Am I eating too little?

jakeispro

Hey, for the past month or so I have been eating around 1.2k calories a day but for the past week or so I have started getting light headed a lot more when standing up, can this be from eating too little? because I rarely feel hungry so I assumed I was eating about right?

I'm a 18 male 172 pounds and 5 foot 11

MichPace8

Are you scheduling pre and post workout meals?

kmh0617

It's called orthostatic hypotension - a drop in blood pressure upon changin position (in this case, upon standing).
This started happening to me (down 33 pounds) and my husband (down 50 pounds) upon losing weight.
It's common, but if you're concerned, ask your doctor about it. And drink more water.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/orthostatic-hypotension/DS00997

Wonderob

Hey, for the past month or so I have been eating around 1.2k calories a day but for the past week or so I have started getting light headed a lot more when standing up, can this be from eating too little? because I rarely feel hungry so I assumed I was eating about right?

I'm a 18 male 172 pounds and 5 foot 11

God yes! Most agree that you shouldn't go below your BMR which is the amount of calories just to stay alive. Yours is Nearly 2000

ChasingSweatandTears

Yes! You are not eating enough at all. 1200 calories for an 18 year old male with your stats, is probably well below your basic bmr. Go to http://www.matthewscaloriecounter.com/calorie_calculators/daily_calorie_limit_calculator.aspx to determine accurate calorie needs and change them manually on this site. Your number will be way higher. good luck! And eat something right now lol

cmriverside

Eat for Pete's sake. I do not know who Pete is, but he would want you to eat a lot more!! The recommended minimum for men is 1800. Eat at least that. Especially since you don't have a lot of weight to lose.

Go to the site tools and figure your BMR. That should be your absolute rock bottom. And really, at your weight, you should be eating a lot more than whatever your BMR turns out to be, unless you want to lose whatever muscle you have.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

ChasingSweatandTears

Also, sodium is necessary for proper blood pressure regulation. I had the same problem a few years ago, and was told by a cardiologist to increase my sodium, and it helped. My guess is if you are eating so little. You may not be getting enough sodium as well. You can track it as a nutrient on this site.

ironanimal

Jesus Christ...you're 18. You're still growing - you need more nutrition than you can get from 1200 calories. I'm 5'9", 4 years older than you and my BMR is over 2000. Yours is probably higher.

jj3120

I am a 5'0" female and losing weight on 1900+ cals a day.

Your body gets used to low calories which is probably why you don't 'feel' hungry, once you start eating more your appetite will kick back in!

Have a look at the eat more to weigh less group you'll find great advice : )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Wonderob

Jesus Christ...you're 18. You're still growing - you need more nutrition than you can get from 1200 calories. I'm 5'9", 4 years older than you and my BMR is over 2000. Yours is probably higher.

I worked his out using http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

BMR of 1935.55

jakeispro

1,822 calories/day? Does that sound about right? because I do still want to lose around 10 pounds quite fast

ChasingSweatandTears

No, that's still below your BMR.... You don't have much weight to lose. I'm not sure why you want to lose 10 pounds FAST, unless it's for a competetion or something, but if you do that, you're going to lose muscle mass which isn't what you want. Better to do it the right way. If you just want to lose a little bloat and look leaner for a competetion or temporarily for a specific event, keep your calories normal, but decrease your carbs and sodium for a week or two and drink lots of water. But you need to eat, I would say no less than 2,000 calories a day. Make it lean protein, lots of veggies and healthy fats.

If you are actually trying to keep weight OFF however, the closer you are to a healthy weight the SLOWER you should actually try to lose it in order to preserve muscle and make sure the weight lost is fat. In this case, it's not necessary to restrict any kinds of foods, just figure out your TDEE (google TDEE calculators) and eat at a 15% deficit from that number. Most calculators will tell you what that figure will be.

ETA: I'm not sure if you know this, but BMR is what doctors would feed you if you were in a coma doing nothing all day long, to keep your body functioning. When an average person eats below their BMR for an extended period of time, your body suffers and your functions, including metabolism are impaired. There is some debate about wether this applies to the extremely overweight, however you clearly do not fall into that category so you don't want to eat below your BMR. You will simply set yourself up for failure that way, feel like crap and even if you do lose weight, it will be muscle and when you gain weight back, because you will, it will be fat and most likely accumulate around your midsection. Definitely NOT a recipe for success

Wonderob

No, that's still below your BMR.... You don't have much weight to lose. I'm not sure why you want to lose 10 pounds FAST, unless it's for a competetion or something, but if you do that, you're going to lose muscle mass which isn't what you want. Better to do it the right way. If you just want to lose a little bloat and look leaner for a competetion or temporarily for a specific event, keep your calories normal, but decrease your carbs and sodium for a week or two and drink lots of water. But you need to eat, I would say no less than 2,000 calories a day. Make it lean protein, lots of veggies and healthy fats.

If you are actually trying to keep weight OFF however, the closer you are to a healthy weight the SLOWER you should actually try to lose it in order to preserve muscle and make sure the weight lost is fat. In this case, it's not necessary to restrict any kinds of foods, just figure out your TDEE (google TDEE calculators) and eat at a 15% deficit from that number. Most calculators will tell you what that figure will be.

ETA: I'm not sure if you know this, but BMR is what doctors would feed you if you were in a coma doing nothing all day long, to keep your body functioning. When an average person eats below their BMR for an extended period of time, your body suffers and your functions, including metabolism are impaired. There is some debate about wether this applies to the extremely overweight, however you clearly do not fall into that category so you don't want to eat below your BMR. You will simply set yourself up for failure that way, feel like crap and even if you do lose weight, it will be muscle and when you gain weight back, because you will, it will be fat and most likely accumulate around your midsection. Definitely NOT a recipe for success

Yes this. Especially the bit about TDEE. Very important