Between 500-700 at most on an average day but I tend to stay closer to 600 or in the 600s on most days. Some days less, rarely more than that though. For example, I feel like I ate a lot today but I ate 693 and that feels like too much. I’m horrible at high res though because I panic if the number starts with anything more than a 7 lol

 

After reading others comments, I just want to say, I started off feeling anxious about 1000, then it moved to 800, and so on. Deep down I know my res is considered risk for binging but I find myself eating and immediately putting it into my fitness pal during meals or snacks or beforehand and if I want more and can’t, I literally binge on either diet soda or very low cal snacks, so yes volume wise I do end up binging due to restriction sometimes but not often and calorie wise, it wouldn’t be considered a true binge. But I want to say, this is my experience. I don’t want to make others feel bad when I say I’ve eaten 200 calories that day because I’m still fat and stuff soooooo and remember that every body requires different needs something tolerable for me may be causing someone else to pass out or someone fasting multiple days in a row would cause me to pass out. Another example is if I purge, I don’t last very long at all because my blood sugar goes so low I faint at random times (like when I was still in school). So I have to not do that even if I want to. I would never say to someone “this is how much you should eat” because what most of us on here are doing is not “healthy” lol. You have to find what works for your body and your body only.

 

Honestly 800-1,600. Most days around 800-1,200 My body can’t take it below 700, I’m very anemic and will pass out or just feel tired and weak the next day. I try not to go near 1,600 but if I’m out with friends it’s a little difficult (I’m American🥲).

 

(i fear this reply could come off a little preachy, feel free to totally ignore it)

I want to see if I'm really missing the mark (even accounting for the fact that I have a higher TDEE than many people who might be smaller than me, and that having a full time job means that I need to leave myself at least some energy and not focus full time on restricting/sleeping).

in terms of "missing the mark"--what's your goal? i feel like you're better off going by whatever metrics matter to you (whether that's a certain measurement, weight, or visible difference), not a comparison of your intake to other people (who all have eating disorders, and different lives to you, and different bodies to you). if you're restricting, you're restricting. if you're losing weight because of it, you're losing weight because of it.

i know you didn't ask for it, but my (admittedly hypocritical) advice is to stay eating as much as you can personally tolerate based on your goals; the highest possible diversity and amount of food you can feel at least kind of comfortable eating. i used to be in a similar position to you and became determined to be more rigorous. i thought i chose a low but still high enough to function goal post, and arguably i did (im still functional, just struggling), but setting the goal there instead of a bit higher Immediately fucked over my brain into wanting to go as low as i could within that range, and i end up eating far less than i want to (for harm reduction) but also far more than i feel "safe" eating (because i moved the goalpost so far).

i really hope some people with higher intakes are able to reply, because i'm not comfortable with sharing my specific numbers in this context for fear of becoming a goalpost for you. maybe that's me being paranoid, but i would strongly encourage you to make decisions based on your own body and circumstances and priorities, not based on replies from people here. wishing u all the best 💜

 

I think you are mixing up high and low res.

High res is a few hundred below TDEE and low res is like a LOT under TDEE.


But yes. People who do low res also binge frequently. It's just not talked about too much. It should be because claiming you do low res only, isn't true. Yes some can do low res for quite a while. But most don't.

When I did low res I was also bringing a lot.


I do High Res. My TDEE is 1400s and I have 1200.

 

Yeah, I think I was. It's confusing to me and I think I've seen people using them both ways around, because to me "high restriction" would intuitively mean that the level of restriction itself is high? So low calories.

 

My intake varies from 600-1400 normally and sometimes gets up to 2k from splurging/going over my intake due to hunger or cravings

 

My average is around 1100 over the last few months as a whole. The outlires are <400 calories and >3000. My goal is normally between 800-950 and I meet that most days but also life comes up, I binge probably once every few weeks, and I go out still sometimes. Try not to compare yourself to other people though, I know i personally get stuck on comparisons and it just makes me feel worse.

 

My TDEE is around 2200. I usually eat between 1600 and 1800. Sometimes above there. I have been losing weight at around 1lb per week. My goals are avoiding binges and preserving muscle and brain function as a full time STEM student and athlete.

 

honestly I have no idea man. I haven't counted calories in 5 years. Well actually I counted a bit in the beginning of my pregnancy because I kept accidently restricting and well that's problematic.

all I've had so far today is a slice of honey ham and a cup of gatorade, but I'll eat more in 3 hours.. but counting calories is stressful man.

I feel like it leads to black-or-white thinking/ I went 116 cals over- the day's ruined- must eat more/ect

Honestly restricting is so much chiller and better for the mind when you take a more relaxed view. I don't mean eating excessively, or not knowing if you are eating something high-calorie, obv it's important to know how calorie-dense a food is.

Altho I didn't stop counting by choice. My S.O. and I's first huge fight, he had two requests. That I stop counting calories, [he was fine with me continuing to restrict] and that I keep the hearth cleaner. [that last request took me years to get good at, but I'm finally good at keeping the home clean and organized!! altho it's an absolute mess rn because life with a toddler is well, a life with a lot less time]

 

So it really will depend person to person. I define binges medically, and not just "ate more than you usually do," and under that definition low res has never resulted in an actual binge for me. There were occasions where I ate more like high res or even TDEE, but not a binge. But people's EDs are all different in how they manifest--I do not have b/p subtype so I don't have those behaviors. I don't really want to give you my average caloric intake because it seems like you are currently at a point where you're comparing what you should/shouldn't do and I don't want to encourage what I was doing years ago or what I'm doing now. But I thought I would just say that it's all very individual. TBH I binged when I was in "recovery" and not when I was actively restricting.

