Expert: Ryan Hale - 9/21/2009

Question
im a 14 year old girl who is 5ft 3 and weighs 98 pounds, i am having a hard time trying to find a daily calorie amount, althought you might not think its a good idea im determined to lose weight, at the moment i am eating under 600 calories a day and going to the gym atleast 4 times a week and burning off atleast 500 calories, what will happen if i carry this on?

Answer
Leanne- your plan is troubling.  Your brain needs about 600 calories per day just to function, that doesn't address the calories needed for your body to do the activities of daily living, not to mention the energy needed to exercise.  If you carry this plan on, your body will leach the calcium from your bones to use in other areas.  Since now is the time you are putting calcium into your bones that need to last you the rest of your life, you will end up with the skeleton of a 90yr old woman when you are only in your teens and 20s.  It is also difficult for your kidneys to function properly which can lead to damage, and then the same thing can happen to your heart.  When it is damaged, it can stop and you will die.  Of course there are the minor effects like brittle nails and hair, poor skin condition, and other effects on appearance.  I'm not trying to scare you straight, I'm just listing the facts.

I don't know you and won't pretend to but I will make some predictions... you may be in a situation where whatever you are feeling inside is not fun and you may prefer the feeling that being in the middle of an eating disorder give you.  That's often common.  You may feel like the relationships with your family and/or friends are not great or a bit out of control.  That's common too.  Sometimes there is a history of abuse or trauma.  Someone who can help you would be a counselor.  So often, eating disorders are connected to these other things in your life.  A counselor can help you deal with those things.  It is  impossible to deal with an eating disorder if there are these other things in your life that are adding to the disorder.

A great place to start looking for help is with a school counselor or school psychologist.  Or, you can tell the school nurse or your family's doctor.  The result for an eating disorder that gets worse and goes untreated can be death.  It is important that you discuss your situation with a health care professional and start making things better.