Is eating 900 calories sometimes okay?

Jeanaiah · May 2020

I’m 21/5’2/106pounds.
Trying to cut down to 101.
Eating 1300-1400 calories a day seems to have slower result.
is it okay to zigzag calorie intake? Low cals today then normal calorie allowance tomorrow then low calories again the day after tomorrow.
Will this not mess up my health/metabolism?🤔

NovusDies · May 2020

Assuming additional weight loss is appropriate for you it should be slow, very slow.

Without medical supervision it is not advisable to eat 900 calories unless you intend to redistribute them to other days like a 5:2 plan. The only exception that comes to mind is being sick in a way that eating more means more unpleasant "output". Even then after a few days of no improvement it is time to see a doctor.

alexmose · May 2020

I am close to your stats and we are close to underweight already. Why are you going to eat so little?

ckozl81 · May 2020

You will not mess up your metabolism. Typically it is not recommended to go below 1200 calories but some days you just aren't as hungry. If you are aren't hungry then yes 900 calories occasionally will be ok. Doing it and feeling like your starving yourself is where you will start to harm your health. Could you try to lower your calories to 1200-1300 and see how that goes for you? Recommended if you are looking hard numbers to try otherwise play with a day for sightly higher calories like maybe 1450-1500.

NovusDies · May 2020

ckozl81 wrote: »

You will not mess up your metabolism. Typically it is not recommended to go below 1200 calories but some days you just aren't as hungry. If you are aren't hungry then yes 900 calories occasionally will be ok. Doing it and feeling like your starving yourself is where you will start to harm your health. Could you try to lower your calories to 1200-1300 and see how that goes for you? Recommended if you are looking hard numbers to try otherwise play with a day for sightly higher calories like maybe 1450-1500.

This is incorrect. You can eat less calories and be starving yourself and not "feel it". The risk to the metabolism is hard to know. The risk to the health is not.

You are correct that a day of 900 calories mixed in to many many days of eating the right number of calories is not a big deal. Making it part of a plan IS a big deal.

Jeanaiah · May 2020

alexmose wrote: »

I am close to your stats and we are close to underweight already. Why are you going to eat so little?

Well, i look skinny fat 😕 i like how my body looks like back when i was just 46kgs.
So I’m trying to get it back 😅

harper16 · May 2020

Set your weight loss at .5 lbs a week. Don't eat under 1200 calories a day. If you exercise eat back the exercise calories. Don't starve yourself. Eating so little is dangerous and unhealthy. If your goal weight is 101 lbs that puts you at the lowest end of your bmi.

Terytha · May 2020

I think there is a diet where you eat 500 calories one day, then 2500 the next, so it averages to 1500 a day. And that's not so terribly different from other forms of IF and since your body is getting enough to live on, it doesn't damage anything.

But the idea there is low today, high tomorrow. Not low today, normal tomorrow. That would leave you in a rough place, nutritionally.

Weight loss is supposed to be slow to protect your health. Is losing 5 pounds fast worth risking getting very sick?

NovusDies · May 2020

If you are skinny fat then you should consider toning exercises. Additional weight loss could cost you valuable muscle which is what you need to prevent looking skinny fat.

MaltedTea · May 2020

Jeanaiah wrote: »

Well, i look skinny fat 😕 i like how my body looks like back when i was just 46kgs.
So I’m trying to get it back 😅

This was disagreed 3x times when it may have been more helpful to direct the OP (who clarified her goals/reasoning) to a recomp thread instead. For example...

Of course, I say all this having been snarky in another post all of 15 min ago.

PapillonNoire · May 2020

NovusDies wrote: »

If you are skinny fat then you should consider toning exercises. Additional weight loss could cost you valuable muscle which is what you need to prevent looking skinny fat.

I agree. I think a lot of times when people say "skinny fat" the actual issue is looking under muscled. OP, if I were you I would personally choose to eat at maintenance calories and focus on strength training/weight lifting rather than continue to try and lose weight.

PAV8888 · May 2020

Other threads light people getting lighter and recomp. Most important thread the uterus one and the discussions on Instagram transformations.

