# Training yourself to eat less



## dclementi

Also we should bear in mind that the body can exist well in a lean state. Try to eat less throughout the day. Your body will become accustomed to eating less and the transition when the SHTF will be a lot less bumpy. As extreme as this may sound, I trained my body to consume only 500 calories a day of very lean foods. I know it sounds suicidal, but the truth is in my lighter state I had much more energy and even slept more deeply at night. Remember that after 30 days, anything can become a habit.


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## Leon

if you eat less more times a day you stay leaner.


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## Desert Marine

500 Calories a day. Man what do you consume for a meal?


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## WoadWarrior

500 calories... you must have the body mass of an 8 year old. J/K 

I'm not saying I don't believe you... but it sounds like you are proposing something on par with "train your car to use less gas... I only use .02 gallons to drive 50 miles." There is a physical reality to how much energy your body requires... and you can't train it to do more with less beyond a certain point. Yes... we all consume more than we need... but you can't break that physical limit without consequences.


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## WVprepper

I see how eating a 1500 to 2000 calorie a day diet could help.. Most americans consume way more than that a day anyway. It could help us adapt faster to living off our emergency supplies.


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## AquaHull

I just had a 3 egg, ham, onion, mushroom, and cheese omelette , pan fried redskins with real butter, biscuit and butter, 2% milk.

I'm sure I'm over 500 calories, but I'll burn it off today outside with the 4 mile hike planned with bug out gear in the snow.


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## AquaHull

It only turned out to be a 2 mile hike with 40# of gear


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## Lattice

Yeah. Im not calling the OP a liar or anything. I don't do that. But it is simple physics, you can not maintain forever on 500 cal a day. General rule of thumb is ten calories per pound of body weight just to maintain an average metabolism under "normal" circumstances at a sit down job with an inactive lifestyle. Yes it can be more, or less depending on the actual individual. But not much more or less. 

At five hundred cal a day, even if you are completely sedentary you will be looking to loose about a quarter pound per day assuming a hundred and eighty pound male. 

Could it possibly be that you are taking in more cal than you think? One lean turkey sandwich with wheat bread no cheese only a two ounce serving of turkey, dry is just over three hundred calories. I ask because a lot of folks honestly don't know how much is in what they eat. 

Yes the body can go a long time on little to no food. But the longer you go without, the more muscle you burn up, and the more your performance suffers. At five hundred cal a day you will eventually starve to death.

And I now see that the OP is several months old. With only one post.


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## Fuzzee

I was just going to switch to the long pork and wild plant diet as planned. Lots of that around so rationing won't be as much of a problem.


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## GraywolfSurvival

The problem with restricting calories is that your body slows down to compensate. Your brain also requires a large amount of calories to function properly. That being said though, people usually eat way too much, or the wrong things. You should be eating several times a day to maximize your vitamin usage (especially for the water-soluable vitamins) and to lessen glucose spikes in your system, which makes your body work less efficiently.


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## GTGallop

I lost 15 pounds during Hurricane IKE. No modofication to diet. If anything, I ate MORE because we were trying to use up perishable foods first. And I know I drank more. More booze that is. My weight loss came from tripling or quadrupling my activity level. We spent days cutting fallen timber, repairing homes, hauling trash to designated collection centers and fortifying the neighborhood against looters.

If I had tried to exist on 500 to 1000 calories a day, I would have made it to a gurney by day 5.


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## AsteroidX

I try to eat the right kinds of food. In a SHTF situ that might be a luxury I dont get to keep. So I do what I can now. Ive lost a lot body fat past month by changing my diet and fasting for 1 week.


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## Denton

A study was conducted a few years ago that proved this to be true. Lab rats were healthier and lived longer. There are people who do this who swear by it. Most people, however, do not have the discipline to eat the right food at the right amount to make it work. The only thing we understand is the "eat more often" part of it, but we ignore the parts about what to eat and how much to eat.

Don't know how many calories I am taking in. I can tell you the items I am eating each day. Veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, spinach leaves and kale. The manner of preparation varies between steaming and raw.

Tree nuts are high on my list. Cashews, almonds and pistachios are high on the list. Pecans are a tad bitter to me, which is a shame as the Alabama landscape is littered with pecan trees. 

Meat is a good thing. Lean meats and fish are good. 

Oh, remember what the doorbell said, feed your head. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocados; your body and especially your brain needs these things. 

Matter of fact, eating smart will tune the body to where you won't take in as much, anyway. I notice I bring back food from work. That used to never happen. I'm stilling trying to get my wife to cut back on the amount so we aren't spending quite as much on the food bill.


