Side effects of not eating enough calories.

mabelbabel1
mabelbabel1 Posts: 391 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If I don't consume enough calories, within a day or two I would get a variety of side effects....It's only recently that I have realsied these were as a direct result of under eating......at one point in my past I used to strive for the buzzy feeling I would get from it.
My symptoms woule be:

I feel spaced out.
My eyes go all kind of starey and I find it hard to focus.
My mind becomes foggy.
I feel tired.
I find myself biting and picking at my fingers. ( no, I'm not trying to eat them!)
I feel hungry ish but for some reason don't really fancy anything to eat.
I feel kind of buzzy.


I'm interested to know what symptoms did or do you get and did or do you consider them to be a side effect of under eating?


I don't allow this to happen these days. I joined Dan's IPOARM and use Heybales spreadsheet at the beginning of November..........I'm still tweaking my cals to find out the right number for me, but so far, I'm a lot happier and healthier and the weight and inches are still coming off! :smile:
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Replies

  • Heyyleigh
    Heyyleigh Posts: 268 Member
    Well for me, I feel sick and weak. As soon as I eat I am better withing 15 minutes. For me its never intentional to get this way just sometimes days are different. For me to complete my workouts food is very impt. If I dont eat well I cant workout. ;)
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,923 Member
    All of the above and I'm freezing. Nauseous too!
  • thingal12
    thingal12 Posts: 302 Member
    all of the above, plus my bones ache + I get really upset very fast.
  • Laura_Ivy
    Laura_Ivy Posts: 555 Member
    Ok I am surprised b*tchy wasn't on your list! :p I become evil with low calories and start to feel all the symptoms you described.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Nausea. My standard for "WTF am I doing to my body, EAT SOMETHING, B**CH!"
  • Siege_Tank
    Siege_Tank Posts: 781 Member
    Just saying, and I don't care if I get flamed,

    If you can't go more than a few hours without eating, then you have something out of balance with your hormones and blood sugar levels. There are several ways to manage your eating, one of them is a Fasting regimen called eat STOP eat, where you eat 1.5x your daily calorie intake, fast the next day, and consume 1.5x your daily calorie intake on day 3.

    I'm not THAT much of a masochist, but it DOES sound challenging and fun, and I really enjoy exploring all the different ways there are to eat less than what I ate to get overweight.

    It sucks that you can't go longer without eating, that's a lot of what my problem was, I grazed on bad stuff all day long. A lot of other people might have the same issues. You should probably have your hormone levels checked and see what's going on, because I used to have the same problem, If I didn't eat often I'd feel like death. Now that I have adapted to eating less on a regular basis I can tell my blood sugar is more even, and my hormones are better in check. There's nothing wrong with eating less.
  • dunlunicor
    dunlunicor Posts: 189 Member
    Hyperactive and sleepless.
  • sandradev1
    sandradev1 Posts: 786 Member
    I find that I am tired and have very little energy.

    When I first heard about IPOARM - link is
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    I was very sceptical. I mean it sounded crazy. I was eating around 1200 cals and my weight loss had stalled for a few weeks and this link to calculators resulted in hearing that I should be eating MORE!!! Anyway after doing a bit more research and getting 2nd and 3rd opinions from other websites, checking the success stories of people who had made the change, I finally felt that it was at least worth a try.

    I slowly each day upped my calories and now eat between 1600 and 1800 calories and tweaked my macros. GUESS WHAT...this works folks, despite eating all those calories the scale is beginning to fall again.

    Most importantly, I feel so good, my body just feels right. I am not so tired, I am never hungry and I am really beginning to enjoy my food. This is a method of weight loss that I will have no problem in sustaining, when I finally reach my goal.

