Quick question RE: minimum calories
mrsc86
Posts: 188 Member
Hi all
I know we are all supposed to eat a minimum of 1,200 kcals per day. However, due to a very slow metabolic rate and a couple of other imbalances, my doctor has referred me to a nutritionist and guided me to eat between 1000 and 1,100 to lose weight. My question is, if I am getting all my nutriants, will I be OK?
Thanks
I know we are all supposed to eat a minimum of 1,200 kcals per day. However, due to a very slow metabolic rate and a couple of other imbalances, my doctor has referred me to a nutritionist and guided me to eat between 1000 and 1,100 to lose weight. My question is, if I am getting all my nutriants, will I be OK?
Thanks
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Replies
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If a doctor told you to do it you'll be fine. Just make sure you are eating healthy foods!0
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If a doctor told you to do it you'll be fine. Just make sure you are eating healthy foods!
Agreed0 -
Definitely listen to your doctor!0
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I would say that if you're getting all your nutrients, eating healthy and under a doctor's supervision, you'll be just fine. It's just not considered wise for someone to go below 1200 without a doctor's supervision.0
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Definitely listen to your doctor - and make sure the calories you do eat are high in nutrients. They should be able to help point you in the right direction.0
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Your doctor knows best! 1200 is sort of an arbitrary number, and since weight loss isn't 'one size fits all,' there can be some variation. best of luck!0
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Agreed and if the nutritionist showed you how to eat properly, it should be healthy and well balanced. Agree with everyone, that you should follow the advice of the Dr.0
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Hi all
I know we are all supposed to eat a minimum of 1,200 kcals per day. However, due to a very slow metabolic rate and a couple of other imbalances, my doctor has referred me to a nutritionist and guided me to eat between 1000 and 1,100 to lose weight. My question is, if I am getting all my nutriants, will I be OK?
Thanks
I'm also on 1000-1100, set by my nutritionist, because I'm so short. You can get your nutrients in at this lower calorie rating. Just make sure they are coming from healthy sources and not fillers. Produce and protein are your friends.0 -
1200 calories is just an average, it's meant to be bent to each individual for their specific needs. People with metabolic conditions might need to modify it as needed. But just be sure to consult with a professional about your micronutrient needs (vitamins and supplements won't cut it alone usually, at least OTC ones are generally much less effective than people think). That said, if you make sure your micro's are ok (vitamins and minerals), you feel healthy, you don't notice outward signs of starvation, and your doctor is ok with your blood work, I see no reason why it's not ok to do. Be aware though, metabolic conditions or no, if you exercise, you need more calories than if you don't.0
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I would also do some research on the foods that boost metabolism. Make those calories count! Don't forget to add in some healthy fats! You don't want to cut all fats from your diet, as that can actually slow your metabolism even more.0
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There's nothing magical that happens below 1200 calories universally. That's just an imposed limitation set by MFP.
I agree... I'd listen to your doc.
I'm wondering though... what imbalances do you have and what's your current height and weight? If you don't want to share that information... that's fine. Just curious is all.0 -
Maybe take a multi-vitamin and some omega-3s to keep your joints loose. Other than that, you do what works for you. If you feel comfortable with that calorie intake, as long as it's all fresh/healthy food, you should be all good.
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Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..0 -
listen to your doctor, but make sure within that 1000-1100 is a healthy balanced diet by logging all you eat, and check the nutrients. Eat foods with low saturated fat content. Eat more protein, eggs, lean meats like chicken turkey wafer thin ham and rabbit.
If you start to exercise too, that may increase your metabolic rate over time as you get fitter.
Good Luck0 -
For sure! Trust your doctor.0
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Hi all
Really appreciate your feedback
I was concerned, but the only reason I went in the first place was I was following every level from 1600 down to 1200 (Net) and didnt lose more than 0.5 lbs in 6 week (been doing this for about 6 years)
I am currently 5'4" and 150lbs so I dont have that much to go. I only want to get to a healthy weight for my height.0 -
Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..
