Just started eating 1800 calories a day and feel like crap

[Anonymous]

1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

I'm in the same boat. I'm not thin (not overweight either) but a regular eater and hardcore exerciser. My caloric levels are similar because I've had an eye towards metabolism long-term.

[Anonymous]

I think a couple of things -

The first few days, it can be difficult to figure out what owkrs for you. So once you hit 1800, you stop eating, even though maybe you need more, or were really unbalanced during the day. Once you get used to counting and learn what things satiate you and what things are just empty calories it will be better. your eating should become healthier.

I have had good luck snacking on nuts (almonds are the classic example) - they aren't filling by volume but do help with fat/protein. I also have good luck with peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets. Only 150 calories for 10, you get a treat of carbs, plus fat and protein. They have been my lifesaver at times.

Cutting sugar and caffeine drastically can also lead to lightheaded-ness. Have a cup of coffee with one teaspoon of sugar (adds 15 calories) or 2 teaspoons of sugar (30 calories). 30 calories of sugar is not going to disrupt your diet too terribly. As your body adjusts, go down to one teaspoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

I'm in the same boat. I'm not thin (not overweight either) but a regular eater and hardcore exerciser. My caloric levels are similar because I've had an eye towards metabolism long-term.

Ya know, most of us didn't go out thinking we were going to mess up our metabolisms. But yes, I now realize that as a college athlete when the nutritionist told us to eat as many carbs as we wanted but to watch out fat like a hawk, she was wrong. And I was wrong to follow her advice for the next 15 years. And now here I am, 43, after years of fighting the good fight, and I can eat 1500 to maintain or 1200 to lose. And I work out and yada yada yada. I'm glad you were all-knowing about how not to mess up your metabolism. Frankly, as someone who reads the literature on weight and exercise pretty obsessively, I'm pretty sure the jury is still out on what a metabolism-friendly eating pattern is, exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Be careful to drink MORE water than before. Eating less dehydrates you.

Stick to unprocessed fruits and veggies to ward of constipation and get vitamins and fluids, eat lean protein (I'm buying turkey ham with 0 fat right now, there's also tofu and chicken, etc), and nix the starch (rice, pasta, bread). Take a multivitamin, perhaps iron if you have anemic tendencies.

You must be tall. My normal calorie intake is 1400 and my diet one is half that.

Nobody's caloric intake should be 700 calories. Your metabolism must be so jacked up.

Agree. Such terrible advice from the pro-ana crowd here.

OP, your body is just adjusting. It'll take a week or so.

Once again, criticizing people you don't know, whose shape and metabolism you don't know either. Way to go.

I'm a slim and petite Asian. I'm healthy, but thank you very much for judging!

NP here. Why in the world would a slim and petite person of any race come onto a thread about a person dieting to lose weight and gloat about how they subsist on 1400 calories and diet at 700? According to USDA guidelines, the average woman needs 1600-2000 for healthy weight management. You are so small and below the median that your caloric intake cannot possibly be close to average or close to the caloric intake of a person who is heavy and trying to lose weight.

Why in the world would you come here to rub your low caloric intake because of your diminutive size into the face of someone who is heavy and dieting? How could it possibly be pertinent or helpful?

Agreed. How utterly weird and irrelevant. And well below what a normal, healthy, and fit/active adult woman should be eating.

These comments are childishly emotional. You wouldn't react this way if deep down, you weren't jealous, which is unhealthy. Everyone has to feed the body they have, so no one should be jealous of anyone else! Stop criticizing others just because they have different needs.

[Anonymous]

I compete in a weight class sport and have to lose 6 pounds in the next month. I have cut down to 1800 calories this week. Here was my intake yesterday:

Breakfast:
Coffee with chocolate toffee truffle creamer
Strawberry greek yogurt with blueberries and cacao nibs
Half an avocado
Fresh mozzarella
34g carb/32g fat/30g protein

Lunch:
Chicken breast
Barilla protein pasta
Butter
Fresh basil
38g carb/8g fat/36g protein

Dinner:
Sirloin
Butter
Half an Avocado
Asparagus
Parmesan cheese
12g carb/33g fat/51g protein

Snacks:
3 oatmeal cookies dipped in peanut butter and chocolate Jif whips
1 piece of dark chocolate
35g carb/18g fat/5g protein

Total:124g carb/91g fat/121g protein

A high fat diet works better for me, keeps my hormones stable, keeps me full, and prevents migraines. I cut weight 4 times a year to get from training weight to competition weight. When I'm just in a training cycle, I bump up my carb intake to about 200g for the extra energy. I train 5 days a week, 2 hours per session. My training weight is 134lbs at 5'6" and my competition weight is 127.9lb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

I'm in the same boat. I'm not thin (not overweight either) but a regular eater and hardcore exerciser. My caloric levels are similar because I've had an eye towards metabolism long-term.

