Am I eating too little?

[Rutie]

I am on my 5th day of the 12 week program. The first 3 days I had just under 1400 calories each day. The last two days I have been closer 1000 and not intentionally. Is this a bad thing?

[YellowRose55]

Hi Rutie 1400 calories is ok but 1000 is too low. Have you checked your BMI to see what your calorie allowance is, you can find a link to it in the "Welcome Newbie" post in the Pinned post section. If you are having 3 meals and it's only coming to 1000 calories try introducing 2 healthy snacks in mid morning and afternoon. Your body will start to act in starvation mode and you won't loss weight if you stay with just 1000 calories. Hope this helps.

Have a good weekend.

Rose

[Rutie in reply to YellowRose55]

I hear ya I had a morning snack, but not an afternoon snack, so maybe that's where I can make a change. Thank you for your help.

[YellowRose55 in reply to Rutie]

Glad it helped. It can sometimes take a while to settle at the right amount of calories that suits you best.

[HubbysMissMouse]

I had struggled with this all my life, I have always been overweight and I never knew how this was ever the case because I have never been a big eater. I have never really eaten breakfast and only tend to eat a sandwich for lunch. My main meal has always been just my dinner and I hardly ever eat any snacks although I do occasionally. Until I came on here I never realised that my weight has always been big because I have never eaten enough calories so my body constantly stores my fat because it thinks I am starving myself. This means that for me to lose weight and keep it off I actually have to eat more and this is making me finally lose weight. I find it quite funny actually that for me to really lose weight I have to make myself eat more often. Do you get many people that can normally say this.

[Rutie in reply to HubbysMissMouse]

No you don't. Like just now I have let myself eat 2 squares of Bourneville dark chocolate and a satsuma, but I'm still only about 1000 calories today.

[happyhealthyjane]

Well I sometimes don't have time to eat during the day, then I make up to it during dinner, not a healthy thing when you want stabilise your blood sugar level I think, but my friend who follows the 5:2 diet, days of nearly fasting status claims it's great for weight loss and control of your blood sugar level. I think a professional opinion maybe needed.

[Hidden]

Hello,

I wouldn't worry about the occasional 1000 cal day, unless you find it is followed by a 2500 cal day or worse!

If you are eating sensibly and not feeling hungry or too tired to do stuff, then it shouldn't cause any harm.

I know lots of people who post on here warn about not going too low, but I am rather sceptical of the "starvation mode" notion myself. If it were true, then soldiers imprisoned by the Japanese in the last world war would not have been skin and bone by the time they were liberated. I can see that cutting back too much might make you lethargic, of course, but ultimately the body's need for energy over-rides everything else.

However, I think it is best overall to eat as much as you can while managing to lose 1-2lbs of fat a week. If you are losing at that rate, then why cut back further?