1000-1200 calories, anyone?

Christine_72 wrote: »

This doesnt apply to everyone on this thread, but it is one of the most informative posts i have read on here.

Written by @Faithful_Chosen
Thanks, everyone, for the answers already I am just going to add that MyFitnessPal calculates your projected loss (so, the amount you have set to lose a week) into the net goal you recieve. It assumes that if you want to eat more, you have to move more to stay in that deficit. Makes sense, right?

Now, especially newbies have a tendency to up the cardio and decrease the food to make a bigger deficit, assuming they will lose faster--and they might! I am not gonna sit here and say that you won't lose more. It's probably not going to show up on the scale due to water weight, but they will lose more. The question is: at what price? And what are they losing?

The MyFitnessPal method (built in deficit based on your numbers, especially plus purposeful exercise) is designed to steadily lose fat and preserving as much muscle as possible. You see, there is a (science proven) limit to how much fat a body can convert into usable energy during any period of time. If you go over that limit, it turns to muscle for fuel instead. You will always get a little bit of muscle tissue loss when eating at a deficit, but if you undereat and up the cardio (or even strength training!) like I see a lot of people on here do, you are forcing your body to canibalize its muscle tissue on top of the max level of fat it can burn. Not to mention that meeting your macro and micro nutrient goals with this method is virtually impossible, creating massive hormone imbalances (leptine, for example) and vitamins and mineral deficits.

The long term effects of crash dieting and deprivation dieting (which is basically what happens when you become one of the people who net in the low hundreds to negatives day after day for an extended period of time) can be really severe. Basically, you are systematically starving yourself, after all. The results tend to be this (one example, hypothetical you):

- your body burns fat, then muscle tissue to sustain itself. You become weaker and sore. You also start having cravings because your brain is sending out warning signs: 'I am starving! Feed me!'. So, you either binge and up your overall net a little, or you persevere and pat yourself on the back for a job well done! You wanted lots of fatty food, but you fed it a celery stick instead. Sadly, your whole timeline congratulates you on your willpower. You start to wonder, though, why your willpower is not being rewarded! The scale doesn't budge! You fail to realize it's because of water weight due to too much exercise and the body's inability to recover due to a lack of nurishment. The solution is often to eat even less and work out even more to get the scale to move.

- the body is further unable to sustain. It changed the body's chemistry to preserve all it can--after all, it needs to protect vital organs from becoming affected and keep you going so you can hunt and gather for food! At this stage, the body becomes its own worst enemy: it no longer tells you you are starving so you can make a last ditch effort to get food. You think you are fine on 1000 calories a day, burning 1200, because your body shows no signs of hunger anymore, but basically, the little neutrients you are providing your body with get sucked towards your vital organs, leaving nothing for the rest. You become more tired, and cranky, and your muscles no longer recover from all the stress you put them through working out. As a result, they break down even faster and hold on to even more water to prevent that breakdown from affecting your ability to throw a spear at a prey animal (hey, I can't help it your body still thinks we are living in caves!). The scale drops oh so slowly--if at all--but meanwhile you do see you are slimming down! Your measurements are less! MyFitnessPal celebrates! 'Hurray! The weight must come off in a 'woosh' soon now! Keep doing what you are doing!'. Note that (thankfully) many people drop out at this stage. The psychological burden becomes too great, they feel *kitten*, and life isn't fun anymore. They stop dieting, start binging, and gain even more weight. The jojo'ing has begun.

- you keep doing what you were doing. We are a few months in now. You develop headaches, fatigue, and you start finding more and more hair on your pillow in the morning. In fact, you start finding hair everywhere. You also get hungry again, not in a way that makes you binge but a sort of steady nagging: a gentle reminder that time is running out. Fail to meet it (MyFitnessPal people pat your back when you tell them you went to bed early instead of having more food) and slowly, your body gives up its protective hold on more systems. You can survive without full function to certain organs, so your body throws them to the wolves: nutrients go towards your brain, heart, and lungs. Pretty much all other organs start running at half capacity. You hold on to more toxins, which start chipping away at your system, and your ability to process food (get nutrients out of them) suffers greatly, so you are truly starving now. This is the point where the weight starts coming off, and pretty quickly, too, usually. A big whoosh! (MyFitnessPal people cheer in the distance). What you are really seeing is your body giving up on protecting muscle tissue completely: the water weight falls away, showing you that you actually did lose a lot of fat and muscle tissue. More cheering! It must be working! Keep at it! Work harder! Eat less!

