[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.

 

[Leon]

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

 

[Desert Marine]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[AquaHull]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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..

 

[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.

 

[Jazzman]

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.

 

[Anthony]

Bad idea

 

[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.

 

[brimstone]

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.

 

[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?