OK, you guys & gals tell me why this is bad

I could have some of this wrong, but here's what I understand. Low calorie consumption over a long period of time will cause your body to consume the vast majority of your fat stores and then start catabolizing your lean tissue. Eventually, I believe, it gets to your organs, too. What seems to be a common knee-jerk response around here, keeping in mind i haven't been 'around here' very long at all, is that anyone who consumes less than 1200 calories every day will go into starvation mode. I don't think it works that way. The only 'starvation mode' studies I've seen were long term (2 years, I believe) and had very few people, because, turns out, starving people long term isn't really ethical.

But that doesn't mean I think you're eating enough. Are you familiar at all with the CRON diet? It's a way of eating where you eat very low calories but get optimal nutrition ('optimal nutrition' here means all of your vitamins and minerals; it's very healthy food, because there's no caloric room for anything that isn't nutritious, basically). And it has nothing to do with weight loss, it's about living longer than us everyday humans. It's all very much based in science. The idea being you limit you calorie intake to drop your weight to a certain level because, guess what? That drastically slows your metabolism down. Evidently this works great in rats and mice. A few years ago, there was lots of excitement about a study being done in rhesus monkeys, because they would be more likely to mimic humans. Unfortunately for the people eating 800-1200 calories every day for years on end, the near-starving monkey didn't live any longer than the normal monkey (although I thought his skin looked much less wrinkly, if that matters). Turns out the lab mice and rats used in the earlier, positive studies aren't like normal mice and rats. We've effed with them a bunch. So, those studies were basically comparing calorie restricted genetic freaks to overweight genetic freaks. And the calorie restricted genetic freaks did better. In the monkey study, the 'normal' monkey was fed an adequate diet, while in the rat studies the rats were given unlimited access to food and genetically predisposed to eat more than they needed. Because they're the sort of rats that get used in obesity studies, and they need to eat lots to get obese.

So all that to say, you may actually be doing yourself more harm than good. Not because your body is eating all of your muscles plus a few vital organs, but because you may be lowering your metabolism. And a lower metabolism is bad, especially for weight loss, and it won't help you live 150 years, either.

it works great and you feel great... until it doesn't work great and you no longer feel great... and that day will happen eventually. and you're in for a world of hurt when it does.

Here's my uneducated opinion.

It's working for you, so go for it. However, having said that, how sustainable is this going to be for you in the big picture? Only you can answer that. My other thought is that there will likely, for reasons others will post, come a time when your weight loss will plateau. My only suggestion at that time would be re-think your eating plan and take a look at new options. Believe it or not, sometimes it takes eating more to jump start your weight loss again. I have no idea how this works biologically, I just know it works because I did it.

I would never tell someone they're losing weight "wrong". My only caution is to do it in a way that you can picture living for the rest of your life (with slight adjustments once you've reached your goal weight). Otherwise you're going to be back on here in two years at 300 pounds lamenting that you allowed yourself to go right back to the beginning again. And yes, I've seen it happen on here. I am just such a person. I lost the weight I wanted to on weight watchers almost ten years ago. I learned nothing about nutrition and the lifestyle just wasn't sustainable for me. And I gained it all back plus some more. This time I vowed it would be different. I spent a lot of time reading on MFP and other sources about nutrition, and about lifestyle changes. I was not/am not on a diet. I made a lifestyle change. I've maintained my weight loss now for three months, which I realize doesn't sound like much but it's huge for me.

Congrats on your weight loss thus far. You should be proud of yourself.

When you are morbidly obese, your body can handle a larger deficit. As you get closer to your goal weight, this isn't true. You will need to eat for energy. Otherwise, you're going to end up destroying your lean body mass.

The whole "you'll stop losing" mantra isn't necessarily correct, but the body not functioning properly - organs not at optimum, skin looks bad and hangs on you, no energy, hair falling out, etc. - that stuff will happen.

The problem isn't whether or not you can lose weight. Of course you can. The problem is that when you're done (or if something happens, say you get sick or injured) and you want to decrease your exercise or increase your calorie intake, chances are high that you will gain more weight back than you would like.

Why???

If you are on a TDEE - x% diet you are generally recommended to start at around 20 - 25% deficit with a lot of weight to lose and then gradually move up to - 10% and then maintenance once you are happy with your weight.

What is the difference with a LCD other than the fact that you are starting at a much higher deficit. You can still move it up in stages as you get closer to target weight!!

The only reason he would gain back lots of weight is if his 'exit' plan was flawed.

good question, bumping to read responses. also just for my own information do you have a HRM to estimate calories, and are u weighing or measuring your food? just curious because altho I have a HRM, I know I don't weight or measure my food, just kind of guesstimate so i'm sure i'm eating more than I think I am.

Okay Nashville---66 pounds in 5 and half months is great! I think you may be confusing folks who would attack someone within a healthy range for BMI measurements and someone who is 234 pounds and how tall. What your doing is working so continue--I seriously doubt you're losing a lot of lean muscle mass but you may have lost a little. Height would help in terms of your measurements. Im 5 feet 11 and my BMI is 178 pounds. My current weight is 201. I have lost 15 pounds since February and have lost zero none nada zilch lean muscle mass. Keep on keeping on, and, at some point, depending on your height, you may get closer to 110% BMI and then you'll need to make some changes, and be prepared for a long slow grind. The payoff will be worth it.