Ya know, most of us didn't go out thinking we were going to mess up our metabolisms. But yes, I now realize that as a college athlete when the nutritionist told us to eat as many carbs as we wanted but to watch out fat like a hawk, she was wrong. And I was wrong to follow her advice for the next 15 years. And now here I am, 43, after years of fighting the good fight, and I can eat 1500 to maintain or 1200 to lose. And I work out and yada yada yada. I'm glad you were all-knowing about how not to mess up your metabolism. Frankly, as someone who reads the literature on weight and exercise pretty obsessively, I'm pretty sure the jury is still out on what a metabolism-friendly eating pattern is, exactly.

You don't think that eating "regularly" over decades - as in not dieting obsessively or eating an extreme amount - is good for your metabolism? Better read up some more. Or maybe you're just hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

I'm in the same boat. I'm not thin (not overweight either) but a regular eater and hardcore exerciser. My caloric levels are similar because I've had an eye towards metabolism long-term.

Yup, me too. I posted earlier how I now maintain at around 2,500 calories a day, despite being short, and despite previously losing a bunch of weight.

I'm now in this stride for the long term and exercise daily. Not necessarily for weight, but because it feels good to sweat and be strong now - I genuinely like working out and it's not something that's a chore. But it's nice that I can eat a good amount of food, not deprive myself, and not gain weight. Regular exercise raising your metabolic rate is not to be underestimated. I'm SO glad I lost weight the strong way

[Anonymous]

Op here. Well, I have never really dieted and was always on the high end of a normal Bmi range but now I am older and three kids later I have noticed that I am officially overweight. I do feel like it snuck up on me. I also feel like my metabolism is not terrible but probably just getting older is slowing things down. I also have three very hungry sons and I admit to sometimes eating stuff they are having that I probably shouldn't.

Lastly,I thought that no matter how much dieting you have done, it has been disproved that you can jack up your metabolism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Be careful to drink MORE water than before. Eating less dehydrates you.

Stick to unprocessed fruits and veggies to ward of constipation and get vitamins and fluids, eat lean protein (I'm buying turkey ham with 0 fat right now, there's also tofu and chicken, etc), and nix the starch (rice, pasta, bread). Take a multivitamin, perhaps iron if you have anemic tendencies.

You must be tall. My normal calorie intake is 1400 and my diet one is half that.

Nobody's caloric intake should be 700 calories. Your metabolism must be so jacked up.

Agree. Such terrible advice from the pro-ana crowd here.

OP, your body is just adjusting. It'll take a week or so.

Once again, criticizing people you don't know, whose shape and metabolism you don't know either. Way to go.

I'm a slim and petite Asian. I'm healthy, but thank you very much for judging!

NP here. Why in the world would a slim and petite person of any race come onto a thread about a person dieting to lose weight and gloat about how they subsist on 1400 calories and diet at 700? According to USDA guidelines, the average woman needs 1600-2000 for healthy weight management. You are so small and below the median that your caloric intake cannot possibly be close to average or close to the caloric intake of a person who is heavy and trying to lose weight.

Why in the world would you come here to rub your low caloric intake because of your diminutive size into the face of someone who is heavy and dieting? How could it possibly be pertinent or helpful?

Agreed. How utterly weird and irrelevant. And well below what a normal, healthy, and fit/active adult woman should be eating.

These comments are childishly emotional. You wouldn't react this way if deep down, you weren't jealous, which is unhealthy. Everyone has to feed the body they have, so no one should be jealous of anyone else! Stop criticizing others just because they have different needs.

Great, you have your needs, but they are clearly not what OP (or most women) are after. Why interject yourself into a conversation that has nothing to do with eating like a child?

I can assure you, having been almost 200 lbs and as a size 2-4 now, I have no desire to be a "slim and petite Asian" (though I'm half part Asian, but whatever, that's not something anyone can control). I want to be fit, strong, healthy, and energetic. That means consuming about 2500 calories for the kind of active lifestyle I lead now. And I love it. It sounds like OP is on their feet a lot and thus needs a moderate caloric intake to lose weight, which is more in the realm of active people like myself (and other pps), rather than someone who is more concerned with being slim and petite, instead of fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Well, I have never really dieted and was always on the high end of a normal Bmi range but now I am older and three kids later I have noticed that I am officially overweight. I do feel like it snuck up on me. I also feel like my metabolism is not terrible but probably just getting older is slowing things down. I also have three very hungry sons and I admit to sometimes eating stuff they are having that I probably shouldn't.

Lastly,I thought that no matter how much dieting you have done, it has been disproved that you can jack up your metabolism.

There was a recent study of participants in the Biggest Loser that showed you can "jack up your metabolism."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Be careful to drink MORE water than before. Eating less dehydrates you.

Stick to unprocessed fruits and veggies to ward of constipation and get vitamins and fluids, eat lean protein (I'm buying turkey ham with 0 fat right now, there's also tofu and chicken, etc), and nix the starch (rice, pasta, bread). Take a multivitamin, perhaps iron if you have anemic tendencies.

You must be tall. My normal calorie intake is 1400 and my diet one is half that.

Nobody's caloric intake should be 700 calories. Your metabolism must be so jacked up.

