Oops - it got deleted.

Also, we should be able to have an opinion without our posts being deleted, or having rude comments made to us.

Are we not allowed to speak up?

Don't feel you have done anything wrong. And don't let them make you feel bad. You do not have an ED and should not feel like you do. I guess it is perfectly fine for them to bash us but if we speak up then our voice is taken away. Seems fair I guess in their world.

And apparently they can threaten physical violence against us and that thread doesn't get deleted so feel free to reciprocate to them. :-) That is sarcasm. Don't sink to their level.

It really depends how long you do it for. If you do it for months..your metabolism will slow down and your maintenance calories will become a much lower number than it would have been had you eaten more throughout your journey. I understand that you're frustrated, and there is a lot of negativity on here...but I do think there might have been some exaggerating going on. I doubt anyone ever told you that you should be eating 2500 calories. All people are suggesting is that you eat enough to fuel your body. For me that number is about 1500. Some days I eat 1200-1300 when I'm not active at all (no work or exercise), other days I eat 1200 + my exercise calories..and then a couple times I week I eat closer to maintenance so it all averages out to around 1500 a day. Being only 6 weeks in, it might be a little too early to be so resistant to help. I ate at 1200 calories and lost great for my first 6 weeks (go figure), and then I got stuck for almost a month. The scale didn't move again until I started eating more. You will hear that story 100 000 times on here. All I'm saying is, to each their own, but if you can eat a little more, still lose at the same rate, AND maintain your metabolism so you're not stuck still eating 1200 even at maintenance, why wouldn't you?

Everyone is different... this is the HARDEST lesson I have had to accept and try to learn and I still have a hard time every day... I applaud anyone for being able to achieve their goals whichever way they can as long as they do it in a healthy way. Good Luck to all.....

Also, we should be able to have an opinion without our posts being deleted, or having rude comments made to us.

Are we not allowed to speak up?

I agree with you; I got on here because of something I was looking at earlier today and following and the whole thing was deleted. I am thinking of leaving MFP, I don't see why everyone has to make a big deal about something they don't agree with. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other topics to choose from.

I don't see why someone would need to leave MFP because they don't like the way the forums are run. I use this site primarily to just count my calories and track my excercise.

The social part of it is just a nice little extra that I could easily live with or without.

I don't know what threads you were involved in to prompt such a rant, but most of the responses I've seen to those eating less than 1200 is out of concern for that person's health. Some people can be jerks, but this is the Internet (and hell, some people don't even need the Internet to act like @$$holes), it's going to happen. It's just a matter of sorting out the ones that mean well and ignore the trolls.

The 1200 number comes from an average. You're not going to keel over from starvation after a couple of months eating less than 1200 calories per day, but it is possible (and, given that it's an average (mean, actually, so no, it's not "half above and half below," particularly when a number of people require twice that or more), quite likely) that you're actually eating too few calories, especially if you're not even hitting MFP's target for you, even though you don't feel hungry. Eating too few calories over a long period of time does two things - 1. you're likely depriving yourself of the nutrients you need at the levels you need, and 2. it slows down your metabolism in an effort to conserve the reserves you have (it's a survival mechanism, since eating too little tells your body that you're in a time of famine and a significant amount of food is not guaranteed).

Additionally, eating a very low-calorie amount, coupled with a fear of eating more and gaining weight, are red flags of an eating disorder. Obviously, more context is needed that the Internet peanut gallery can't see (things like behaviors and whatnot), but these things can still send up red flags of "hey, this person might want take a step back and make sure they're being healthy about this."

So, generally people speak up out of concern for you. Whether you take into consideration or completely ignore what they say is entirely up to you.

This is in response to the previous thread

Here's the thing. Eating regularly under 1200 calories isn't healthy. Do you want people to lie and tell you untruths to make you feel better?

The threads where people are asking for help is because they are regurly eating under 1200 and it isn't working. So someone coming in and giving their six weeks of experience isn't going to help them.

Starve yourself I really don't care. You're the one who will suffer in the end. But I'll say something if you're going to encourage others to engage in that behavior.

People can probably stand to be less blunt (there one thread where people were flat out rude and scared the OP off) and not immeaditly start making fun of asking a new to them question. But people will give the advice they feel is healthiest.

If your doctor puts you on less than 1200 calorie diet why would you be coming here for advice and not going back to the idiot who put you on it.

As to whether you have an ED only you can answer that. But as to 'only we know our bodies' no we don't. If we did we wouldn't have got so big. By continuously eating under 1200 calories you're damaging your metabolism. That's your choice but if you ask for help don't get upset when it's offered.