dizzy spells due to low calorie intake?

Yep! I went up to a net of 1300 and kicked up my water intake, so far I've been feeling better. Experiment, go up by 100 and see what happens. If that helps, then stop there, if not, go up by another 100.

Lets see your stats. Height, weight, what weight you want to get too, body fat %, how you eat, how much you work out and what you do to work out, if you eat back your work out cals. 1000 is crazy to net and 1200 is pushing it if you are working out alot.

it seems to me that if you are eating so few calories that you are getting dizzy then that's your body telling you that you are eating far to few calories and need to up your intake. 1200 calories doesn't leave much room for any exercise before you start cutting into the calories for your BMR

I started a carb detox on Sunday and have been getting something similar when I workout. I feel like it's because all I have in my body right now is protein and veggies. I already drink lots of water, so I know it can't be that. I know for me it's a lack of carbs in my body, because I've never had this issue before, so maybe it might be the same for you? Incorporate healthy carbs if you aren't already: brown rice, 100% whole wheat bread, oatmeal, quinoa, etc.

Adding in the carbs will also help you to get that extra 100 calories that @mayerel suggested.

Calorie Needs to lose weight

There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise.

If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.

An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may increase this depending on your weight loss goals.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

Water is really more likely your issue, but unless you're a dinky little thing, eating less than 1200 calories is just not a good idea. But that said, if you're feeling light headed, pound some water right away. It will almost always bring you back....

yes. story of my life. 600 calories one day, pass out, binge, feel guilty, and the cycle starts all over again.

im currently stuffing my face with my third bag of chocolate chips today.

You are going to hurt yourself :frown: That is no way to live your life

Depending on how much you are exercising that is a very low about to only be consuming each day.
1000-1200 is only enough if you are doing very light activity..
Try upping your calories by 100 each day and see how you feel then stay at that level for a few weeks to see how you are losing..

I was eating 1400 calories for a month when I started to experience the same thing. I ate a big bowl of ice cream that night and woke up the next day full of energy. Since then I eat 100 calories over my BMR, which for me, puts me at 1750. If I exercise, I eat most those calories back. I've been losing steadily for the past 5 months.

It sounds like your body might be going into starvation mode. Try uping your calorie intake slightly for a few days and see if you feel better.

Everyone is advising on eating MORE, but it doesn't look like you stated how much you are generally eating. We know you are generally NETTING 1200, which means you are eating enough calories but might be, then, over doing the work outs.

It can be a combination of things: not having enough water, not eating the right calories, working out to much, not having the right combination of nutrition.

If you are eating enough calories then scale back the working out a bit and see how you feel then. Your weight might go up and down, but it does that so don't freak out.

Right now I'm in maintenance so MFP advises me at 1720 but when I do some online searches it's more like 1500, I don't net down more than 1200 most days now, so sometimes I have to skip the working out all together because I ended up taking a brisk walk or two, which put me way to much in the green. I'm in toning mode but still need to watch not to net down so much or I have noticed that it's counter productive.

Hope that helps!

Very new to this calorie intake thing...wow...didn't think bringing up your intake could make u lose. I thought if anything you'd gain. Very interesting!

Thanks for all the great advice so far, after reading all these I know the calories bump is the right call . Right now I'm 5'7'' and 183 lb with about 28% body fat. I drink a ton of water and workout a lot. I try to eat about every 3 hrs so hopefully bumping up my snack calories will help. Thanks again!

Your BMR is about 1600. Try upping your calories about 100 every week and try to get close to 1600. Eat lots of fruits and veggies and other healthy foods. I think you'll start to feel better after that.

it's orthostatic hypotension. try upping your iron intake (could be anemia-related) as well. do you get a lot of salt/sugar/carbs in your diet? i'm not saying to eat high salt but if your diet is lacking in electrolytes (salt, potassium) it will affect your blood pressure.

Also, if you're going to up your iron, up you fiber and water as well. High iron makes it hard to poop sometimes.

Just a thought, if the op's blood test came back normal like stated, vitamin deficiencies/low iron wouldn't really be the issue. That's one of the standard things that is tested for when doing a blood test after a fainting spell. They ran my hemoglobin after I fainted in January (netting 1300) and it was low in hemoglobin, aka I had anemia, which required another test to distinguish which type of anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency rather than the normal iron deficiency).

If your doctor gave you any advice, I'd take that. Ask him/her for diet advice, for the basics, but definitely eating more won't be that damaging to your weight loss progress.

At 5"7', 183 and your age (just looked at your profile) as well as working a desk job (I have no idea what your activity is like so I just put in the basics), your BMR (calories needed to sustain your vital organs/systems, what you'd burn if you just laid in bed all day and did nothing) is 1892, your maintenance calories (cals you need to eat to maintain your weight) is 2272 and to lose at a steady deficit of 15% (.7lbs/week) you should be aiming for 1930 calories a day as per this calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ Check out the Eat More to Weigh Less group if you're interested in more about upping your calories.

Honestly upping calories has been the best thing for me (health and sanity wise) and my weight loss. I wasn't losing much at 1300 calories or even 1600. At 1850 I can't hold onto the fat and I get to eat all the things XD Plus, no more fainting or even lighteheadness, that has completely passed for me!