Dangers of not eating enough?

Johnsprime · December 2012

I am curious as to what the dangers are of not eating enough?

The only one I knew of was gallstones, and sure enough that hit me this year and I had to have my gallbladder removed.

Yesterday I ate 832 calories and exercised 576 calories (according to Runtastic pedometer)

Overall I felt good all day, but after my walk, and my sauna (which I have no idea on how to account for a 30 minute infrared sauna) I got a headache that my GF thinks is an exertion headache. not sure, never had one before, but I was very tired and my head felt like it was under a lot of pressure.

Since I quit eating bread and pasta carbs and cut out dairy, I hardly even get hungry anymore.

Johnsprime · December 2012

WHoa... that's quite a list.

Freaking me out now.

I should add that I take a bunch of supplements, including a 6 a day vitamin from vitacost.

I am thinking that the vitamins and minerals (plus a calcium suppliment) should help with #2, #3, #4 #5

If I get enough protein and I walk daily I should be able to maintain muscle (I hope). Legs feel stronger.

I have already felts some of number 6......

No idea about hormonal problems, but since I am a male I think I got #8 beat!

I am always irritable

Heart failure..... REALLY?

Now you are freaking me out.

I already have high blood pressure and I have not yet started a med for it.... trying to lose weight quickly to help hiatal hernia (heart burn) and blood pressure.

What do I need to do to preserve my heart health?

Right now I am pretty much only eating a meat (Chicken, salmon, tuna, etc) and veggies. I cut out bread, pastas and even fruit. Occassionaly I will have sunflower seeds and raw almonds.

redraidergirl2009 · December 2012

malnutrition.

xsmilexforxmex · December 2012

www.fat2fitradio.com/tools

Plug your info in and find your BMR. (I think military then weight goal) This is the estimated number of calories REQUIRED to maintain normal function of your vital organs. When you eat lower than that your body makes up for it with giving up other things , for example : losing muscle at 80% and fat at only 20% bc muscle uses more than fat does.

__EDIT__

*When you eat below BMR for a sustained period of time.. 1-2 days wont hurt but when it's for a few weeks-months its more or less starvation (anorexia more or less w/o such a drastic stoppage of food intake.)

xsmilexforxmex · December 2012

1. Loss of muscle tissue.
2. Weaker bones
3. vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
4. Hair loss
5. brittle nails
6. Impaired cognitive function
7. Hormonal problems
8. Menstrual cycle issues
9. Irritability
10. Heart failure.

and yes.

crisanderson27 · December 2012

WHoa... that's quite a list.

Freaking me out now.

I should add that I take a bunch of supplements, including a 6 a day vitamin from vitacost.

I am thinking that the vitamins and minerals (plus a calcium suppliment) should help with #2, #3, #4 #5

If I get enough protein and I walk daily I should be able to maintain muscle (I hope). Legs feel stronger.

I have already felts some of number 6......

No idea about hormonal problems, but since I am a male I think I got #8 beat!

I am always irritable

Heart failure..... REALLY?

Now you are freaking me out.

I already have high blood pressure and I have not yet started a med for it.... trying to lose weight quickly to help hiatal hernia (heart burn) and blood pressure.

What do I need to do to preserve my heart health?

Right now I am pretty much only eating a meat (Chicken, salmon, tuna, etc) and veggies. I cut out bread, pastas and even fruit. Occassionaly I will have sunflower seeds and raw almonds.

Add some more fats to hit your calorie goal. Heart failure meaning death by stravation. Low calorie diets will also lead to stall outs with your weight loss. No reason to do any of this, too much to risk. Just eat your calories, and keep it simple.

Definitely.

In my time away from MFP and the gym, I've been helping local friends with their fitness goals. Primarily these were losing weight and 'toning up' (by which they mean they want the weight lost to be fat, though they don't realize this). The way I do this is to initially have them document their food intake. I then get a rough idea on their current exercise routine (almost invariably exclusively cardio).

After that, I change just about everything.

The FIRST THING I DO is increase their food intake by a substantial margin (and give some advice on macros). Some of these people were doing literally 2hrs of moderate intensity cardio a day, and eating 800-1000cal to try and support it. After that, I rewrite their exercise routine to a high intensity low rep lifting routine (generally bodyweight since I don't have time to teach them to lift real weights properly, and being out of the gym at the moment myself I can't even show them by example). The final change is to reduce their overall time dedicated to exercise to five days, no more than an hour a day (three to lifting, two to whatever form of cardio they prefer), and stipulate a strict two day rest requirement.

In no one instance have they failed to see virtually immediate (two week) results. The scale (which I tell them to ignore) doesn't always change much...but everything, and I mean EVERYTHING else does. One of my MFP friends here that I helped, went from barely fitting a size 12 pant, to easily fitting a size 6.

In 30 days.

Eat your food.

Johnsprime · December 2012

WHoa... that's quite a list.

Freaking me out now.

I should add that I take a bunch of supplements, including a 6 a day vitamin from vitacost.

I am thinking that the vitamins and minerals (plus a calcium suppliment) should help with #2, #3, #4 #5

If I get enough protein and I walk daily I should be able to maintain muscle (I hope). Legs feel stronger.

