Terrified to actually eat the 1200, let alone net 1200

vorgas

Do you want to weigh less or do you want to be healthier?

If all you want is to weigh less, get a chainsaw and lop off your arm. Voila. You weigh less. Congratulations!

If you want to be healthier, you have to push your body. Change happens on the fringes, on the edges. To get there you need fuel.

If you want to drive a hundred miles in a car you have a choice: Give it 2 gallons of gas. Strip out all the seats. Get rid of the AC. No radio. Windows up. No spare tire. Accelerate at 3.3 mph and don't go above 55. You might make it.

or

Give it a full tank, crank up the tunes, and FLY.

Your body is the same.

MaryPoppinsIAint

To the people asking what she's "terrified" about and what the big deal is, back off. Yes, it really can be that big of a problem for some people, and being snarky to them is NOT helpful. If you must be dismissive, take it elsewhere.

OP... What you're doing right now is not sustainable. Yes, you'll lose a ton of weight very quickly, but eventually you will stall out if you keep doing this.

Think of the body as a kitchen. Your daily food, the stuff you actually eat, is what's in the "fridge" for immediate use. Muscle tissue is what's in the cupboards (takes a little more work, but usable). Fat tissue, the stuff you consciously want to lose, is in the pantry, where we store shelf-stable foods that take a lot more work to turn into an edible meal, things that will sustain us in the winter when fresh easy food is not readily available. What the body stores in the pantry is the emergency supplies. If you know you need what's in the pantry to survive the winter, you don't touch it in the fall, not even if the crops fail. That's the way the body works.

By consistently eating that low, you are effectively telling the body that there's a food shortage. Your body has no clue there's a full refrigerator in the next room, it only knows about the food you actually eat. When there's a food shortage, the body uses the fridge first (what you eat), then gets into the cupboards (muscle tissue), and only in extreme circumstances (think concentration camps) will the body tap into the emergency stores in the pantry. Long before that happens, the body starts to metabolize muscle tissue in order to fuel the vital organs. Because muscle tissue requires more energy to keep running than fat tissue does, this muscle loss slows down the metabolism, enabling the body to run longer on less fuel. That's how anorexics can maintain their weight on seemingly nothing. The body adapts so that you don't die. This is why simply cutting calories is not a sustainable weight loss program. As your metabolism slows, you have to keep cutting in order to keep losing, and before too long you get into eating disorder territory.

You need to eat enough, for long enough, that your body kicks over into "It's late spring, there's food everywhere, I don't have to conserve fuel". Yes, you need to eat at a deficit, but at a relatively small one so that the body feels safe using up the fat stores from the pantry to supply the little bit it can't find in the refrigerator. Yes, you may gain a bit at first (some do, I didn't), but it won't be much and it won't hang around long.

A previous poster linked you to the In Place of a Road Map 3.0 thread. Go, read it, do it. I started at 240 pounds in mid-February, and most of what I've lost is since I started following that program. Check out my diary. I *net* over 1900 calories a day, and I have been slowly, steadily losing weight for months. The diary usually shows me coming in 3-500 under my goal because I like the freedom to nibble here and there without having to track every single bite, but I assure you I'm consuming those calories. I'm having a little trouble recently because I've been getting too much sodium, but that's an easy fix. If you page back a bit in the diary, you'll note I am by no means a health food nut. There's chocolate, bread, cheese, even occasional soda and alcohol. There's also a lot of fresh produce, greek yogurt, and simply-prepared meat. You don't have to deprive yourself, you don't have to go hungry, you just have to eat enough.

I have struggled with being overweight almost my whole life. I have had doctor after doctor preach the low-cal approach, along with low carb, low fat, low sugar, low this that and the other thing, and you know what? None of it worked, because I was slowly starving myself and didn't know it. When the last doctor told me I had to eat 1000 calories a day (that's eat, not net), I tried it and survived for a week before the migraines told me it was NOT going to work. I started doing IPOARM, and even with my medical issues, I've successfully lost more weight than I ever managed to take off doing low cal.

Food isn't the enemy. All things in moderation, honey, done right food can be your very best friend in this journey.

caviggia

I weighed 212.8 when I started using MFP. I have lost 17lbs in 10 1/2 weeks, now at 195.8. I am glad for the loss, was really happy when the scale started with a 1 and not a 2. However.... I have been reading a ton of posts saying not to eat too few calories. I average somewhere between 800-1000 a day, and don't eat back my calories burned. In my head I have a battle going on. I'm worried that eating too few calories has caused my metabolism to slow down, possibly sabotaging my efforts. I want to try to eat the 1200, but do NOT want to gain back any of those pounds I fought so hard to lose. I do circuit training with my very fit husband, which includes weights, body weight, and cardio. 4-5 days a week. Looking back at my weekly logs, I always have a deficit on my net calories of about 3500-4900. One week was 6878. I need to know, either that its ok to eat 800-1000 a day because I am losing, just slowly, or if I really need to eat 1200 or 1200 plus the calories I burn.

I think we all want fast weight loss, I use to too when I was younger, but I found it harder to keep off back then and now I get why. Here is some info that might help your situation.

Here is a guy that knows about nutrition and that talks about why eating such low net calories can be damaging. My friend showed me and it's an eye opener when he explains your metabolism. He even suggests a slow way to start to bring your metabolism back up but its a slow weekly process, especially if its been low net calories for a while. It's free to watch and short/informative.

heres the link: http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/biolayne-video-log-15-metabolic-damage-v2-0-metabolic-capacity/

Here is an example of my day. My goal is 1200 calories when I dont work out but I net 1600-2100 Depending if I workout and the calories burned and I even have a "free day" on my diet once a week to keep my sanity and metabolism going and I lose 1.5-2.5lbs a week (currently weigh 148). You can lose weight and still not starve yourself, in fact it's encouraged not to deny your body what it needs, and it needs fuel.

Hope this helps and really check out the video it's really good and informative

jenniferfiedler

When I started on here I went through the same thing of only eating 800-1000 calories. I did that for about 2 weeks and found that although I was losing weight, I had no energy. I bumped myself up to 1200-1600 and felt much better. My loss progress didn't really slow after the increase in calories, but it didn't quicken either.

I hope you find what works for you!

JesterMFP

Food is not the enemy. Calories are not the enemy. Over-eating and under-eating are two extremes, and it's not uncommon for people that have problems with food & weight to see the world in extremes. Try to find the middle ground so that you can take care of your body by giving it the energy and nourishment it needs.

toutmonpossible

You're fine. As long as the calories you eat primarily come from healthy foods, you have enough energy, and you find this sustainable there's no problem. It's a myth that your metabolism shuts down at a low level of calories. Even people who fast long-term (which I'm not recommending) experience a limited amount of metabolism-slowing and they continue to lose weight.

It never hurts to get checked out by a doctor or to see a Registered Dietitian if you can, but I would recommend that to anyone at any weight.

CATHYGAYM

You have explained this very well - thank you! There is a group on MFP called "eat more to loose more", the group essentially shares this same philosophy that eating very low cal is not only not sustainable but also damaging in the long run. It's a hard concept to accept to eat more when you want to loose weight but it's true. But it's only part of the issue the other part that matters is what you are eating, nutritious food that fuels your body and metabolism is what's needed.

melindameehan5

I'm having the same trouble ...just can't seem to eat enough ...not because i'm afraid..trying to do better,i never would eat breakfast at all now I make myself...maybe we could help each other try