Is it ok to eat less than 1000 calories?

I think it's pretty standard that just about anyone who plugs in "2lbs a week" for their weight loss goal at MFP gets a 1200 cals per day allowance. The problem is, as others have mentioned, a 2lb a week goal isn't for everyone - with only 20lbs to lose, that's too aggressive.

Whatever your daily goal is, and assuming you've entered your info correctly, the weekly loss goal we already talked about & correct activity level, etc, it already has a deficit built in - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Add exercise cals burned, and you're left with a HUGE deficit, which can do ya more harm than good, and stall your progress, etc. That's why calories are added back into you daily goal when you log it - you are supposed to eat them back.

Food is fuel - you gotta fuel that body if you want it to function well and burn the fat. Eat too little for too long and you're giving your body a reason to store fat rather than burn it, not to mention jacking with your metabolism, hormones, and a host of other fun issues that can crop up.

Go right ahead. You'll wind up in the ICU or in the morgue, but that's your choice, right?

You couldn't have said this in a less snarky way? The OP was simply asking a question. Maybe not everyone knows the same things that you do.

Public forum. If the person wishes to be snarky or that is just their personality....oh well.

MFP programmed 1200 calories for me. I got 1600 calories from another website. So I just have to eat 1200 calories a day? and lets say I eat 1200 calories and I burn off 400 calories. Do I have to eat back those 400 calories?

If you are using MFP and you have 1200 cals a day and you exercise 400 cals then you would net 800 cals so you would be under eating.

If you go to a website like scooby and you are putting in a regular amount of exercise that you do each day, then it will give you set amount of calories to eat.

My advice use one website or the other to avoid being confused

I am ETA if you are 5` 1" and 118 lbs then I would not, personally, aim to lose 2lbs a week. It does seem a bit excessive.

Maybe aim for 0.5 lbs a week and go with resistance/weight training even?

I think it's pretty standard that just about anyone who plugs in "2lbs a week" for their weight loss goal at MFP gets a 1200 cals per day allowance. The problem is, as others have mentioned, a 2lb a week goal isn't for everyone - with only 20lbs to lose, that's too aggressive.

Whatever your daily goal is, and assuming you've entered your info correctly, the weekly loss goal we already talked about & correct activity level, etc, it already has a deficit built in - meaning eat to goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Add exercise cals burned, and you're left with a HUGE deficit, which can do ya more harm than good, and stall your progress, etc. That's why calories are added back into you daily goal when you log it - you are supposed to eat them back.

Food is fuel - you gotta fuel that body if you want it to function well and burn the fat. Eat too little for too long and you're giving your body a reason to store fat rather than burn it, not to mention jacking with your metabolism, hormones, and a host of other fun issues that can crop up.

^^^^^^ This!

Go right ahead. You'll wind up in the ICU or in the morgue, but that's your choice, right?

You couldn't have said this in a less snarky way? The OP was simply asking a question. Maybe not everyone knows the same things that you do.

Thank you for standing up for the OP

If you are 118 pounds right now, there's no good reason to to lose 2 pounds per week. The faster you lose at this point, the more lean mass you will lose which is not good. Smaller deficits for small bodies trying to get smaller. :flowerforyou:

If you are absolutely in doubt go see a nutritionist. They can tell you what's normal for your height, weight, age, %bf, etc. And then give you an eating plan based your goals and what your body needs.

You already only weigh 118 lbs and say you want to lose 20lbs.... that would have you at 98 lbs..... that is really really low - even for someone of your height. Maybe you should try and go more slowly, and see how you look and feel when you have lost a few pounds. If you eat too little yes you will lose weight quickly, but it will not be in a healthy way or sustainable for you. Why do you feel you need to lose 20lbs? Think about what it is you want to achieve by losing this weight. Is it to be healthier, fitter, more toned?

I don't think you could get enough nutrients eating 600 cal/day. I am about the same height and weight as you (5 ft, 120 lbs) and have 10 lbs to lose. I was able to drop down to 110 lbs before very slowly but I kind of gained it back over the year. I'm trying to lose it again.
The closer you get to you goal the slower it gets. At some point when I only had 5 lbs to go, I was only losing less than 0.5 lbs a week. This is ok. What I did was to maintain 1100-1200 Cal/day goal, then exercise like crazy. You would find that with the exercise, even if you lose less than 0.5 lbs a week, you lose a lot more in inches! Focus less on eating less and more on exercising more.

Seems like hardly any calories at all, but you are so small. Just eat when you're hungry and ensure your food is high quality, whole, and nutritionally dense food. No crap food. Quality calories in, so you're sure you're getting optimal nutrition.

Huuuuhhhh....no. Eating 600 cals of "healthy" food is still 600 calories and NOT recommended. I see people on here at 4'10 eating waaayyy more than that at maintenance.