400 Net Calories for the Day: Scary Behavior

mcarter99

While the chest thumping is certainly entertaining, what you don't seem to understand is that if you're losing at 3000 calories/day, you're burning more than that. So of course 1200 would feel overly restrictive to you.

Some of us burn half or less what you burn. We can't eat 3000 or 2000 and lose and that's ok because if we ate that much we would be stuffed beyond comfort because our smaller bodies and appetites don't require that much. 1200 is fine for many of us. It's not a Sausage McMuffin with cheese and hash browns and then 23 hours of starvation. It's a nice spread of healthy, filling food.

I agree that the White Knighting of the poor little starvin', stupid ladies is offensive.

It becomes tiresome hearing people crow about their starvation diets like it's some sort of virtue.
And in the same breath, they chest thumb about how they don't eat exercise calories back.
I am just saying there is a better way.
MORE FUN - BETTER RESULTS
Just follow MFP recommendations.

I guess that's what it boils down to. MFP was written by a young man who assumes 1200 is starvation. The forum is full of young, large men who think 1200 is starvation. When you're not so young, large or male and you run your own numbers you clearly see that 1200 is no big deficit. In fact, it's conservative. And that's why no recognized diet plan considers it terribly aggressive, much less starvation.

I'm not saying to do this extreme diet (below) but please just read the science. It'll show you that 1200 is nothing to worry about (especially when you burn 1700). Net, gross, whatever.

http://www.files.failedmiserably.com/data/aironz/The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.pdf

erica426

My fitness Pal

quixoteQ

My fitness Pal

+1.

ghgs13

I'm not doing it intentionally, how do I increase my intake healthily? Will I start to feel hungrier over time when I adapt to my exercise routine, or am I going to have to eat when I'm not hungry?

ChelseaGoneAwry

Personally, I burn a lot of calories through exercise. And even though I'm supposed to be eating 1200 calories a day, AND eating back what I burned, I just can't do it. I've been eating low cal for 2 months now, and at this point if someone spread out a buffet table of delicious foods in front of me and said "Eat 2,000 calories worth of this food today." I wouldn't be able to! My stomach is getting smaller, and I'm not going to eat myself sick just so that my Net at the end of the day will be higher.

paygep

I guess that's what it boils down to. MFP was written by a young man who assumes 1200 is starvation. The forum is full of young, large men who think 1200 is starvation. When you're not so young, large or male and you run your own numbers you clearly see that 1200 is no big deficit. In fact, it's conservative. And that's why no recognized diet plan considers it terribly aggressive, much less starvation.

I'm not saying to do this extreme diet (below) but please just read the science. It'll show you that 1200 is nothing to worry about (especially when you burn 1700). Net, gross, whatever.

http://www.files.failedmiserably.com/data/aironz/The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.pdf

thanks for a great link

LorinaLynn

I'm a small-ish (135 pounds, size 4) 40 year old woman. I had a hell of a time trying to lose when I ate less than 1000 calories a day, but it was so effortless this time, eating an average total of 1600-2000 calories a day. (1350-1600 plus exercise calories).

I'm just glad when I came to MFP, I was here to improve my fitness more than for weight loss. And that was because I was positive I wouldn't lose weight. Nothing worked before... why should this?! So I ate what was recommended and... I'll be dipped if the weight didn't come off just as predicted!!! :happy: If I came here with the mindset that I had to eat very little to lose, I would have had a hard time again. And I probably would have quit long before I reached my goal.

I've been maintaining about the same weight for over a year now.

Ayeshat

Personally I think its really confusing because theres a lot of conflicting info out there and people stating opinion as fact etc etc.. I'm still not 100% on the whole concept of net calories and exercise and having a deficit in order to loose weight.. so you need to have a calorie deficit in comparison to your old diet or.......

Cristofori44

While the chest thumping is certainly entertaining, what you don't seem to understand is that if you're losing at 3000 calories/day, you're burning more than that. So of course 1200 would feel overly restrictive to you.

Some of us burn half or less what you burn. We can't eat 3000 or 2000 and lose and that's ok because if we ate that much we would be stuffed beyond comfort because our smaller bodies and appetites don't require that much. 1200 is fine for many of us. It's not a Sausage McMuffin with cheese and hash browns and then 23 hours of starvation. It's a nice spread of healthy, filling food.

I agree that the White Knighting of the poor little starvin', stupid ladies is offensive.