- now you are in serious *kitten*! Your organs are not keeping up, your muscles are breaking down, and the body has to start looking elsewhere for fuel: your organs and the more vital muscles, including your heart. At this point, your nails will become brittle and start falling out. Your hair falls out. Your period stops. You experience bouts of nausea and muscle weakness. You might find yourself pulling into a run and suddenly blacking out. You still function, but on the inside you are shutting down.

From here on out, it all depends on if you start eating again and stop exercising or not. If you don't, you can end up killing yourself. If you do, it is a long road to recovery, sometimes lasting years and it sometimes includes permanent damage to the function of certain organs, especially the liver and kidneys. Worst of all, this entire crash diet hasn't taught you how to sustain weight loss, so as soon as you crash and burn, the weight flies back on! And trust me, it takes a fraction of the time it took to lose it to gain it back.

I am not saying this to frighten you (well, I am a little), but as a nurse, you should be aware of the ramifications of crash dieting. Those of us that do realize the effects therefor recommend you lose weight slowly, at a sustainable rate that gives you the best ratio of fat loss vs. muscle loss. Stick to your MyFitnessPal calculated net, take the time, eat back your true exercise calories (which is probably 50 to 75 percent of your machine or database given calories), and learn how to eat (and what to eat) for weight loss you can maintain for years to come. It might not go as fast, but you will be able to see it on the scale, and best of all, it will be safe. That is my very long winded answer to 'why' you should eat back exercise calories.

WinoGelato wrote: »

Yep. This thread went about the way I thought it would. I think I will continue reading it from afar, while I sip my wine and eat my Girl Scout cookies enjoying maintenance. Best of luck to all of you, it seems like everyone has it all figured out!

WinoGelato wrote: »

3rdof7sisters wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

Yep. This thread went about the way I thought it would. I think I will continue reading it from afar, while I sip my wine and eat my Girl Scout cookies enjoying maintenance. Best of luck to all of you, it seems like everyone has it all figured out!

It's wonderful that you have it all figured out for yourself & that you seem to know what is best & will work for others! What are your qualifications to assume that you can know what will work for all? JW. I don't understand how someone can know that because they do it, anyone doing it different is doing something wrong. Seriously, how can you know?
Enjoy your wine & GS cookies. I am enjoying mine, Not on maintenance, down -23 pounds since 1/1/17. I'll stick with my dr's advice, as it is working for me.

Perhaps reread the entire thread and you will see that I never told the OP that she must do things the way that I did it. I patiently asked questions trying to understand if OP had a medical condition, was working under doctors guidance, or had other reasons for specifically aiming under the minimum recommended calorie allotment for women. It seems that like so many others, this OP is aiming for a more aggressive rate of loss than is appropriate for the total weight she has to lose.

My qualifications? None really. I've been here for four years, successfully losing weight and now successfully maintaining and I stick around these boards to answer questions and try to help people. There are thousands of people who come to these boards who have had it drilled into them that weight loss is hard, that it has to be miserable, that they will constantly be hungry, if they want to be successful. They go for the most aggressive target, cut out all the foods hey love, and when they can't stick with it, they give up all together. This is the yo yo cycle that so many people fall into, and my attempts to explain to people that you may not have to go that low in order to lose, that it's possible to lose weight, even a lot of weight, while not feeling miserable. While enjoying the process. While learning what an appropriate portion size is. While learning about nutrition and health, and becoming motivated to be more active.

You seem to think that my words are telling people they must do it a certain way, my way. That's certainly not my intent and never once have I said those words. But if I'm but one voice trying to drown out the vast amount of bad information in the media, and on social media, and that has been engrained in people for years.... and if one or two people finally realize that maybe they don't have to go quite that low, that losing a pound or even half a pound per week is still losing, is still success and not failure... then I will continue to offer my own experience and what worked for me. I'm confident that there will be plenty of people like yourself and others who will vehemently advocate for that low calorie threshold simply because you feel it's where you need to be and you think I'm challenging that. I'm not.

You have a plan and are working with your doctor. I'm glad your doctor is happy with your progress. ~ 3 lbs/week is quite a lot! I wish you continued success toward improving your health.

buglesalmoncatgirl wrote: »

Oh sorry for stating this so late, but I'd like to lose 30-45lbs overall. I weigh 171lbs at 5'4".

SLLRunner wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

HealthierMeforlife2016 wrote: »

I'm on 1200 and I don't good lower not healthy to go lower than 1200

A sweeping statement made with no proof. People can, and do, eat below 1200 calories and are healthy.

Wait a minute. Why would you say going below 1200 calories is healthy, when that is below most people's BMR, the amount that sustains a person who is sedentary?

Please give examples.