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## Lucky Jim

I recently started buying small bags of salted and roasted peanuts to feed to the pigeons on my windowsill for fun, but I can't resist munching a handfull myself.
Amazingly I now find that my appetite has dropped and I just don't want big full meals any more, and am happy to make do with about half of what I used to have!
Obviously the peanuts are giving me most of the protein I need and my body is telling me it no longer needs big meals..


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## AsteroidX

I got cashews. They work the same way. Im eating alot less meat then before Ive noticed. Which gives me time to be hungry for better things like fruits and veggies.


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## Jazzman

dclementi said:


> Also we should bear in mind that the body can exist well in a lean state. Try to eat less throughout the day. Your body will become accustomed to eating less and the transition when the SHTF will be a lot less bumpy. As extreme as this may sound, I trained my body to consume only 500 calories a day of very lean foods. I know it sounds suicidal, but the truth is in my lighter state I had much more energy and even slept more deeply at night. Remember that after 30 days, anything can become a habit.


 Firat crack out of the box and you come zinging in here handing out patently *DANGEROUS* advice to folks as if you were some sort of dietary guru. Anybody who takes your advice is an even bigger FOOL than you are.

You quite obviously have zero in the way of dietary/nutritional knowledge , especially under conditions of stress , exertion or cold , and I seriously doubt if you are accurately measuring that calorie intake , in addtion such caloric levels will NOT allow for sufficient protein intake to maintain any sort of muscle mass , it also likely ignores the role proper FAT intake plays in metabolism and maintenance.

Get back to us all when the immune defiencies crop up for you , along with when your liver and even more importantly your kidneys start to shut down.

Hope you enjoy dialysis.


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## Anthony

Bad idea


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## BDylan

I would guess that an average size person would need at least 1500 calories a day to maintain even minimum activity and health...every individual will be a little different depending on size, activity level, and metabolism. I would consider 500 to be a fast.


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## brimstone

Jazzman said:


> First crack out of the box and you come zinging in here handing out patently *DANGEROUS* advice to folks as if you were some sort of dietary guru. Anybody who takes your advice is an even bigger FOOL than you are.
> 
> You quite obviously have zero in the way of dietary/nutritional knowledge , especially under conditions of stress , exertion or cold , and I seriously doubt if you are accurately measuring that calorie intake , in addtion such caloric levels will NOT allow for sufficient protein intake to maintain any sort of muscle mass , it also likely ignores the role proper FAT intake plays in metabolism and maintenance.
> 
> Get back to us all when the immune deficiencies crop up for you , along with when your liver and even more importantly your kidneys start to shut down.
> 
> Hope you enjoy dialysis.


+1

500 calories a day is dangerous over a prolonged period. It is called Anorexia.


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## insatiable ONE

I have always ate once a day.

It is pretty simple.
EAT less, exercise more. or stay active

If you do nothing but drink beer, eat Cheetos & hold down the couch. 
Do you really think you will be fit?


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## Denton

Hmm, rereading about this.

Seems they are now saying that the Rhesus monkeys do not live longer on a caloric restricted diet. I guess we aren't the same as rats.


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## insatiable ONE

> Seems they are now saying that the Rhesus monkeys do not live longer on a caloric restricted diet. I guess we aren't the same as rats.


We are not the same as monkeys either.

......... well some people maybe


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## GTGallop

They say each piece of bacon you eat takes 9 minutes off of your life.

If that were true, I would have died in 1873.


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## Lucky Jim

I live alone, so I can eat exactly what I want, when I want, and in the amount I want.
It must be a real hassle for you married doods to have to eat a massive platefull of whatever your wife puts in front of you..
I've got a theory that over-eating might trigger cancer, so watch out..


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## Denton

GTGallop said:


> They say each piece of bacon you eat takes 9 minutes off of your life.
> 
> If that were true, I would have died in 1873.


I steer clear of pork. Pork is not good for the body. I eat bacon. Everyone knows bacon is bark. It is from the bacon tree.


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## almon

My behavior was very ugly with food and it was forwarding my body towards fat so decide to take dietary meal in routine it was very difficult for me to do this but slowly slowly i made it my habit and now i have my control on food.


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## Mudder.Mitch

If I had only 500 calories a day I would be usles Im 22 I work heavy construction run marathons , utrla marathons , mud runs , and adventcher races all over the world and train for them every day 10 mile run 5 am 6 days a week than a 1 and a half hour work out 6 nights a week I watch what I eat so I can profourm the best I can and 500 calories is not the best idea I understand what the thought be hid it is but that's y we prep so we don't have to be like the people with vary little to eat we prep so when shtf we will still have full stumicks and good nights rest I my self eat between 2500 - 3000 calories a day I weigh 155lbs their for have 155 grams of protine a day got to eat helthey and say helthey thats my number 1 prep is keeping my self helthey just what I think any ways


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## Will2

I need to start cutting soon but, getting about 100grams of protein a day, atleast 5g of fat, is a minimum that I feel is healthy. also I need to get enough carbs to fuel my day or about 2000 calories of carbs. I do have about a 60,000 calorie surplus right now which works out to around 2 months of cutting. However I am in no rush to cut, my cutting starts in around 3 weeks... and will last the summer as I go into survival mode, that is eat what you find, although I'll probably give myself some basic rations of a bag of rice every two weeks, and maybe a bag of flour for 2-4 weeks and a 10kg bag of sugar for summer, and watever salt I bring up. 
I don't beleive in dieting. I've gone 6 full days without food or water, and there is nothing to food shortage really after the first 72 hours, it is all just psychology and the threat of organ damage.

