Can you really not eat enough calories?

[Beckjo70]

I am new at this journey and I am confused why I am not losing weight. I lost 10 pounds no problems (like 60 or more to go). Yesterday I burned 3640 calories, had 16278 steps, 7.1 miles but my intake calories was 770. Someone said I am not eating enough calories? She tells me to eat what I want but say under calories. But... that's how I got fat to begin with!! I can't bring myself to eat all the yummy things I want to and I don't want to eat when I am not hungry! And how do I know how many calories to take in during the day?! Where is the Health Journey Bible!? 

[WendyB]

No one should eat that little amount of calories. You are not eating enough.

You shouldn't go under 1200. But it also depends on how much you weigh.

You want to make it a lifestyle and not a diet. The weight will stay off.

Here are some articles for you to read

Not eating enough

Another

[Bill_k]

I hope you are not basing the fact that you are not losing weight on one day's calorie deficit numbers. If on the other hand you have been living on 770 calories for any length of time and are not hungry then your stomach  has likely shrunk .

You may be on your way to being anorexic.You certainly seem to have that mentality at the moment .

At 770 calories your body could be compensating by lowering  the efficiency or slowing down  some bodily functions,activity levels to protect your energy stores like fat. It sees losing weight as a bad thing at that point.

That is why the fitbit concept has calorie deficits you set to lose weight safely .

If you burn 3600 calories/day then the idea is to perhaps eat 2000 calories of the right foods so you will lose weight in a sustainable way.

That way you maintain your energy levels and your health.

That's still a 1600 deficit which is a lot.

770 calories/day is not sustainable.

You don't have to eat all 'yummy' foods which i assume is code for sugary and carb loaded foods.

Avoid sugars and eat  carbs in moderation.

I assume as you return to normal eating your appetite will improve and you should lose weight.

I'm not a dietician so this is just my opinion.

[Beckjo70]

I am not basing it on one day, but my calorie intake has been "lower". 770 just happened to be what I had the day before I posted this. My intake prior to yesterday had been around 1000 calories or so. 

I do appreciate the advice. I am knew to this and want to make it a lifestyle change and not just a "diet" that I will get sick of yet again. I need to do sustainable things, so I welcome ideas for improvement. I do have a hard time with the idea of taking in 1600 calories, but I did do 1400 yesterday (I felt miserable and bloated last night though). 

[Dominique]

Here are a few comments:

1. "Yesterday I burned 3640 calories": it should read instead: "Yesterday my Fitbit said I burned 3640 calories". It’s important to understand the calories burned you’re getting from Fitbit is an estimate that can have a significant margin of error.
2. Very few females can burn 3500+ calories per day, unless they are much taller/heavier than average and very active. You may want to enter your personal data in this online calculator, in order to get a "second opinion". I see from your profile your average step count is about 14k:
   Based on that, I would estimate your activity level (for the purpose of the calculator) as "moderate". You will likely see the calculator gives a smaller (but more realistic IMO) number than Fitbit.
   
3. "my intake calories was 770": on one particular day, you intake may have been that. However, I doubt very much that you would be able to sustain that low a level for weeks on end. Calories work in a cumulative fashion: what you eat and burn on one day hardly means anything, what you eat and burn over one week starts to have a small effect; over one month and moreis when things start to move. Btw, just like Fitbit tends to overestimate calories out, most people tend to undercount their calories in, especially when they’re new to counting. There’s very little food you can fit in less than 800 calories. Most "yummy" stuff has 400 calories or more per 100 grams, and eating 100 grams of yummy stuff won’t keep you full for very long.
4. "how many calories to take in during the day": if you want to lose weight, less than you really burn (hence the need to find out your true energy expenditure). How much less? Preferably a "reasonable" amount, e.g. 500 to 1000 calories. For instance, if your actual expenditure is 2500, eat between 1500 and 2000, no need to eat below 1000, which would be a crash diet and would only work for a very short period of time.
5. You don’t have to keep your deficit constant everyday. In fact, you don’t necessarily have to be in a deficit everyday. As I wrote above, calories work in a cumulative fashion. If you have a deficit of 700 six days of the week, you can have a surplus of 700 on the seventh day: at the weekly level, your cumulative deficit will still be (700 x 6) – (700 x 1) = 4200 - 700 = 3500. Equivalent to having a deficit of 500 every single day of the week (500 x 7 = 3500).
   
   Btw, "busy mom to 10 kids" is tautological 🙂. Even if only half of them are around, there must be a tremendous amount of food flowing into your house, including a lot of "yummy" things kids tend to like. That must be quite a challenge if you’re the one in charge of the logistics / food supply.