Question about being on a long term diet.

Options
toshii22
toshii22 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone! Been using MyFitness Pal for years (the first few years were not serious).I've never been active with the community. I hope anyone who reads this would take some time off their busy scheds to answer a (few) questions.

I'm 183 cm, male, is asian, have a pretty active life (manual labor), and have lost 37 kilograms in 6 months. 7th this march. I started from 112 kilos down to 75. I'm on a 1000 or less calorie diet. I admit it's not good. But I'm so used to it. I feel fine. And I do give myself a nice binge of junk from time to time and still lose weight. My goal is 65 kilos because I still feel fat when I look in the mirror and I want to know if for once, can be you know, be called thin.

Should I take a break first? Are there any side effects of being on a low cal diet this long? Is anyone on the same boat as me? Have I unknowingly contracted an eating disorder?

Thanks for answering or even taking the time to read :)

Replies

  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 984 Member
    Options
    There are definitely side effects to eating so little for an extended period of time - and by the time you notice them, it'll be too late. Increase your intake, by a couple of hundred calories every few days, to get up to 1500 which is, at a minimum what you should be eating, especially as a labourer. I'd actually think it should be higher. Have a handful of nuts mid morning or on your way home from work if you need help increasing your intake.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    Feeling fine =/= being fine

    If you are truely eating that little, you are not meeting your basic nutritional needs. Meaning you are malnourished and as such destroying your body on the inside. Side effects from malnourishment often don't show up until the damage is done and some are not fixable.

    You should aim to be healthy. Maybe consider talking to someone about how you feel about your body image.
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
    Options
    I agree with others you should seek professional help.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,071 Member
    Options
    1000 calories is Far Too Low for a 6 ft tall male doing a physical job. :open_mouth:
    Well, for almost everybody for that matter.
    You should be able to lose on almost double that.

    Also not sure why you want to lose at all - 75 kg at your height is well within healthy bmi already.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Options
    Increase calories straight away and seek some professional help!
  • toshii22
    toshii22 Posts: 2 Member
    Options
    Thanks everyone! All of your advices are very much appreciated. I just can't seem to shake off the feeling that I'll be back to 112kg if I eat more. I'll try eating nuts first. As for the professional help, I'm not sure where to find one in Japan. As for talking to someone, that person more or less, tries to sabotage my diet whenever she can. I dunno.
  • fubarfornow
    fubarfornow Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Maybe look for a dietician (medically based, not magic woo based) that might be able to help you plan to up your calories so that you feel safe and in control doing so, and who can also help you find someone to work on the body image issues? I am wondering if a dietician might be a bit easier to find at first.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited March 2017
    Options
    You will feel fine until you don't, then there will a lot of health repair to be done and possibly permanent damage from such low cal.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    Options
    toshii22 wrote: »
    My goal is 65 kilos because I still feel fat when I look in the mirror and I want to know if for once, can be you know, be called thin.

    You're at a healthy weight and have no further need to lose weight. I have to say, if you don't see yourself as thin now, it's possible that you never will no matter how thin you actually get.

    I'm 185cm and 77kg, and I'm definitely thin right now. (Male, white, older.) My goal is about another 2kg lost, which is most likely be superfluous but I plan on putting some muscle on once I get there so I want some room for my weight to go back up. (Maybe a wrongheaded approach, but meh. It's worked for me before.) I've met my main goal, which is that my clothes from my thin days all fit again. The small amount of weight I still want to lose is happening slowly, on purpose. I'm set to 0.25 kg/week loss. That gives me with a sedentary job 1840 calories/day, which I gleefully eat along with half my exercise calories. In fact, I'm going to have a snack right now. (And I eat closer to maintenance calories on weekends. Losing another 2kg really isn't that important.)

    Is the person you're talking to really trying to sabotage your diet, or is she genuinely concerned about the tiny amount of food you're eating?
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,071 Member
    Options
    65 kg would be at the very lower border of healthy BMI for your height.
    Given you are a young male, very lower end is most unlikely to be healthy for you

    I am female, almost a foot shorter than you and probably a good 20 years older - I am in healthy BMI range at 62 kg.
    My maitenance calories, before exercise, are 1710.

    You cannot possibly need only 1000 calories per day.

    Given you are in healthy BMI range already at 75kg, your aim should be maitenance too.

    I hope you can see from my maitenance calories and comparison of myself to you, that yours would be well over 2000 - over double what you are eating now.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    Options
    A long term eating plan makes adjustments for your changing physical needs. As you become more active, eat more. Conversely, as you become less active, eat less. This is to maintain a healthy weight. You've already admitted that your long-term eating plan fails to maintain a healthy weight because you are at a healthy weight now, you are losing weight, and you often gorge on food far above your normal miniscule food budget. What else has to happen for you to see that this is not the way it works? Eat more each day, as previously advised. Be happy in your skin where you are.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    Options
    1000 calories, long term lol just lol

Categories