Am I under-eating?

ahegaochan

Hi! To start things off, I'm 19 years old and a fairly active lady, I do 3 days cardio, and 3 days strength training throughout the week with one break day.
I started at 300lbs and I'm 240 right now.
I didn't have any problems before, but I have recently started to eat arguably healthier than I used to. I eat a lot of high protein foods, and because of that, I don't feel as hungry.

I usually only eat around 900-1000 calories a day, but I don't feel hungry at all..is this still considered under-eating if I feel full? Will I be experiencing this.."starvation mode" anytime soon?

quiksylver296

Starvation mode is a myth. Do you weigh all your foods on a food scale?

MrsKila

My appetite usually decreases because I am on a high-protein low-carb diet also. I think it's really normal because you get Fuller quicker in my opinion. I weigh my food.

perkymommy

Congrats on the weight loss so far!

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

And I second the question about weighing and measuring foods, are you? That helps me a lot!

Are you losing weight on a pretty steady basis? If so, then you could probably stand to up your calories a little. If I worked out that hard I'd be hungry all the time and I eat close to 1200 per day if not a little more on some days.

Ready2Rock206

If your logging is accurate you definitely should eat more.

Ninkyou

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

If your logging is accurate you definitely should eat more.

This.

If your logging is completely accurate, yes, you are undereating.

Also, hunger is not a good indicator of getting "enough" or adequate nutrition.

cityruss

Villae81 wrote: »

Starvation mode a myth?

Yes

Villae81 wrote: »

Really?

Yes

Villae81 wrote: »

I thought that's our body's way of surviving?

No

Villae81 wrote: »

Kinda like when it's really cold and our body starts shutting parts of the body down to keep from dying.

No

Villae81 wrote: »

Isn't Starvation mode the reason why we have guts and wherever else fats are stored for energy?

No

diannethegeek

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

erinc5

Villae81 wrote: »

Starvation mode a myth? Really? I thought that's our body's way of surviving? Kinda like when it's really cold and our body starts shutting parts of the body down to keep from dying. Isn't Starvation mode the reason why we have guts and wherever else fats are stored for energy?

Yes, your body goes through certain processes when it isn't given the proper nutrition over the long term. However, if you consistently undereat, you will lose weight. This is what people mean when they say starvation mode isn't real. It isn't real in that if you starve yourself, you will lose weight.

cityruss

All the information you require is in the link posted above.

Afura

Villae81 wrote: »

Of course the body is gonna lose weight if it's not given any fuel but it will hold on to the fat as long as it can probably catabolism will happen first before "Starvation mode" or you can call it adaptive thermogenesis but I'm not really sure how this works it's what I've been told

Quote from that link:
BTW, I love that link. Lots of bad words.

The true part is that being in a deficit DOES in fact cause your metabolic rate to slow down over time. This is known as adaptive thermogenesis, and it happens as a result of any prolonged deficit. The more excessive (in terms of size and duration) the deficit is, the more significant this drop will be.

The false part however is the idea that this “metabolic slowdown” is significant enough to actually STOP weight loss. It’s not. And it sure as h#ll isn’t significant enough to cause weight gain.

It’s mostly just enough to slow down progress a little over time. A much bigger factor slowing down weight loss progress over time is the fact that you’ve already lost a bunch of weight, so your body just isn’t burning as many calories as it initially was.

lemonlionheart

Villae81 wrote: »

Starvation mode a myth? Really? I thought that's our body's way of surviving? Kinda like when it's really cold and our body starts shutting parts of the body down to keep from dying. Isn't Starvation mode the reason why we have guts and wherever else fats are stored for energy?

It's a myth the way most people around here refer to it. If you still have fat on your body, you're not 'starving' because your body can use those reserves. I mean, it's not healthy, and you'll probably lose a fair bit of muscle too as well as organ function. But you won't 'hold on to fat' or anything like that. Actual starvation mode does occur at a point when the body is actually starving, i.e at a low enough weight that your body can no longer take energy from fat stores, and even then you won't gain or even stop losing, loss might just slow down as other functions are shut down to save energy and keep you alive. Kind of like battery-saving mode on your laptop or phone that activates when you're down to 5% or so - switching over doesn't stop your battery draining or somehow generate more power, but it might slow down a bit.

MommyL2015

When you are truly in "starvation mode," this means you're actually starving and yes, your body will start doing bad things to itself and the end result is death.

But that doesn't happen in the context of "I'm only eating 1200 calories and haven't lost weight this week. Am I in starvation mode?"

BiggDaddy58

"starvation mode" is not a myth..it is simply not understood by most people. https://authoritynutrition.com/starvation-mode/

I suggest people do their own research on it..so as to understand it..and not rely on posters on the internet who reply..it's real..Nope it's not real. What is isn't..is something that would apply to 99% of the people trying to lose weight.

WeaselbeanzMum

Imho 'starvation mode' is a neat little marketing strategy for selling 'healthy' snack food. Nothing more. It takes 3 weeks without food for an average person to starve to death. For a normal person there is nothing wrong with being just plain old 'hungry' sometimes. My opinion only, but we live in a society where overeating is actively encouraged - panicking people into overeating 'in case their bodies go into starvation mode' is doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to improve that situation.. /end rant (sorry!)

eeejer

While starvation mode may be a bad term, metabolic slowdown/adaptation is very real. And yes, you are drastically undereating.

WeaselbeanzMum

eeejer wrote: »

While starvation mode may be a bad term, metabolic slowdown/adaptation is very real. And yes, you are drastically undereating.

What he said! bang on the money

Afura

Villae81 wrote: »

It doesn't matter I'm not gonna starve myself coz of catabolism it's a bish building muscle but easy to gain fat

I never said you were, but in your previous post you said you didn't really understand it, so I was just pointing out the explanation so perhaps it would be better understood for future reference.

rileysowner

Back to the OP's question. If your logging is accurate, you are eating too little, far too little likely. You will not see the issues right away, that is not how malnutrition works. It is a cumulative thing, and the negative effects start internally before you see them externally or start to feel bad. An excessive deficit will lead to excessive lean mass loss, that is loss of muscle and organ mass. It will also result in a lack of nutrients which in time will result in brittle nails, hair loss, fatigues, mood issues, and more. Again, note this does not show up right away, it takes time, but eating as little as you are, assuming your are logging accurately, it will happen.

Also let me add this. The goal of all this is to learn to eat an appropriate amount of calories to maintain your weight and health. Eating so little is not doing that, it is training yourself for undereating which has as many health issues connected to it as overeating.

Christine_72

OP do you weigh everything you eat on a food scale? Do you log everything honestly and accurately?
Do you eat back your exercise calories?

Without this info it is hard to give you an accurate answer..