Under-eating - do you comment or not?

LeilaFace

Two of my very very close friends on here are under eaters. I can't delete them because I love them too much... both are short girls - probably 5'2" or 5'4" at max, they try to tell me smaller girls need to eat less. They eat usually 600-900 calories a day... which to me is kind of scary.

One has serious food allergies and there's only so many foods she can eat like potatoes, veggies, avocado, turkey and chicken ... It's hard to say EAT MORE when you can only eat so much of the same thing. She says she feels fine and is not tired.

The other says when she eats more than 1000 calories a day she feels gross I try to tell her it's because she conditioned her body to that but her husband butt in that his sister is a nutritionist and said that some people can live off an 800 calorie diet ... Which I suppose you can but what goes in needs to COUNT... Most of what she logs seems to be junk food ...

So there's nothing for me to do but throw my hands up in the air and hope they figure it out themselves. When they log over 1000 calories, I comment. When they don't, I don't.

http://leilaface.blogspot.com/2012/06/weight-loss-i.html

EmCarroll1990

didn't comment, just deleted off my friends list.
There's been a couple like that and it's not up to me to judge as our goals were obviously very different. So with one click of the button, away they were........

This.

inktink

Two of my very very close friends on here are under eaters. I can't delete them because I love them too much... both are short girls - probably 5'2" or 5'4" at max, they try to tell me smaller girls need to eat less. They eat usually 600-900 calories a day... which to me is kind of scary.

One has serious food allergies and there's only so many foods she can eat like potatoes, veggies, avocado, turkey and chicken ... It's hard to say EAT MORE when you can only eat so much of the same thing. She says she feels fine and is not tired.

The other says when she eats more than 1000 calories a day she feels gross I try to tell her it's because she conditioned her body to that but her husband butt in that his sister is a nutritionist and said that some people can live off an 800 calorie diet ... Which I suppose you can but what goes in needs to COUNT... Most of what she logs seems to be junk food ...

So there's nothing for me to do but throw my hands up in the air and hope they figure it out themselves. When they log over 1000 calories, I comment. When they don't, I don't.

http://leilaface.blogspot.com/2012/06/weight-loss-i.html

I'm 5'3 and I net roughly 1850 when I'm not pregnant.. Those poor girls need to eat.

kitka82

You asked the question: to comment, or not to comment?

But I think that an even bigger question is--if you DO comment, what will that comment BE?

Will you simply ask about their diet out of curiosity? Or will you simply tell them they are not eating enough?

Where will the comments end?

If someone is meeting their caloric needs, but only eating Twinkies, would you comment?

If a person is consistently exceeding their calories, would you comment?

Also, what if their macronutrients are off, and they are eating like, 80% carbs, 15% fat, and 5% protein or something like that?

These are the questions we are faced with..........................

WickedGarden

nope...

I have some MFP friends that show up 'was under her calorie goal', one of them is basically my 'twin'. She is the same height, was roughly the same starting weight, and currently is at her goal weight (the weight I want to be at). I sent her a FR because her before/after pics are inspiring.

When people hit a plateau, they want to try adjusting their diet a bit, so the calories will fluctuate. They have to do it for a month, or so to see if it works for them. We are not 'cookie cutter' people, different things work for different people. i like looking at different diaries and comparing how certain things work for all different kinds of people.

of course I won't follow someone who is eating only 600 calories a day, but under a few hundred? ppffft.

xHelloQuincyx

no. not only do i not comment, i just delete them. most times trying to explain to them about how much they need to eat before and the meaning of net etc. if they dont agree, then bye bye.

Serenstar75

I eat very low calories but it isnt because I do it on purpose or am trying to starve myself. I am just not that hungry. I have tried for the last week to eat more but gave up when I made myself sick with stomach pains. Plain and simple you should not eat if you are not hungry. Also it isnt technically considered starvation mode unless you are eating less than 50% of your daily requirement. On average I eat 1000-1100. So that is not bad at all.

People are always saying that you will lose muscle but that is only true if you are thinner. You will lose fat and not muscle if you are obese, according to studies. It is also known that it is difficult for a body to go into starvation mode unless your body is close to 5% body fat for men and 10% body fat for women. I dont buy into the whole starvation mode BS. Here are some good sights that explain that it is nothing more than a myth.

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode
http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/

I'll check those out. I'm so stressed and not eating as much and worse...Trying to force myself to eat more is MORE stress. And I stress-ercise :P I use it to get out tension, so I know I need calories. And uhg. I just could scream over trying to get all calories in a row along with all the other ducks in a row in my life.