Eating in deficiency no longer viable??
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I agree, have a week at maintenance, re-do your numbers to make sure they're up to date after your loss, and then get back to a deficit of 250cals.
Maybe set a new fitness goal too so you have a new focus?4 -
RelevantGains wrote: »This is very common, There's a lot of hormonal craziness that happens with long term dieting. It looks like a diet break would work wonders for you to get everything reset.
Try to sit at maintenance or slightly above for about 2 weeks, then get back to it. You'll be glad you did! I'll see if I can fish up some articles I've read on diet breaks for you.
Maintenance, yes But, I disagree with eating above maintenance because she is not losing weight, which means she is eating at maintenance. You never eat above maintenance if you are not losing weight (unless you goal is to gain weight).0 -
RelevantGains wrote: »This is very common, There's a lot of hormonal craziness that happens with long term dieting. It looks like a diet break would work wonders for you to get everything reset.
Try to sit at maintenance or slightly above for about 2 weeks, then get back to it. You'll be glad you did! I'll see if I can fish up some articles I've read on diet breaks for you.
I disagree with eating above maintenance because she is not losing weight. You never eat above maintenance if you are not losing weight.
OP is tired, hungry and presumably not losing weight because she's struggling with and not actually eating in a deficit.
Being hangry is a good reason to have a diet break after 8 months hard work.7 -
TavistockToad wrote: »RelevantGains wrote: »This is very common, There's a lot of hormonal craziness that happens with long term dieting. It looks like a diet break would work wonders for you to get everything reset.
Try to sit at maintenance or slightly above for about 2 weeks, then get back to it. You'll be glad you did! I'll see if I can fish up some articles I've read on diet breaks for you.
I disagree with eating above maintenance because she is not losing weight. You never eat above maintenance if you are not losing weight.
OP is tired, hungry and presumably not losing weight because she's struggling with and not actually eating in a deficit.
Being hangry is a good reason to have a diet break after 8 months hard work.
No, I agree with eating at maintenance (diet break), not above (refeed).
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TavistockToad wrote: »RelevantGains wrote: »This is very common, There's a lot of hormonal craziness that happens with long term dieting. It looks like a diet break would work wonders for you to get everything reset.
Try to sit at maintenance or slightly above for about 2 weeks, then get back to it. You'll be glad you did! I'll see if I can fish up some articles I've read on diet breaks for you.
I disagree with eating above maintenance because she is not losing weight. You never eat above maintenance if you are not losing weight.
OP is tired, hungry and presumably not losing weight because she's struggling with and not actually eating in a deficit.
Being hangry is a good reason to have a diet break after 8 months hard work.
No, I agree with eating at maintenance (diet break), not above (refeed).
The question is whether the OP is willing to add 5 pounds for sanity or not. If she's mentally beat up from losing 80 pounds and ready to break stuff and quit, and won't panic over a few pounds, then I'd say exceed maintenance for a few weeks and then get back at it. Most likely, that 5 pounds will come off very quickly anyway. On the other hand, if she will panic over 5 pounds then she might be better off just sticking with maintenance. There isn't a "right" or "wrong" general answer here. It's what will work for the OP, and help her get back on track to finish up her weight loss and stay sane in the process. Frankly, at an 40 pounds loss I'd say a couple of weeks of IDGAF would be in order for me.2 -
maidengirl_ wrote: »So I've been eating in deficiency for the last 8 months now. I have lost a total of 39 lbs. Started at 191 lbs and now I weigh 152 lbs. I'm 12 lbs away from my goal weight and now I am finding it extremely difficult to continue eating in deficiency. I started out eating about 1400-1500 cals per day with a net ranging from 1,100 to 1,300 with exercise. I have since upped my calorie intake to around 1600-1700 per day and I eat back about 75% of my exercise calories now because I have been feeling super hungry, irritable, and just down right tired. I drink lots of water (6 cups + per day) and eat actual food so I don't understand why this is occurring. Has anyone else experienced this with weight loss? Any tips on getting rid of the last few pounds and staying full longer? Should I consider supplements for fiber? I have practically gone into maintenance mode for over a month now and have maintained my weight because I can't figure out why I'm starving.
Congratulations!
Weight loss slows down as you get get closer to goal weight.
How long has your weight been stalled?
When did you adjust your calories up?
Do you weigh your food and log everything you eat? You have less margin for error now, so it's important to be sure of what you are eating.
These were the exact questions I was going to ask.0 -
This sounds exactly like me, same figures too!0
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Same boat, 65 down with 10-15 to go and hungry all the time now. Don't have any real answers, but you're not alone. I've been eating smaller breakfasts (250 cals) since I'm not that hungry in the morning and using the extra calories for snacks throughout the day. And gum helps too.2
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TavistockToad wrote: »I agree, have a week at maintenance, re-do your numbers to make sure they're up to date after your loss, and then get back to a deficit of 250cals.
Maybe set a new fitness goal too so you have a new focus?
Another vote for a week at maintenance and then changing your weekly weight loss goal to 0.5 pound per week.1 -
Hormones...take a diet break...when you go back into your cut have a less aggressive rate of loss goal to 1 Lb per week or less.4
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http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
^ Lyle McDonald's take on it.
Lyle covers the same Physiological Reasons in his video but I believe there he mentioned several times that diet breaks are most beneficial when one is fairly close to goal, like the OP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k&index=4&list=PLUXvX9BaxgqG9yO5XWB3gA_QshvrrcjVr
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Eating above maintenance for 24-48hr will help much faster than just shooting for maintenance. Think of it like sleeping. When you only sleep 3-4 hours a night for several days, your eventually your going to crash for 10-12 hours. Learn to listen to your body, cravings are not a matter of will-power but intuition.
