Why eating too little calories is a bad idea.....

musicfan68 wrote: »

everher wrote: »

brianneangell08 wrote: »

sak20011 wrote: »

I am on my second start. my first, I lost no weight. Recalculated my TDEE to reflect the fact that yes, even though i work out a few times a week, I'm otherwise not that active--so its 1440 (I'm 5'1" and 125). . That puts me at 1200 to lose 1/2 lb a week. I'm going a bit under some days that I can have a nice meal out or two this week. My goal is to lose 5-8 pounds, but once I have a new 'set point' I'd really like build up enough muscle/get enough exercise that I can maintain on 1500. I know this seems low, but I am a 40 something short woman...

Yes! It's so frustrating for us shorties! My TDEE is only about 1510, so even 0.5 lb/week would mean a calorie intake of 1260 ... personally, I opt to eat at 1300 because any lower and I get cranky! The rate of loss is sooo frustratingly slow.

I think this is something that isn't acknowledged on MFP a lot.

Not everyone is tall (or even average height) and not everyone is able to or chooses to work out. For some, even a 0.5 lb a week deficit puts them at 1200-1300 calories a week. Not everyone eating at 1200-1300 calories is 'starving themselves' it's just what they have to eat in order to lose weight even at a very slow pace.

This would be me. I've been trying to hit 1260 a day, and that was set for lightly active, 1 lb a week loss. I finally backed it down to .5 so I can get closer to 1500 calories a day.

try2again wrote: »

sonarbabe wrote: »

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.