Is 1000 calories too low???

hmclucks

Iv been eating under 1000 calories for a week now however I don't know if this is unhealthy or not?? I'm 5'7 and 145lbs and need to cut down on my portion sizes so been doing this by calorie counting. Iv never counted calories before but now it's so hard not to think about the calories I'm eating! Is this good?

johnnybriped

i think u sould never go under 1800.

britkip

I think that is very unhealthy I'm 5'8 and 121pounds and I eat around 1350 a day

fromnebraska

It's way too low. You could easily add 500 calories a day and still lose weight

marqcutie80

1200 is the recommended minimum amount to consume daily, however it also depends on your exercise. When you start MFP and enter your information it should give you a number so why don't you use that as a guide? I can promise you it isn't under 1000.

FP4HSharon

They usually say that absolutely no one should ever go below 1200 calories. But at your age & current weight, you should probably be at about 1500 if you want to lose. But MFP does a good job of calculating how many calories you need. I was actually skeptical of "eating back" my extra calories earned w/extra exercise, but when I stuck to their system & ate them back I ended up losing 1 1/2 lbs each of the last 2 weeks. If figures your daily activity, as well as exercise. If you eat too few calories, your body goes into starvation mode & does everything it can to hang on to those calories by slowing your metabolism. If you follow MFP's plan & don't lose a couple of weeks in row, then I'd subtract 200 calories a week until you do lose OR until you hit 1200. But I think if you up the calories & give your body a couple of weeks to adjust, then you'll start losing again.

melindasuefritz

yes its too low
u weigh 145
10 percent is 1450 calories or less

Shawnzgirl78

YES! I was a big believer in 1200 but when I started getting cranky cuz I was hungry and frustrated because I was constantly going over, something clicked. I talked to my friends and did some research. What the consistent answer was - figure out your tdee and shave 20% off that or take away 1000 calories. I found that when I did that, I ended up exactly where I should be, what I had been eating all along! Your body tells you what it needs, don't ignore that. When you are eating the best you can and exercising, especially - it won't steer you wrong!

chutch93

They usually say that absolutely no one should ever go below 1200 calories. But at your age & current weight, you should probably be at about 1500 if you want to lose. But MFP does a good job of calculating how many calories you need. I was actually skeptical of "eating back" my extra calories earned w/extra exercise, but when I stuck to their system & ate them back I ended up losing 1 1/2 lbs each of the last 2 weeks. If figures your daily activity, as well as exercise. If you eat too few calories, your body goes into starvation mode & does everything it can to hang on to those calories by slowing your metabolism. If you follow MFP's plan & don't lose a couple of weeks in row, then I'd subtract 200 calories a week until you do lose OR until you hit 1200. But I think if you up the calories & give your body a couple of weeks to adjust, then you'll start losing again.

starvation mode is a none thing it doesnt exist. dont eat under 1200 because u cannot obtain proper nutrition. your body does not defy science to keep you from dying when under 1200 cals any nutritionist can tell you that.

AnninStPaul

Yes, it's unhealthy. Go through the MFP guided set up to set your calorie target.

Ready2Rock206

You know it is too low otherwise you wouldn't have asked. There's no need to harm yourself to lose weight - treat your body right and it will treat you right. Up those calories and lose weight the healthy way.

IIISpartacusIII

Iv been eating under 1000 calories for a week now however I don't know if this is unhealthy or not?? I'm 5'7 and 145lbs and need to cut down on my portion sizes so been doing this by calorie counting. Iv never counted calories before but now it's so hard not to think about the calories I'm eating! Is this good?

What are you going to do when you hit a plateau? Eat 800 calories and then maybe 500 and then....? How about all that rebound/binge weight gain after (assuming you survive to see your goal weight) you finally get there? If it's not sustainable then it's not a realistic caloric goal to set.

jfrankic

Seriously.....read this. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

BTHERE

The myfitness pal app is really screwed up in this regard and will set your calories way too low for too long, to the point where your metabolism will run much slower and you won't be getting the nutrients you need etc.

The 1lb a week level is pretty safe, but beyond that it's pretty drastic. Set the actively level to none and maintenance and it seems to be about right.

The problem is they don't seem to have any limits on how low they will let you go. If you try 2lbs it will typically set the caloric floor far below what's healthy.

