400 Net Calories for the Day: Scary Behavior

I'm seriously going to speak my mind then I'm going to go rock my morning workout....

Over the summer (when I have time) I work out 2-3 times a day because I'm bored, I live in florida where it rains almost all summer and don't want to sit at home with nothing to do. I also ENJOY working out! For example: Wednesday between 2 workouts I burned close to 1500 calories.... plus I went swimming which wasn't logged because I didn't have my HRM on.

I TRY not to eat crap in moderation because it doesn't help with my weight loss goals (it may help with yours and I"m not here to judge! I try to eat clean (obviously i'm still TRYING - sometimes with success, sometimes without!) Either way I have plenty of days where I net 400-500 calories and seriously.... I'm ok with that because I literally can't stuff more clean food down my throat!

I just don't understand why everyone is so quick to judge on this site....

I put this behavior up with eating junk food, processed food, or restaurant food for every meal.

For example: Granola bar and coffee for breakfast; Applebees ribs with fries for lunch; McDonalds burger with fries for dinner. Now all the person's calories are all used up and they haven't even had a decent fruit or vegetable during that day. Yet, I see several of my friends doing this every day!

This is just as unhealthy as eating less than 1200 because the person is not getting all their nutrients.

I have been considering unfriending these people because I won't support this kind of dieting. I know some people would say that I am being harsh, but I don't feel that way. I just can't bring myself to tell these people 'Great day' or 'You're doing fantastic' when they are, in fact, hurting themselves with their behavior.

As for eating less than the 1200 minimum and exercising to the extreme, which I have also seen, that is the beginning of anorexia nervosa. Totally unhealthy.

Do I go around and read people's diaries? Only if they are on my friends list. Part of supporting each other is to comment on how good the person did for the day. Perhaps the OP does like I do, looks at his friends' diaries before he posts to them that they did great for the day. I know some people just see that the person was under their calorie goal and post that they did great. Yep, I could be under my goal too and eat twinkies all day long, but I wouldn't call that 'great' any more than I would call great eating granola bars and starbucks for breakfast, Applebees for lunch, and McDonalds for dinner.

I saw someone who consistently netted 200 calories and less, and one day actually netted a NEGATIVE number.

What can you do though? Some people are set on doing it this way. All we can do is provide support, advice, and information. The rest is up to them.

Those who are set on doing this do not need the kind of support I see most often, though. There are way too many 'good job', 'atta-girl', "way to go" compliments being given and that just fuels the fire to continue what they are doing. Support, yes. Advice, yes. Solid information, yes. Those are things they need. But let's not congratulate those who are hell bent on doing unhealthy things and getting the results they want (in the beginning, anyway). Others (newbies) look at this and only see the scale number going down. It's better to set a good example rather than an unhealthy one. Just my two cents.

this (second posting)

*insert long diatribe here* (So I don't inflict my opinions and experiences on others)

Summation: Everyone, in every way, is different. It doesn't matter if they are your identical twin and share exactly the same DNA, they are still different. Rubber stamping people who are going through a tough time as it is and telling them what professionals tell them to do is wrong is not conducive to helping them. Anyone who feels qualified to instruct me on how I am killing myself, by all means fax me a CV with appropriate accredited collegiate level coursework and I will be more than happy to send them my medical files so they can give their opinion. Anyone who read something once on the internet and took it as gospel should probably read more.

IM on 1200 a day, and I do eat that but I choose not to eat back my exercise calories...I know that will upset some but Im almost always right around 1200

I hear alot of people say this.

And it's ABSURD!
Why engage in some miserable diet of deprivation?
I eat around 3000 calories daily and get great results.
Who is having more fun?
Who gets to eat well and enjoy life?
People act like these starvation diet are some way of being a rebel...:laugh:

No, if you want to go against the grain, eat MORE to weigh less.
Starvation diets are miserable, the results short term and they're usually unhealthy.
Go ahead and make yourself miserable - your choice.
As for me?
I just made my weekly weight and am headed to enjoy a Big Breakfast at McDonald's - 1200 + calories...ONE MEAL!
Read it and weep!
:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

I don't mean to do it, but on training days (tuesday/thursday) where I"m burning 800+ cals, I simply cannot eat all of that back. I'm not quitting martial arts just so I can reach my cals 2 days a week.

Odds are, if someone's eating at a really alarming calorie deficit they're already in the throes of an eating disorder and nothing you say will help them, or it will be a little experiment tried for a week or two before the realisation sets in that eating so little and exercising to extremes is not a very nice use of anyone's time. Of course, it could just be that there are a number of petite women on here who do best at 1200 calories a day regardless of their exercise. Maybe their 1200 calories are so full of fibre and protein that they don't care to eat anymore than is comfortable. Maybe they're saving their calories for a few glasses of wine and a nice meal on the weekend. Please don't worry about the little ladies and their health. You've got to be really, really dedicated to your eating disorder to suffer long term problems. But if it makes you feel better, I've lost hair because of issues with iron. I was eating far more than 1200 calories a day.

Tbh, I see a lot of men here trying to... well, rescue the poor, misguided women. Some of them are openly hostile to a way of eating that doesn't involve chugging multiple protein shakes and eating a few dozen chickens worth of meat in a single day. You just have to look at some of the ridiculous threads "ZOMG CARDIO MAKES U FATTTTTTTTTT LIFT OR DIE B*TCHES" to see that there are some really misguided nutjobs who think that their silly habits are better than other people's silly habits. Why don't all the rescuers sit down, discuss just how little they agree on, and set about rescuing each other?