If you're skinny fat at BMI 19.4, why do you think you won't be skinny fat at BMI 18.5 ESPECIALLY if you get there by losing fast....
...and as a result of losing fast losing possibly fat to lean mass at a worse ratio than you had to?

At these bmis and fat levels possibly even losing at an inverse ratio e.g 0.5lbs of fat for 1lb of lean mass instead of a more desirable 1:1 or even the traditional 2+ to 1 ranges that might be achievable by going at it reasonably and having sufficient available fat to lose.

Going at it reasonably would mean sub 0.5lbs a week, training hard and getting sufficient protein!

Gee, this sounds just like recomp, though and to be honest, at your starting weight I would suggest that weight stability and recomp at stable weight is actually more healthy than reducing weight*

*Because while the healthy weight range does denote statistical risk for the population as a whole this doesn't mean that every spot has equal risk for any one individual.

How active are you? Your TDEE comes up to above 1900 in most likely scenarios so you're already going faster than you probably should be.

I've met undermuscled BMI 19 people. I haven't yet met any over-fat ones. To be skinny fat you need to be over fat. Over fat, you are not.

Undermuscled gets fixed by recomp and by eating at maintenance (or even a slight surplus) at your level.

You really need to think hard about what you're really trying to fix and whether losing weight is either likely to work, or the correct way to go about fixing it.

Jeanaiah · May 2020

PAV8888 wrote: »

Other threads light people getting lighter and recomp. Most important thread the uterus one and the discussions on Instagram transformationz

If you're skinny fat at BMI 19.4, why do you think you won't be skinny fat at BMI 18.5 ESPECIALLY if you get there by losing fast....
...and as a result of losing fast) losing possibly fat to lean mass at a worse ratio than you had to.

At these bmis and fat levels possibly even at an inverse ratio e.g 0.5lbs of fat for 1lb of lean mass instead of 1:1 or even the traditional 2+ to 1 ranges that might be achievable by going at it reasonably.

Going at it reasonably would mean sub 0.5lbs a week, training hard and getting sufficient protein!

Gee, this sounds just like recomp, though and to be honest, at the op starting weight I would suggest that weight stability is actually more healthy than reducing weight*

*Because while the healthy weight range does denote statistical risk for the population as a whole this doesn't mean that every spot has equal risk for any one individual.

How active are you? Your TDEE comes up to above 1900 in most likely scenarios so you're already going faster than you probably should be.

You really need to think hard about what you think you're trying to fix and whether losing weight is either likely or the correct way to fix it.

This is very insightful ☺️
Well i used to be 101lbs, i go to the gym 3x a week back then and i looked great!
But now, when I moved to uae, I didn’t have time to go to the gym and i started to gain some weight.
So I’m trying to get that figure back.
Btw, my activity level? I’m also confused if I’m sedentary or lightly active.
I’ve been staying at home for a month now doing light house work like cooking/cleaning/light goofing around but mostly, sitting on a couch. But i do 40mins walk everyday in the afternoons

knightmagic · May 2020

i would say a recomp would be much better for you. Add like 10-25% more calories and add some weight training. You'll stimulate your body to gain weight with more muscle. If you've never done weight training you could add some serious definition without bulking up and you'll look athletic. However this all comes down to your goals and such.

PAV8888 · May 2020

Have you noticed that you're not going to the gym and are under pressure (as are most of us) with all this COVID business?

Going to the gym and exercise endorphins do make us feel good and strong, right?

More challenging strength oriented workouts? For sure.

Not sitting on the couch all day? For sure. It's fun doing so for a few days. But it ain't great for you long term ! My routine hasn't changed in actual fact but many people have had to make adjustments to fill in their reduced work or school hours.
If you're studying something you can always read ahead or ??? ( I am sure people will have better ideas than the blank I am drawing right now 🤷‍♂️)

Are you counting your 40 minutes of walks separately? You home cooking and self care already exhausts sedentary. The walk, if not logged separately, probably puts you on top of lightly active, hard as it may be for you to believe.

Exercise does make us stronger and makes us feel better.

Cutting off gratuitous boredom eating? For sure. Gratuitous eating and reduced activity don't go well together.

Increased activity? For sure. Bodyweight strengths training? for sure! Large caloric reduction: not so sure.

Is eating 900 calories sometimes okay?

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