probably a really stupid question!

Clarecbear82

I was watching super sized vs super skinny and there are women on there who look emaciated and tiny then they say its because they only eat say 1300 cals a day! When I hear that I think well that's what I'm eating and I'm nowhere near looking like that.

So my question is if I carried on eating 1300 cals a day even after reaching my goal would I end up looking like that? What about plataus (sp?) Would you eventually just go through them and keep losing?

Sorry this is a silly question and I by no means want to end up like that but im just curious really!

cmriverside

Why are you eating that little? Are you 4'11"?

As close as you are to your goal, you should have adjusted up your calories by now, so when you reach your goal, you will be only a couple hundred calories a day from your maintenance calories.

And, hopefully, you will notice if you get emaciated

potluck965

I don't know what the show is, if it is a show, but if you continued to eat only 1300 calories and exercised like crazy, that would be the way to get to emaciated.

I have to eat around that to maintain, so the number isn't the problem, it is the burn ratio.

susannamarie

I was watching super sized vs super skinny and there are women on there who look emaciated and tiny then they say its because they only eat say 1300 cals a day! When I hear that I think well that's what I'm eating and I'm nowhere near looking like that.

So my question is if I carried on eating 1300 cals a day even after reaching my goal would I end up looking like that? What about plataus (sp?) Would you eventually just go through them and keep losing?

Sorry this is a silly question and I by no means want to end up like that but im just curious really!

Some people do plateau ... but the people who end up emaciated tend to respond to them by just dropping a bit further. Your metabolism can only reduce so far.

It'll also depend on how tall you are. Someone who was, let's say, 40, female, and 5 feet tall, would have a maintenance of 1310 at 110, which is not actually that bad of a weight. At my age and height (31, 5' 10"), I'd need to be under 70 lbs to have a maintenance of 1300, which would DEFINITELY put me in the 'oh my God someone feed that person' category.

Cucchim

I don't think I would ever get like that. I eat 1300 calories a day and work out and I don't look like that. I have seen that show and wondered the same thing .

ladykate7

I was watching super sized vs super skinny and there are women on there who look emaciated and tiny then they say its because they only eat say 1300 cals a day! When I hear that I think well that's what I'm eating and I'm nowhere near looking like that.

I've seen that show!

BMR: calories burned just laying in bed
TDEE: calories burned overall during the day-- walking around, getting in and out of car, putting on clothes, taking a shower, exercising etc, you get the picture

I'm guessing their BMRs and TDEEs are much higher than their daily calorie consumption, and at some point they likely went into starvation mode for not providing the fuel their body needs to do their everday activities, hence the emaciated body.

Definitly not the look we're going for.

ladykate7

Oh! and congrats on your 74 lbs down progress - good job :drinker:

maggie16sweetxoxo

hey not trying to come off unsupportive but those girls prob. have eaten 1300 their whole life and were never over weight, prob have good genes too

yesthistime

I just want to mention that I love that show! The look on the supersized person's face when he/she gets a plate with that ridiculously tiny bit of food on it is PAINFUL but I so empathize.

sazroy

I'm doing Lite n Easy and used to be on the 1200 cal diet.. I lost so much weight and I was actually eating more than I'm used to! But now that I've lost it I've plateued and I have to go up to 1500.. I have no idea how I'm going to eat that much but we'll see. The more weight you lose and the more exercise you do the more you have to eat. If you continually stick to 1300 even when fit and exercising you'll go into starvation mode which you could end up skinny as or just end up piling the weight back on because your body will decide to store everything.


*added note*
If 1300 is what you're meant to be on then stick with it, just saying if you're meant to be on more then you should eat more

toasterlisa

MFP will re-adjust your calories to your maintenance amount when you reach your goal.

The reason they set it at 1,300 (or in my case, 1,200) is because they want you to see a loss of at least 1 lb per week or else you'll get discouraged and quit!

I'm guessing you are smart enough to eat more if you look like a skeleton.

Also, you probably shouldn't watch any shows about weight. These are just more reality shows that have no reality on them.

Best wishes on your health and wellness journey.

shaycat

I reached my goal, but had a really hard time adding more calories in. I kept losing weight. I got pretty thin. I had to really up my calories. I never hot a plateau or anything. I now eat 1800+ calories to maintain :happy: