Is eating strictly 800 calories a day bad for you

tresterbriana wrote: »

Im new to the dieting and afraid to keep gaining, I started the 800 calories a day thing and in total I have lost 10 I need healthy ideas to get up to 1200 calories if 800 is not safe long term I have 5 kids so cooking healthy is sometimes a challenge really really need ideas please

1200 is MFP's default minimum for women, and that's before exercise. The reason is to help you meet nutritional minimums.

Calorie dense foods (small servings): Nuts, nut butter, full fat dairy, eggs, olive oil, full fat salad dressing, avocado.

Roast veggies in olive oil. Smear nut butter on a piece of fruit. Add chopped nuts to oatmeal. Add avocado to a salad.

Make sure you add a multi-vitamin

tresterbriana wrote: »

10 pounds in 7 days, I didnt think 800 calories were enough thank you for your ideas

tresterbriana wrote: »

My weight goal is to lose the extra 60 pounds ive put on I am 5"4

The first week likely includes water weight loss but moving forward aim for losing 1.5 pounds per week. When you put that goal and your stats in MFP, how many calories per day does it tell you to eat? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

800 is way too little. Is losing weight worth it if you're not healthy enough to take care of those kids? You'll still lose weight eating a proper amount of calories.

tresterbriana wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

800 calories diets are usually followed under doctor's supervision by morbidly obese patients who will die unless they lose weight immediately.

In the aftermath of such drastic diets, these patients show greatly reduced metabolic rates (metabolic adaptation) to such a low caloric intake. The legacy of drastic dieting is a need to eat at a reduced caloric level below what is expected.

Your body can only burn so much stored fat a day. If you are creating too great a caloric deficit and especially if you are doing so without eating enough protein and strength training, your body will start go to other tissues to get the energy it needs, including muscle and bone.

Yes, I'm trying to scare you OP.

No one who is 60 pounds overweight will gain weight eating 1200 calories.

Please read the posts that are stickied at the top of the forums about logging accurately, learn how to track your food intake, and start eating more.

I am going to start eating the 1200 I want to do this safely that is why I asked

I am so happy to hear that. I honestly have no idea how you had the energy to keep up with 5 kids on so few calories!

The real idea here isn't just about losing weight, the idea is learning to ultimately manage weight. You want to be able to keep off the weight you lose, right?

Read the posts I mentioned so you learn. That way you'll have the information you need to start thinking about things in a healthier way so you can move forward and continue managing your weight as you lose it and then maintain that loss.

tresterbriana wrote: »

It says 1200 daily, most of the food I eat is fiber or protein and I stick to 2 300 calorie meals and banana and grapes to make up the 200. Believe me I want to eat more just afaid ill gain instead of lose just need healthy ideas

If the mfp app tells you 1200, then you will lose weight at that level, just it may or may not be as fast as you want, because if your calorie requirement is already low, it wont go lower than 1200. There's no magic number, you dont gain weight or lose at a certain number unless thats the one correct for YOU. It varies for everyone by their age, and height and current weight.

800 calorie diets are something for supermarket magazine fads, not reality. Its not healthy because any normal adult is going to burn more than that per day just being alive. Generally you should not be going less than 1000, although mfp will never recommend below 1200.
If you regularly eat way too little, then your body will have to start taking it from your body itself- and it wont be just fat stores, it will also come from muscle, including critical muscle.

Really you can just eat normal food, but less of it than what you ate when you gained weight. You make pretty much what you cooked before if you want, just use the recipe calculator to determine a portion size that gives you a reasonable calorie amount, you want 300-350 for your three meals, which gives you room for some snacks, including the fruit you mentioned. It can be helpful to swap out some foods for more complex carb versions to keep the fiber up. Try cooking with less oils/fats/milks to bring down the calories per serving.

Water weight changes on a regular basis, shifting around a couple pounds worth, dont worry so much about the minor daily changes, just the trends over a longer period. Stay under the maintenance amount for your stats and you will lose, it just doesnt happen overnight.

There's so many places on the internet you can look up sample healthy meals you could spend all day looking through them. There's no certain special foods required. Just eat what you like, reasonably balanced (you know not to tell your kids they can eat candy and chips all day, right? so you know that's not right for you either) and look up the calories in the database on mfp, and log it. It will tell you as you go how much more you should eat that day.

I'm happy to hear you'll be increasing your intake! Not eating enough food puts you in danger of malnutrition which is something you probably want to avoid.

Do you use a food scale, OP?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1

cerise_noir wrote: »

avocado
cheese
full fat dairy
Greek yogurt
ice cream
peanut butter (or other nut butters)
dark chocolate
less lean cuts of meat (including beef, pork, sausage, etc.)
seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, etc.)
nuts
olive oil
coconut oil
butter
beans and lentils
protein shakes, bars, and smoothies
hummus
beef jerky
cornbread
tuna
full calorie condiments
full calorie sauces & dressings
sour cream
guacamole
whole grain pasta
rice
bacon
whole eggs
quinoa
fruit and fruit juices
pretzels
bananas
scones
muffins (bran, blueberry, banana nut, etc.)
potatoes (sweet, red, gold, purple, white, etc.)
dried fruit (raisins, apricots, plums, dates, etc.)
granola
coconut
salmon
edamame
olives
honey
molasses