1000 calories or less a day

LorinaLynn

There's worse things than gaining weight... like being malnourished. If it takes a little longer to reset your metabolism and you gain a little in the meantime, that's ok. It's not a race. You've got a lifetime to accomplish all your goals.

secretlobster

Thank you for writing this. It is the truth. I had a similar experience, I lost about 40lb by starving myself. Yes the pounds on the scales go down so you feel great about your "success". Everyone congratulates you. Your starvation is reinforced, you ignore your hunger, or even start to enjoy it.

When I was finished losing weight, I was left with an eating disorder, a horrible metabolism, and a distorted body image. My therapist isn't cheap, either.

It's such a slippery slope to become obsessed with measurements - calories, pounds, inches. I hope people will read your post and understand that obsession is a sign of illness, it's not success. Please be very careful, your mental health is just as important.

o_delaisse

"Everyone congratulates you. Your starvation is reinforced, you ignore your hunger, or even start to enjoy it." EXACTLY. That was a big part of the problem.

And I'm being careful. This is my second day of over 1100 (felt a bit grumpy drinking my milk to push it up a bit, but actually I liked it). Got some goals together, going to slowly increase it. People have been so supportive, it's really helped a lot

funkycamper

Perhaps. It's also a cold hard fact that the majority of people, even with measuring underestimate their calories by approximately 20%. Look it up. I'm sure you'll find it somewhere.

I ate junk in highschool, but I kept my calorie count low....800 calories approximately, per day. I was also on Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers and followed their diets for several months to a "t' and gained. So who's right?

Hey there.

Wanna know why you gained on 800 calories a day? Why you gain every time you eat a normal diet of 1500 calories?

Read this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

I didn't gain on 800. On 800 calories a day (approx) I lost weight. I lost well over 30 lbs.

Unfortunately, you also lost a lot of precious muscle that is very difficult to rebuild. If you had lost at higher calories, even if it had taken you longer to lose, you would have maintained a lot more muscle and lost a lot more actual fat. I hope you read through some of the stories in this discussion so that the awful ramifications of very low calorie eating sinks in. There are people reporting that they developed eating disorders, body image problems, damaged metabolisms and other problems that typically accompany prolonged eating at that level. Best wishes.

o_delaisse

What you say about muscle is so important as well. I mainly talked about the psychological effects of this, but it links in because when you get to a normal weight you can really see the muscle damage. For me, having done this, I am a normal weight (top end, admittedly), but there are people with higher BMIs than me with flat stomachs. I don't have a flat stomach. Far from it. Sat here now with a little pot and it makes me feel bad.

I'm ready to start to move on, I just think the time is right, but in different circumstances, I would take my little pot as a sign to go lower and lower until it was flat. And I don't know if it would ever go flat if I kept up the 1000 cals or under.

So yes: the muscle damage IS visible, very much so, and when you're as body-conscious as I am, it's really no fun at all. Someone on here told me about the importance of looking after your muscles, and because i wasn't educated in weight loss and thought scales and calories were purely the way to go, it was all new to me. It is something to keep in mind. Looking after your muscles is important, and I can't stress enough - muscle damage IS visible and you will NOT like your look if you don't look after them,.

skinnymumma92

Thank you, just thank you xx

Lovinmama

Thank you for sharing your story! A woman should NOT eat less than 1200 cal a day, because it NEEDS fat stores we may not like them but they are nessary for our organs to function. I do hope you saw a doctor about your other haelth problems. I was anorexic in highschool and bilemic.. it started out so innoncently just cutting a little here and a little there b4 I knew it I was eatting 100 cal a day, then my body went into servival mode and I night binged till I gained alost 60 lbs! That binging isnt you failing its your body going into servival mode and its way of telling you its starving! Try to eat more, if you are worried about eatting 1600 cal or more then work out and keep it healthy if you must binge that over whealming urge try only having veggies in your house and binge on them... I know how hard it is and I hope you get there! I do not support a diet under 1200 (perferably not under 1600 ) cal a day. The body burns 2100 cals doing nothing so eatting so little is not nessary. And I hope anyone thinking of going under 1200 cal talks to a doctor first again thank you for your story and good luck

Lovinmama

"Everyone congratulates you. Your starvation is reinforced, you ignore your hunger, or even start to enjoy it." EXACTLY. That was a big part of the problem.

