Eating 800 calories a day

fsalib3
fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
edited November 11 in Health and Weight Loss
I made a daily meal plan for myself and when I logged it on myfitnesspal the total calories for the day was 800. I feel like it's enough food for me and seems pretty healthy. However a lot of things I'm reading say that below a 1000 calories a day is unhealthy , is this true ?
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Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    What are your stats? Height Weight Age. How much do you need to lose?
    And no, 800 calories is not enough at all.
    Women shouldn't go under 1200 calories and men 1500
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    edited February 2015
    I'm 5'11 19 years old 225 lbs, just looking to drop as much weight as possible. I'm eating 4 meals a day but mostly proteins and fruits so it seems to be healthy but the calories are kind of low
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Male or female?

    What is your current weight? Chances are you can eat a lot more and still lose weight
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    Male and my current weight is 225 lbs.
  • jdstathopoulos
    jdstathopoulos Posts: 32 Member
    I'm around the same height, and weigh 205. 800 is way too low. I eat between 1700 and 2000 per day and lost nearly 40 pounds in the last year. You may drop weight quickly eating 800, but it won't be healthy.
  • chatterbox3110
    chatterbox3110 Posts: 630 Member
    Sounds very low to me, you might have a good start but your body will go into hibernation mode in order to hang on to every calorie, fat, sugar etc.... I'm sure there are plenty on here who could give you a lot of help in increasing your calories whilst still losing weight quickly
  • kramrn77
    kramrn77 Posts: 375 Member
    At your age, height and size 800 calories is very low. You still have some developing and brain growth to do and your body needs good nutrition to do that. MFP has a good recommendation for calories needed to drop weight at a healthy weight.
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    I do usually feel full by the end of the day so perhaps it is more calories in reality.
  • kramrn77
    kramrn77 Posts: 375 Member
    Are you weighing and measuring or just guessing?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited February 2015
    Are you weighing and measuring your food? If not your just guessing..
    I went on the iifym calculator and put in your stats, for a sedentary person it gave me: 2472 calories a day to maintain your weight. To lose you can eat around 1978 calories a day. I don't know at what rate your loss would be on this tho.
    What has MFP given you to lose?? Your best bet is to follow the numbers it has set out for you
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    Most of the food I eat I find on myfitnesspal but usually the proteins are just a guess. I will definitely start weighing it like some of u suggested.
    Thanks for looking that up for me christine , good to know I can add some more food to my plan!
  • jdstathopoulos
    jdstathopoulos Posts: 32 Member
    If you have the app on your phone, you can scan the barcode. I've been doing that to get accurate counts.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Did you put in your stats into the mfp calculator? I'd be curious to hear how many calories it came up for you
  • Khukhullatus
    Khukhullatus Posts: 361 Member
    As lots of people on here have said, 800 isn't nearly enough for someone your height and weight.

    This myth about the "1200 calories" has to go away though. I realize it is as low as MFP goes, I imagine for liability reasons, but I have a friend who is about 5 feet on the nose and does coding for a living (very sedentary). She is more than full at 800-1000 calories. 1200 is not some magic bottom line that people should chime in with the second this question is asked on the forums. Wait to get the whole story.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    What I was saying is that as a general rule it Is not recommended that women go under 1200. Which doesn't really matter now as OP is a male
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    Where do I find the mfp calculator?
  • jdstathopoulos
    jdstathopoulos Posts: 32 Member
    My Home - Goals
  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    According to mfp 1860 calories a day is what I need. I guess I need to add an extra meal into my daily plan
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    fsalib3 wrote: »
    According to mfp 1860 calories a day is what I need. I guess I need to add an extra meal into my daily plan

    yay that sounds much better. Good luck :)

  • fsalib3
    fsalib3 Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks a lot for the help! :smiley:
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    herrspoons wrote: »
    No. It isn't enough.