I doubt it's a long term recommendation. If it is... then I'd tend to agree with you. But if calories are that low and protein intake is jacked up.... say 2 grams per pound.... at least temporarily... I doubt there'd be appreciable muscle loss. Look at the success of protein sparing fasts and such in acute settings.0 -
Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..
Are you serious? Really? Do you know this patient? Have you examined her like her doctor has? Do you have her lab results? As a NP and clinical lipid specialist, you should know better than this. I am absolutely appaled at your statement and think you should retract it. As mid-levels, we are not allowed to overrule a finding by a qualified MD about his patient that he has knowledge of.
The shame is in your answer, not in his medical opinion and practice of his patient.0 -
1200 calories means about as much to me as "eat your exercise calories." If you are under a doctor's supervision, and getting good nutrition from what you eat (1000 cals/per day means they all have to be good quality calories), don't worry about it.
On this website I see a lot of people that exercise and eat those calories back, but they still eat a lot of crap. And while they are managing to lose weight, IMO, they are still malnourished and could lose even more if they did a better job of cleaning up their diet. On most days (this past weekend was not a good example), I subscribe to a less is more theory. Less calories...but nutrient packed. I try to make them all count!! 1000-1200 GOOD calories and "treat" calories of about 200 - 250.0 -
Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..
Are you serious? Really? Do you know this patient? Have you examined her like her doctor has? Do you have her lab results? As a NP and clinical lipid specialist, you should know better than this. I am absolutely appaled at your statement and think you should retract it. As mid-levels, we are not allowed to overrule a finding by a qualified MD about his patient that he has knowledge of.
The shame is in your answer, not in his medical opinion and practice of his patient.
Well said, I don't see how anyone can say that someone's doctor is wrong when they know nothing about the patient.0 -
Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..
Are you serious? Really? Do you know this patient? Have you examined her like her doctor has? Do you have her lab results? As a NP and clinical lipid specialist, you should know better than this. I am absolutely appaled at your statement and think you should retract it. As mid-levels, we are not allowed to overrule a finding by a qualified MD about his patient that he has knowledge of.
The shame is in your answer, not in his medical opinion and practice of his patient.
Well said, I don't see how anyone can say that someone's doctor is wrong when they know nothing about the patient.
She has yet to retract her statement or respond in defense of it. I am not confrontional on here, but this really is wrong and borderline malpractice, in my opinion. I hope the OP has enough knowledge to listen to HER doctor and not to advice from some stranger on an internet forum.0 -
If you re-read the OP, the nutritionist made the "rules" regarding caloric intake, not the doctor.
Is this an RD or a "nutritonist" (anyone can claim they are a nutritionist).
And doctors are not often trained in nutrition. IT really depends on what type of doc is giving out this advice. Doctors do NOT know everything, even for their own patients. hell, some docs prescribe HCG....
And people give out opionions and recommendations on here every second. I don't think the NP is practicing "malpractice", that's a bit strongly worded.
And i'm a PA, fwiw.0 -
I will of course be listening to my doctor - I just wanted to check there were no long term negative impacts of going lower than 1200 for a short period of time
Are there any foods you would suggest I include to improve metabolism? The diet I have been given is balanced (with higher iron as I am low in that) but anything I can do would be great
This is not a long term thing - I love my food!0 -
I did read the OP and the NP did not say she is disappointed in the nutritionist. She said she was disappointed in the doctor. As mid-levels, we all should know our limitations, and have been trained in that model. To say that statement as a medical professional without having all the background information is not only mis-leading, but not very good practice, hence in my opinion, can be viewed as malpractice. And yes, all doctors are not trained in nutrition, but I would venture to say that their limited training is vastly more than any mid-level I know.If you re-read the OP, the nutritionist made the "rules" regarding caloric intake, not the doctor.
Is this an RD or a "nutritonist" (anyone can claim they are a nutritionist).
