Is eating strictly 800 calories a day bad for you

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

tresterbriana wrote: »

It says 1200 daily, most of the food I eat is fiber or protein and I stick to two 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 needhealthy ideas

800 calories a day is not healthy or sustainable. The reason MFP recommends 1200 calories minimum is because one can have difficulty getting all of the nutrients one needs under that amount without doctor's supervision. If you go too low you can become depleted at some point and get very tired. You need enough calories to care for your 5 children. Please take care of yourself.

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

Yes that is far too little for calorie intake and is not safe.

kelleemayling wrote: »

I'm 4'11 and was just put on an 800 calorie a day diet plus prescribed phentermine today by my endroconolgist. If your short like me 800 is ideal to lose weight and 1200 to maintain after you reach your goal. If your average height id say 1200 is the lowest you should go.

800 is not necessarily ideal to lose weight. it depends on your BMR/tdee and your activity level. there are some women here your height who eat more than that and lose weight. what may be ideal for you may not be for others

Yes, and you know that or you wouldn't be asking!

Bariatric patients stay on a diet under 800 calories a day for a few months. And "under a doctor's care" could just mean a visit once a month. I'm not commenting one way or another - just thinking out loud.