Well that's not me--I am not into protein shakes. I do strength train but as an equal complement to cardio. I believe both are wise.

Again, another logical fallacy:

Person 1. This is alarming behavior.
Person 2. Shut up and concentrate on yourself, and by the way, you're just another protein-shake lunkhead.

So in addition to you saying to ignore the problem, you offer an additional fallacy of an ad hominem guilt-by-association attack.

Next...

Oh, has someone been gotten himself a first year logic textbook from Ebay? Congrats, great purchase! AAAAAA+ would deal with buyer again!!!111!!!

Here's an idea: you can't fix anyone who isn't you and unless 1200cal a day dieters are all over the forums pushing their silly ideas, you've no reason to call them out for behaviour you find offputting. Just look at the pretty pictures, and stay out of these women's diaries. When you go about white knighting down a well trodden path you start to look like the sort of guy who wishes he was better endowed, you know? Now go and rescue these poor men who lift with bad form and are set for a couple of acl tears and poorly treated muscle strain. You need to let them know that a fructose free diet saves no one from the horrors of Youtube instructional vids and a garage setup. Go, save!

At the risk of disappointing you, unfortunately Ebay was out of logic textbooks when I was studying in law school and I had to learn the old-fashioned way.

One thing I learned is that when dealing with someone who displays a high-school level of discourse by engaging in personal character attacks--against forum rules by the way--the temptation is to stoop to their sophomoric level and return the insults, thus fueling the Jerry Springer direction that the high-school speaker wishes to direct the argument-- jokes about ****s, about all men being the same, and so forth. I fear you'd just continue with insults instead of arguments, and so devolve the conversation to the intellectual level of fart jokes.

I would ask you to address the original point--what is it about eating 1,000 calories a day and netting 400 that is healthy?--but as you seem incapable of doing that, I will simply ask for you to grow up.

What was it that made you think I view low calorie diets as being healthy or even sustainable? Was it when I labelled the practice silly? For a lawyer you're not very good at picking out details beyond butthurt drama. Law isn't my field but a fair few of my friends did law while I skulking around the labs and my goodness... they'd not have made it far with your brilliant mind.

Seriously, the 1200 calorie a day thing is done at least once a week. It's always sad little men objecting to the diaries of random dieters, invariably women, and wanting to rescue them from what is apparently a few calories shy of a Malian peasant's daily rations. Never do I see the white knighters trying to rescue heavy lifters with poor form. For me, a lower back injury (or worse) is a darn site more serious than a few days of grumpiness because Slimfast really is the worst diet in the world.

That said, I'm going to go now and make sure I net 1200 calories via steak tartare and possibly sautéed chicken livers. I don't have any pre-weight gain pics in my profile though, so you needn't worry about saving me from parasites and purines. Best to you!

This. Thank you, those threads really bothered me every time I saw them, and I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Sneaky misogyny is sneaky. You've articulated it really well for me.

I put this behavior up with eating junk food, processed food, or restaurant food for every meal.

For example: Granola bar and coffee for breakfast; Applebees ribs with fries for lunch; McDonalds burger with fries for dinner. Now all the person's calories are all used up and they haven't even had a decent fruit or vegetable during that day. Yet, I see several of my friends doing this every day!

This is just as unhealthy as eating less than 1200 because the person is not getting all their nutrients.

I have been considering unfriending these people because I won't support this kind of dieting. I know some people would say that I am being harsh, but I don't feel that way. I just can't bring myself to tell these people 'Great day' or 'You're doing fantastic' when they are, in fact, hurting themselves with their behavior.

As for eating less than the 1200 minimum and exercising to the extreme, which I have also seen, that is the beginning of anorexia nervosa. Totally unhealthy.

Do I go around and read people's diaries? Only if they are on my friends list. Part of supporting each other is to comment on how good the person did for the day. Perhaps the OP does like I do, looks at his friends' diaries before he posts to them that they did great for the day. I know some people just see that the person was under their calorie goal and post that they did great. Yep, I could be under my goal too and eat twinkies all day long, but I wouldn't call that 'great' any more than I would call great eating granola bars and starbucks for breakfast, Applebees for lunch, and McDonalds for dinner.

I feel the same way. I absolutely refuse to praise someone on the verge or in the throes of an ED as well as the ppl who stayed under their calorie goal but eating crap all day. That would be fake and I don't have a fake bone in my body...

I actually wish I could eat more calories, but since I recently had gastric bypass surgery I can only get in about 300-400 calories per day...no matter how hard I try I just can't get anymore in.

Hopefully in the coming weeks it will increase.

It will. For those of us that are post-op and under the care of a bariatric doctor, they are aware that our calorie intake is going to be low for awhile. Since we are all very overweight a low cal diet for a while is acceptable and isnt going to hurt you. The most important thing for you to worry about right now is getting in your protein ( I shoot for at least 70gms/day) and your water. I am now almost 4 months out and between shakes and food I am averaging 900-1050 cal/day. You will get there

Ok well I guess I better be prepared to get yelled at here because my allowance is 1240 calories a day and even when I do 700 calorie burn on exercise I do not eat much more than that. I know about eating back your exercise calories and I understand that...but that being said I have hypothyroidism and my metabolism is slow. But I tried it a while back and guess what? I gained weight. It may work in theory for some...but it doesn't work for me. Even so I am lucky to lose a pound a week but I can live with that.