And doctors are not often trained in nutrition. IT really depends on what type of doc is giving out this advice. Doctors do NOT know everything, even for their own patients. hell, some docs prescribe HCG....
And people give out opionions and recommendations on here every second. I don't think the NP is practicing "malpractice", that's a bit strongly worded.
And i'm a PA, fwiw.0 -
Im disappointed with your doctor. The fact is, many many medical professionals really do not have knowledge about nutrition and diet and just say what they think is right without really knowing the truth.
As a nurse practitioner and clinical lipid specialist I would have to disagree with your doctor ... any "diet" that has you eating under your basal metabolic rate in the end is just gonig to result in weight loss from muscle loss, and needing to eat significant lower calories in order to maintain your weight...
Its really quite a shame..
I doubt it's a long term recommendation. If it is... then I'd tend to agree with you. But if calories are that low and protein intake is jacked up.... say 2 grams per pound.... at least temporarily... I doubt there'd be appreciable muscle loss. Look at the success of protein sparing fasts and such in acute settings.
I agree. There are some fighters at my dojang that do ridiculous things to make weight for tournaments. The only part of them that suffers for it is giving up the foods they love. They typically go on high protein low everything else diets until after the tournament. At the same time they crank up the training, training 8-10 hours a day. They are alive. They are healthy. MFP is just a website, not the end all be all of fitness and nutrition.0 -
I completely agree with EmmaLeigh 110%.
Here is why alot of you are not only misinformed but you rely too much on internal medicine doctors.
1. You can't just go by someone's BMR without also looking at their ACTIVITY LEVEL throughout an ENTIRE day, not just inside the gym. You have to take everything into account to find out what you burn in a 24 hour period.
2. In order to effectively lose weight for long term success you should be eating a caloric deficit of no more than 1000 calories under what the maintenance level is. You can also use 20-40% to determine your deficit if you have a low activity level throughout the day.
3. To ensure long term success without plateau'ing you need to hit your macros every single day depending on your goals and your training. 8 times out of 10 people that plateau don't have their macro's correct so they change their eating habits and eat a little more which in turn alters their macro intake which starts the weight loss again.
There are alot of doctors that are knowledgeable, but there are also many that are so clueless when it comes to nutrition and losing weight that it's mind boggling.
Any doctor that tells someone to eat below their BMR level without first calculating exactly what their BMR is + their activity level is a recipe for disaster. I bet most of those doctors would tell a patient to make sure they eat 5-6 meals a day, don't eat past 7pm, and eat a low-fat diet which is all completely wrong and based on not only broscience but completely outdated research.
So before you start throwing Emmaleigh under the bus, please take a step back and go read some real studies from the NIH regarding this very topic.
Please read the links in my sig for more information.0 -
I completely agree with EmmaLeigh 110%.
Here is why alot of you are not only misinformed but you rely too much on internal medicine doctors.
So before you start throwing Emmaleigh under the bus, please take a step back and go read some real studies from the NIH regarding this very topic.
Please read the links in my sig for more information.
So are you agreeing with EmmaLeigh that a patient should not listen to her doctor who has knowledge about her. I am not in disagreement with what she is saying except for one thing. The statement that she disagreed with this patient's doctor. That is wrong on every level, unless you have conclusive evidence based medicine(not internet links or some random study), that that doctor is wrong. While NIH studies are great, I use them every day, they are not specific to each patient. This person's doctor has knowledge of her condition, not me, you, or EmmaLeigh. We cannot as health care professional advise someone to dis-regard medical advice unless we have evidence based proof that contradicts that advice---for that patient. That is the only point I am trying to make. I know we can all have opinions, but in the medical field, our opinion can end up costing us a lot of money, and in some cases, our careers.0 -
I completely agree with EmmaLeigh 110%.
Here is why alot of you are not only misinformed but you rely too much on internal medicine doctors.
So before you start throwing Emmaleigh under the bus, please take a step back and go read some real studies from the NIH regarding this very topic.
Please read the links in my sig for more information.