I wouldn't sacrifice my muscle by cutting my protein intake over any type of extended period. That is why protein powder is part of my daily ration.


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## Karsten

While I don't have a clue of my caloric intake I have found myself eating less at lunch and dinner...Yet I snack on Nuts, Cliff Bars, occasional Chocolate and I don't get hungry through the day. I haven't lost weight or gained either for that matter...Energy Level is still fine and still on the go. 

I think one can trim down slightly without any loss....Within reason. 

Karsten


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## bennettvm

Hate to disagree, but 500 calories a day for any extended period of time is a load of crap. Average person needs around 1500 a a minimum to maintain weight. Anything under 1200 leads to serious malnutrition. And that is doing little to no physical activity. 

To give you an idea of what 500 calories a day leads to - look at pictures of concentration camp prisoners. They were fed 400-700 a day. And the handful that lived were walking corpses.


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## Alex33

Glad to see your effort,But you are taking a very tiny amount of calories i personally feel that it should be about 1500 per day,You can gain it by having the correct food i mean by some healthy source.Prefer having fruits and vegetables this is what you need physically.


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## paraquack

Depends on life style. Prisoners were forced labor on next to nothing food intake. Back in the '60s, they came up with the average man needing 900 calories a day while in a fallout shelter, doing no activity except breathing, etc. I wonder what a person would look like after a period of time eating 900/day and how much atrophy would he suffer?


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## PaulS

More atrophy would occur from the sedentary life-style and the stress than from the lack of calories.


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## Blackcat

During my work week I eat only apples and drink water. On my days off I eat normal but try to keep it clean. I have learned a lot from this little experiment. I can survive with very little food if need be and I get quite a bit of energy in semi starvation mode. My overall health improves. Recently ive switched to partially apples and partially carrots to keep the fruit sugars low. In time I plan to slowly add more healthy food nutrients to my menu and retrain to eat the way I should to stay lean and healthy.


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## longrider

That sounds scary. Your body needs fat - the brain is made up of fat in a certain percentage. You need the cholesterol, the calcium, some sugars and protien. How can you get all that on such restricted callory intake? Plus, cutting down on drinking fluids is just asking for dialysis. Your kidneys need to work in order to be happy. Please talk to a dietician or a doctor, before continuing on your programs. I would worry about long-term health risks. Maybe exercise instead of cutting callories? Good luck.

I was found to be diabetic, and when I went on the diabetic diet, I felt sooo much better. Counting carbs - not eliminating them, and uping my veggie intake was so good for me. I feel great now. It sure improved my health! I do indulge in my need for Sour Brite Gummy Worms some - not the whole bag, but a few. I can have cheese cake when the mood takes me. I just adjust the rest of my carb intake for the day. It's a give and take. I don't deprive myself. It's not living, if you go without things you like.


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## Lucky Jim

I'm 65 and in good health touch wood, I've always eaten exactly what I want and in the quantities I want, and at the times of day I want.
It's just a typical varied selection of meats and veg etc.
In short, I give my body exactly what it asks for to keep it happy because it knows best, and if we don't give it what it wants we're heading for trouble.
Our Jewish friends don't eat pork and I wonder if that's why there's a higher incidence of Crohn's Disease (inflammation of the gut) among the Jewish population.
Also, Linda McCartney, Davy Jones, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb and Donna Summer were all vegetarians who died young. (The Gibbs both developed colorectal cancer) and now Angelina Jolie has ditched her vegan diet because she's fed up of being ill.


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## Jaybandonnk

Your mind also needs a lot of calorie consumption to operate properly. That being said though people usually eat, way too much, or the incorrect things. You should be consuming several periods, a day to increase your supplement utilization especially for the water-soluable, vitamins and to reduce sugar rises in your program which makes your human, body work less effectively.


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## Bert

Yes..I want just say here that try to eat less but, try to eat healthy food. then there will be not fear of weakness.


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## bigdogbuc

I had this discussion with a few of our secretaries. Two of them are very fitness minded, workout all the time. The third, not so much, but for her age, in pretty good shape. I was exercising more and trying to eat several "small" healthy meals a day to increase my metabolism and start shedding some pounds. I was riding the crap out of my bike, taking stairs instead of the elevator, walking etc. And not shedding a single pound. Three weeks into it, I hadn't lost a single ounce. 