And I'm being careful. This is my second day of over 1100 (felt a bit grumpy drinking my milk to push it up a bit, but actually I liked it). Got some goals together, going to slowly increase it. People have been so supportive, it's really helped a lot

I agree the worst thing you can do is reinforce those eatting habbits thats what turned me to annorexia, and I was getting praised for it, only my bf said It wasnt good.

catwalkkittys

That not healthy. You can eat 1200 calories and lose weight safely.

betholiver

bump

momma2teacher

I too am below 1000 calories. Not because I want to, but that is what my body tells me is good. I started at 1200 and eating some of my exercise calories, but I started gaining weight. I now eat around 900, and I feel great!

Lovinmama

unfortunatly its not how you feel today on a 900 cal a day diet but how you feel in ten years. They affects are not seen for many years. If you truely feel you cannot eat more than 900 cals go to a doctor and a nutritionist, make sure what you are doing is healthy. An extra 10 lbs isnt the end sompared to what can happen to your body if its under nurished (took me 15 yeaars to learn and believe this). I am not judging your saying what your doing IS wrong just asking you make sure it is in deed healthy

Helloitsdan

I too am below 1000 calories. Not because I want to, but that is what my body tells me is good. I started at 1200 and eating some of my exercise calories, but I started gaining weight. I now eat around 900, and I feel great!

The weight you gained was from actually having food in your system. Hate to say it but you are better off overeating than under eating.

How tall are you?
Age?
Weight?

MrsAmeretsu

I can see why a lot of people are getting defensive on both sides, but heres the thing, plugging your ears and yelling "LALALA IM RIGHT YOU"RE WRONG END OF STORY!" isn't going to help anyone. I was 16 when I started a VLC diet, well I shouldn't say diet, I just didnt want to eat. Even when I started out at 140lbs my family (all overweight besides my mother) insisted I should eat more and more and more and that I was too skinny. Guess what, it didnt make me what to eat more, it pissed me off and I went on a VLC diet because I didn't want to end up fat like them. I ate maybe 800-900 calories a day, 1000-1100 calories if I was forced to eat a fatty dinner with the family. I was dizzy constantly, my vision was constantly blacking out around the edges and I could have cared less because I was going to prove I could eat way less that my family and still be okay.

Well I did, I lost weight till I was about 105lbs, eventually I ended up going to school, eating horribly unhealthy and greasy lunch, going home, doing my homework eating 1-2 100 cal snack packs and then sleeping the rest of the day. I spent a total of 9 hours awake a day. I felt okay, my vision slowly returned to normal, I stopped getting dizzy, and then all of a sudden when I was expected to get a job I crashed. I literally passed out walking down the street to a job interview, my vision was constantly black around the edges and my mother was begging me to eat more again. Which I have to be incredibly thankful about. I could have killed myself being stubborn and not caring about my health. My point is, it wasn't until my mother stopped telling me to eat more and nagging me and yelling at me and started telling me how worried she was about me, how sick I looked, how scared she was that I listened. You can yell and say these diets are terrible and you are stupid for doing them, it wont help. You need support and people who care about you to help you out of unhealthy habits.
My fiance of two years keeps my weight at a generally acceptable level. Even now when I eat normally, I still weight about 110-115lbs max, I dont feel sick anymore but I do have to be careful and rely a lot on my fiance to know whats best for me because I honestly cant tell hunger anymore. I eat about 1500 calories to roughly 2000 calories on days when we buy chips and soda I still havent even gained a pound.
So for all the people here putting others down regardless of whos side your on, just stop, it doesnt help anyone and just makes you look like a jerk.

kaervaak

This really hits home with me..Its so difficult for me to get to 1200 calories each day. I hardly ever do. 800-950 is my normal range. I dont want to eat junk to fill my calories up, but I feel guilty if I hit the 1200 or even go above it. I really dont know how to get over this.

Eat higher calorie density foods. Just start adding a few things to your meals like sliced avocados or a handful of mixed nuts. Put some extra olive oil on your salad. Start with little things like a few extra grams of healthy fats at each meal and work up from there.

Sweet_Pea0107

I remember reading an interview with a supermodel, sorry cant remember her name, she is still alive, was big during the reign of Naomi cambell, Linda evangelist, when George micheal did his freedom video. Anyway she lived off some insanely low calorie "diet" for many years of her career. Then after retireing she started eating a little more, and suffered I think 3 heart attacks. Didn't even know she had had the 1st one till a few days later too. Well come to find out her diet for so long had caused horrible damage to her heart. So many years later her bad lifestyle choices were literally killing her.

