On 450 calories today and need some help getting through this evening!

[ThisIsClare]

I'm on 1,000 calories a day now. Dropped from 1,200 after losing weight at that and then plateauing. However on a Monday I only taken in 450 calories to make up for the extra calories I usually eat at the weekend. It's not impossible - I make a soup with some protein in it, blend it, and drink it throughout the day.

Luckily I don't have any tempting food in the house (lots of chocolate but I'm more of a savoury person and am also good at resisting temptation). However I'm due to do a food shop after work this evening and I will need some help and motivation not to throw myself on the yogurts and fruit when I get back home.

Can anyone share their tips to avoid temptation when you're hungry? I will be going to be early and watching TV to chill before hand. But any tips to avoid stepping into the kitchen and undoing the hard work from today? Thank you!

Great, now maybe think about doing something a few times a week to raise your heartrate and a bit of weight bearing exercise for your bones - a brisk walk could tick both boxes. If you put aside money in a pension for your future, it is no different - investing in your body now to provide for yourself in old age.

You don't lose weight because you don't eat enough. Your body is in starvation mode.

@ThisIsClare

It is. I've been on it since last summer - I couldn't stick to it if it weren't.

I think that poster was being sarcastic!

You’re currently right in the middle of your ideal weight according to the NHS, you’re not losing weight so you’re starving yourself and you don’t do any exercise at all.

What could possibly go wrong?

To those suggesting I exercise - I used to. I hate it. I know I should but I also know I won't. So rather than lie and say I'll take it up, I'm being honest and telling you guys that it's just not going to happen... ;-)

You only need a small about of exercise to protect your heart and bones for the longer term. As a petite woman you are particularly vulnerable to osteoporosis post menopause, so it is worth trying to build in small, regular amounts. If you could see my hunched over MIL - she is a tiny woman who has always restricted her diet and prided herself on her slim figure. In her early 70s her bones have started to crumble. I am not being alarmist, I just trying to get you to consider investing in your own future.

I don't exercise for exercise sake but I make an effort to move a lot. I needed the post office, today, so walked into town and back. I've done my 10k steps and the journey back, with a backpack full of shopping was all uphill so got my load bearing muscles working and my heart pumping. I'm in my 50s with hypermobility syndrome and a fair few arthritic joints so that old age the pp mentioned is getting close enough to feel real. I'd rather it wasn't a frail old age. Or a premature one.

@ThisIsClare

To those suggesting I exercise - I used to. I hate it. I know I should but I also know I won't. So rather than lie and say I'll take it up, I'm being honest and telling you guys that it's just not going to happen... ;-)

You don't have to do intense exercise you hate. Anything that involves movement at a reasonable pace, is exercise. Decent walks, jogs, cycles, swim (when possible!), dancing etc

I do think core fitness & strength training is so important for women, especially as we age. And 'strength training' can be done with body weight.

Without this, as you age, falls & injuries from falls become much more significant and problematic.

Another poster put this so well. Exercising moderately is as important for your future as wise pension planning.

What you are doing to your body is simply unhealthy. Both in terms of depriving it of nutrients & physical well-being in the form of exercise.

The Harvard web page linked says NOTHING about how or why or where 1200 calories is a magic number
and makes no mention of nutrients.
Its also from 2008

TDEE drops below 1200 for many older short people

Listening No but it does say to consult your doctor if you attempt a diet at less than 1,200 calories a day. They don’t say that for a laugh. Literally every medical source you look at will say the same.

I don’t understand why you keep talking about TDEE as if that’s the be all and end all of diets. You need more from food than energy. Things like potassium which you need to keep your heart beating properly. Calcium and magnesium are also important to heart, muscle and nervous system function and if you don’t get enough through diet it can cause serious problems. The fewer calories you take in the more of a chance that you are not eating enough of these essential electrolytes. This is why it’s important to consult a doctor first and make sure you are getting regular checkups if you are on a very low calorie diet. Again, that’s not never to do it, it’s make sure you aren’t going to damage yourself.

1200 calories of beer and junk will not keep you healthy

700 calories of veg and eggs and dairy will

1200 is not a magic number

TDEE is not a diet.

@ThisIsClare

I am a size 8 - 10. I'm 5.3 and weigh 8.8. I don't exercise. I used too but loathe it. I do not lose weight at 1,200/day. I eat fish, meat, vegetables and fruit. And eggs every day. I don't feel ill, the opposite actually. I know 450/day is very low and only do that on a Monday to try and balance the extra calories taken in at the weekend. That's all. Everyone is different. This works for me.

Can I ask why you are trying to lose weight when you are already a perfect size ?

I agree with everyone who is raising concerns to be honest as you are reducing your diet to an unhealthy amount of calories but you don't even need to lose weight .

