The calorie floor you should never drop below
There is a lowest safe number of calories to eat each day. Go below it and your body starts to break in ways you cannot see on the scale.
You want to lose weight fast. So you think, 'I will eat very little.' Maybe 800 calories a day. Maybe even less. That sounds brave. But it is not safe. Your body has a floor. Drop below it, and things start to break. This short read is about that floor. It is also about why a huge deficit number can fool you.
If eating 1500 calories is good for weight loss, eating 800 must be better.
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A bigger deficit looks like a faster win. But your body is not a simple machine. Eat too little and you rob yourself of the nutrients you need. You also raise your risk of gallstones. The huge number on the screen feels powerful. It is a trap. Below a certain line, the maths stops helping you. It starts to hurt you.
The safe floor for most adults
Health experts set a lowest safe daily intake for weight loss. For most women, that floor is about 1200 calories a day. For most men, it is about 1500 calories a day. A doctor may let you go lower, but only under close watch. A 'very low calorie diet' means under 800 calories a day. Experts say it is not for normal weight loss. It needs a doctor watching, because it can cause real harm.
At the floor versus below it
Stay above the floor with Burnie
The bottom line
The floor is not a wall to climb down. It is the safe ground you stand on. For most women that ground is about 1200 calories a day. For most men it is about 1500. Below that line, the maths stops being your friend. Eat at or above the floor. Let Burnie do the maths. And talk to your doctor if you ever feel you must go lower.