800 Calorie a Day - Suggestions

I just to throw it out that not all nutritionists know what they're talking about either. The one I saw when I had gestational diabetes said I was guaranteed to have GD with any other pregnancies and that I would for sure get type 2 diabetes. She also said I really shouldn't eat much, if any fruit, limited the vegetables I could eat, and told me to use artificial sweeteners. Everything she said was completely unnecessary and untrue. I didn't have GD with my two pregnancies after that and my sugar levels are great. Thankfully, I had enough sense to know better.

Yup, doctors know little about nutrition, and most nutritionists aren't much better. Their education is influenced by big food and pharma, it's been that way for many years. The best thing by far, is seeing an expert that specializes in metabolism. Those people know that naturals fats are healthy and that sugar should be limited (for metabolic disorders such as excess fat!) and that eating too little is a fail.

Unlike internet users who know everything about nutrition.

I like you.

A lot.

I don't understand how someone can eat 800 calories and have energy and feel good. Not to mention only eat 800, that's insane to me. Just not enough, regardless of starvation mode or what my doc said.

I've lost 31 pounds now. Not 31 pounds, some of which was muscle, but 31 pounds of fat. My goal while cutting has been over 2000 calories, and as high as 3000.

If my choice was to eat 800 calories a day or just stay fat, that would be a pretty easy choice to stay fat. But fortunately those are not the only options.

My recommendation is to junkpunch your doctor and do something that is healthy instead.

My strongest recommendation is that you see a different doctor to get a second opinion.

This.

Doctors do not know everything, especially general practitioners when it comes to nutrition. If something your doctor says sounds hinky, it very likely is. Get a second opinion, or barring that, ask the nurse her (or his) opinion. In my long and varied experience with healthcare professionals, nurses spend more time in the trenches and have more practical experience. Doctors just spent more time in school. That doesn't make them experts in anything but medicine.

Also, having worked in hospital staff food service, I can assure you most doctors eat horribly and should not be giving nutrition advice. Ever.

You may want to check out a website devoted to VLCD, as this one doesn't support them, but here are a few suggestions:

Egg beaters with fat free cheese and real bacon bits
Salads with vinegar and spices instead of dressing
Protein shakes
Soups made with veggies and chicken, can be made creamy with fat free cream cheese
Fat free cottage cheese with berries OR defatted peanut flour and Splenda
Fat free Greek yogurt and frozen berries with Splenda
lunch meat wrapped around a cheese stick, wrapped in spinach or lettuce

Hope this helps!

VERY BAD ADVICE!!!!!! :mad:

ETA: Op~you need a new doctor!!

Yes. The worst advice. Fat IS a necessary macro. Obviously all the low fat bs and everyone switching to canola and soy when they do eat fat has NOT helped the obesity/disease epidemic.

A bunch of processed fat free food is not food imo. Reduced fat means increased sugar. High sugar diets are not good for anyone who needs to lose weight, or who has any other metabolic disorder - which are all too common these days.

I meant this as low calorie meal options, I wasn't saying to only eat these things. I was going with the assumption that any doctor who puts someone on a low calorie diet will let a person know what food is necessary (including healthy fat), and that the OP was looking for meal ideas rather than having an entire day planned. Of course you need some fat, but by limiting it in some meals, you can fit more protein and nutrients in while staying within your calorie limitations.

Even if THAT menu were good for me, I would NOT be able to live on it long. Who wants to be skinny if that is all you can eat.

This thread reminds me of one of my MFP friends telling me that her doctor/dietician put her on a 3000 cal/day diet to help her gain weight (while recovering from an ED). I was shocked to hear that.

I know I'm far from an expert, but it's seeming to me that many (?) medical doctors or "specialists" throw people into extremes when battling the opposing extreme - in this case, eating what majority of people here feel is much too little to sustain yourself to lose weight (especially if you are working out), and in the MFP friends' case, eating what majority of people (I'm assuming) would claim is wayyy too much to eat per day for even a healthy person (I mean, eating closer to 3000 cal/day with no exercise is what caused me to gain weight, and I'm sure that is the same with OP and many of the rest of us).

Like I said, I'm not an expert - but I agree with everyone else. Get a second opinion. Or a third. Or a fourth. Feel free to try any and all options they give you, but do your own research and develop your own conclusions to what you think is best and safest for your body.

I know if I ate 800 cal/day, I would be the grumpiest b**** on this planet, tired, and miserable all the time. If you can do it without feeling that way, and to all the "special snowflakes" who have, all power to you! Just keep in mind that when you are off this diet, you'll have to keep eating not far above that 800 cal limit to sustain your weight loss, otherwise if you eat like a "normal" person with about 2000 cal/day, you'll more than likely gain the weight back.

Just keep in mind that when you are off this diet, you'll have to keep eating not far above that 800 cal limit to sustain your weight loss, otherwise if you eat like a "normal" person with about 2000 cal/day, you'll more than likely gain the weight back.

I'm going to have to disagree with this. I did do a similar diet - under a doctor's supervision - lost 80 lbs, and am now maintaining at 2000 calories a day. [I would NEVER recommend anyone try it without a doctor's supervision.]