Is This Bad For Me?

You are going to get tons of responses telling you that you should be eating at least 1200 calories a day!

You are going to get tons of responses telling you that you should be eating at least 1200 calories a day!

It's not that I starve myself. I am comfortably full with the 1000 calories, I never let myself go hungry. Could my calorie intake really be the problem?

Yes.

Just because your full doesn't mean your body is. You still need to eat even if your not hungry keeps your metabolism going

You are going to get tons of responses telling you that you should be eating at least 1200 calories a day!

It's not that I starve myself. I am comfortably full with the 1000 calories, I never let myself go hungry. Could my calorie intake really be the problem?

Yes, you are not eating enough.

Eating under/at 1,000 calories is only a good idea(And only works) for the first couple of weeks.
Now that you are use to exercise, and are getting even more, it's a great idea to bump up to 1,200 or even more to meet your needs.

I would suggest eating a minimum of 1200, but the days I work out more than an hour I tend to up mine to closer to 1500 and still lose. Your body is going to hold on to your fat when it's in starvation mode like you have created with your low calorie intake.

You need to eat 1200 calories AFTER exercising. Technically you are only eating 400-600 cal a day after excersizing.

Women should never go below 1200 and men should never go below 1500 calories or your body will think it is starving, add at least 200 more and be careful with the salty stuff and u should be fine

try to make sure it is good calories and not the salty foods that you like!

If what you're doing isn't working and you aren't losing weight (or you're gaining...) then it is time to switch things up some. The first place to start is to eat more. 1000 calories - for most people isn't enough for your body to function properly long term. When we starve our bodies, we may initially lose weight. But, when our bodies catch up with what we're doing - they'll freak out and start holding onto fat stores because it isn't getting enough food each day. Your metabolism will slow way down (which you don't want!). And you'll see a halt to your weight loss or a weight gain.

Okay, so as everyone's said, you should be eating more. But I definitely understand then not eating when you're not hungry thing, and I think that's healthy, because I don't know...I just think that maybe if you're not hungry you have the right to not eat?
(this is my opinion because I feel terrible if I have to eat when I'm not hungry, my dad has me to this a lot).

Anyway. I think the extra weight gain would be from a) bloat from all the salt (I love salt too though, so I also understand)
and b) muscle

that's just my guess, and you can feel free to ignore my opinion

Yes it is bad for you and some of the other posts have valuable information as to why. One of these days when I have some time I will work on a posting of what I've learned over the years. But here are some facts that I've sucessfully used to help me. A Dietician once told me that the basics are this. For adults: Find out what is considered a healthy weight according to the height/age/weight charts and see if you concur with the charts. (personally, I added 10% to where I know have felt "GOOD")
UNLESS DR. APPROVED you should NEVER consume less tha 1200 calories and ONLY under supervision. Now to find out caloric needs- For (WOMEN) multiply 11 calories x (desired weight)= the number of calories you need to be that weight if you did NOTHING.....For men multiply by 12.

On the same rationale, if yyou're overweight, you can take your current weight and multiply it by the appropriate number above, you will SWIFTLY realize how many calories you are consumming on average on a daily basis. EYE OPENER!!!!

Why am I gaining weight? Because below 1200 calories, your body will begin to "store" calories to survive. It is worse if you add exercise to the mix......you will end up starving yourself to death and could damage organs. Read the below link about Marathon Runner Jim Fixx

http://www.vop.com/previous_broadcasts/2005/january/05043.htm

Hope this helps. This website takes some of this into consideration, that is why you get to eat more if you have incorporated you day's exercise into the equation.

I started out on MfP doing exactly what you are doing. I ate <1000 calories per day... usually around 600-700. I consistently lost 1-2 pounds per week almost every week. On my TOM I gained 2 lbs, and after I would lose about 3-4. Then I started on the message boards and started reading about Starvation Mode. I got worried that I was messing up my metabolism. So, I increased my calorie intake to 1100 - 1400 every day. The first week I gained weight. The second week I stayed the same. Then guess what happened after that? I consistently lost 1-2 pounds per week almost every week, including during TOM. SO! Eat <1000 calories per day and lose 1-2 pounds per week OR eat 1100-1400 calories per day and lose 1-2 pounds per week. Tough call, right?

There's a free podcast available called Fat2Fit Radio (also available online) that talks about many healthy lifestyle changes to get fit including eating more calories. Check it out.

Also, since you mentioned you love salty snacks, I can totally relate. I just learned we should keep our sodium under 2500 mg a day. So, since that's hard to do sometimes, make sure you're getting plenty of water to flush it out.

Think of 8 8-oz. glasses as the MINIMUM.

I try to drink 12-14 glasses a day and it's made a big difference in shedding the weight. Good luck!