700 calories of veg and egg and dairy on its own will NOT keep you healthy m
It WILL give you an eating disorder and make you ill.

As part of a higher calorie intake it would, I agree.

@greendress789 @Cocopogo @Etulosba @Sarcobaleno

On the 5:2 diet, or intermittent fasting you eat around 1500 calories on non-fast days . The OP is eating far fewer than this .

She also doesn't need to lose weight which is the most important issue here .

[quote shinynewapple21]**@greendress789* @Cocopogo* @Etulosba @Sarcobaleno

On the 5:2 diet, or intermittent fasting you eat around 1500 calories on non-fast days . The OP is eating far fewer than this .

She also doesn't need to lose weight which is the most important issue here . [/quote]
No,
on Non fast days you eat the right amount of calories for your body.

If you are young and tall, that will be more than if you are petite and older

short people need less calories than tall people
old people need less calories than young people
lightly built people need less calories than broadly built

Of course it isn’t a magical number it’s a guideline. That’s why the advice isn’t ‘never so this’ and is ‘speak to your doctor before doing this’. Outliers don’t make guidelines irrelevant.

People over 50
or under 5'3" are not outliers

they are a HUGE proportion of overweight people
and hanging on to an unsubstantiated number does nobody any favours

You have to get to about 73 for a sedentary 5’3” woman of normal weight to have her TDEE drop to under 1,200. And malnutrition would still be a concern so it would be advisable for her to increase her activity levels so that she could eat more. Energy requirements aren’t the only concern when it comes to running the human body. The fewer calories you eat the harder it is to balance the needs of micronutrients, macronutrients and energy intake. Hence the guidelines to get professional input to make sure you aren’t eating your way to heart failure, a dicky thyroid or any number of other problems caused by vitamin/mineral deficiencies.

still waiting for a peer reviewed source for the magical 1200

the UK has an obesity crisis
millions of people , under 5'4" eat too much
TDEE shows them what they should be eating

arbitrary unsourced numbers are not useful

@ListeningQuietly

still waiting for a peer reviewed source for the magical 1200

the UK has an obesity crisis
millions of people , under 5'4" eat too much
TDEE shows them what they should be eating

arbitrary unsourced numbers are not useful

And have you ignored the posts about the importance of exercise? And nutritional intake beyond calories?

What you're talking about is utterly one-dimensional. It's not representative of what the human body needs as an overall entity.

Earrings
The OP Should exercise.
The OP should manage her micronutrients

but 1200 calories has no scientific basis
so is not relevant to her
or anybody else

@ListeningQuietly
However you word it, the OP is not eating enough to nourish her body and maintain her weight . She does not need to lose weight .

@ListeningQuietly

still waiting for a peer reviewed source for the magical 1200

the UK has an obesity crisis
millions of people , under 5'4" eat too much
TDEE shows them what they should be eating

arbitrary unsourced numbers are not useful

51 and 5'4. My Tdee is typically around 1900 kcal.

I have an eating disorder. It's very bad at the moment. I am far, far unhealthier now than I was when I was obese. The dysmorphia often linked with EDs means that I think I need to lose weight even when I don't.
Our eating habits sound similar.
Please be kind to your body.

It’s almost like no one peer reviews guidelines. Because it’s not a set in stone rule. It’s a guideline. No one is going to sit and write a paper about highly restricted diets being difficult to balance nutritionally because it’s obvious to anyone who has ever tried to balance their macros, micros and calorie intake. It would be like writing a paper to show that the only fuel you need to put in your car to go x miles is y amount of fuel and finding that energy requirements differ day to day depending on a myriad of factors plus the engine died because you forgot that cars need more than petrol to work, they need oil, coolant etc as well.

No one is disputing that some people might need to eat below that level of net calories to lose weight. I, and others, are advising caution because it can cause health problems of its own. Things like hypokalemia which occurs in people suffering anorexia because their food intake isn’t sufficient to supply their potassium needs. Increasing TDEE through exercise to increase calorie intake would be a healthier option than running your body on the absolute minimum possible.

Another reason why it’s not a good idea to eat at such a low calorie level is that it lowers your metabolism (and I already gave you a link for that) more than if you got that calorie deficit through both diet and exorcise. This makes is much harder to lose further weight because you’ll have to take your calorie intake lower and lower. So to solve the obesity crisis you need to be emphasising exercise as well as diet for long term success.

A couple of people are saying the OP shouldn't be trying to lose weight and I find it incredibly patronising and rude.

I am 5ft 2 and a size 6, I am actively trying to lose weight, well more specifically body fat but us petite women can be a small size and still carry extra fat.

I am sure the OP can judge for herself wether or not she needs to lose weight. A size 6 now fits me the way a size 12 did a few years ago so vanity sizing mean dress size is very misleading.