What is considered too few calories

[kirinm]

I’ve finally managed to stick to reducing my food consumption for more than a day and am seeing some good results. It’s early days and so I’m sure some of it is water weight but it is motivating me to keep going which is what I need.

I’m not exactly calorie counting - I’ve got a rough idea but don’t particularly want to weigh things and do the maths - but also don’t want to be eating too little.

I am 5ft6 and weigh 15 stone so fall into the obese category. Is 1200 calories too little or can I get away with that level for a while?

Hi @SpudGunToo don’t worry it is easy to get confused. I used an online TDEE calculator, but I did say Basal Metabolic Rate was 1650.

It’s absolutely great if cutting hard works for you and you have the self control to keep it up. Unfortunately for many people, including myself, going below your BMR isn’t sustainable for more than a very short period, even a few days.

I wouldn't lose weight on 1200 a day. But that's my messed up, post meno metabolism. If you're losing well on it, great! Might have to cut down lower later.

I was heavier than you at my starting point, my TDEE was around 2100 per day.

I try and stick to approx 1500 and so far have lost 16lbs in 9 weeks.

It was this bit “A quick TDEE calculation says the OP’s basal metabolic rate is 1650. Her body needs this every day for normal body function like hormone production.”

That’s not correct, you can eat below your TDEE and still maintain normal hormone production.

And please don’t now play a semantic game of saying the claim was that you only need to match it; the cloak was clearly that it was a minimum to maintain normal function which is not correct.

@SpudGunToo what you’ve quoted clearly says Basal Metabolic Rate “the OP’s basal metabolic rate is 1650”. It’s right there.

No you don't. BMR and TDEE are different. You need a deficit from your TDEE to lose weight.

You haven't read it properly :/

I’ve dropped 24lbs in 36 days having 800…it isn’t sustainable long term though so I’ll have to up this shortly though. It does come off if you eat very little, it’s just becomes less healthy.

Interested to know what you manage to eat for 800 cals.

Would it be just less meals?

I’m having around that at the moment, I had a small Greek yogurt and banana and a large bowl of tempeh, grated carrot, chopped cucumber, egg, giant seasoned cous cous and chopped apple yesterday. Day before rice, veg, avocado and tuna, Greek yogurt and frozen fruit. I’ve lost 13lb in two weeks.

800 calories a day isn't ok! That's starvation rations. I know the fast 800 diet exists but that doesn't make it safe or acceptable - it's also meant to be for obese or T2 diabetic people and time limited. Promoting 800 calorie a day diets is promoting eating disorder behaviour.

BMR is how many calories your body uses to function at a decent baseline - breathe, sustain your organs, hair, skin, nails.

You can exist and feel relatively well for a short while on less than this, that’s why the Fast800 type diets tell you they are to be used for a short period usually around 12 weeks as a ‘desperate measures’ approach and why you are advised to check with a medical professional.

Beyond that period you are likely to start noticing the things your body has decided to deprioritise in order to sustain the absolute basics of keeping you alive. So you will start to feel more tired, see negative skin changes, nails become brittle, hair loss etc

8-12 is the max it’s recommended for, 1000s have successfully navigated it without succumbing to eating disorders, that’s an important but separate issue to discuss, maybe for a separate thread if you need support.

I’m generally eating a tuna/egg/chicken sandwich for lunch, and either a chicken burger or a small piece of chicken with veggies.

some days I only have a slice of toast made into a sandwich with sliced chicken for tea.

totally unhealthy long term, but for now I’m down 25lbs in 5 1/2 weeks. I’ll increase my activity and food once I stop losing 3lbs a week, as I’ll need to become more healthy to prevent damage to my body long term

I’m not promoting it, it is wildly unhealthy, but so is approaching 40 and weighing 270lbs 🤷‍♀️

I’m just trying to say that in very short term and controlled blasts, 800 calories is providing enough for me to live on. It also provides a counter point to people who still are adamant that you need to eat more to lose weight…if that were true then anorexics would never end up wasting away

Tdee calculator gave me 1200 as weight loss calories. And I did lose weight. So no, it’s not too little.

You know thatTDEE is different for every person, right??

But are you petite?

im 5ft 8, i weigh 140lb so have a BMI of around 21 and my maintenance is 1600 if I choose ‘sedentary’ for activity level, so eating anything below that should result in weight loss. I started at 255lb in August 2024 and my calorie target has always exceeded 1400, it started at 1800 and I reduced as I lost.

OP is 5ft 6lb and her current weight gives a maintenance target of around 2000 calories, if you work on the basis of a 500 deficit which is about the max most medical professionals would recommend then she should be aiming for around 1500 calories a day.

This is fascinating.

I too have to eat very little to lose weight.

At the mo i'm having a glass of milk for brek, a cuppa soup for lunch, an apple with a blob of peanut butter for 3 o'clock hunger and then a small version of what everyone is having for tea. Minus any bread. Trying hard to not eat then before bed.

Im not counting cups of tea, have 2 or 3 a day.

Im losing weight because my clothes are getting looser. I can't weigh myself tho as in the past i became very obsessed and came dangerously close to an eating disorder.

Meant to add i'm 5' 5'' and want to shed 3 stone.

I can never be bothered to weigh and look up calories consistently. What I have been doing is taking pictures of what I eat and putting it into chatgbt, which then calculates a rough calorie range.

I’m a PT who has worked with a number of clients to achieve time limited weight loss transformations and currently doing my nutritionist qualification (qualify in November). This number is very specific to you, your starting point, and how much you move during the week and also what level of calories you can tolerate. There’s a lot of clinical research into people losing weight on as low as 800 calories per day and in fact the evidence shows that going aggressive at the start is great for not only achieving your goal sooner (and therefore being able to come back to maintenance calories sooner) as well as long term outcomes for maintaining the weight, improved motivation, reduced hunger and so on. So if 1200 is working for you keep going, perhaps if you had finished dieting and were worried to increase calories it may be a different conversation but it’s not unusual for smaller women to need to diet on much lower calories simply because your body is smaller. If you are losing weight very rapidly I’d encourage you to factor in some diet breaks where to aim to eat at maintenance for one to two weeks to give yourself a mental break from dieting. Otherwise keep going because you sound like you’re doing great!

So I had a reasonably low calorie week and lost nothing - it’s been fluctuating through the week but as of today, I’m exactly the same as I was at the end of last week. I’m 48 and deep into peri menopause and really don’t know how I’m meant to lose weight

You just keep going. One week without a loss might be due to all kinds of short term fluctuations, you may see a drop next week or the week after.

This is exactly it. Weight loss is almost never linear, even with the “perfect” diet. Perimenopause does make it harder because you might not be feeling as energised, your appetite may change and sleep can suffer. But the hormonal changes themselves don’t prevent weight loss. What level of tracking are you doing at the moment? If you had to review last week what went well and what could you improve on? For example, did you move a little less, did you maybe eat a bit more than usual (eg picking at food while cooking or you didn’t track cooking oil)? Maybe your digestion was poorer or you had a week of crap sleep! All these things can affect the scale weight so try not to zone in on them too much but keep focusing on those daily actions consistently - lots of steps, being precise with your food if you’re tracking , getting those gym sessions in. And if you’re in peri really trying to set aside time for stress management (this is tough for a lot of women I know) and good sleep hygiene.

I'm a lot taller and older than you but I lost 1lb a week on 1456 cals . I used nutricheck. About £26 per year. I'm on my seventh stone now. It took me three years and I've never put anything back on. Size 24 down to a 16 but I'm 5'10" a busty