So are you agreeing with EmmaLeigh that a patient should not listen to her doctor who has knowledge about her. I am not in disagreement with what she is saying except for one thing. The statement that she disagreed with this patient's doctor. That is wrong on every level, unless you have conclusive evidence based medicine(not internet links or some random study), that that doctor is wrong. While NIH studies are great, I use them every day, they are not specific to each patient. This person's doctor has knowledge of her condition, not me, you, or EmmaLeigh. We cannot as health care professional advise someone to dis-regard medical advice unless we have evidence based proof that contradicts that advice---for that patient. That is the only point I am trying to make. I know we can all have opinions, but in the medical field, our opinion can end up costing us a lot of money, and in some cases, our careers.
Her doctor has knowledge about her from a MEDICAL standpoint but not from a NUTRITION and DIET standpoint. There is a huge difference there when it comes to losing weight. He's telling her to eat below her BMR level without first knowing what their daily 24 hour activity is inclusive to her BMR. THAT is a recipe for disaster.
I once had a doctor tell me to not eat whole eggs as they cause your LDL blood cholesterol levels to skyrocket and will eventually cause me heart failure regardless of how much I exercise, stay at the proper weight and eat healthy.
I walked out of his office immediately.0 -
I completely agree with EmmaLeigh 110%.
Here is why alot of you are not only misinformed but you rely too much on internal medicine doctors.
So before you start throwing Emmaleigh under the bus, please take a step back and go read some real studies from the NIH regarding this very topic.
Please read the links in my sig for more information.
So are you agreeing with EmmaLeigh that a patient should not listen to her doctor who has knowledge about her. I am not in disagreement with what she is saying except for one thing. The statement that she disagreed with this patient's doctor. That is wrong on every level, unless you have conclusive evidence based medicine(not internet links or some random study), that that doctor is wrong. While NIH studies are great, I use them every day, they are not specific to each patient. This person's doctor has knowledge of her condition, not me, you, or EmmaLeigh. We cannot as health care professional advise someone to dis-regard medical advice unless we have evidence based proof that contradicts that advice---for that patient. That is the only point I am trying to make. I know we can all have opinions, but in the medical field, our opinion can end up costing us a lot of money, and in some cases, our careers.
Gimme a break, seriously. The fact that you repeatedly use the term midlevel and feel that you would never diagree with a doctor means that you have bought into the society of medicine. Are there times that MDs know more than me, yep absolutely, but are there times that I know alot more than the MDs. Absolutely! I can apparently have an opinion as a normal person but as a nurse practitioner I cannot have an opinion.
Fine then... I am a completely uneducated person and I still think that the doctor and nutritionist are wrong. I agree 100% with the statements made by joejccva because even the most sedentary person should not be eating under their BMR. The physicians do not get that much education in nutrition and diet, unless they seek it out. And just like there are bad NP, there are bad physicians as well. As someone who has started and runs two lipid clinics, I see it every single day. Patients who were told bad dietary information, patients who are on medications that they shouldnt be on etc. You cannot trust the word of one person as gold, you need to practice evidence-based practice. And BTW if the original OP felt completely comfortable with the plan, she wouldnt be on MFP asking for opinions about whether it is safe. Something in her is questioning it, and that is a good thing. To throw around malpractice just because I give my opinion is poor practice... and if you believe the doctor is always right, that is also poor practice.
PS. Thanks to the PA who also chimed in as well.0 -
"Gimme a break, seriously. The fact that you repeatedly use the term midlevel and feel that you would never diagree with a doctor means that you have bought into the society of medicine. Are there times that MDs know more than me, yep absolutely, but are there times that I know alot more than the MDs. Absolutely! I can apparently have an opinion as a normal person but as a nurse practitioner I cannot have an opinion. "
ITA. I have never met a PA or NP who reveres docs as much as the PA2b seems to. You are a PA student? Want to go to PA school? I'm curious, b/c you seem to think very little of the knowledge and capability of "midlevels", which is sad and inaccurate.0
This discussion has been closed.
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