school. I think people do know the answer to all of these posts. They might just need some sort of push to open their eyes.

Mine was muscle loss, along ith my hair starting to fall out. I now have some good muscle definition and healthy hair! Eat :] you will glow and feel fantastic again ^-^ If you are full try eating some nuts or drink your calories like above posters :]

vick9180

i have been eating less than 800 cals on most days and i workout on top of that (some days just 30day shred and 2x a week i do ellipticals for an hr) and i don't eat back my exercise cals. i have been at the same weight for a month and i know i should bump my intake to 1200 but I'm just so scared of doing that and then gaining all the weight that i have lost back. and today i tried to plan my meal so that i will be as close to 1200 as possible and it seems that no matter what i do I'm coming up to only about 850. I don't know what to do. I know my diary is closed and I'm not comfortable with opening it up to the public.

What I Ate Today:
Breakfast:
1 pack of low sugar oatmeal (120)
1/3 skim milk (40)
1/3 cup of sliced bananas (40)
1/2 watermelon (25)
Total: 225

Lunch:
1 whole wheat english muffin (130)
1 tb of pb (95)
Total: 225

I wasn't even hungry at lunch but i forced myself to eat. oh and i drink anywhere from 6-12 glasses of water a day. no soda or juice of any kind. i have also given up coffee.

This concerns me greatly. If you eat for dinner what you ate for breakfast and lunch, you'll have only taken in 675 calories for the entire day. Adding 30 minutes of a high intensity workout and an hour on the elliptical plus considering what you burn naturally for the day is giving you an insane calorie deficit. Your poor body can't sustain itself on this, and you're putting yourself at risk for your entire body to shut down and cause you to be hospitalized. I'm not a doctor or a psychologist, but it's possible that you might want to take into consideration seeing one or both of them to find out why you're eating and exercise habits are so extreme. I don't know how tall you are or how much you currently weigh, but you're headed down a very dangerous road with the habits you're forming and the mindset that eating 1200 calories will cause you to gain back what you've lost. It sounds like you really believe you're doing all you can to get more calories, so it seems like the advice to eat more won't help you. It's obvious that you're looking for help, but I'm not so sure that MFP can offer you what you need when you're resistant to upping your calories to a healthy intake for fear of gaining anything back.

writtenINthestars

EAT

HELPFUL

i know how hard it is to get up to 1200 i agree with some of the other posters- try going up to 1200 slowly, hopefully it won't be as scary if you're only adding 100 calories a day

if your menu for today is typical, maybe you could try adding some veggies? i'm kind of at a loss, since i'm having trouble getting my calories up too *watches thread closely for ideas*

But it doesn't have to be. You can eat more calorie dense food and up your calories. It may take a bit to get use to actually feeling full, but 1200 calories is completely doable if you look at this as a lifestyle change and not just a diet. JMHO

MrsPhan11

The answer is almonds! I can eat these all day but have to control myself. 1/4 cup serving has 170 calories. They are high in fat but it is the monosaturated, which is the good fat!