Too few calories?

(Erica Ramirez) #1

Hi everyone
I have been diligent about logging everything into MyFitnessPal for 2 weeks. I am staying under 20 carbs, eating avg 50-80g protein and fat to satiety. I am losing weight quick enough & not hungry AT ALL. Which brings me to my question: can I eat too few calories and do harm?
My app put my calorie goal at 1420, and I am averaging about 800…Some days are 700 and some are 900. Last weekend, I had a 1000 cal day, which is the most of the 2 weeks. I do not feel deprived & have plenty of energy to even walk/jog a mile or 2 almost daily (super busy & active though, I get my 10k steps daily). Just saw some threads mentioning low calories and I don’t know if this is OK.

Me: 5’9” female
May 9 SW: 220 (+)
didn’t weigh for the first week lol
CW: 203
GW: 145

(LeeAnn Brooks) #2

Yes, yes, yes you are doing harm.

That’s starvation levels. I’m guessing even the 1400 is a deficit as it would be for me and I’m smaller, though I’m active.

What you are doing is slowing the metabolism down, which will eventually stall weight loss.

Secondly you are resetting you metabolic set point, which means it will take far fewer calories just to maintain current weight. So unless you want to eat like a bird (or maybe a very small carvavor rodent) the rest of your life just to stay the weight you’re at, you need to get more calories in.

(Erica Ramirez) #3

Ok thanks that’s good to know.
I have always been a high level athlete, fit &thin without doing anything (exercising & eating when I was hungry)…now, after 7 kids in a row, that’s not the case anymore LOL. I have to figure out how to get to where I need/want to be, bodywise, and keep it off.
I guess I need to stop my IF & start eating more meals? I was waiting until 1pm and not eating after 7pm, but just the thought of shoving more food in my face during those 6 hrs makes me nauseous. I think I could eat in the AM though, and have a snack after dinner. It’s just that I am NOT hungry, not even a bit? Isn’t that the point of Keto, does everyone else feel not hungry but eat anyway?

#4

Yep, that’s the task many of us face. I try to approach everything of substance in as efficient manner as I can. For me, this meant finding out what was going on with my body. Testing my A1c, determining my body composition, measuring my RMR. For less than $250, I learned the parameters I needed to manipulate and could come up with a plan that would work for me.

Fasting (intermittent and extended) addresses insulin issues. Whether this is necessary for you is a function of your metabolic health. Caloric deficit may or may not be helpful, depending on what your goals are. The answer to your questions about these issues isn’t singular or consensus driven.

That said, here’s my answer. When I am not hungry, I do not eat. When I am a little hungry, I don’t eat a little, I eat nothing. When I am hungry, I may or may not eat. But when I eat, I eat a lot, I do not to under eat. While both fasting and caloric restriction have advantages, they create different hormonal states. Fixing my issues is best addressed by alternating between fed and fasted states.

#5

In other words, making the body more efficient? Really only a problem if someone wants to eat more, right? Or needs to eat for the wrong reasons?

(TJ Borden) #6

It also makes it more difficult to lose weight because your body will just work with whats coming in and not tap energy stores

(LeeAnn Brooks) #7

Sure, if someone WANTS to live the rest of their life eating like a bird and remaining the same weigh… until hormones change, or cortisone levels increase due to life events, or they just plain age and then STILL gain weight and can no longer reduce calories any longer to counter it.