How Many Calories Do YOU Eat?

My total daily expenditure is about 1487 calories. I'm trying to lose weight so I aim to eat between 800-1100 calories a day, with a hopeful average of 900.

Of course my actual achievement of that varies slightly.

900 a day isn't enough, you should be eating 1200 bare minimum. Your body can't survive on that little fuel.

Do you have any qualifications? Not everybody needs the same amount of calories to function. Just because MFP says eat 1200 or you will starve and get fat doesn't make it true. I am eating at a 500 calorie deficit, I don't get tired during the day at all. As soon as I start to feel fatigue or exhaustion throughout my day then I will increase my calorie intake. But that's just me and my knowledge of my body mixed with quite a bit of research surrounding nutrition and weight loss.

All I know is that eating that little can't be good for you. How do you get all your nutrients? What is your BMR? My body needs at least 1350 cals a day just to function. If I give it 500 less than that on a continual basis, something bad has got to happen. Keep an eye on it. I'm not a doctor, or an expert, nor do I claim to be. Just my opinion, and it seems to be a popular one around here.

It's popular because a lot of people on here take what MFP says as gospel truth. I have calculated my daily expenditure using 4 different formulas. MFP is aimed at people of all sizes. Yes, for someone who is obese or overweight less than 1200 calories is not enough and will make them sick. I only have to carry 52kg over 170cm, an f load less than most people here. At 1200 calories a day I would only be at a deficit of 200 calories, which would achieve almost nothing. I try to eat lots of vegetables, fruits, lean meats and grains everyday. I aim to get 30% of my calories from protein, 25% from fat and to stay between 1000-1500mg of sodium intake each day. These are all perfectly healthy practices and when I do these things I feel healthy and good about myself. I do not have an active lifestyle or the time to exercise vigourously and I drink a lot on weekends because I'm young so I take license to drink to excess if I want. You can't judge the health of someone based on one number when they are otherwise a complete stranger to you. You can see in my profile picture what my body looks like, doesn't seem to me as though I am wasting away. I'm not in the dreaded "starvation mode" either. Here is a website on plateaus http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html and here is another one outlining things like BMR, total energy expenditure, nutrition, and starvation mode http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/ .

The more you read the more you know. Critical thinking is an important part of life and we can't always take everything at face value or assume that because we know one facet of information we are highly informed on the entire topic.

And yes I know my BMI is underweight but then of course there is things like my bone density, light bones do exist and they run in my family. Ah I hate the forums!!

Ok. To each their own. I will stick with what works for me, you stick with what works for you.

Good luck.