Can not eating enough make you gain weight?
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Juliettemarie11
Posts: 21 Member
Listen I know this sounds like a stupid question but I've been going pretty low under the amount of calories I consume in a day... and wondering if that's even healthy at all?
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Replies
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Eating below 1200 net calories for women/1500 for men is unhealthy. Not because it will make you gain weight, but because it puts you at risk for malnutrition and for simply not having enough energy to carry out your basic bodily functions.
How many calories are you currently eating per day? You said in another thread that you're eating an extremely restrictive diet, nothing but chicken salads.13 -
What are your stats? Calorie allotment?
Do you weigh your foods so you're sure about your calorie count?4 -
Well I'm always around 700 or sometimes more under my calorie limit for the day. I just need to write up a higher calorie meal for dinner maybe.. I don't feel like I'm losing energy or have any symptoms of malnutrition.. but now I know it is unhealthy.3
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What did mfp set for your calories?
Age, height, starting weight, current weight, goal weight?
When you started mfp, did you read the stickies at the top of the getting started forum?3 -
juliettem4953 wrote: »Well I'm always around 700 or sometimes more under my calorie limit for the day. I just need to write up a higher calorie meal for dinner maybe.. I don't feel like I'm losing energy or have any symptoms of malnutrition.. but now I know it is unhealthy.
If you were to have symptoms of malnutrition, then you'd have already let it get too far. You need to fix the problem long before you have any symptoms.
First, weigh ALL your food. You may be eating more than you think.
If you weigh all your food and still aren't hitting your MFP calorie goal, then you need to eat more. Add some of these foods: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p110 -
No.
You cannot gain wt if you are not eating "enough" to maintain your current body wt.8 -
juliettem4953 wrote: »Well I'm always around 700 or sometimes more under my calorie limit for the day. I just need to write up a higher calorie meal for dinner maybe.. I don't feel like I'm losing energy or have any symptoms of malnutrition.. but now I know it is unhealthy.
Hair loss is one sign of malnutrition that won't show up for MONTHS after the fact.5 -
Thanks everyone.1
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It does when you binge later and pretend you didnt by not loghing it and not mentioning it when you post a thread, otherwise its impossiblejuliettem4953 wrote: »Listen I know this sounds like a stupid question but I've been going pretty low under the amount of calories I consume in a day... and wondering if that's even healthy at all?
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Ok I dont need sarcasm but no I do not "bindge" eat and not post it.7
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juliettem4953 wrote: »Listen I know this sounds like a stupid question but I've been going pretty low under the amount of calories I consume in a day... and wondering if that's even healthy at all?
Gain weight? No. Healthy? No. Calories are a unit of energy...your body needs energy just to be alive an perform basic functions. Eating too few calories can have major consequences down the line...symptoms of mal-nourishment don't happen right away...but when they show up, it's too late.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »juliettem4953 wrote: »Well I'm always around 700 or sometimes more under my calorie limit for the day. I just need to write up a higher calorie meal for dinner maybe.. I don't feel like I'm losing energy or have any symptoms of malnutrition.. but now I know it is unhealthy.
Hair loss is one sign of malnutrition that won't show up for MONTHS after the fact.
Yes, seems to be about 6 months after the fact, from what others have been posting over the years.4 -
juliettem4953 wrote: »Ok I dont need sarcasm but no I do not "bindge" eat and not post it.
I don't think that was sarcasm. It's actually common for someone to eat far too little for several days, then their willpower just dives and they eat way more than they need to, effectively negating the low cal days, and out of guilt they don't log it. We see it often when people post they are eating super low cal and not losing weight, and after asking a bunch of questions they mention off hand the "cheat meals" they didn't log like they don't count.
I'm not saying I think you're doing that, just that it does come up.13 -
After fasting for 3 days, your body lowers your metabolism to prevent weight loss.20
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Severely restricting calories often results in much less non-exercise activity, resulting in fewer calories being burned. Weight gain won't happen in this scenario but rate of loss can be slowed (along with pretty bad health effects).4
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