 

I try to eat up to 1500 calories but realistically more like 800-1400

 

1300-1350cal/day, no objective binges this relapse, TDEE 1800-1900cal/day

 

600-1450 (maintenance), and to be truthful, some days up to 1700-1800. I don't really binge often in the proper sense, as in frantic eating whatever quickly, it's usually just... overeating.

 

I look at weekly averages cause sometimes I do eat a lot lol. According to my fitbits weekly average from the last few weeks my average daily intake is between 1459 - 1882. It mostly stays around 1600 - 1800. My maintenance is +/- 2100 a day on average.

 

Around 800-1500

 

My intake fluctuates but I think it averages out. I'm somewhat active and also need energy for work, so I typically don't go below 800-1000 unless I skipped my workout. Otherwise I can't function well. Some days I'll do a bit more and just stay under about 1300. My TDEE is 1500-ish if I'm stationary.

I hear you that a lot of the posts on here have pretty low calorie totals, but I feel like maybe that's skewed towards lower numbers. That's not necessarily the norm, or something you should shoot for. There's a huge amount of variation. Restriction with low calorie totals is unsustainable pretty quickly when you have you have to manage stuff like a full-time job and kids.

 

on weekdays between 400-500. And on weekends ill have 600-700.
i exercise a lot but not hardcore exercise like HIIT and I’m really short (5’2) so my TDEE is pretty low.

 

1000 to 1400 kcals. Mostly 1200 kcals. I am short so 1400 is my maintaince if I move a bit, 1300 if not.

 

I'm restricting pretty low for me right now due to specific triggers, and for me that means around 1200-1350. I had 1150 yesterday and that's extreme to me. I won't keep this up for more than a couple of weeks. My TDEE is about 1950-2100 I think. I am short and underweight, but I walk a lot and am leaner than most. My protein intake is also high despite being a vegetarian. "Normal" restriction for me is around 1400-1700 usually with some days (sometimes multiple consecutive days) of maintenance.

I don't make it a goal to make my intake or weight as low as possible. That's probably why my TDEE hasn't crashed this relapse. I lost weight faster in 2022 (1300-1400ish on average probably, no maintenance phases, b/ping often) and ended up in godawful shape health-wise.

I think some people (not most, if I'm being honest) are actually restricting to triple digits consistently for weeks or even up to months in some cases, especially if they're bedrotting or starting at higher weights. I got away with low intakes (400-1000) for several months as a pretty inactive and indestructible teenager. ("Got away with" still meant hair falling out and a bit of knee pain that never completely went away, plus I think some sort of temporary neuropathy?)

But anyway, the "low/mid res" intakes people describe are not sustainable for years. If you can't accept the reality of what it takes to sustain yourself to some extent, you literally die--or you get hospitalized, fed, and released with everyone hoping that you won't do it all over again.

 

Thank you all, these replies have been very interesting. I think it validates the idea that my judgement of levels of restriction have been skewed a bit by reading the totals of bedbound 5ft teenagers on edblr. My 500-600ish average of late is feeling a lot less inadequate, which is probably a good thing (I've been repeatedly trying lower intakes and bouncing back off them for the past month :v)

Edit: then again I'm seeing people talk about doing days-to-weeks long fasts, and I don't even understand how that is possible. I would crash out after a day, maybe I could stretch it to two if I wasn't working or could sleep a lot, but I feel my body just wouldn't let me not eat for extended periods, it's such a fight just to restrict as much as I do with regular low cal meals...

 

Edit: then again I'm seeing people talk about doing days-to-weeks long fasts, and I don't even understand how that is possible. I would crash out after a day, maybe I could stretch it to two if I wasn't working or could sleep a lot, but I feel my body just wouldn't let me not eat for extended periods, it's such a fight just to restrict as much as I do with regular low cal meals...

I absolutely can't fast any more (I get non-diabetic hypos/low blood sugar) and there is no need to really.

In my past I would fast but it ALWAYS ended in a binge fest for days or weeks or even a month.

Not worth it.

 

I’m doing anywhere from 0 to 250. I’m dirty fasting since a terrible event happened to me in case I want to pull myself out of the void but the most I’ve had was a protein shake (no carbs or fat in it) and Brazil nuts for the selenium. This is day 5 of my dirty fast and I plan to keep going until my body breaks down. Idk what that’s going to look like tbh since my current UGW is 7 lbs 😂

 

Unrelated but where is the pixel art in your signature from? It's so cute 🥰

 

I consume anywhere from 190-700 daily now. Every other Sunday I have a date night and allow myself to consume a bit more, but even then I hit about 700 in that meal alone and can’t find the appetite for anything else. 700s days are good days for me though because I feel happy and energized

 

My intake varies anywhere between 0-1800 depending on the day, but usually I eat around 600-700 on average lately

 

Over the last 4 weeks:
Consumed: 1270
Expended: 1673
Deficit: 403

My favorite chart that shows the surplus or deficit/net total

The deficit is the number I'm obsessed with

 

Over the last 4 weeks:
Consumed: 1270
Expended: 1673
Deficit: 403

View attachment 1666194

The deficit is the number I'm obsessed with

Added a photo of my intake to show how much it varies. Peep that binge lol.

 

Recently it’s been around 1200, but my ED has gone through phases where I’ve struggled to restrict at all, and others where I’ve been able to be consistent at much lower (wish I still had access to my food journal from before inpatient)

 

It really depends on the day but I find I binge more when I consume 200-300 cals for multiple days. So lately to avoid binges I've been trying to consume at least 900 a day.