It becomes tiresome hearing people crow about their starvation diets like it's some sort of virtue.
And in the same breath, they chest thumb about how they don't eat exercise calories back.
I am just saying there is a better way.
MORE FUN - BETTER RESULTS
Just follow MFP recommendations.

I guess that's what it boils down to. MFP was written by a young man who assumes 1200 is starvation. The forum is full of young, large men who think 1200 is starvation. When you're not so young, large or male and you run your own numbers you clearly see that 1200 is no big deficit. In fact, it's conservative. And that's why no recognized diet plan considers it terribly aggressive, much less starvation.

I'm not saying to do this extreme diet (below) but please just read the science. It'll show you that 1200 is nothing to worry about (especially when you burn 1700). Net, gross, whatever.

http://www.files.failedmiserably.com/data/aironz/The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.pdf

That's not my issue--burning 1,700 through daily energy expenditure and coming out with 1,200. That theoretically would be totally healthy and equate with a 500-calorie deficit 1 lb. loss per week, depending on if BMR was set correctly.

What I am talking about are people who burn 1,700 or 2,000 naturally--the app doesn't give you this maintenance number, only a net calorie number. Some of these individuals are eating 1,000 or 1,200---their net or below--then subtracting vigorous exercise for a net calorie intake of a few hundred. They are well below the suggested calorie deficit of 500 to 1,000 per day, and the recommended 1-2 lb. loss per week, and with so little consumed and so much burned, there's a chance of health complications from simply not having enough nutrients.

And stop painting this as some kind of sexist issue. There are plenty of men who have fallen into this trap and plenty of women who have recognized that severe under-eating and vigorous amounts of exercise are not a wise path.

xsabrinalynn

It really depends on the individual person. My goal is 1250 and most days I dont eat that many calories. Adding my exercise, my usual net is like 500-800 cals. Sometimes lower on the good exercise days.
It's not like I actively try to keep my numbers there, it's actually the opposite. Some days I have to pretty much force myself to have a snack to get over 1000. I've heard a bazillion times I need to eat more but realized that I need to just listen to what my body tells me.
When I get hungry, I eat. When I eat, I eat until I'm not hungry anymore. I never go to bed hungry, energy levels are better than ever, losing weight...what's the problem here?

^ I agree. MFP made my goal 1360 and I rarely make that and with my exercise, sometimes I net 400-800. I'm not purposely eating to stay that low. I eat when I'm hungry. I eat at all times of the day. I'm not going to stuff myself to the point where I feel so full just to get exactly on my calories or eat all my exercise calories back. I think different things work for different people.

Maybe some people do it for the "burn more than you take in" concept?

I_love_frogs

I don't really have an issue meeting calories usually. I find that using the full fat versions of stuff I eat seems to work wonders Only thing is milk...I love it but I can't drink the whole milk, so I use 2%. Helps me meet the calories and it tastes great! I do use real butter when I cook to help the calories and fat intake, but to add to potatoes etc as a topping? I use the smart balance so its a mixture of both.

Besides...in my opinion though, its probably healthier to eat the real foods than the light versions. Its seems to me they take a lot of things out to lower the calories and fat, and add in not healthy chemicals and stuff to make up fior it. If I am going to eat, I might as well enjoy what I am eating and have the real thing!

SquidNebula

I honestly don't think I'm dieting correctly right now. Although, I'm not sure how badly I'm doing. I almost always have calories left to eat at the end of the day that never get eaten. I often think that I'll make up for it the next day but I often don't and when I do eat over my calories I feel like I've had a bad day and I wind up upset with myself.

I'm new at the whole dieting thing. This is the first time I've seriously tried to lose weight through a diet and exercise. I lost a lot of weight when I was younger but that was due to depression. I starved myself for months. Every time I sat down to eat-- I couldn't eat, so I didn't. And that was when I was at the lowest weight I've ever been in my adult life which was 140lbs. I was weak. I had feinting spells and my blood pressure was always crazy low. I"m not trying to go back to that. I want to lose weight in a healthy matter but I have a lot of mental hurdles I need to make my way over. I need to do some more research but I haven't found the time to do it yet.

So, yeah-- I've probably been exhibiting some 'scary behavior' myself and I want to fix that. I plan to fix it-- I just need to buckle down and learn more about what I'm doing rather than go into it as blindly as I have been.

doonesbury

I eat 1200 calories a day.

I work out 7 mornings a week with Jillian Michaels.

I do not "eat back" the calories I bust butt to burn!