For instance I am a 200lb 6' male and it tells me I need to eat 1240 cal's a day to lose 2lb's a week, the math is right but this is quite counterproductive (as I sadly found out)

Most models will tell me that

Maintenance 2200 - 2400 cal's a day
Fat Lost 1725 - 1935 cal's a day
Floor 1600 - 1700 cal's a day

That "Floor" is the point where over time your body will start to think it's starving. I went 8 weeks at the level above and while in the previous 16 weeks I lost 27lbs because I was above the floor I lost only about 3 at the level where I dropped below it. Went to the doc and the short of it was that he told me I was nuts to go longer than a couple of weeks on that kind of a "Starvation" diet.

If you reduce calories too much then this means that your body will say to itself

1. Lower your metabolic rate (use less calories) you feel tired (don't exert yourself we are starving!)

2. Burn muscle instead of fat because muscle uses more energy to maintain and we need to conserve energy at all costs! Remember you need to rest and not exert yourself

NOTE: This is a double edged sword because muscle uses MORE energy than fat (you can get away with eating more calories) and your eliminating that advantage!

3. Convert any extra calories it gets as fat until the deficit is eliminated for a rather long period of time

This is typically what they refer to as the yo-yo effect, starve yourself, loose lots of weight until it slows down, then eat less to try and keep the loss up, which then lowers your rates and requirements further, fell like c... and then put it all back on because your body will start packing away ever calorie it can get when you start eating normally because your metabolic rate is still very slow and will remain that way until it satisfies itself.

Maintenance weight is calculated based on gender, age, height, activity levels, and some models use body fat as well. Using one of the better models my maintenance weight is calculated as 2164 for maintenance and the floor is 1600 cal's per day which is considered extreme and not recommended for healthy weight loss (This is with no-exercise, the more exercise the more you need)

Google Caloric Calculator and pick the one at free dieting dot com, it has a lot of good features and you can choose your model.

I would absolutely not trust the model in MyFitnessPal beyond the 1lb a week level, I have no moved to the external model with their exercise adjustments and I tweak MFP to get the cal's it suggest and just ignore the detailed exercise offsets they use

BTW for a 145lb 35 year old woman who excecrcise 3 times a week (moderate) and is 5' 7"

Maintenance 1907 per day
Fat Loss 1525 per day
Extreme 1160 per day (not recommended for more than few weeks)

IIISpartacusIII

You have a BMR of about 1,483.15. Based on age, weight, height. If you add 500 calories worth of exercise you'll be in a deficit without eating under maintenance. You could add a reasonable 250 cal deficit and do 250 worth of exercise to get a 500 cal deficit. You could also try carb cycling, carb reloading etc. and probably get a way with eating a bit more. Starving yourself into weight loss (especially with exercise) sucks a cold, hard one and even if you actually drop, it doesn't last.

AmyRhubarb

I'm an inch taller than you, and 20 years your senior - when I weighed 145lbs I started eating 1800+ calories a day, and had the absolute best success with losing the fat & weight from then on.

As others have said, the bare minimum for women is 1200, and is still likely lower than your BMR.

What is the daily goal that MFP gave you? If it's 1200, I'm guessing you entered that you'd like to lose 2lbs a week? You don't have a lot to lose, so a 2lb a week goal is too aggressive - you're better off with going for .5 to 1lb a week instead, eating more calories to fuel your body properly and give it a reason to burn fat rather than store it. A fueled body is a happy body (metabolism too!), and you will see much better results.

JoanB5

Seriously.....read this. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

^ This, was very helpful for me to understand the logic behind what I was doing. Helped me a lot.

HRLaurie614

As a point of comparison, I'm just under 5'1". I weigh about 106.5. My BMR is just below 1200. I always try to net at least my BMR. Don't look at my diary today naw snt a good day.

pspetralia

OP No need to wait for anymore answers.

Just browse the posts from just today and you'll find maybe 5 other threads on this Topic.

Yup! I'm not sure how you could NOT know that it is too low when there is no less than three threads a week on it.
How did you decide on 1,000 calories? Do the wok and figure our a reasonable number.

norcal_yogi

yes its too low
u weigh 145
10 percent is 1450 calories or less

? never heard of this one