When I was 18 I went through a bout of ocd and started restricting my calories to about 800 cal a day. I wanted so bad to be thin and thought that food was the enemy. I was 275lbs then and I lost weight quick! I felt fine and I was never hungry, I even worked out 7 days a week. I did this for 3 years and ended up in the hospital. I looked sick, my hair was thinning, my blood sugar all messed up and come to find out I had done permanent damage to my heart, the funny thing is I never felt sick I just all of sudden started having this weird tightness in my chest when I worked out. I was on heart meds for 2 years, but I was completely motivated to get healthy the right way. I have been able to turn my health around even to my doctors surprise. I am only on a bp med now and at the lowest dose hopefully I will get to the point I can control it with diet and exercise alone. I will always have a higher risk for heart attacks and a list of other heart conditions all because I fooled myself into believing science didn't apply to me. I thought I was fooling my body....

ETA: I also still don't ever really feel hungry and i think hunger is a bad measure of the bodies need for food. I have also worked my way up to maintenance calories and since my husband keeps a close eye on my food intake I haven't fell of the wagon yet.

ironanimal

I recently switched (2 weeks ago) to the Primal lifestyle and although my calorie goal on here is 1200 without trying, just by sticking to Primal I find I am around 900 calories almost every day and I feel fantastic - Primal doesn't focus on calories but I track them on here because I like to stay accountable as to what I am eating and have a general clue as to my nutrient breakdown. I think it all depends on your body and lifestyle and what works for you - if I felt deprived or like I was starving myself I would NEVER be able to stick to it. I know that from years and years of experience. it's not about calories it's about overall balance. I'm a nurse practitioner so believe me if I felt like my body wasn't right I'd abort mission on Primal - but so far I never felt better and never fell into an easier lifestyle change for ME.

All other nutrients aside, you still have a basic energy requirement that will be pulled from your own body if you don't ingest enough energy.

Thank you OP for this post.

Molly_Maguire

Great post!

PikaKnight

I find it mind boggling that you have people doing this under 1000 calories for a 1-3 months and are defending their eating habits and saying it is fine even when people who did it for years are coming out going - hey, guess what! I thought it was all good and I gave all the excuses you are giving but now, I screwed myself internally. And THEN the same people who are short timers to this "lifestyle" come back and act like they know it all and think that it's STILL okay. They seem to have the attitude of "Sucks for you but this won't happen to me" mindframe.

I guess for some people, they have to damage themselves first hand to realize that it is not okay. But you know what, as the OP said as she was once "one of those" - you will feel it is your body and your choice and it is. The rest of us trying to tell it to you straight are just trying to help...probably because we've been there.

How about you stay on your diet for a year because you are right and then go to your doctor and get a really thorough exam. I'd bet there'd be at least 85% of people who will come back and say, "Damn, I just screwed myself." And that's if they are able to do the full year without falling off and going on binges..hell, even with that.

To the OP - thank you for posting your story. That took guts to share and even more courage to take responsibility and to take control of your life. Wish you continued success

NordicAlien

My own story is so much like this. I love that you have the courage to share on here, because it's sometimes hard to talk about honestly and calmly, at least for me.

My mom always drummed into me, don't go over a thousand, right from the time I was 3 or 4. Her adoptive mother bullied her for being fat (I just last month saw my first ever photo of mom as a kid - she's very slim) so she grew up terrified of eating too much, and passed that onto me. I've been on one diet or another since I was five. Within a year of starting the first diet I was overweight and it's continued ever since. In school I seesawed between keeping my calories in the 800-1000 range, and eating what I wanted. Most of the time I'd be "good" - I was an obedient kid; had to be with a sick, sad mom - but I'd go through rebellious phases that lasted from a few weeks to a month, where I'd eat the same as my friends at school - which still probably only made it 1500 a day - and during each of these phases I gained between 5 and 10lbs, which then wouldn't come off once I started eating "good" food again.

Sometimes you get an idea stuck in your head and even when you're faced with tons of information that indicates it's incorrect, you can't seem to shake it. It's like that with me and calories now. I'm eating the amount that MFP tells me to eat (well, usually with a deficit of around 500 a day, although I have had days when my deficit is 1000 or more) but the guilt is tremendous. Everything inside me says that this is wrong. I do seem to have more energy, although I won't know if I'm losing (or gaining!) weight until I buy a set of scales.

I guess sometimes you need to listen to your head, because your instincts mislead you. Usually I advocate going with your gut, but in the case of eating disorders, if you listen to your instincts you don't get better.

I wish you all the luck and strength in the world. It's so wonderful to see you sharing your story here.