Not eating enough?

[Surge]

Lately I've been working on burning off some body fat, so I went through the usual routine; cut out the junk food and started doing some cardio. Sine then I've been eating as regularly as I had when I was eating the junk but as a result of eating real food I'm only getting about half the calories I used to.

I'm 6' and about 160lbs so I figure I should be eating somewhere in the region of 2300 calories a day, but I usually end up eating barely enough to cover the basal rate. I've dropped about 10 pounds in 5 days and I know this is going to start messing with my metabolism. It's not that I avoid eating, I just don't have much of an appetite, so I was thinking about adding some kind of dietary supplement. Can anyone recommend something suitable or have any other ideas on what I should do?

Any suggestions will be much appreciated

[Dr.Moo]

DO NOT DROP MORE THAN 2 or 3 pounds per week. I think that's the healthy range.

I like to mix in a small amount of fruit juice into my water bottles.

Multivitamin is always a good idea.

[The English Gentleman]

I have always personally questioned the value of fruit juice, I mean it is the worst thing you can drink for your teeth and apart from vitamins it does little for your body. I would limit yourself to real fruit and only drink low calorie sugar free drinks or just plain old low cal water.

[HLC]

skip the supplement idea.
it sounds to me like you're eating enough, already.
Maybe too much.
You didn't lose 10 pounds of fat in 5 days, btw.
Personally, I also find it hard to believe you lost 10 pounds on the scale either.
Check it tomorrow and it'll be 8.
the day after, it'll be 6. and so on, until you find you only lost 4 pounds or so.

[Surge]

Originally Posted by HLC

skip the supplement idea.
it sounds to me like you're eating enough, already.
Maybe too much.
You didn't lose 10 pounds of fat in 5 days, btw.
Personally, I also find it hard to believe you lost 10 pounds on the scale either.
Check it tomorrow and it'll be 8.
the day after, it'll be 6. and so on, until you find you only lost 4 pounds or so.

Yeh, I've recently noticed my weight fluctuates by about +/- 4lbs, although regardless of that I've noticed a visible difference over the past week.
As for eating too much? I'm generally eating between 1200-1500 calories a day which is enough to fill me, but sooner or later it's going to cause my metabolism to slow down.

[HLC]

I was reading your first post to mean you were eating over 2K Cals per day, which seemed like a lot for someone trying to burn fat.
1200 to 1500 of quality is about right for fat loss.
yeah, it's true that your body is going to start to go into savings mode.
You'll probably find you'll want to sit more.
Maybe even sleep more.
You may end up thinking twice about doing physical stuff, as your metabolism slows.
You have to fight through that and stay active.
Mainly get out of your chair and move.
Take this opportunity to eat lots of non-starchy vegetables to fill up.
Learn to love them and keep them forever as a main component of your diet.