I’m only eating 850 calories a day

Health and Recovery
1

Is this too little? I’m a man.

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2

No matter your weight or sex that is too little.

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3

I thought so.

15

4

That amount of calories will affect your heart.

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5

This is no joke. I once went 3 months eating around 500 calories, got admitted to a psych hospital and my heart rate was all over the place and usually very slow.

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6

That’s scary. I’ll look for higher calorie foods at the store.

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7

I’ve been told by a doctor anything below 1200 calories is usually not very healthy.

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8

This could eventually kill you

9

I didn’t think about that. I’ll change my diet again.

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10

I’m in a similar situation as you. I’m 43/male and most days I eat 600-800 calories.

I have a bowl of cereal for breakfast which is about 250 calories.

I almost never have lunch, just not hungry during the day.

Then I have dinner, usually just a frozen entree I can put in the oven, like a meat pie, shepherds pie, lasagne, etc, that is about 450-550 calories.

Occasionally I’ll have a snack like chips, BBQ peanuts, cookies, or yogourt.

I am on Lurasidone which requires that you take it with food, at least 350 calories. My breakfast doesn’t really meet that criteria, my dinner usually does, but I haven’t had any problems.

I’ve been on this diet for years and I am fine. I do drink coffee and tea during the day, I don’t know if that counts as calories. My last few blood tests have been perfect. All my numbers are in the proper ranges…except my blood sugar, it’s in pre-diabetic levels (A1C of 6.3) but I am diabetic so that is actually pretty good.

11

My A1C was 4.9 last time it was checked.

12

That’s very little. Do you not get hungry?

I wonder why your appetite is so little, maybe it is the antipsychotic

13

I don’t get hungry and I don’t know why that is but I always want to eat more for each meal and have snacks too.

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14

It’s probably better than eating too much, at least.

15

Wow, I’ve never had an A1C that low since becoming diabetic. When I was on a high dose of olanzapine and I was in bad physical shape I had A1C’s of 8 and 9 for years, I’m doing much much better now that I am off olanzapine.

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16

I think that’s not enough maybe you should bump it to at least 1500

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17

Sounds like a VLCD (very low calorie diet). I know some diet companies sell meal replacements which encourage around 800 calories a day. It’s not enough if this is day in day put your intake, but if you have a very high BMI, things might be different. It’s not sustainable as a diet though, you’d be likely to yoyo.

Best advice is speak to your GP or a dietician, who can make an informed judgement about your intake. Best of luck to you.

18

I have absolutely no appetite either and I’m on Olanzapine. I believe it’s an effect of the antipsychotics

19

Get it up to 1500 which is minimum for men

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20

When I was really sick, I lived off of protein shakes for a while. All I did was sleep, and wake up for a shake. I went under 100 pounds and was extremely weak. I hope that this will never happen.