    Thanks HelloitsDan for taking the time to research and for bringing this information to MFP
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
    That's a pretty good description. Exactly how I feel when I am not eating enough. Not a fan of that feeling.
  • kaybeecc66
    kaybeecc66 Posts: 1 Member
    I've noticed that I do that too - I try to stay within my daily calorie limit, then after dinner I do my exercising, and I end up going 300 calories below my daily goal! All day I feel weak, dizzy, tired... etc., usually until after lunch, sometimes even until after dinner! I need to figure out what I can pack to eat during the day (or greater amounts) that will not fill me up so much I want to puke or fall asleep, but will give me more energy and keep me up to my calorie goal at the end of the day.
  • GeorgieLove708
    GeorgieLove708 Posts: 442 Member
    The few days I've come in under calorie (NET) I felt nauseous, fatigued, absent-minded, dizzy, irritable, etc.
  • chocl8girl
    chocl8girl Posts: 1,968 Member
    I get massive headaches.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Just saying, and I don't care if I get flamed,

    If you can't go more than a few hours without eating, then you have something out of balance with your hormones and blood sugar levels. There are several ways to manage your eating, one of them is a Fasting regimen called eat STOP eat, where you eat 1.5x your daily calorie intake, fast the next day, and consume 1.5x your daily calorie intake on day 3.

    I'm not THAT much of a masochist, but it DOES sound challenging and fun, and I really enjoy exploring all the different ways there are to eat less than what I ate to get overweight.

    It sucks that you can't go longer without eating, that's a lot of what my problem was, I grazed on bad stuff all day long. A lot of other people might have the same issues. You should probably have your hormone levels checked and see what's going on, because I used to have the same problem, If I didn't eat often I'd feel like death. Now that I have adapted to eating less on a regular basis I can tell my blood sugar is more even, and my hormones are better in check. There's nothing wrong with eating less.

    Not exactly - or anywhere near what she was saying. She said "eating too few calories a day" - nothing about when she ate. Big difference.

    ETA - no flame here. Just clarification. :flowerforyou:
  • Seoul11
    Seoul11 Posts: 138 Member
    I grind my teeth. Which is probably a similar response to biting at your fingers.
  • mabelbabel1
    mabelbabel1 Posts: 391 Member
    Just saying, and I don't care if I get flamed,

    If you can't go more than a few hours without eating, then you have something out of balance with your hormones and blood sugar levels. There are several ways to manage your eating, one of them is a Fasting regimen called eat STOP eat, where you eat 1.5x your daily calorie intake, fast the next day, and consume 1.5x your daily calorie intake on day 3.

    I'm not THAT much of a masochist, but it DOES sound challenging and fun, and I really enjoy exploring all the different ways there are to eat less than what I ate to get overweight.

    It sucks that you can't go longer without eating, that's a lot of what my problem was, I grazed on bad stuff all day long. A lot of other people might have the same issues. You should probably have your hormone levels checked and see what's going on, because I used to have the same problem, If I didn't eat often I'd feel like death. Now that I have adapted to eating less on a regular basis I can tell my blood sugar is more even, and my hormones are better in check. There's nothing wrong with eating less.


    Who are you responding to? :ohwell: (can't find a confused smiley!)
  • mabelbabel1
    mabelbabel1 Posts: 391 Member
    I grind my teeth. Which is probably a similar response to biting at your fingers.


    Yes! I forgot that...and generally sucking in my cheeks.....weird!
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    For me its just fatigue, which makes it that much harder to get to the gym. I still go, it's just harder.
  • Love_flowers
    Love_flowers Posts: 365 Member
    Severe headache at night if eaten less than 1000calories.
    Trouble sleeping.
    Extra tired.
    Quickly irritated.
    Trouble thinking clearly
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    You ladies can add missed periods on the list too if you don't net enough calories for five consecutive days. Of course, there are far more serious problems if it goes on chronically such as hair and bone mass density loss.
  • MikeEsq
    MikeEsq Posts: 3
    I only suffer from fatigue. I try really hard to get enough calories but, for instance, yesterday I only got 1000 because I had a bowl of cheerios for breakfast, a scoop of protein powder and a banana, some pretzels, a cucumber, and another salad with grilled chicken for dinner. I got 1000 calories, which is obviously not enough, but ate all day and wasnt hungry. It is hard to take when I have a GOOD day of healthy eating and exercise and then MFP pings me for not eating enough calories.

    We just have to trust our bodies and make sure to keep an eye to what MFP is saying...

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