The success stories certainly are inspirational. But have you checked out some of the other information available here, like the calorie counters FAQ? Your intake is far too low for your weight and activity level. Instead of fat you're losing water and muscle because you aren't nourishing your body. Twelve pounds in a week may seem great, but it's not a long term, sustainable, strategy!

I'm 5'7 and I'm on a 1460 calorie a day, to lose weight.

Michelle

The concern with eating too few calories is that long term your weightloss will likely stall and it will become even more difficult for you to break the plateau.

Eating less than 1000 calories will definitely work in the short run but there are few success stories where someone maintained this over the course of their weightloss journey.

You risk mucking up your metabolism only to create more frustration for yourself later on.

Lori

I agree. I'm at 175lbs and at 1500-1600 calories per day and I workout about 6 days a week. I'm losing with this. I would check with a doctor and maybe have some blood tests. I have hypothryoidism and before I got on meds I couldn't drop any weight.

You may be suprised about how many calories your eating if you don't keep very close track. I know I was suprised when I started keeping track.

And you shouldn't be feeling shakey or anything like that.

I am 5'5 and weigh 233. I started counting calories a week ago and started at 1600-2000 to feel where I need to be. I haven't lost anything, so today I reduced it to 1400-1600 a day. I'm hoping this will help me.

A lot of people seem to stall when not eating enough calories too... something to think about. I agree with tracking more closely and make sure you're accounting for everything that goes in your mouth. Little things add up.

At your weight you don't want to go too low. You risk all kinds of issues. I had Gallstones from a 1000 calorie a day diet a few years back. Trust me they aren't something you want.

Measure and weigh when you can until you have a good handle on what amounts look like.

I eat about 1400-1800 but I also exercise 6 days a week

Eating too little almost never works out for anyone. First of all its unrealistic, you can't live your life like that. You'll end up going crazy one day by such restrictions. Last year for like 5 months I was living on 700-800 calories a day and it was HORRIBLE I was losing so much weight though and I was so happy. Then when you realize you can't live the rest of your life like this you just gain it all back. On top of gaining it all back you have damaged your metabolism. Not cool!

Earlier this year I was eating less than 1000 calories a day- it wasn't hard to do, I didn't get hungry or shaky. I did come to my senses a month or so ago, and now do my best to aim for 1200 calories, though I go over by 100 calories or so sometimes. Unfortunately, my previous undereating means that I'm not really losing weight this way, despite pretty vigorous 7-days-a-week exercise. I'm sure if I hang in there my metabolism will decide to fix itself- if it's easy to screw up, it must be possible to fix, right? Or that's my hope.

I started at 264 and lost pretty consistantly between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. But I wasn't exercising very intensely - just walking every day.

There's been a lot of great comments here. I just wanted to remind people that sometimes you need to give yourself a little time at a particular calorie level to see if you're losing. One week may not be enough!!

Also, think about your long term goals. Yes, most of us are here to lose weight (or maintain a weight loss) but do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be able to do this long-term? It really helped me to think about the strategies that would enable me to do this FOR LIFE. I lost weight eating 1800-2000 calories/day on average (higher numbers when I weighed closer to 300 pounds) and did lose consistently. I also increased my exercise as I lost.

Finally, as has been mentioned, these numbers are all estimates. All of us differ. If you in particular have a lot of questions and concerns about weight loss, it may help to see a doctor. Know, however, that not all MDs know a lot about nutrition and weight loss (they have a lot of other things they need to know!) and a good dietician might be really useful too!

The only thing I can really say is that the dietitian/nutritionist told me no one should ever take in less than 1200 calories a day. There are a certain amount of calories needed just for the body to preform properly. Sure you will see giant weight loss but is that good for the body is the real question.

I lost the bulk of my weight at 1000 cal/day (meal replacements + 1 healthy meal of lean protein & low-carb veggies). I would periodically take real food diet breaks & then my calories were about 1100-1200 calories a day. It's been about 15 months & this has been working for me.

It is key to find out what is the right range for you. I am older which means slower metabolism among other things. My maintenance calorie range will be around 1200-1400 calories. Not really thrilled with that but that's what it is.

I found the best success breaking plateaus was not so much changing the calorie level but changing the foods I ate in that calorie range. Leaner meats, more fish & poultry, less starch worked better than changing the calories too much.

I use FitDay to track EVERYTHING. It was amazing to see how little things like condiments, sweeteners, & those little teaspoons of fats could add up & easily push me way over what I was supposed to be having that day. Some people also use CalorieKing or The Daily Plate to track their foods. Might be worth looking into. :)

My understanding is that the 1200 calories a day isn't necessarily for the calories themselves, but for nutrients. You can't get the right amount of protein/calcium/vitamins/carbs/fat/etc without 1200 calories a day. Is that true?

I guess it doesn't matter, because whatever the answer is I'm not going to eat under that, but I'm just curious :)

I don't know if this has been mentioned but adding weight training and gaining a little bit of muscle to your body improves your metabolism. Some people lose muscle and fat then fall off their program and gain nothing but fat back which in turns slows your metabolism and makes losing more difficult.

This happened to me, I keep dropping 15 to 20 pounds, gaining it back and each time I had more body fat. When I finally reached my highest weight I was over 50% body fat. Women need to weight train. It doesn't have to be all hardcore or anything, but a simple and sound program will help.

There is no reason, other than a medical condition, that someone over 300 pounds should be eating 1000 calories. This will completely fail in the long run, of course imho.

I agree with Heather, we all have to set ourselves up to succeed for life or else we are going to have to keep starting over, fatter than before.