Too little calories?
imxnianne
Posts: 216 Member
Hello! I know this might have been answered before but I'm curious about it. I've been working out and started light. Meaning I was eating veggies nonstop for the first few days. I figured I needed my carbs. I had no energy at all that's why! I'm on day 10. Day 8 I started to lose appetite. Like I'd be starving before sleeping but I didn't have the appetite. My calorie count has been dropping from not having 200 or 300 but not I saw I had 500 to 600 left! I want to eat but its bedtime and still no appetite. Is too little of calories bad for my diet? Should I eat or not eat after working out? Tia!
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Replies
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A too low calorie intake over time is bad. Not hitting your calorie goal is something else, it can be from eating too little, or just from incorrect logging. Then there is what to eat - a boring diet is not only going to kill your appetite, you will risk malnourishment too. Nutrition for healthy adults isn't very complicated - you can eat what you want in moderation.
The really stupid thing about eating too little/poorly, though - not counting how pointless it is when we're surrounded by nutritious and delicious food - is that long before you risk malnutrition, you risk rebound overeating, so if your goal is weightloss, you're effectively undermining your effort.7 -
yes too few calories is bad for you health wise; maybe look to like liquid calories (smoothies) to get your numbers up especially after working out1
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I love vegetables but if that's all I was eating, I'd be bored too.3
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I dunno, does it happen to everyone? Losing your appetite when you don't eat enough calories? Because I haven't lost mine, I just don't feel hungry and I been on a decent size calorie deficit on accident4
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You are likely missing much needed protein: muscles, hair, nails, organs, etc.
You are also likely missing much needed fats: hormonal functioning, bowel functioning, etc.
There are a lot of reasons for eating a healthy balanced diet. Yes, weight loss is about calories, but health requires that you give your body the nutrition it needs to function well.12 -
A balance of macros (protein, fat, carbs) is preferable and will probably stabilize your energy and appetite better than just vegetables.3
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I tried vegetables and carbs and protein. Everything now even shakes. Night time blues are still the same tho.. starving with no appetite. Is it normal to not eat because it’s so late at night? that or maybe I miss fatty food1
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Meal timing shouldn't really interfere much with appetite, but diet can, and attitude will. Are you saying you're cutting way down on fat; if so, why? A balanced diet has sufficient amounts of all the nutrients you need, including fat. I'm worried about your relationship with food too - healthy eating is about overall nutrition and enjoyment, not about focus on certain nutrients and shunning others, aka "nutritionism".I tried vegetables and carbs and protein. Everything now even shakes. Night time blues are still the same tho.. starving with no appetite. Is it normal to not eat because it’s so late at night? that or maybe I miss fatty food3 -
Add some nuts or olive oil to your salad, some peanut butter to your celery or apple, or an avocado somewhere in your day. These will add some much needed fats and calories to your diet without being large in volume.3
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I tried vegetables and carbs and protein. Everything now even shakes. Night time blues are still the same tho.. starving with no appetite. Is it normal to not eat because it’s so late at night? that or maybe I miss fatty food
How could you have tried everything if this is day 10 of your diet?
The answer is pretty obvious. Try eating the way you were before you started your diet just eat less of it. This deal where people think they need to make huge changes in their eating patterns to lose weight can result in unpredictable results like this. Losing weight doesn't require special food. It just requires that you maintain a calorie deficit. Eat less and make small changes over time.
If that doesn't fix you after a week or so go see a doctor.
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »Add some nuts or olive oil to your salad, some peanut butter to your celery or apple, or an avocado somewhere in your day. These will add some much needed fats and calories to your diet without being large in volume.
Another vote for this. Peanut butter or nuts is an easy way to get a lot of calories fast.0 -
Maybe I misread this, but how does one starve, yet have no appetite?9
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GabrielleCP wrote: »Maybe I misread this, but how does one starve, yet have no appetite?
Hunger and appetite is not the same.1 -
Agreed, but they do, to a degree, tend to go hand and hand. To be clear, not trying to be insensitive, but want to understand. Is this an upset stomach issue or are you legit starving and just not able to eat?1
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GabrielleCP wrote: »Agreed, but they do, to a degree, tend to go hand and hand. To be clear, not trying to be insensitive, but want to understand. Is this an upset stomach issue or are you legit starving and just not able to eat?