Some days I net a negative number.

We all got fat in the first place by "eating more!"

Eat less!

Move more!

I invite you to look at my profile pic and see if you think I am "starving" or hurting for muscle.

LorinaLynn

Personally I think its really confusing because theres a lot of conflicting info out there and people stating opinion as fact etc etc.. I'm still not 100% on the whole concept of net calories and exercise and having a deficit in order to loose weight.. so you need to have a calorie deficit in comparison to your old diet or.......

All you need to do is to eat less than it takes your body to maintain your current weight, and you will lose. Finding out just what your maintenance is, is the tricky part. And how much less one should eat is the debate.

Personally? I don't believe in swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. If I'm going to lose eating 1600 plus exercise calories, why would I want to eat the bare minimum it would take my body to survive?

RAFValentina

I did it, I'm fine... i lost lean muscle mass... but after doing lots of building up muscle weight i wanted to shed some, as was hindering athletic performance for longer runs. I was doing HUGE workouts of around 1500-2000kCal a day burns... trying for a 500 loss a day... sometimes I couldn't eat if you wanted me to ... the sheer appetite surpressant of hard cardio. was repulsed by rich foods not mentally but subconsciously... tried the peanut butter thing, extra oil but i felt really queasy and to be honest... force feeding yourself food sometimes feels like an eating disorder the other way ... the truth is its probably not a net of this... how do you know how accurately people are logging things, both calories in and out... plus how accurate their measurements of calories burned are and quantities in etc etc.. plus nutritional labelling can be about 10% out!! Some people find what work for them... for me... I found that MFPs calculations were possibly out... possibly because i had more fatty mass than lean mass so calories being burned were lower than predicted... plus the same for logging "exercise" calories which even with a HRM are an approximation.

To be honest... I don't stalk people's diaries... you can net 500 calories and still have eaten 3500-4000 and still gotten adequate mineral and vitamin nutrition (especially if using supplementation.... I was admittedly worse when I ate only my 1400 and then exercised to a small net or minus net... when I ate 2500 and burned 2000 I felt great and didn't seem to have any BAD physiological effects such as becoming more prone to injury, low iron etc ...

The key is to eat a normal amount of calories initially I think then offset the energy part with exercise in order to gain the correct nutrition and fuel to lose weight and stay healthy.

With the latter I didn't suffer with shin splints, soreness in the knees and low iron as I did when I was initially trying out on 1400 and burning 1000-2000 so netting a small or minus number then... if that makes sense.

57silverfox

Ive been having this problem today i ate eggs meat in morn large chicken salad after noon green tea apple juice all day and chicken dinner tonight and ice sandwich skinny cow before bed . I also went 90min bike ride gym swam im very active and walk dog 30 min since burning to many cal dont add up. Ifeel great but i know illhave to put more carbs such as more wheat bread or something to balance it out.

BenChase

i'm fairly certain i am a VERY special case here due to non weight related medical issues i have been on some very weird diet calorie amounts, at one time i went a week with my excercise putting my net into the negitive every day and i felt wonderful,much better than the previous weeks, but that was then, now that i am doing better i am anywhere between 2000-3300 calories a day and maintaining my weight, so chances are for 99% of people they probably are doing something bad, but us few "ill advised sounding diet" people are out there. all i can say is for everyone out there who is eating too few calories a day do your research, find the list of about 40 things that can happen to you including things you would never think of such as increased chance of kidney stones and a few other not so obvious things and then make your choice, no one can (or should) make your choice for you,but you should be informed of what your choices can do to you

mscrumbyy

I'm guilty of often netting very low, but I'm fairly new to this and I'm working on it. I eat vegetarian most of the time since I live with my mum, and after finally cutting the take outs and the useless junk I used to eat, I was eating next to nothing of any worth. I've been focusing more on making better choices and aiming for higher quality foods, and working on how many calories I'm eating later, because I'm actually finding I'm full a lot easier from better foods (of course).

That said, as well intending as this thread may have been, threads like this seem to lead to nothing but bickering, a whole bunch of people trying to justify their diets, another bunch throwing about their doctors opinions to prove the OP wrong, and another bunch who get offended and tell you to keep your nose out.

I think if you're concerned by the habits of someone on your friends list, then raise your concerns and if you're still concerned then unfriend them, simple. Addressing the forums doesn't seem to get anybody anywhere- I'm yet to see anyone hold their hand up and say they find threads full of arguments to be in any way helpful.

