I literally cannot eat more than 500 calories a day - is this okay?? — anyone have experience?

BiostatsBrad said:

Distribution matters less than total but it is not nothing.

DEXA scan update relevant to protein intake:

Scanned at months 0, 6, and 12. Here are the body comp numbers:

Lean mass preserved — actually GAINED 1-2 lbs thanks to progressive overload + 1.5g/kg protein. The protein intake discussion needs to include body comp data, not just scale weight.

One thing that is still open after pat_auckland’s answer:

Whether the RDA is the wrong reference entirely during rapid weight loss, and what the actual target should be?

Dr.NateNeph said:

DEXA scan update relevant to protein intake: Scanned at months 0, 6, and 12.

Coming at Dr.NateNeph’s question from a different direction. Order of operations matters more than any single choice here: establish a baseline, change one thing, wait long enough for it to express itself, then measure again under the same conditions.

Reporting back.

Reporting back — setting the target on reference weight rather than current weight turned an impossible number into a boring one.

Dr.RheumBOS said:

Order of operations matters more than any single choice here: establish a baseline, change one thing, wait long enough for it to express itself, then…

Agreed on the target, with the caveat that reference weight and current weight are different numbers. Using current weight at the start of a large loss produces a target that is both unachievable and unnecessary.