How few calories is it safe to eat per day?

A Very Low Calorie Diet, <1200 per day should only be done under medical supervision, and not for long periods of time.

Totally depends on your BMR and TDEE, but if you're only trying to lose 20 pounds you should only be at a 500 calorie deficit max. I doubt your maintenance calories are only 1400 unless you're like 4'5".

What's your weight and height? Unless you are very petite and very sedentary, you are already eating too little and will be losing muscle mass if you keep doing that.

2000 calories per day is the average for a female to maintain her weight. If you entered your information properly when you signed up, myfitnesspal would figure out what your body needs to maintain your current weight based on your age, height, etc. For you to lose weight, they will put you at a 500 calorie defecit. Meaning, if your body requires 2000 calories per day to maintain your current weight, your calorie goal for each day would be 1500 to lose weight. Eating 900 calories per day would cause you to hold on to fat to keep your body functioning. Try staying within 100 calories of whatever number myfitnesspal suggests for you. It works. Trust me. I've been eating anywhere from 1200 to 1400 calories per day for almost a year and am down over 40 pounds.

here is where you start, and FORGET everything you saw on "Biggest Loser".

To lose weight safely......Take your weight right now. Multiply it by 13....that is how many calories you need to sustain your current weight. To lose 1 pound a week from eating alone you deduct 500 calories from that total. (3500 calories = 1 pound)

so example:

you weigh 180 pounds : 180 X 13 = 2340 calories a day

to lose 1 pound a week: 2340 - 500 = 1840

2 pounds a week = 2340-1000 = 1340

I am doing an extreme diet and I exercise...I keep my calories around 1220 on non exercise days, and 1400 on exercise days. I however eat a variety of foods, alot of vegtables and dietary fiber. My fat is low and fiber high...I also make sure I do not starve myself...hence I eat when I am hungry. The myfitnesspal tools will help you design your goals.

Like one of the previous posters said, anything under 1200 is considered unhealthy. Eating 900 or 750 calories a day is just foolish unless it is physician ordered and supervised. There is no way someone needing to lose only 20 lbs should be eating that few calories. I would venture to say that the result of consistently eating fewer than 1200 calories has put your body into starvation mode.

Before saying things like that, you need to consider personal circumstances. I have a very small frame and I don't exercise at all. I eat 1000 calories/day without even taking note, I put on a lot of weight in the last year so I want to lose it again, I just eat low calorie foods. I'm guessing only the original poster gets what I mean...

I believed that about myself once, too. I was young and tiny, never had much of an appetite, and didn't think I needed many calories. When I ate "normal" I gained, so I thought I shouldn't eat "normal." In reality, I was constantly starving myself, and while I weighed about 110 pounds, I should have weighed at least 120. If I'd been even the least bit active and had some amount of lean muscle mass, I would have weighed more.

Fast forward twenty years, and some ups and downs on the scale, and I'm wearing the same size clothes I did when I was 19 or 20, but I'm eating close to 2000 a day and weigh fifteen to twenty pounds more. I'm just thankful I didn't completely destroy my metabolism or ruin my health with my bad habits.

Don't wait twenty years to treat your body right.

I decided to start losing weight last week, but I haven't started watching what I eat yet; I'm only recording my usual eating for diagnostics.

I eat, it seems, ~1100cal/day on average. Being completely ignorant of dietary requirements, I thought this was a little too much, and that I should get it below 900.

A little Google later, however, and apparently 2000 a day is recommended for an 18yo female?!

So: how many calories is it safe to eat per day, if I naturally don't eat as much as I should?

I understand exactly what you mean, I never usually eat more that about 1000 calories/day. I think you should cut down to 900 for a while, and just see how things go, maybe a little more if you would like. Personally, I'm happy with 750 calories/day when trying to lose weight. It's totally down to you though. If you eat too few calories to get all the nutrients you need, try to change your diet to healthier foods (sweet potatoes are amazing) and vitamin tablets are good. I'm not an expert though, just going by experience .

I could be wrong,.but it seems almost like this is promoting an eating disorder? Severe under eating counts as an eating disorder, right?

Before saying things like that, you need to consider personal circumstances. I have a very small frame and I don't exercise at all. I eat 1000 calories/day without even taking note, I put on a lot of weight in the last year so I want to lose it again, I just eat low calorie foods. I'm guessing only the original poster gets what I mean...

I did. I know your stats, and realise your calculations are incorrect. I'm sorry if you were offended.

bump

Are you in College or high school right now? either way you might have some resources around you or an actual health advisor you can speak with that can setup a plan for you. I would say if you are looking to weigh less maybe you are looking at it different and maybe workinig out a little more would do the trick for you? sometimes toning your body make you feel skinnier because things tighten up all in the right places... if you get into bad habbits now it only hurts you in the long run with weight gain.. so just be smart and ask someone who knows you like your family doctor or a nutrition person in your school programs... there are so many misleading ways to go about this make the smart decision and compare all your options... eating less doesnt alway help with weight loss in the best way possible sometimes working out and eating more is what you need to do to become the size and look you are going for. Good luck with this lil lady! its tough to know what to do sometimes keep pluggin away and try to find what works best for you. just BE SAFE

Perhaps you should educate yourself on dietary requirements and nutritional/calorie needs.

Right now you are hurting your body and going down a dangerous and unsustainable path.
You can in fact enjoy food. You need food.
Please take care of yourself, you are not eating enough.

Thank you for the advice!

I'm not overweight; I'm 119lbs, but I've barely really, intensely exercised or played sports at all for the last three years, so it's really flabby. I'm also quite short - oh, euphemism time, I think - quite petite, at 5'5", so it looks and feels like a lot more than 119.

I already take lots of vitamin tabs- I've taken lots for the past ten years or so as my mother used to give me them and I believed for a long time as a kid that everyone did. I don't log them, though, as I imagine there can't be any calories in vitamin tabs.

In case I ever need to, is there any such thing as the opposite of an appetite suppressant? I'm quite comfortable eating like this, as I always have been, but I am vaguely aware that I might get myself into nutritional difficulties. Usually, though, about three quarters of my way through a meal, I literally can't eat another bite without feeling like a goose getting gavaged. :P

If you aren't overweight by your own admission, why are you trying to lose 20lbs? If you simply want to be more fit, exercise more. Some vitamins can contain calories, just look on the bottle to see, it's usually the gummie kind and fish oils that have calories. In order to up your calories just eat more calorie dense foods, such as whole milk instead of low or non fat, nuts, avocados, olive oil, nut butters...all good calorie dense options to up your calories.

Why not just set yourself up in MFP under their recommended guidelines for a reasonable weekly loss? That will answer your question perfectly. See the tickers of those who have done it that way. No need to discover the "lowest possible" fasted way. Just do it right in a way that will last forever.

You guys are being SO RUDE to this girl... she asked about a HEALTHY diet, because if you read her first post you will see that she had some ideas about nutrition, began researching it, and saw that her ideas were wrong/too low... and came here to ask for advice.

And now a bunch of you are attacking her, asking why she even needs to lose, telling her not to promote eating disorders, telling her to get educated... that's what she is TRYING to do here. Holy smokes. Very few people actually provided useful information without somehow attacking or insulting her.

Everyone has to start SOMEWHERE when they begin learning about nutrition and eating healthy... sheesh. At least she is asking for advice on a health website instead of just starving herself.

EDIT: To the OP, this is my favorite calculator, by the way-- put in your stats and see what you get! (IGNORE the option of "extreme loss," that one is usually too low for ppl who are already in the normal range to begin with)

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm