@LJ21 wrote:
What amount of "calories under" is a dangerous amount if you are trying to maintain/gain weight?
Calories is just a unit of energy, so whenever you reduce your calories under your BMR, your metabolism will slow down until to such a point where only the brain functions will operate. Keep in mind that brain functions can only burn carbs, not fat so going dangerously under means compromising on brain acuity and cognitivity to a point that basic judgement and memory functions can be compromised. Another not so known cause of calories under is that, while calorie is a unit of energy, it is NOT a unit of your nutritional and mineral intake. That unit is in grams. Our body requires a set amount of nutrients and minerals for daily survival. And we get that from a variety of carbs, protein and dietary fat. When you start to go under your BMR, you will also reduce your minerals and nutritional intake. This is unavoidable and there is no such thing as a super food, super this or that. Food is food. And you can't replace those loss minerals and nutrients with vitamin pills either as most of them are chemical based. Very few are natural plant based and the prices meant that you might as well get those from real plants. Some vitamins can be only obtained or digested in the presence of dietary fat. These vitamins are called fat soluble vitamins. Vitamins that are water soluble like Vitamin C can dissolve in the presence of water and be disposed off in excess via urine. If you cut calories and you cut some of the dietary fat, then the greens you eat with the vitamins in them won't get absorbed properly.
A lot of people who are so called thin are really very unhealthy. I work in health care and the number 1 issue plagued with many of these people who are on diet and come into the hospital for problems all stem from vitamin, mineral and nutrient deficient. So that is the danger of going under.
