Why eating too little calories is a bad idea.....
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I do not understand why I see so many women on here trying to eat only 1000 calories a day. It makes no sense.
Because for years and years it has been put out there that if you want to lose weight you can't eat more than 1200 calories. I remember being on Weight Watchers when they still had their exchanges program. I read somewhere that the actual calories were around 1000 calories. It has just been drilled into our heads that you have to severely cut calories and it's a hard thing to break.8 -
The only time I ever have a hard time getting enough calories is illness. Nasty stomach bugs leave me in severe deficit for a few days, but then I do make up those calories the few days after getting better.3
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I just wanted to add that I experienced the binge/restrict reaction to trying to have a deficit that was too aggressive and have learned my lesson the hard way.
I am slowly coming out of that now and am currently eating at a 250 calorie deficit and my desire to binge is greatly curbed.
It's been a long road, part of that involved getting my settings right between MFP and Fitbit, part of it involved finding the right macro balance for me, and part of it has involved changing my meal timing. However, the biggest factor was just stopping the rush to the finish line (stupid last 5 pounds!).
Well, that last 5 pounds is now 10, and I'm not in any rush. In the real world, I'm not a fast runner, I don't know what made me think I could be a sprinter in the dieting world!
Nailed it! I've been trying to restrict my calories too much and I'm gaining as a result. Some is probably water weight (I don't drink nearly enough of that wonderful H2O stuff) but the rest is most likely my body thinking I'm starving myself and it's holding on for dear life.
I've also realized (today, in fact) 135 lbs is not in the cards for me. 140? Yup! No prob. So, accepting your body's limits goes a long way too.22 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I just wanted to add that I experienced the binge/restrict reaction to trying to have a deficit that was too aggressive and have learned my lesson the hard way.
I am slowly coming out of that now and am currently eating at a 250 calorie deficit and my desire to binge is greatly curbed.
It's been a long road, part of that involved getting my settings right between MFP and Fitbit, part of it involved finding the right macro balance for me, and part of it has involved changing my meal timing. However, the biggest factor was just stopping the rush to the finish line (stupid last 5 pounds!).
Well, that last 5 pounds is now 10, and I'm not in any rush. In the real world, I'm not a fast runner, I don't know what made me think I could be a sprinter in the dieting world!
Nailed it! I've been trying to restrict my calories too much and I'm gaining as a result. Some is probably water weight (I don't drink nearly enough of that wonderful H2O stuff) but the rest is most likely my body thinking I'm starving myself and it's holding on for dear life.
I've also realized (today, in fact) 135 lbs is not in the cards for me. 140? Yup! No prob. So, accepting your body's limits goes a long way too.
That's not at all what @GottaBurnEmAll was saying. She was saying when her deficit was too steep (due to a weekly weight loss goal that was too aggressive), that led to hunger and cravings that would cause her to binge. The binges resulted in taking in more calories that either reduced or wiped out her deficit. This behavior can slow down or prevent weight loss. People don't fail to lose weight because they are eating too few calories.21 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I just wanted to add that I experienced the binge/restrict reaction to trying to have a deficit that was too aggressive and have learned my lesson the hard way.
I am slowly coming out of that now and am currently eating at a 250 calorie deficit and my desire to binge is greatly curbed.
It's been a long road, part of that involved getting my settings right between MFP and Fitbit, part of it involved finding the right macro balance for me, and part of it has involved changing my meal timing. However, the biggest factor was just stopping the rush to the finish line (stupid last 5 pounds!).
Well, that last 5 pounds is now 10, and I'm not in any rush. In the real world, I'm not a fast runner, I don't know what made me think I could be a sprinter in the dieting world!
Nailed it! I've been trying to restrict my calories too much and I'm gaining as a result. Some is probably water weight (I don't drink nearly enough of that wonderful H2O stuff) but the rest is most likely my body thinking I'm starving myself and it's holding on for dear life.
I've also realized (today, in fact) 135 lbs is not in the cards for me. 140? Yup! No prob. So, accepting your body's limits goes a long way too.
That's not at all what @GottaBurnEmAll was saying. She was saying when her deficit was too steep (due to a weekly weight loss goal that was too aggressive), that led to hunger and cravings that would cause her to binge. The binges resulted in taking in more calories that either reduced or wiped out her deficit. This behavior can slow down or prevent weight loss. People don't fail to lose weight because they are eating too few calories.
Indeed, that's exactly what I was saying.9 -
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LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »I do not understand why I see so many women on here trying to eat only 1000 calories a day. It makes no sense.
I can tell you why: ignorance! And I am not being ugly with that. I am using that word in the truest meaning of the word.
