[jaydesmommi]

Hello everyone. I am doing pretty well with exercising and eating etc... I have started tracking my eating and exercise on fitday.com. My question is how many calories should I be eating. today I had 1100 but yesterday was 864 and the other day wa only 560 because i did not eat dinner. I dont want to eat to little or to much. Any advice would be greatly appreciates.

[luvja]

Not sure, but I heard anything under 1100 calories and your body goes into starvation mode. I don't know how true that is.

[WormwoodDoll]

Use a caloric intake calculator and mess around, see what works for you.

Last year I'd eat less than 1,000 calories and would go to the gym for an hour 4x a week. It left me feeling very weak. I would just sleep it off, but I'd binge more often.

[kelly315]

You're eating way too few. If continue eating this way, I can almost guarantee your body will go into starvation mode, and you won't lose any weight. The only people that succeed with those few calories are people on VLCDs, (very low calorie diets) under strict (daily or weekly) medical watch. Those people generally drink most of their calories in nutrition rich formulas.

I'm assuming you're around 300 pounds since you're posting on this part of the forum- my nutritionist told me to have at least 1500-1600 when I was around 290. If you eat less than 1200 for a long period of time, you're going to make yourself sick! But if you want to, I suggest you talk to a doctor about VLCDs.

Good luck, you can do this the right way! Don't deny your body what it needs.

[Bunny]

How I determined what I wanted to eat was I used one of those calorie/weight/bmi Calculators and saw how many calories a person of my goal weight would eat and then raised it a bit so that when I get closer I have room to lower it as I go. I have NO clue if that is correct, but that is what I did. I also signed up at Calorieking.com and they gave me a daily calorie intake based on my weight and lifestyle. I'm tracking my calories/exercise and it tells me the breakdown % of my nutrition and all that. It's a pay service though. Fitday is free, but I couldn't understand the layout.

[Heather]

Please don't starve your body. You may not feel hungry now, but if you weigh over 300 pounds and are eating so little, you are not giving your body the nutrients you need and that leads to binges and falling off the wagon.

I would suggest you increase your calories to 1800-2000/day. Yes, each day. People who weigh more use more calories and if you weigh over 300 pounds you can probably lose weight comfortably at that level for now. Everyone IS different, but I lost 100 pounds in a little over a year and never starved.

You also need to be sure you're tracking EVERYTHING you eat AND drink!

Good luck!

[bettyred]

Okay, I am going to be the black sheep here lol Mostly because like me, you have more than 100lbs to lose. If you generally... I mean 5 out of 7 days... or even 4 out of 7 days.... eat what you are suppose to... and this number varies depending on activity level and body weight... then you will be fine.

The thing about starvation mode for people with more than 6% body fat is.... it technically isn't even a real response. Your body isn't technically starving- it's adjusting to what you take in. Now, if you chose to actually starve yourself which would be eating a piece of bread and drinking some water twice a day and having almost zero body fat... then yes starvation can be very real. Find a trainer that works with heavier people- meaning people who want to lose more than their 40lbs of... man I wish I could fit into that cute dress I saw at the store kind of people. They will tell you the same thing I am telling you- it is much worse for your body to constantly stress over food and taking in the right amount of calories than it is for you to eat healthy, exercise and not feel hungry. Calorie counting is a good way of showing you what you put in your body- but if you decided to eat only veggies for lunch and dinner- which I could so do lol your calories will never add up. So focus more on getting the healthy proteins, the healthy snacks and veggies and on how you feel- not on what your daily caloric intake is.

Check into it- the idea that *I* could shut my bodies processes down or slow them to where your body isn't getting what it needs is rather silly if you think about it. Your body adjusts, does this mean you should start eating only veggies and tuna? No, you won't stick with that long term... but I am saying is- if you dont feel like having dinner- don't force yourself to eat dinner. Grab a piece of fruit and be happy lol

And yes... I used to be one of those people who honestly believed Starvation mode- existed for bigger people. My doctor told me I was starving myself fat- eating only once a day. WRONG- I was eating the worst possible foods at the worst possible time.... I wasn't starving, I was uneducated about my body and it's ability to take care of itself. Your body is built to survive anything you throw at it, it adapts constantly.

Sorry if there are tons that disagree, but you should check into it. Making better choices is much better than obsessing about every tiny calorie

[RealCdn]

I'm with Heather, start high and then lower it if you need to. I started at 358 in December at around 1800 cals/day, however, as I added exercise in January I raised my calories. As I included more strenuous exercises (lifting weights) I raised it again. Even now I still average a little over 2000 cals/day (I vary mine by activity) and still manage to lose ~2lbs/week. And you'll see by my ticker that I'm just a little over 100 pounds lighter.

Bettyred - I don't disagree, but it's not so much a starvation mode, but a starvation response. If you aren't eating enough you body will try and get you to slow down, burn fewer calories, etc. as well as store more fat 'just in case'. You see the same thing with water retention. If you stop drinking your usual amount of water your body tends to retain it more. Again, it's thinking it should just in case you don't drink enough. This is why drinking extra water tends to make the body let go of retained water. It may also explain why people on a plateau seem to lose weight when they give in and eat a little more.

[JulieJ08]

I don't know, but I would assume "starvation response" is one of those terms created by the media. "Normal physiological response" wouldn't sell . Doesn't make it untrue that when you eat less, your body lowers its metabolism in response.