I brought this to their attention and the two into fitness were baffled. The third told me this; There are two kinds of people. Hunters and farmers. Hunters gain their weight in the mid-section (like me) and farmers gain it in the hips, butt and legs. Hunter types need lots of protein and should only eat when they are hungry and avoid carbs (pasta, potatoes, starchy foods). Farmers need more vegetables and should eat frequently. Your body will tell you how many calories you need to function so counting them, according to her, is an exercise in futility. Anybody ever hear of this theory?


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## PaulS

Don't go on any "zero carb" or restricted carb diets. Eat less, be more active, and you will build muscle while losing fat. The added muscle will eventually help dump the fat but since muscle is denser than fat you don't want to add bulk in muscle just tone what you have. Drink lots of water to keep your system flushed out and maybe take some vitamins if you don't eat twice the weight in veggies that you do in meat.

Without knowing what you do throughout your day, the level of cardio that you perform, and the number of calories you consume the above is my best advice.
four or five small meals can easily add up to more calories that the two or three meals you were eating before unless you modify the kinds of foods you consume.


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## roy

Folks tend to over estimate the number of calories burned through vigorous expercise and its role in weight loss. You would have to run 35 miles to burn off one pound of fat. The trick to losing weight is eating less.


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## exmilitary

Wow 500 cal. Dont know how you do it. I need minimum 1500 cal. Anything below that i start to shake. If i am idoling and doing nothing I would be lucky to get away with 1000 cal. before i get the shakes.


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## Drakenk

Well I am, eating each day. Fresh vegetables, like cauliflower green spinach, green beans. The manner of planning differs, between sizzling and raw.Tree nuts, are great on my record. Almonds nuts, and pistachio nuts are good on the record.

Forklift Trucks


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## KingM

roy said:


> Folks tend to over estimate the number of calories burned through vigorous expercise and its role in weight loss. You would have to run 35 miles to burn off one pound of fat. The trick to losing weight is eating less.


This is true. Also, it matters what kinds of things you eat. Americans tried for decades to purge their diets of fats and replace them with diet sodas and highly processed carbohydrates. They're fatter than ever.

It sounds odd, but the first thing I did when I tried to reverse the gradual weight gain that was catching up on me was to replace my cold cereal breakfast in the morning with eggs, sausage/bacon, whole milk, and a single slice of wheat bread. This easily lasts me until lunch and helps me avoid snacking on more crappy processed food.


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## PalmettoTree

This thread sounds like it was started by my wife. I do not want to put on any more weight but at 65 I'm going to eat when I want; what I want.


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## roy

Eat what you want but don't whine when you can't see your willie.


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## exmilitary

I can train myself to eat less. Just by maintaining 1500 Cal, I can burn about 2 lbs a week. 
This method works about I had to loose the weight a month and a half before hernia surgery.


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## SARGE7402

In a SHTF scenario you will be working a lot harder than you currently do right now. Sure you can live on a lot less food but the Nazis learned very quickly that anything under about 1100 calories a day was a starvation diet. Folks won't have the energy necessary to do what all needs to be done. Uncle Sam feeds his folks - in the combat areas a lot closer to 3000 calories per day due to the amount of exertion needed to get thru the day. Remember in a lot of the SHTF scenarios jobs that used to be done by labr saving devices will have to be done by pure muscle power. When I was back in the mill in the late 60's I ate three full meals and two substantial snacks and never gained a pound. Why try loading a tractor trailer with 100 - 125 Lb cuts of cloth or moving 200 - 300 pound crates of yarn.

Good luck on 500. Me? at 65 I'll be working on about 2000 til the SHTF


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## roy

Army plans to MREs/day in combat about 2,500.


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## exmilitary

Jazzman said:


> Firat crack out of the box and you come zinging in here handing out patently *DANGEROUS* advice to folks as if you were some sort of dietary guru. Anybody who takes your advice is an even bigger FOOL than you are.
> 
> You quite obviously have zero in the way of dietary/nutritional knowledge , especially under conditions of stress , exertion or cold , and I seriously doubt if you are accurately measuring that calorie intake , in addtion such caloric levels will NOT allow for sufficient protein intake to maintain any sort of muscle mass , it also likely ignores the role proper FAT intake plays in metabolism and maintenance.
> 
> Get back to us all when the immune defiencies crop up for you , along with when your liver and even more importantly your kidneys start to shut down.
> 
> Hope you enjoy dialysis.


I agree. 500 Cal. is too dangerous to live on. I can run on 2200 Cal a day with no truoble. If I need to loose weight then I can do it safely at 1500 Cal a day for a short period of time.


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