There are so many people out there selling snake oils and magic pills that people who are desperate (in their mind they have tried so many things and nothing has worked - for any number of reasons - that they reach the point of desperation....) that they want to believe anything and everything.
The only time - all things being equal - that anyone (specifically female here, in this context) should go under 1,000 calories (give me latitude here) is when they are in prep for a competition. And, then *ONLY* with an experienced coach. I am not referencing those hack on-line coaches who give 200 girls of different sizes and experience the same macros...not those chuckwagons! And that is for a relatively short period of time followed by a very nice and long reverse diet where they get "healthy" again.
Most of us to not qualify for that designation! :-)
There is just so much ignorance out there......I call it analysis to paralysis.
So true!
As a nerd bookworm and was very self conscious about weight in highschool, if health class would have mentioned how to eat and fuel for healthy body aka not the stupid food pyramid but the basis of cico and needing 1200 to fuel your body and eating to support exercise, I'm pretty sure I would have had a life changing epiphany back then.
I didn't learn how to maintain a healthy weight in highschool, I didn't learn how to be healthy in college, I didn't learn it from my parents, definitely didn't learn it from magazines, click baity internet articles.
I got lucky and picked this app and learned about macros and net calories and how to eat and not be starving but still enjoy life...
Why isn't this common knowledge, I know many of my friends can innately feed themselves and maintain their weight but not everyone clearly can and yet what I've learned from this app and forum has been life changing and I wish I would have known 10 years ago.9 -
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RadishEater wrote: »LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »I do not understand why I see so many women on here trying to eat only 1000 calories a day. It makes no sense.
I can tell you why: ignorance! And I am not being ugly with that. I am using that word in the truest meaning of the word.
There are so many people out there selling snake oils and magic pills that people who are desperate (in their mind they have tried so many things and nothing has worked - for any number of reasons - that they reach the point of desperation....) that they want to believe anything and everything.
The only time - all things being equal - that anyone (specifically female here, in this context) should go under 1,000 calories (give me latitude here) is when they are in prep for a competition. And, then *ONLY* with an experienced coach. I am not referencing those hack on-line coaches who give 200 girls of different sizes and experience the same macros...not those chuckwagons! And that is for a relatively short period of time followed by a very nice and long reverse diet where they get "healthy" again.
Most of us to not qualify for that designation! :-)
There is just so much ignorance out there......I call it analysis to paralysis.
So true!
As a nerd bookworm and was very self conscious about weight in highschool, if health class would have mentioned how to eat and fuel for healthy body aka not the stupid food pyramid but the basis of cico and needing 1200 to fuel your body and eating to support exercise, I'm pretty sure I would have had a life changing epiphany back then.
I didn't learn how to maintain a healthy weight in highschool, I didn't learn how to be healthy in college, I didn't learn it from my parents, definitely didn't learn it from magazines, click baity internet articles.
I got lucky and picked this app and learned about macros and net calories and how to eat and not be starving but still enjoy life...
Why isn't this common knowledge, I know many of my friends can innately feed themselves and maintain their weight but not everyone clearly can and yet what I've learned from this app and forum has been life changing and I wish I would have known 10 years ago.
Exactly this. I'm a grad student and I've been in school for ages, but "learning" how to eat and use MFP has felt like taking another course, without a curriculum. One that I'm still trying to figure out. I knew nothing about calories as a kid in school. The food pyramid is literally all they teach you, and Canada's Food Guide. Which I find pretty much impossible.
I went to a registered dietician on referral from my doctor regarding my weight, and again, all she said was follow the food pyramid, she had little plastic models of food as portion guides, and I went home with no tangible or comprehendible instructions. I went to a healthy cooking class at the community centre run by this dietician that followed the food pyramid, and it made a 600+ calorie meal with no protein, whole wheat pasta, and celery and carrots. I tried asking her about the calories and she said they didn't matter, only matching the servings of vegetables. All the formal nutritional education I've tried to get has been worse than useless and super confusing.
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I went to a registered dietician on referral from my doctor regarding my weight, and again, all she said was follow the food pyramid, she had little plastic models of food as portion guides, and I went home with no tangible or comprehendible instructions. I went to a healthy cooking class at the community centre run by this dietician that followed the food pyramid, and it made a 600+ calorie meal with no protein, whole wheat pasta, and celery and carrots. I tried asking her about the calories and she said they didn't matter, only matching the servings of vegetables. All the formal nutritional education I've tried to get has been worse than useless and super confusing.
I have seen three dieticians over the years. Two were TERRIFIC. giving me resources, plans. regular check ins. conconcrete info. One worked with a endocrinologist. The other at a bariatric clinic
the third (who i saw in between the above two) was TERRIBLE. she worked at my family doctor's office. She looked at me and said i'd lost weight before and just do the same. She could add ZERO more information. I left feeling discouraged.