Agree. Such terrible advice from the pro-ana crowd here.

OP, your body is just adjusting. It'll take a week or so.

Once again, criticizing people you don't know, whose shape and metabolism you don't know either. Way to go.

I'm a slim and petite Asian. I'm healthy, but thank you very much for judging!

NP here. Why in the world would a slim and petite person of any race come onto a thread about a person dieting to lose weight and gloat about how they subsist on 1400 calories and diet at 700? According to USDA guidelines, the average woman needs 1600-2000 for healthy weight management. You are so small and below the median that your caloric intake cannot possibly be close to average or close to the caloric intake of a person who is heavy and trying to lose weight.

Why in the world would you come here to rub your low caloric intake because of your diminutive size into the face of someone who is heavy and dieting? How could it possibly be pertinent or helpful?

Agreed. How utterly weird and irrelevant. And well below what a normal, healthy, and fit/active adult woman should be eating.

These comments are childishly emotional. You wouldn't react this way if deep down, you weren't jealous, which is unhealthy. Everyone has to feed the body they have, so no one should be jealous of anyone else! Stop criticizing others just because they have different needs.

You're missing the glaring point. Your body has a NEED for food. 700 calories isn't enough to sustain healthy life. Look, I can eat whatever I want and never workout and be a thin but soft 100 lbs. or I can eat healthy, work out 3x a week, and be a trim and lean 100 lbs. I don't have any reason to be jealous of someone who goes through life subsisting on 700 calories a day. How sad and joyless. You must have no energy and constant anxiety over every bite you eat if your ceiling is 700 calories. You really should not be chiming in on weight loss threads because your whole attitude and advice is detrimental and unhealthy.

[Anonymous]

Man you are so luck You! I would gain a ton of weight on 1800 calories! I only eat 1400-1600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1:22 - Why would anyone be jealous of someone only being able to eat 700 calories a day? That sounds awful. That is almost no food. I can easily eat that in a meal. Even a normal meal of 1,400 sounds awful. If that's gloating, I'm a little sad for the gloater.

Now I can see someone being jealous when I say that at 44, I can eat 2,500 calories a day or more and maintain weight, or cut back to around 2,000 and lose. That's what years of daily exercise and not jacking up your metabolism can do. When dieting, it's a good idea to think long-term when it comes to metabolism.

I'm in the same boat. I'm not thin (not overweight either) but a regular eater and hardcore exerciser. My caloric levels are similar because I've had an eye towards metabolism long-term.

Ya know, most of us didn't go out thinking we were going to mess up our metabolisms. But yes, I now realize that as a college athlete when the nutritionist told us to eat as many carbs as we wanted but to watch out fat like a hawk, she was wrong. And I was wrong to follow her advice for the next 15 years. And now here I am, 43, after years of fighting the good fight, and I can eat 1500 to maintain or 1200 to lose. And I work out and yada yada yada. I'm glad you were all-knowing about how not to mess up your metabolism. Frankly, as someone who reads the literature on weight and exercise pretty obsessively, I'm pretty sure the jury is still out on what a metabolism-friendly eating pattern is, exactly.

You don't think that eating "regularly" over decades - as in not dieting obsessively or eating an extreme amount - is good for your metabolism? Better read up some more. Or maybe you're just hungry.

The thing is that people don't agree what "regularly" means, do they? And if you find yourself an overweight active person in your early 20's, as I did, you feel like you do need to lose the weight to set you on the right path for the rest of your life. So you diet. And since something like 99% of people who diet gain back the weight, you gain back the weight. And you try again. The cycle repeats, and you end up with a body that needs many fewer calories than people who were never overweight - see the Biggest Loser study. I am not talking about obsessive dieting but the very common up and down of the scale that many of us experienced. I'll I'm saying is that you can't assume that your path - "regular" healthy eating for a lifetime - works for other people. We don't have time turners. We can't go back and make our parents feed us better, or get tell our 20 year old selves to lay off the pasta and eat more tuna. So many of us must live with our current bodies, which give us the options of eating fewer calories than you see as normal or healthy, and being fat. You don't need to make that harder than it already is by being snotty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I do think it is sugar related. I have not given up caffeine and today had a coffee with a bit of creamer no sugar and it just wasn't the same! I have been eating a lot of fruit. Do you all think that fruit sugar is ok?

Having been through considerable weight loss myself, fruit is GREAT. Fruit is loaded with water, fiber, and other nutrients and vitamins. Fruit is a great, sustainable way to help lose weight and keep it off long term. Plus, there's so much in season right now!

Depends on the fruit. Berries and apples, yes. Bananas, no.

OP - you're definitely feeling sugar withdrawal. It's also called the carb flu. For most people this lasts a few days to 2 weeks.

There are things you can do to feel better: drink lots of water, drink bone broth.

Make sure you're getting 1g of protein per 1kg of lean body mass to preserve your muscle.

Minimize the sugar, starches, alcohol. And keep at it. You'll feel 100% percent better soon.