What happens if you eat too little

Ayeshat

I'm pretty much on day one... again lol but I did a bit of exercise this morning and I've eaten proper food but I'm just not really hungry and i'll probably be in about 700 calories short of my goal by the end of the day.. do i force myself to eat?

MrEmoticon

You should probably try to stay pretty close to your goal. I can't say much, I'm usually 3-400 below my goal. If you feel fine, I wouldn't say it's necessarily bad, but others might disagree.

ninerbuff

A day or two won't matter. But consistently, your body will adjust to the lack of calories by lowering your metabolic rate and catabolizing lean tissue for energy.

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Ayeshat

Thanks guys, I'll eat a bit more for each meal tomorrow

LuckyLeprechaun

planning ahead is key!

marycmeadows

I don't understand why this question is on here almost daily..... the answer is simple. choose more calorie dense foods if you have trouble reaching your calorie goal -- nuts, peanut butter, avocado, etc.

losethatshit

If you arent hungry then don't eat. 'starvation mode' is a myth. Not to mention when you add exercise in MFP it tells you to eat back the calories even if you arent hungry. That's not very logical if you're trying to lose weight. (not to mention the calorie estimates from exercises here on MFP are ridiculously high every single time)

It used to be that our ancestors would only eat if someone was able to drag home a buffalo at that night's kill, sometimes it would be weeks at time. Your body won't eat into muscle unless you have lost absolutely all body fat or you are exercising past aerobic into anaerobic exercises. (above 80% of your resting heart rate - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Exercise_zones.png ) That's the entire point of why your body stores fat is so that it can use it later and anyone who has had basic college courses in biology or evolutionary biology can confirm that. Why store fat if you arent going to use it? Why would your body eat lean muscle tissue instead of the fat it has purposely stored for this only reason? That's just not how your body works.

christenwypy

If you arent hungry then don't eat. 'starvation mode' is a myth. Not to mention when you add exercise in MFP it tells you to eat back the calories even if you arent hungry. That's not very logical if you're trying to lose weight. (not to mention the calorie estimates from exercises here on MFP are ridiculously high every single time)

It used to be that our ancestors would only eat if someone was able to drag home a buffalo at that night's kill, sometimes it would be weeks at time. Your body won't eat into muscle unless you have lost absolutely all body fat or you are exercising past aerobic into anaerobic exercises. (above 80% of your resting heart rate - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Exercise_zones.png ) That's the entire point of why your body stores fat is so that it can use it later and anyone who has had basic college courses in biology or evolutionary biology can confirm that. Why store fat if you arent going to use it? Why would your body eat lean muscle tissue instead of the fat it has purposely stored for this only reason? That's just not how your body works.

This is what I thought as well. I read about intermittent fasting recently and it basically said all this as well and it made sense to me. But then when people post about how your body needs a certain amount of calories to preform its inner functions, that makes sense too! I think I will just listen to my body and if I feel badly I will adjust accordingly.

Ayeshat

That makes sense..... fat goes then muscle or ur heart would be in pretty big trouble after drastic weight loss.. yeah I won't force myself to get to a certain calorie intake... and I thought that the calorie estimates were strange.. i was like woaah, I burnt off a meal at burger king walking up the stairs lol

kayglo

That makes sense..... fat goes then muscle or ur heart would be in pretty big trouble after drastic weight loss.. yeah I won't force myself to get to a certain calorie intake... and I thought that the calorie estimates were strange.. i was like woaah, I burnt off a meal at burger king walking up the stairs lol

I know how you feel, I felt completely fine on 1200 cals a day and then came on here with everyone saying we should eat closer to 2000+ cals and my body can't hold all the food! I had 1600 cals yesterday and I felt like I'd burst open! Today I've just forgotten to eat, had about 600 cals worth of food and exercised for 40 mins... I'm currently eating nuts and making a nice hearty dinner to get the cals up.. Whether I can eat it all is a different matter :P

Ayeshat

That makes sense..... fat goes then muscle or ur heart would be in pretty big trouble after drastic weight loss.. yeah I won't force myself to get to a certain calorie intake... and I thought that the calorie estimates were strange.. i was like woaah, I burnt off a meal at burger king walking up the stairs lol

I know how you feel, I felt completely fine on 1200 cals a day and then came on here with everyone saying we should eat closer to 2000+ cals and my body can't hold all the food! I had 1600 cals yesterday and I felt like I'd burst open! Today I've just forgotten to eat, had about 600 cals worth of food and exercised for 40 mins... I'm currently eating nuts and making a nice hearty dinner to get the cals up.. Whether I can eat it all is a different matter :P

lol I don't think I can ever forget to eat... even if I skip a meal because of something or other.. i am very aware of it lol.. but if ur not having any health problems or anything and ur body isn't rebelling against you then... yeah... but 600 cals lool.. soo small... don't hurt yourself with the hearty dinner though :-)

watboy

You get out of my head! Stop reading my thoughts!

If you arent hungry then don't eat. 'starvation mode' is a myth. Not to mention when you add exercise in MFP it tells you to eat back the calories even if you arent hungry. That's not very logical if you're trying to lose weight. (not to mention the calorie estimates from exercises here on MFP are ridiculously high every single time)

It used to be that our ancestors would only eat if someone was able to drag home a buffalo at that night's kill, sometimes it would be weeks at time. Your body won't eat into muscle unless you have lost absolutely all body fat or you are exercising past aerobic into anaerobic exercises. (above 80% of your resting heart rate - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Exercise_zones.png ) That's the entire point of why your body stores fat is so that it can use it later and anyone who has had basic college courses in biology or evolutionary biology can confirm that. Why store fat if you arent going to use it? Why would your body eat lean muscle tissue instead of the fat it has purposely stored for this only reason? That's just not how your body works.