Usually, they do. I personally, without knowing anything beyond what's been mentioned in this thread, and the general impression from similar threads, assume it's "the honeymoon phase" where exitement over new diet and desperation to lose weight, temporarily get priority over both the need for nutrition as well as pleasure from food.4 -
Eat fats! The brain (and the rest of your body) need fats!
I think it becomes about control and wrestling the body into submission. Yes, you can eat very little and you can eat lowfat...for a while, then you can't.
Fat doesn't make you fat, and you need it. Undereating will blow up in your face at some point. The best thing to do is to try to hit those fat and protein goals every day, not go below them.3 -
I went way too extreme to start with. I wasn't on mfp at first. When I joined and bragged about how well I was doing, I got slammed by people pointing out all sorts of legitimate problems. I also got acclimated to very low calories and didn't have much of an appetite. A couple of things happened to me. Starvation mode is a myth, but adaptive thermogenesis (AT) is not. Even though I slowed my rate of loss. I suffered some AT and my maintenance calories are 150-200 below what calculators come up with. I lost a noticeable amount of muscle and it has taken some work at maintenance to get it back. If I had it to do over again, I would have switched from the extreme deficit sooner. I still would have stared with it; the main reason I was a serial restarter was because it was too easy for me to rationalize starting over in a few days so I could enjoy some event when I was only a few pounds down. Once I had a "lead to protect" of ~10 pounds, I was able to get the discipline to stick to it. I lost over 60 pounds and have been maintaining (actually drifted lower) for 6 months so far. Slowing the rate of loss makes maintenance a lot easier as it is just an adjustment.5
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@kommodevaran - Makes sense I guess. 🤔
@ imxnianne - On your question on whether you should eat after working out... YES!!! You have to replenish your glycogen stores to prevent your body from using muscle as fuel and to help build and repair. More muscle you have, more you burn at rest. Maybe try a macro calculator to see where you are at, and then slowly try incorporating BALANCED meals every few hours to rev up your metabolism and help you hit your numbers. Could be the sudden switch from simple carbs to high fiber (and like other users mentioned, lack of good omegas)???
Hopefully things even out for you soon.12 -
I was having similar problem OP; I was barely hitting 1200/day. Perhaps, since I’m about 1-2 lbs from goal weight(that damn magic number in my mind) I was restricting myself. As mentioned above, I started paying attention to macros. I adjusted down carbs 10% and increased protein and fat. Protein shakes, bars, more eggs, avocados and nuts. I’m at least hitting 1500 now and my energy level has improved immensely. 4 years on this journey and I never paid much mind to macros. Just that little tweak changed the game for me.1
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GabrielleCP wrote: »@kommodevaran - Makes sense I guess. 🤔
@ imxnianne - On your question on whether you should eat after working out... YES!!! You have to replenish your glycogen stores to prevent your body from using muscle as fuel and to help build and repair. More muscle you have, more you burn at rest. Maybe try a macro calculator to see where you are at, and then slowly try incorporating BALANCED meals every few hours to rev up your metabolism and help you hit your numbers. Could be the sudden switch from simple carbs to high fiber (and like other users mentioned, lack of good omegas)???
Hopefully things even out for you soon.
you do not need to eat after you workout. if you are getting enough food whether before or after you will replenish glycogen stores. muscle is very hard to build in a deficit and a lb of muscle only burns like an additional 6 calories. and you dont rev up your metabolism with food. exercise does though.meals every few hours mean nothing .meal timing is just a preference or for those whom have say diabetes that need to keep blood sugars stable. your body will use muscle as fuel if you are eating too few calories. you will lose some lean mass in a deficit which is why its said to eat enough protein and do weight/resistance training to offset that. counting macros is basically the same thing as counting calories. it all adds up.9 -
GabrielleCP wrote: »@kommodevaran - Makes sense I guess. 🤔
@ imxnianne - On your question on whether you should eat after working out... YES!!! You have to replenish your glycogen stores to prevent your body from using muscle as fuel and to help build and repair. More muscle you have, more you burn at rest. Maybe try a macro calculator to see where you are at, and then slowly try incorporating BALANCED meals every few hours to rev up your metabolism and help you hit your numbers. Could be the sudden switch from simple carbs to high fiber (and like other users mentioned, lack of good omegas)???
Hopefully things even out for you soon.
Unless you're a professional athlete, you don't need to worry at all about meal timing. I don't eat until I get to work, usually over an hour after my work out ends. Eating pre or post workout is a personal choice.
You can't "rev up" your metabolism by eating every few hours, simply not a thing.
Muscle only burns a minimal amount of extra calories at rest.4
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