This time back to 3FC I find myself frequently ending the day with a low or very low calorie count. My goal as established with MFP is 1,440 calories a day. Several days I have ended in the 850 range and almost always I am between 1,000 and 1,100. The problem is I am not hungry. I hesitate to eat when I am not hungry because that is a large part of what got me where I am. Morbidly Obese. I have increased my complex carbs and find that this fills my hunger, sometimes I am uncomfortably full yet low in calories for the day.

I am a cardiac bypass recipient and I need to be careful about too many fats.
I had a kidney removed and I need to be careful not to eat too much protein
That leaves carbohydrates as the majority of my diet. Simple and complex.
I have been concentrating on complex as more healthy

I'm in your same position. I find that I just don't want to eat most of the day now that I'm actually listening to my body's hunger and satiation signals rather than just stuffing myself on autopilot. I think that the only problem is if you restrict too much and then go off plan by eating the entire contents of the cupboard or lose your motivation. If you feel healthy and happy eating very little, there's really no draw back as far as I've seen from the research.

I always eat too little when I'm trying to lose weight since I feel like I worked so hard to burn off 500 calories (or whatever it may be) and I don't want to eat the calories back, I want to lose weight. I will usually have an apple for breakfast, some watermelon or another fruit or an apple for lunch and some kind of meat for dinner. I'll eat a piece of say, chicken with green beans on the side and whatever. Most of the time, if I don't feel hungry and I'm eating what I need to stay healthy I don't see a problem with it.

850 calories for a guy your size -- yow, I'd worry it would be hard for your body to get good nutrition from that few calories daily. I hesitate to give advice given your special circumstances, but I'd say if this goes on for more than a few weeks you might want to call your doc for a good strategy to get a few more calories of the type that would be best for your particular body and nutrition needs.

This decrease in appetite may be temp and just be a phase you go through on this journey as your body adapts to your new normal.

Let us know how it goes!

I had a tough time figuring out the "perfect" balance of calories in (food) and calories out (exercise) to keep my weightloss consistent over the past almost year and a half. I think I finally have it down.

I always assumed that by exercising more and eating less, it would magically make the weight fall off. In my case, it backfired. I was giving myself so few calories (say 1200 in food) but then working out to burn 500 calories. *Please note, I was on a medically supervised diet and the low calories were monitored by my doctor. It's not safe to do on your own.* When I netted 700 calories at the end of the day, I thought the weight would disappear. It didn't. It turns out, I had to eat MORE to keep my weightloss higher each week (or exercise less!). It baffled me that I had to eat more to lose more. My body was holding on to every calorie I gave it when they were lower. Once I increased them, I got rewarded. The tough part was playing around with the numbers to get the results I wanted.

So...I think in your case, esp. being a man, you definitely need to increase your calories. It doesn't have to necessarily be "eating more". Add a spoonful of peanutbutter to your toast or bagel, add a few slices of avocado to your salad, etc. It will be high calorie healthy food vs. eating for the sake of eating.

I hope my experience helps you. Good luck!

For me, hunger is not the only cue I have for not eating enough. My energy level goes down very quickly if I am not consuming sufficient calories. 850 or even 1000 cals is very low for me and I'm your height.

I really would suggest that you consider your energy levels too especially when exercising or even taking walks from one place to another.

At that weight I could probably eat 2800 or so and still loose. I personally can't imagine eating that little.

Obviously you probably wouldn't do this and not without considerable research, but consider your whole approach upside down. I believe new research every day is showing carbs are the problem with heart disease not fats. A new documentary just came out called Cereal Killers. Google it. I am intrigued

The fat is bad carbs are good advice has lead to an explosion in heart disease. I use coconut oil regularly now. My bloodwork has never been better, my blood pressure, heart rate, energy, endurance, best in my life at 48.

I know the high fat is controversial. But what everyone seems to agree on is belly fat is bad. I eat way more fat than I ever had. More avocados, cheese, coconut oil, the skin on chicken now. My belly fat has gone down a lot. I was straining 46 inch pants. Now recently bought 40 inch pants are getting loose. I may already be or am close to a 38.

I'm not a doctor and I'm not sure if this is even a wise suggestion, so take it with a grain of salt, but... have you considered a raw vegan 80-10-10 lifestyle? They eat low fat, high carb. Lots of fruit, greens and very little fats from nuts and seeds.

I think that the big danger of eating too little is either missing nutrients or losing energy. For many years, I ate like a bird and was fine. I know how you feel, if I'm not hungry I don't want to eat because I used to snack mindlessly all the time. How about adding some freshly juiced fruit/veggie juice to your daily meals? That could up the calories, increase the vitamins and add a tasty treat to your day?

Sigh. I wish more was known. From everything I've read I think more fruit juice would be incredibly dangerous. I firmly believe sugar/carbs are more involved in heart disease than fat.

You can look it up. Americans have cut fat. And heart disease has gone up. Should you start gulping sticks of butter? No. But be very cautious about carbs/sugar. If I had a heart problem they would be the number one thing I was looking at.

Sadly as I said the info isn't clear. For me that is the overriding direction I think the science is going. But I'd be the first to say research yourself.

I agree that more sugar is bad...I've even listened to lectures on the danger of fructose...but I'm also someone who believes that fruits, veggies, grains and nuts are the best things for us. I think chemically produced fruit "juices" bought at the store are terrible, but fresh fruit is always good. Just my opinion though

I just 'freaked' a little when I saw fruit juice. I am eating more veggies than ever. But I do try to limit fruit. Yes they have a lot of nutrition. But I'd rather have non-starchy vegetables mostly. At least for the time being.

I have totally re-thought fat though. I am not 'afraid' of it. And my belly has gone way down as my fear of fat has gone away and my consumption has gone up. I don't pound the butter sticks, but I do eat coconut oil by itself.

And the big problem with carbs is that it becomes glucose very quickly. Studies show whole wheat bread can have a high glycemic index. even higher than sucrose. I just think a lot of the population has not been served well by 'complex carbs' are good. I do think veggies are a good idea. But I would be very leery of any grain based carbs, whole or otherwise in general but in particular with heart problems.

Just my honest reading of where research is headed.

I followed the Atkins Low Carb diet for most of my adult life until I had to have multiple coronary bypasses in April 2011. I also so many kidney stones that it destroyed one kidney. Since 2011 I have been following my cardiologist and my heart surgeon's advice to eat low fat and limit my protein. My Blood pressure is 106/50 and my resting pulse is 50, not bad for an overweight 69 year old man. My most recent blood work shows my total cholesterol 119, HDL 41, LDL 55 I was never able to obtain these great numbers while I was on Atkins even though I did obtain ketosis most of the time as verified by urine test strips. Low carb works for a lot of people but I lost my health while following it.

I've never done Atkins. Never come close to ketosis. I've just radically, for me, cut down on grains, I don't eat bread and pasta anymore. And junk food, fast food. I probably eat more veggies now than ever though.

So I guess I am low grain, low processed food, not overly ambitious fruit eater now.

My blood work has never been better doing this. I've never felt more fit. I guess a good lesson to find what works for you. But I've never been strict Atkins. The bread and pasta was just really bad for me. Everything turned around when I cut those out.

My midsection and weight have come way down doing this. I've gone from 8 pushups to 40. From not being able to run 30 seconds to running a 5K soon. So it is working.

I just can't have grains I've found. Or much. They just make me really hungry and lethargic, spike my blood sugar, and get stored as fat.