    Although if you feel full it's probably considerably more than 800 in reality.

    this

    also neither would 1000 (accurately logged) .. minimum 1600 for male 5'11 (accurately weighed and logged)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    As lots of people on here have said, 800 isn't nearly enough for someone your height and weight.

    This myth about the "1200 calories" has to go away though. I realize it is as low as MFP goes, I imagine for liability reasons, but I have a friend who is about 5 feet on the nose and does coding for a living (very sedentary). She is more than full at 800-1000 calories. 1200 is not some magic bottom line that people should chime in with the second this question is asked on the forums. Wait to get the whole story.

    and 'full' is not a magic feeling either .. it's about nutritional spread
  • mcibty
    mcibty Posts: 1,252 Member
    No, it's not healthy.

    Eat more food, or more calorie dense food.

    Even 1,000 a day is unhealthy.
  • Cazzy34
    Cazzy34 Posts: 159 Member
    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    As lots of people on here have said, 800 isn't nearly enough for someone your height and weight.

    This myth about the "1200 calories" has to go away though. I realize it is as low as MFP goes, I imagine for liability reasons, but I have a friend who is about 5 feet on the nose and does coding for a living (very sedentary). She is more than full at 800-1000 calories. 1200 is not some magic bottom line that people should chime in with the second this question is asked on the forums. Wait to get the whole story.

    I agree. This is me! Just over 5 foot and with a BMR of just over 1000 I am satisfied on 800- 1000 calories per day!

    Also many people succeed on the 5:2 diet which is low calorie for 2 days and normal eating for the other 5.

    I guess everyone does things their own way, so each to their own as they say!!
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    Cazzy34 wrote: »
    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    As lots of people on here have said, 800 isn't nearly enough for someone your height and weight.

    This myth about the "1200 calories" has to go away though. I realize it is as low as MFP goes, I imagine for liability reasons, but I have a friend who is about 5 feet on the nose and does coding for a living (very sedentary). She is more than full at 800-1000 calories. 1200 is not some magic bottom line that people should chime in with the second this question is asked on the forums. Wait to get the whole story.

    I agree. This is me! Just over 5 foot and with a BMR of just over 1000 I am satisfied on 800- 1000 calories per day!

    Also many people succeed on the 5:2 diet which is low calorie for 2 days and normal eating for the other 5.

    I guess everyone does things their own way, so each to their own as they say!!

    There's always one. This has nothing to do with the OP.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    randomtai wrote: »
    Cazzy34 wrote: »
    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    As lots of people on here have said, 800 isn't nearly enough for someone your height and weight.

    This myth about the "1200 calories" has to go away though. I realize it is as low as MFP goes, I imagine for liability reasons, but I have a friend who is about 5 feet on the nose and does coding for a living (very sedentary). She is more than full at 800-1000 calories. 1200 is not some magic bottom line that people should chime in with the second this question is asked on the forums. Wait to get the whole story.

    I agree. This is me! Just over 5 foot and with a BMR of just over 1000 I am satisfied on 800- 1000 calories per day!

    Also many people succeed on the 5:2 diet which is low calorie for 2 days and normal eating for the other 5.

    I guess everyone does things their own way, so each to their own as they say!!

    There's always one. This has nothing to do with the OP.
    Right? Obviously they missed the part where OP is a 5'11 male. Good grief.
  • NoelFigart1
    NoelFigart1 Posts: 1,276 Member
    Yeah, you need to eat more. I mean, I'm 5'2", middle aged and a yo-yo dieter and I lose pretty steadily on closer to 1800 calories a day.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    edited February 2015
    You're a male, 19 and you think eating 800 calories a day is sufficient?
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  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
    PlaydohPants wrote: »
    How long have you been doing this? There are some days I "feel full" on few calories and other days feel like I can't get enough! I could do 800 a day for a week and feel fine, but I couldn't sustain that.

    Agreed.

    You may feel full and energetic at first on too few calories, and you'll definitely lose weight, but eventually sluggishness (low enery) and poor hair, skin and nails will happen. Maybe even loss of muscle mass.

This discussion has been closed.

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