Sub 1200 cal diets

[Yokatsu]

Is there a policy on posts advocating a sub 1200cal diet. I know other forums regularly delete anything advocating a sub 1200cal diet because if the potential harm. I'm wondering if mumsnet might consider doing this. There's a thread currently in AIBU that is a cause for concernhere. Both out of cocern for others reading and for the individuals concerned there seems to be quite a few posts that should be deleted

Presumably you're not worried about Intermittent Fasting posts (where some days are sub-1000 let alone

Me I worry about intermittent fasting but I do accept there's some solid evidence behind it.

But anything along the lines of "i eat 800cals and I cycle to work and work out 3 times a week and I'm fine" is a massive concern for me and should not be allowed to remain up.

I'd support the idea of MNHQ having a policy on ED, which might well include deleting dangerous advice.

Yes this. Better put than me

A lot of people underestimate calories, need to weigh food to have a reasonable idea. For example Hovis 50/50 bread: I haven’t seen a loaf yet where each slice equates to the grams on the ‘serving’ at the back of the packet - most slices are the equivalent of 1.2 even 1.3 times that. Small differences like that add up. Same with fruit and veg and milk too.

If someone was truly consuming 800 cals per day and working out they would lose weight very, very quickly!

What do ED experts suggest, is it harmful or helpful to talk about such diets? Perhaps having the threads allows people to say "hang on, this is unhealthy"? I don't know much about ED.

Whether you're right or wrong I hope mn don't do what you ask as they're not a nanny state site.

What about threads that give recipes for cakes?

I would be in favour of this.

A 5ft 0 woman with a sedentary lifestyle who weighs 100lb (just over 7 Stone which is the very lowest end of a healthy BMI needs 1,314 calories just to perform day to day activities.

Hercules12

Nothing inherently wrong with cake. There are some very real and potentially life threatening risks associated with posts advocating disordered eating.

Posts that incite racism are taken down, posts that incite suicide are taken down. Discussions about the impact of suicide and racism both on the individuals concerned and those around them are not. We can have these discussions in a healthy way without potentially damaging posts.

Mumsnet do already take down post that fulfil certain criteria. I for one think that on the most part they walk this line really well.

DuchyDuke

I agree that what someone is posting and what they are doing in real life may being wildly different, either intentionally or accidentally. That doesn't mean the effect on a vulnerable reader is any less harmful

Posts that incite racism are taken down, posts that incite suicide are taken down. Discussions about the impact of suicide and racism both on the individuals concerned and those around them are not. We can have these discussions in a healthy way without potentially damaging posts.

This.

No-one wants to stop discussion or support. But advocating a diet of less than 1,200 calories per day is pretty much advocating suicide albeit a long, painful, unintentional one.

There are doctor supported diets that call for less than 1200 calories a day though, like intermittent fasting and the Blood Sugar Diet.

Is there evidence for the harmfulness of discussions such as the 1200cal threads to people with ED? Because that is the reasoning behind stopping self-harm and suicide threads, isn't it? If so, the yes, there should at least be a warning on them.

I think there is huge potential for harm when someone who is obviously conscious of their weight is told by another poster that 1,200 calories are way too many & she should be eating 600-800 instead. The tone implied greed.

Intermittent fasting done properly and how it's actually meant to be used for health benefits etc doesn't involve actually eating less calories than you normally should, so shouldn't be sub 1200, or even really sub 1500, you're just meant to have a smaller eating window, just thought I'd put that out there!

Hi Yokatsu

Thanks so much for getting raising this.

We would delete anything that we thought was advocating disordered eating, or encouraging severe, harmful dieting. The 1200 calorie diet does seem to be quite a common one - and it's not something we'd be able to delete in itself. If there are specific posts that concern you, though, please do report those to us and we will take a closer look.

The Blood Sugar Diet (Michael Moseley) is based on very solid science though, and that advocates 800 calories per day for 8 weeks. It's been shown to reverse Type 2 diabetes (as well as result in weight loss).

While I agree with you that anyone with an ED, or who is posting in such a way that might trigger ED/disordered eating is a problem, and needs to be at the very least reported to MNHQ, I really don't think it's appropriate for MNHQ to refuse to allow threads about sub 1200 calorie diets.

I have. The posts were not deleted as apparently they did not contravene site rules. This is despite one advocating a 400 cal diet the other a 800cals diet that included exercise. Both diet are consirably below the absolute recommended minimum of 1200 cal and are clear examples of disordered eating. The 800cal post was followed by another poster asking how she was doing it with the aim of replicating the diet which shows just how dangerous leaving either post to stand was.

And yet at last check both posts are still there.

Just the be clear I talking about diets that advocate eating below 1200cals. This is the cut off in other forums such as My Fitness pal.

@BIWI do accept there are a couple of grey areas as there in any subject.But neither of the posts mentioned were talking about blood sugar diet or intermittent fasting.

They were talking about eating under 1200 cals generally. For your average dieter you shouldn't be eating below 1200 cals without medical supervision.

Depends on your age Hamilton. There are a fair few overweight older women whose maintenance TDEE is 1,400 and they are going to need to go to 1,200 and below if they want to lose weight. Obviously that’s only a subset of all women but short women in their fifties with sedentary lifestyles is a sizeable demographic.

I agree that there is some quite problematic stuff on weight loss threads though. All online fora run the risk of participants egging each other on and going to extremes, whether it’s weight loss, water drinking, or acid peels.