Hi Mark. I just recieved your...

Question
Hi Mark. I just recieved your response thank you so much for responding and providing me with resources. The reason I asked what a rounded number for daily calorie intake would be is becasue I want to make sure I end up with enough. Right now with what I eat I am probably about 1600 a day. about 3 weeks ago i ended up in the hospital for cutting my calories to 500-700 a day and exercising every day. Things got out of hand and my doctor told me the only way to get better is to eat breakfeast lunch and supper and snacks in between. I went from 168 pounds to 132 and I would like to stay at 132 but I do not want to loose anymore as I am 5ft 1 and feel that I am at a healthy weight and want to get feeling better. My doctor said I am extremly dehydrated and I am paranoid now that I may not be getting enough calorie intake what if one day I don't eat 1600 becasue of got off my eating routing due to a busy schedule. It actually has be quite stressed out.

Answer
Hello Shelly,
 Forgive me, sometimes I get caught up in people worrying about consuming too much. In your case you're worried about too little. For women typically below 1200 calories a day is starvation, because you cannot possibly take in enough nutrients with such a low number. However, I would say for most people even that is quite low. 1600 is a definite improvement of where you've been. If you read over the supportive eating article I sent you'll come to a point where your body will let you know if you're not eating enough. And in fact you've already witnessed this with eating 500-700 a day. Listen to your body, if you don't feel good throughout the day, with steady supply of energy (considering you get adequate sleep) then you may need to take in some more calories.
As far as your busy schedule, that's a tough one for a lot of people myself included. And I know supportive eating isn't always accessible. So, it's just a matter of doing better than you are now.
As far as a busy schedule, I may have it easier than some people, but college and training people, along with my own workouts keeps me busy. So, what I do is plan ahead. I know that on certain days from 8-11 I'm in class for example. So I make sure that I eat before class, and I eat right after class.  Again later in the evening I have class, so I make sure I plan my meals ahead of time. In time your body will get accustomed to eating frequently, if I go longer than 3 hrs without food, I get really hungry and agitated easily.
So, what I suggest is sit down and write out your days on paper, at what times are you doing certain things.
If say you work from 8-4 and you're busy in between with little time for lunch or snacks, pack something with you that you can eat with little preparation. Me, I either have some fruit or yogurt and granola. There's plenty of choices out there, it's about finding what you like and what you can incorporate in your life.
Don't worry about being perfect, no one is. Just do better than you are now.

again, feel free to write back, or just email me at [email protected]

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