I started on this weight loss journey to get back into shape as we all have. I started to lose weight fast when I first started (about 20 pounds first month) and I'm now about 20 pounds away from my goal. I started out by eating right , cutting back on calories and excercising every day. But the more I lost, the more addictive the dropping number on the scale became. I seems like I've replaced one addiction with another. I've been skipping breakfast, barely eating anything for lunch and then just eating a small dinner. I get up to 700, maybe 800 calories in a day. Just like food used to give me a high, the smaller number on the scale is giving me a high, but not in a good way. I've been going to bed hungry even though I could of had a snack. It seems like I've developed a fear of food and a need to control my life with what I'm eating. If I've had an off day with food, it seems like everything is out of control. I'll start to panic. I won't cook a proper supper anymore because I can't accurately track the calories, so I'd rather eat out and look up the nutritional value on a restaurants site or I'll eat something out of a box or package.

What's wrong with me? I know that my husband has mentioned the food thing to me a few times, but he didn't seem to be too worried as he's more concerned with having a thin wife than a fat one. I don't think he really cares how I go about the weight loss.

Has anyone else gone through this?

I've found myself wanting to have a higher number of calories left over at the end of the day on top of my deficit. I've had anywhere from 150-600 calories left at the end of the day for the past few days, but I feel I'm making up for days I've overeaten, and it would be crazy for me to eat those extra calories if I'm not hungry. I've been a bit afraid it's going to become a habit, but I figure more than likely my appetite will return, and yet again I'll be struggling to not go over my calories. I always reach the 1200 calorie mark though...you have to put your health first.

I know it feels good to see the numbers go down on the scale but the reality of it is that you are setting yourself up for dissapointment:

1. You will put yourself in "starvation" mode which will ultimately lead to the number on the scale NOT budging.

2. It is unhealthy!!!! Think of it as malnutrition, which will affect your hair, skin, cognative function, sleep, and demeanor.

3. It will at some point be impossible to keep up causing you to look for new "unhealthy" ways to lose weight.

Its just my 2 cents (I am not a doctor)

You really need to be careful. You do not want to go from one extreme to the other. I would force my self to eat at least 1200 calories everyday. This could become just as unhealthy as over eating. Please be careful and Share this with your doctor. I am sure your husband wants you thin but I am just as sure he wants you healthy.

Personally, I think it's time for you to toss the scale. I'd do it right now. Civilization has existed for thousands of years without that scale.

When used as a tool, infrequently, I think its fine. But now that it's become an issue, I'd toss it, just like an alcoholic should toss out the booze or I should toss out my frappuchinos!

I think you can get back to a healthy perspective. As far as the calories go, get that 1200 in as a minimum. You're already lost a lot of weight, which is great, but happiness is more important.

I think the important thing is to stick to your goal. I have become a little obsessive with the calorie counting and working out as well. However, if I am planning out my meals and subtracting out calories burned from exercise and I see that I still have 300 calories left to eat, I will work those calories in. I look at it as a reward that I have left over calories to consume. So if you're goal is to net 1200 calories a day, make your 'obsession' be to hit exactly 1200 calories, not to consume as few as possible. I'm not an expert but by skipping breakfast and only consuming 700 or 800 cals a day, you may be damaging your metabolism and then when this pattern ends, the weight may come right back.

I will tell you that in October I was eating 1000 calories, and working out, sometimes upto 2 hrs a day, thinking what a huge deficit I was creating. By the end of the month I had not lost any weight. Extremley depressing!!! Not only was it not fun to under eat / work out so much, the fact that the scale did not change made it all not worth it in the end. My dietician said I put my body into starvation mode and despite how high my deficit was my body wouldnt let me loose the weight. So now I'm eating more. It makes me nervous, but from all the reading I've done latley it makes sense to me now. Good luck with your weight loss!!

I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but what you are describing is frightening. You are going down a tumultuous path, and it could easily get out of control. Go back and read what you wrote...it sounds like something that a person with an eating disorder would say. Scared of food and controlling your life through calorie restriction is not good for your body or your mind. You should talk to your physician about it...he/she could really help you out.

