really reduced calories/metabolism help :)

I'm no expert and am still trying to learn about this but from everything I've been reading it seems you have to first let go of expectations. Just because it says someone your age, height, and weight, can eat 2100 calories to maintain, that is the average but that doesn't mean that works for you. So many factors play into that number. So after that, 1) look at yourself honestly. How tall are you (smaller people need less food), what is your bone structure like, do you have muscle or mostly fat? Finding your actual body fat percentage will help, you can try a few sources online although they will often tell you different results. If you can afford to get it done professionally, you should. 2) How many calories do you really burn a day? Do you work a desk job, garden, build? What do you do when you get home? How often are you walking up flights of stairs at home? Do you sit on the computer or watch TV for hours on end? If you can get an HRM to determine this great, if not you'll have to guess. Although I work an active job, when I get home I sit around on the computer a lot, so I take that into account. 3) How often do you exercise and what exercises do you do? High intensity cardio often makes you hungry because you'll burn a lot of calories, weight lifting burns less calories but you gain muscle which will help you lose fat and allow you to eat more in the long run.

I realized that if I'm eating healthy choices (only whole grains, nuts, meat, beans, cut out sweets) I get full very fast and only net about 900-1300 calories. If I'm eating crappier, frozen meals, or high carb (not the good carbs) and low protien, yes I can easily net 1500+. But if I stick to the good stuff, I'm full and if I eat more I just feel sick so why not listen to myself? I've lost 10 pounds this way, I have more energy and am happier, and I'm stronger than I've ever been so I've stopped listening to all the people that say I'm doing it wrong by netting so little.

So moral of the story, learn about yourself and your goals, pick carbs that are good for you like veggies, fruits, and whole grains, make sure you're getting your protein and gauge how you feel, these foods are harder for your body to digest so they definitely work your metabolism. After eating lot's of veggies, I feel my stomach working! I suggest getting into weights which, as you lose fat, your muscle will keep you firm and allow you to eat more food in order to maintain.

Hope this helped. Everyone is different so figure out what works for you. (an as people above said, if you are feeling sick, dizzy, weak, depressed, hair is thinning, than those are signs you are eating too little. Some of these happened to me when I net low while eating crap, I would get moody and dizzy. When I switched what I was eating and stopped worrying about netting an exact amount, it didn't happen. If you're hungry, eat!)

Particularly on MFP, no one is going to openly advocate an extreme, calorie restrictive diet plan. I don't advocate it either - it's the kind of thing that sets you up for binge eating, and speedy weight regain because of the psychological and physiological difficulties you're putting your body through.

What I will say though, is that I've been eating between 800-900 cals a day to lose weight for about 8 months now. I've lost steadily at a rate of 1.5 lbs a week, which I think is meant to be healthy. I haven't had any of the tell-tale symptoms of a starvation diet. Other members will probably think that I'm just making excuses and that "no one" should ever net below 1200, but I reason that because I'm 4'10" and have been mostly sedentary for the past two months, this is a calorie goal I can very easily pull off each day without any untoward problems with my metabolism.

For me <700 is definitely the danger zone. I felt really light-headed on those couple of days that I tried it, and I also quickly regained everything that I lost that week. Everyone's different depending on how much they have to lose, how tall they are and how active. I think it's really matter of you being sensible and trying to develop a good meal routine with healthy food that fills you up nicely for at least three hours after eating. If you're immediately hungry again, or worse, you don't feel hungry at all despite eating a tiny tiny amount, the restriction is way to much. Also, there is no room at all for junk food in your diet. You must make every calorie count with preferably home cooked, fresh food so that you don't end up with mineral and nutrient deficiencies.

Do yourself a favor and start tracking your body fat. Then you can tell how much lean body mass you will be losing. I bet between your vlcd and no exercise, its around 50%. When you lise lbm, you slow down your metabolic rate. This is why the moment you do binges or eat regular then gain weight back and more. Also, your height doesnt so much effect your calorie needs its more based on lbm. The more lbm you have the more calories you burn at rest. I burn an additional 300 calories over what a normal person my height, age and weight does as i have a lot of lbm. This is actually why MFP doesnt work for me. I have to utilize the katch mcardle formula to calculate caloric requirements

OP, what i suggest is upping your calories by 200 calories until you are in a good range, probably 1600 but if you post your height weight and age (if you have your boy fst its better) and exercise calories then i will run your numbers.

woa Katch Mcaedle formula, you have done your homework!! i havent a notion lol.

Thanks a mill for the tips and advice, MFP when i joined logged me as needing 1200 cals though i'm averaging around 700max currently. I'm doin about 20 mins circuit training/weights a day burning bout 187 cals. I'm at 151 pounds as of this morning, scraping five foot and turned 34 at the weekend, so if you don't mind running the numbers that would be amazing! your a star!

Btw LOVIN the profile pic

Based on your stats, i would have you at least eating 1600 calories daily. You don't have much to lose, so you can't aim to lose much more than 1/2 - 1 lb per week. And since you have been eating very low calories, you have put your body in the position to catabolize your lean body mass (aka use the amino acids in your muscles to create fuel). So a large portion of your weight loss was muscle. This is bad as your body will adapt and use less energy.

So I would slowly increase your calories 200 a week until you hit 1600. Your body will probably take 1-2 months to get used to the additional calories, stabilize and than start to let the weight drop again.