I have already felts some of number 6......

No idea about hormonal problems, but since I am a male I think I got #8 beat!

I am always irritable

Heart failure..... REALLY?

Now you are freaking me out.

I already have high blood pressure and I have not yet started a med for it.... trying to lose weight quickly to help hiatal hernia (heart burn) and blood pressure.

What do I need to do to preserve my heart health?

Right now I am pretty much only eating a meat (Chicken, salmon, tuna, etc) and veggies. I cut out bread, pastas and even fruit. Occassionaly I will have sunflower seeds and raw almonds.

Add some more fats to hit your calorie goal. Heart failure meaning death by stravation. Low calorie diets will also lead to stall outs with your weight loss. No reason to do any of this, too much to risk. Just eat your calories, and keep it simple.

Adding fats will sure boost the calories quick. I added 2 sticks of celery with peanut butter and the celery had only 17 calories, but the less than 2 tablespoons of peanut butter I used (which seemed like a lot to me) was about 200 calories! wow.

peter236uk · December 2012

Thais not enough calories and not sustainable rapid weight loss is not good. The aim should be to lose 1 to 2 lb a week max eating a healthy mixed diet.
I would suggest exercise 3 times a week as min of 40 minutes .

I understand that a normal person would require 1500 (female) 2500 (male) calories per day. I am trying as an example to lose 2lb a week and my target is 1700 calories per day. This gives me 12.500 every 5 days my target is 1700 per day or 8500 per week a reduction of 4000 per week.

I have been following this since the 28th August 2012 and have lost 38lb so far I have to say I eat slightly less at around 1600 per day. If you have a look back at my diary its varied diet with some treats in there. The key I find is to watch the calories and eat what you enjoy.

My wife who has also followed this diet regime has also lost 2 stone and is at her target weight. Our stats are as follows

Mine start 19 stone 10lb now 17 stone. I am 6ft 3''

Wife start 12 stone 10lb now 10 stone 6lb she is 5ft 3''

Hope that helps

perfecting_emptiness · December 2012

WHoa... that's quite a list.

Freaking me out now.

I should add that I take a bunch of supplements, including a 6 a day vitamin from vitacost.

I am thinking that the vitamins and minerals (plus a calcium suppliment) should help with #2, #3, #4 #5

If I get enough protein and I walk daily I should be able to maintain muscle (I hope). Legs feel stronger.

I have already felts some of number 6......

No idea about hormonal problems, but since I am a male I think I got #8 beat!

I am always irritable

Heart failure..... REALLY?

Now you are freaking me out.

I already have high blood pressure and I have not yet started a med for it.... trying to lose weight quickly to help hiatal hernia (heart burn) and blood pressure.

What do I need to do to preserve my heart health?

Right now I am pretty much only eating a meat (Chicken, salmon, tuna, etc) and veggies. I cut out bread, pastas and even fruit. Occassionaly I will have sunflower seeds and raw almonds.

Even with walking you will still lose muscle. And your heart is a muscle so not good!

Also dizziness, weakness, lack of concentration, fatigue, depression, gaining all of the weight back once you start eating normally, fine downy hair all over your body, heart palpitations (and possibly permanent damage), osteoporosis.....developing an eating disorder. And some of the problems you'll always have even if you start eating normally again. I'm in recovery for an eating disorder at the moment so I kind of know what I'm talking about.

bdamaster60 · December 2012

1. Loss of muscle tissue.
2. Weaker bones
3. vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
4. Hair loss
5. brittle nails
6. Impaired cognitive function
7. Hormonal problems
8. Menstrual cycle issues
9. Irritability
10. Heart failure.

11. Death.

dunlunicor · December 2012

WHoa... that's quite a list.

Freaking me out now.

I should add that I take a bunch of supplements, including a 6 a day vitamin from vitacost.

I am thinking that the vitamins and minerals (plus a calcium suppliment) should help with #2, #3, #4 #5

If I get enough protein and I walk daily I should be able to maintain muscle (I hope). Legs feel stronger.

I have already felts some of number 6......

No idea about hormonal problems, but since I am a male I think I got #8 beat!

I am always irritable

Heart failure..... REALLY?

Now you are freaking me out.

I already have high blood pressure and I have not yet started a med for it.... trying to lose weight quickly to help hiatal hernia (heart burn) and blood pressure.

What do I need to do to preserve my heart health?

Right now I am pretty much only eating a meat (Chicken, salmon, tuna, etc) and veggies. I cut out bread, pastas and even fruit. Occassionaly I will have sunflower seeds and raw almonds.

Okay, 1) Yes, you need to eat more. You are netting 300. Bad news.

BUT

2) If you are substantially overweight, heart failure is probably not in your immediate future from under-eating, but it might be from your obesity-related conditions.

Get approval from a doc and have frequent checkups, but near the beginning of your journey, it may be fine to net very low (ETA: NOT 300-calories low. EVER.). It just depends on how much you have to lose, how important it is that it comes off quickly (ie, the weight is threatening your life), and how you and your doctor feel.

Dangers of not eating enough?

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