There are some good ones out there...but there are some bad ones too. I'm glad i was able to work with two great ones over the years.
Having said all this - I am having a very very hard time trusting MFP exercise calories and eating more. I am slowly pushing myself to.. The issue isn't that I "can't eat" (I can, i'm a huge eater) but fear of gaining. Baby steps. Possibly too small a step but i have pushed myself to at LEAST take small steps. On the plus side, turns out my logging isn't as good as I thought so there were extra calories out there I was eating and not logging
So as i trust the numbers and eat more I need to ensure my logging is also accurate! 4 -
I went to a registered dietician on referral from my doctor regarding my weight, and again, all she said was follow the food pyramid, she had little plastic models of food as portion guides, and I went home with no tangible or comprehendible instructions. I went to a healthy cooking class at the community centre run by this dietician that followed the food pyramid, and it made a 600+ calorie meal with no protein, whole wheat pasta, and celery and carrots. I tried asking her about the calories and she said they didn't matter, only matching the servings of vegetables. All the formal nutritional education I've tried to get has been worse than useless and super confusing.
I have seen three dieticians over the years. Two were TERRIFIC. giving me resources, plans. regular check ins. conconcrete info. One worked with a endocrinologist. The other at a bariatric clinic
the third (who i saw in between the above two) was TERRIBLE. she worked at my family doctor's office. She looked at me and said i'd lost weight before and just do the same. She could add ZERO more information. I left feeling discouraged.
There are some good ones out there...but there are some bad ones too. I'm glad i was able to work with two great ones over the years.
Having said all this - I am having a very very hard time trusting MFP exercise calories and eating more. I am slowly pushing myself to.. The issue isn't that I "can't eat" (I can, i'm a huge eater) but fear of gaining. Baby steps. Possibly too small a step but i have pushed myself to at LEAST take small steps. On the plus side, turns out my logging isn't as good as I thought so there were extra calories out there I was eating and not logging So as i trust the numbers and eat more I need to ensure my logging is also accurate!
I'm glad there are good ones out there! I would look into another one, but she's the only one at my family doctor's office/in my community centre and I'd need a reason for a referral outside and I don't really have one. Also money lol. I didn't have to pay to see her, but an external referral would cost me.
I'm running into similar issues. I was losing too fast and experienced some hair loss, aiming for 1lb/week and losing almost 2lb/week. Trying to up calories without losing myself in old habits and eating a ton and gaining instead is not....going well lol. (Plus my cat just died so I'm like 80% sadness and 20% pizza right now).16 -
I went to a registered dietician on referral from my doctor regarding my weight, and again, all she said was follow the food pyramid, she had little plastic models of food as portion guides, and I went home with no tangible or comprehendible instructions. I went to a healthy cooking class at the community centre run by this dietician that followed the food pyramid, and it made a 600+ calorie meal with no protein, whole wheat pasta, and celery and carrots. I tried asking her about the calories and she said they didn't matter, only matching the servings of vegetables. All the formal nutritional education I've tried to get has been worse than useless and super confusing.
I have seen three dieticians over the years. Two were TERRIFIC. giving me resources, plans. regular check ins. conconcrete info. One worked with a endocrinologist. The other at a bariatric clinic
the third (who i saw in between the above two) was TERRIBLE. she worked at my family doctor's office. She looked at me and said i'd lost weight before and just do the same. She could add ZERO more information. I left feeling discouraged.
There are some good ones out there...but there are some bad ones too. I'm glad i was able to work with two great ones over the years.
Having said all this - I am having a very very hard time trusting MFP exercise calories and eating more. I am slowly pushing myself to.. The issue isn't that I "can't eat" (I can, i'm a huge eater) but fear of gaining. Baby steps. Possibly too small a step but i have pushed myself to at LEAST take small steps. On the plus side, turns out my logging isn't as good as I thought so there were extra calories out there I was eating and not logging So as i trust the numbers and eat more I need to ensure my logging is also accurate!
I'm glad there are good ones out there! I would look into another one, but she's the only one at my family doctor's office/in my community centre and I'd need a reason for a referral outside and I don't really have one. Also money lol. I didn't have to pay to see her, but an external referral would cost me.
I'm running into similar issues. I was losing too fast and experienced some hair loss, aiming for 1lb/week and losing almost 2lb/week. Trying to up calories without losing myself in old habits and eating a ton and gaining instead is not....going well lol. (Plus my cat just died so I'm like 80% sadness and 20% pizza right now).
Sorry about your kitty2
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