Can you eat too little calories? + bad sleeping

[BecHahns]

Hi, I'm new here! Been calorie counting for 5 days now and it's going pretty well so far. I haven't lost any weight (but this could be due to buying new scales and them being different to my old ones.) I am 5'4" and 168lbs and am trying to lose about 3 stone over an indeterminate period of time...

My target calorie intake a day is 1400 and I'm supposed to try to burn off an extra 200 (this is not going so well...) I have been only eating about 1100-1200 calories most days this week though and I was wondering if under-eating like this would make me less likely to burn calories?

I don't plan to always under-eat like this, but I've been stressed recently due to uni deadlines and my sleeping is completely messed up, so much so that I tend to miss breakfast AND lunchtime. I'm trying to sort my sleeping out but it's NEVER been good so it's really difficult. Will my bad sleeping habits have a negative effect on my weight loss?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
x

 

[wirralmum]

Hiya

I think if you try to sort out your sleeping pattern it can't do any harm, to be honest. Missing both breakfast and lunch is a big no-no because your metabolism is not being fired up. I know you probably already know this, but eating little and often throughout the day is meant to be the best way to lose weight, rather than starving all day and having a big blowout in the evening. Also, if you're eating too much too late that might prevent you from getting to sleep and/or getting a good night's sleep.

As for your calorie intake, have you been on MyFitnessPal? I discovered it only recently, and it's great. It calculates for you the amount of calories you need to be eating to lose weight, based on things like your height and current weight etc. I can highly recommend it (and it's free!)

Good luck!

p.s. it's probably best not to pay too much attention to the weights provided by two different sets of scales. Just use the one scale to weigh yourself with and stick to that.

 

[BecHahns]

Thank you very much! Yeah I know about the metabolism thing, I usually try to eat as soon as i get up anyway. I do sleep a normal amount of hours actually, just at a different time to everyone else! But I'll try and fix it

I just joined myfitnesspal yesterday, actually! Before I was using a different online calorie counter that told me basically the same thing but it was only a trial. I'll keep using it

Thank you, you too!
x

 

[Lp80]

Hi honey,
I also have messed up sleeping patterns due to my job and it didn't affect my weight loss but they do make me feel horrible (I hate night shifts with a passion ). I feel too hungry on 1200 cals and actually lost better when I was on 1500/1600 cals a day. I don't think it will harm you eating 1200 but you might feel a little lethargic going that Low. Some people are fine on 1200 though so I don't think you need to worry too much.
Good luck!

 

[BecHahns]

Ah, okay, well I'll try not to stay too far under then. I heard that consuming too little calories can cause your body to reserve more energy instead of burn it, so I'll try to keep closer to my target. Thanks a lot!

 

[Caz]

I think the other thing about if you sleep bad is that it affects your energy levels, which affects how active you're likely to be. You're more likely to drive or get the bus than walk somewhere. Less likely to do exercise etc.