I completely understand you. Once you start losing those pounds and telling yourself "never again, never again will I be in my 190s, 180s, etc" you can't help worrying about bouncing back and there's nothing like the rush of WOW THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE DROPPED. I try never to dip below 1000 cals, too hungry anyway!

Sounds to me like there might not be enough exercise in your life, that way you can eat more and stop being afraid of gaining weight.

Completely agree! It sounds to me like you are heading down a dangerous road that could lead to an eating disorder. You NEED food to survive. No less than 1200. I understand that your husband would like you to be more thin...but I would hope that he would take you just the way you are and love you just the same. My concern is that this could get out of control and than you could get very sick. I think your husband would rather have you just as you are than in the hospital sick. I am praying for you that you can get this under control and not be scared of food. Food is good...actually GREAT!!! We just have to learn portions and moderation. I hope this doesn't come acrossed as harsh or too pushy, but I am truly concerned for you.

Sending prayers and God's blessings your way,

Jessica

I saw this post and thought of you...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

Under eating isn't going to help your weightloss forever. In my opinion, you are out of control in a whole new way. Be careful and take care of yourself and your body - its the only body you'll ever get.

Yes I have, when I was 17-19 years old. I was anorexic. I survived on gum and diet pop all day, ate one weight watcher meal at dinner. I went from about 140 lbs to 99 lbs and am 5'7"!! I exercised like crazy and thought it was great. Then one night i passed out in the bathroom from weakness. I slowly recovered and began to eat again but then became a binger, eating boxes of cookies, bags of whatever. It was horrible and took years to recover from. I'm not sure what to tell you at this point, there are groups and specialists in this now, you need to consider this if you cannot resolve this issue yourself. I wish you luck, please take this seriously because it is.

Thanks everyone for your tremendous support! I guess I needed someone to hold up the mirror and show me that what I'm doing is out of control.

I know my health is suffering because I've been suffering from hyperactivity and exhaustion all at the same time. I can't sleep well and I try and avoid food as much as possible. I'm just not myself.

My issue now is that if I start eating those 1200 calories a day again, that I'll just pack it all back on. How do I avoid this? Work those calories off?

Thanks guys. :-)

Start adding them back in slowly. Say, 100-200 a day for a week. An easy way to do this is to add nuts. An ounce dry roasted unsalted almonds are about 160 calories. You don't feel like you've gorged yourself, but they are healthy and will keep your metabolism up. So, if you are eating 700 cals/day now, start eating 800-900 cals a day for a week by adding a wholesome snack. The next week, increase it again and do this until you get where you need to be.

You might put on a pound or two initially, but your body will adjust. And for proof, a couple years ago I was eating around 1200 cals/day, exercising hard 1.5 hours per day and losing appx 1.5-3 pounds per week. I'm 5'10" and weighed almost 280. I became tired, weak and lightheaded. Now, I'm 211 lbs, I eat 1600-2200 cals per/day (depending on if I worked out and how hard according to my HRM) and still lose an average of 1.5 - 2 lbs per week. I'm not tired, I'm not weak, I'm not lightheaded. But most importantly, I feel like I'm actually learning how to eat correctly.

You have to think that you are already put on a deficit when you use MFP. Say you eat 1200 calories a day and you have a sedentary lifestyle/job so your BMR is 1700. That is already a deficit of 500 calories calculated in by MFP. When you exercise, that deficit only gets bigger, then MFP tells you that you should eat more calories so that you can make it to your 1200 calorie allowance for the day.

If you did no exercise, you would burn 500 calories a day (because of the 500 calorie per day deficit) and would lose 1 lb. a week, which is ideal. Where you're at now, eating 700 calories or so, you're having a deficit of 1000 calories a day (just guessing), so you are probably losing a lot of weight per week. If you add your calories back in to equal out to 1200 calories after exercise or not, then you will still lose weight, just at a slower rate. I would agree with others here that initially your body would try to hold on to all calories and you would see a gain, but IT WILL GO AWAY. Your body will scavenge at first, but when it realizes that you are being nice to it it will be nice to you.

If you have any doubts I would really urge you to talk to your physician. They are trained for stuff like this, and they can help you. They could lead you to a nutritionist so that she/he could explain things for you, or the physician could just give you some good info/support. Good luck!

Well said, and you made me chuckle ... I couldn't agree more!