BenChase

That said, as well intending as this thread may have been, threads like this seem to lead to nothing but bickering, a whole bunch of people trying to justify their diets, another bunch throwing about their doctors opinions to prove the OP wrong, and another bunch who get offended and tell you to keep your nose out.

I think if you're concerned by the habits of someone on your friends list, then raise your concerns and if you're still concerned then unfriend them, simple. Addressing the forums doesn't seem to get anybody anywhere- I'm yet to see anyone hold their hand up and say they find threads full of arguments to be in any way helpful.

the fact that i think you are right on this means i can raise my hand and say i find this (your arguement) valid and helpful, which in turn makes you wrong......and now i'm lost and don't know whats going on :frown: :laugh:

mscrumbyy

That said, as well intending as this thread may have been, threads like this seem to lead to nothing but bickering, a whole bunch of people trying to justify their diets, another bunch throwing about their doctors opinions to prove the OP wrong, and another bunch who get offended and tell you to keep your nose out.

I think if you're concerned by the habits of someone on your friends list, then raise your concerns and if you're still concerned then unfriend them, simple. Addressing the forums doesn't seem to get anybody anywhere- I'm yet to see anyone hold their hand up and say they find threads full of arguments to be in any way helpful.

the fact that i think you are right on this means i can raise my hand and say i find this (your arguement) valid and helpful, which in turn makes you wrong......and now i'm lost and don't know whats going on :frown: :laugh:

It's far too early in the morning here for all this confusion :laugh:

LorinaLynn

You also have to keep in mind the lurkers. There's a lot more people who only READ the forums than actually post on them. If I thread like this helps a couple people, then I think it was worth a few bruised egos and stepped on toes.

tmauck4472

I eat 1200 calories a day.

I work out 7 mornings a week with Jillian Michaels.

I do not "eat back" the calories I bust butt to burn!

Some days I net a negative number.

We all got fat in the first place by "eating more!"

Eat less!

Move more!

I invite you to look at my profile pic and see if you think I am "starving" or hurting for muscle.

I love it...Thank You very much.

thecapaccino

Totally agree with you!!!

This 1200 trend is ridiculous...and ONLY a DIET...it is NOT a lifestyle change no matter what anyone says.

There will be a few people on this earth who naturally eat less...but that is not the norm.

I would HATE to live with these people!!!

I am now on 1300 aday supposedly to lose (since yesterday) 2lbs a week....this after GAINING like 15lbs in a month doing 1750 calories a day!

pfff..

thecapaccino

but that is a DIET wavedancer....that is not normal eating habits or healthy....

would the caveman have access to such measures????

....but everyone is different...I think as soon as one goes back to eating normal....the weight will come back on??

LowcarbNY

Just quietly unfriend them. No need to watch a train wreck .

onyxgirl17

every once in awhile I net that low if I cant eat my exercise calories back. However, it's harder for me to net at my goal when I exercise and I sometimes go over on days I don't exercise so I figure it all works out.

Nana_Booboo

I agree!!

aolivez

I will be honest, I tried that for about 2 weeks. By the end of it, I had gained 2.6 pounds, after consistantly losing 2 pounds a week before that. I thought I could push it a bit harder and maybe lose 3 or 4 pounds a week, and instead it backfired. I am now back to a healthy diet..and plan on staying there.

I did the same: was losing on 1500, "pushed" myself to 1200 and I haven't lost anything for 12 days! I'm going back to my original plan - fingers crossed. It's an old cliché, but... is it possible that moderation is best?

taryn_09

Question, What if the person is like me, and we do our work out at the end of the day, I'm talking 7-8pm, the food cut off for me is no later than 7pm. What to do?

Eat more before your workout to fuel it, so you work harder. Preferably protein.

Also, there's no reason you *can't* have a protein shake after your workout. I consistently ate dinner at 10 or 11 p.m. while I was losing weight (night classes for grad school) and it didn't impacted me negatively.

^^ true, i honestly find you can eat whenever just not whatever. a calorie is a calorie no matter what time. for me i eat every night at midnight, 2 am, 4 am, and then 8 am for breakfast plus lunch snacks dinner i just watch the amount i have but ive been able to maintain my weight. i dont know how someone can not eat from say 7pm all the way until breakfast the next day my stomach would be starving!

santi251

Thank u for this post. Someone else had mentioned this to me and now I'm starting to eat back my calories lost when exercising!