Personally I have been overweight and dieted most of my life. I was morbidly obese 13 years ago at 330lbs. Then I made one change to the way I diet and lost 100lbs in 11 months and I've lost another 30lbs over the past 10+ years. That one change was having a calorie surplus one day every week. No plateaus, no extreme cravings and easy to follow.
"Specifically,
we find that that the altered leptin levels resulting from
overfeeding and underfeeding were not restored to baseline
when the participants were returned to a eucaloric diet"
*Twenty-Four-Hour Leptin Levels Respond to Cumulative
Short-Term Energy Imbalance and Predict
Subsequent Intake*
CATHERINE CHIN-CHANCE, KENNETH S. POLONSKY, AND DALE A. SCHOELLER
Department of Medicine (C.C.-C., K.S.P.), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637; and
Department of Nutritional S
(Coleman et al, Diabetologia 42: 636-646, 1999)
During the second part of the study (the data plotted above), authors found that Leptin decreased by 20% after 12h and 65% after 36h of fasting. However after 12 h of refeeding, Leptin increased to 62% of normal and after 24h refeeding, leptin increased to 100% of normal.
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@elphie754 Just wanted to make sure you didn't forget to bring your sources.0
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sunnybeaches105 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »RelevantGains wrote: »This is very common, There's a lot of hormonal craziness that happens with long term dieting. It looks like a diet break would work wonders for you to get everything reset.
Try to sit at maintenance or slightly above for about 2 weeks, then get back to it. You'll be glad you did! I'll see if I can fish up some articles I've read on diet breaks for you.
I disagree with eating above maintenance because she is not losing weight. You never eat above maintenance if you are not losing weight.
OP is tired, hungry and presumably not losing weight because she's struggling with and not actually eating in a deficit.
Being hangry is a good reason to have a diet break after 8 months hard work.
No, I agree with eating at maintenance (diet break), not above (refeed).
The question is whether the OP is willing to add 5 pounds for sanity or not. If she's mentally beat up from losing 80 pounds and ready to break stuff and quit, and won't panic over a few pounds, then I'd say exceed maintenance for a few weeks and then get back at it. Most likely, that 5 pounds will come off very quickly anyway. On the other hand, if she will panic over 5 pounds then she might be better off just sticking with maintenance. There isn't a "right" or "wrong" general answer here. It's what will work for the OP, and help her get back on track to finish up her weight loss and stay sane in the process. Frankly, at an 40 pounds loss I'd say a couple of weeks of IDGAF would be in order for me.
Thank you, I see where you are coming from now.
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Increase calories by 100 a day per week till sustained multiweek weight increase as seen in trending weight application or web site.
Then cut by 250 and taper down to goal while exploring maintenance type eating strategies which has not been done at -750 or -10001 -
The closer we get to goal, the slower progress becomes for all of us. Be patient. I found a web site this morning, freedieting.com It is remarkably free of woo. You might learn something from this page http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm But you'll need to scroll down below the calculator to see the good stuff.0
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maidengirl_ wrote: »So I've been eating in deficiency for the last 8 months now. I have lost a total of 39 lbs. Started at 191 lbs and now I weigh 152 lbs. I'm 12 lbs away from my goal weight and now I am finding it extremely difficult to continue eating in deficiency. I started out eating about 1400-1500 cals per day with a net ranging from 1,100 to 1,300 with exercise. I have since upped my calorie intake to around 1600-1700 per day and I eat back about 75% of my exercise calories now because I have been feeling super hungry, irritable, and just down right tired. I drink lots of water (6 cups + per day) and eat actual food so I don't understand why this is occurring. Has anyone else experienced this with weight loss? Any tips on getting rid of the last few pounds and staying full longer? Should I consider supplements for fiber? I have practically gone into maintenance mode for over a month now and have maintained my weight because I can't figure out why I'm starving.
I'm like this now and I posted a thread asking if others had a harder time eating at a deficit after a while. Most said no. But I can attest that I can't eat below 1400 calories now. If I do, I can't sleep and I'm agitated. I think it could be related to a hormonal change due to the reduction of fat cells or leptin. Not sure though. I don't worry about it. I just make sure not to go below 1400.1 -
maidengirl_ wrote: »CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Also, have you reviewed your rate of loss? As you get nearer to your goal, you should reduce your deficit and aim for a slower rate of loss, to make sure you are getting the nutrition you need and that it is sustainable. The size of deficit that is comfortable when you are very overweight and have a lot of fat available to burn will not be comfortable when you are nearer to goal and have less fat in reserve. Try for a loss of half a pound a week (I agree a break might do you good too, and serve as a practice session for maintenance).
I experienced the food cravings earlier this year and figured my goal was too aggressive for the amount I had left to lose so I changed my loss goal from 2 lbs per week to 1.5 lbs per week so I upped my calories from 1480 to 1590 which worked for a while. I suppose I could change it to 1 pound per week. It just seemed like it was way too many calories to eat to realistically lose weight. It gave me 1790.
There you go. That 1790 isn't "too much". You surely ate more than that to gain. You think it's this huge upswing with calories, but it's not, not really.
Change your MFP setting to .5 - 1# loss rate. You've got 12# to go, so no real need to have such a huge deficit with so little to lose. Also, be almost anal about weighing your food intake.
I agree with this^^
With only 12 pounds to lose, your Goals here on MFP should be set to "Lose 1/2 pound per week." I see no reason why you shouldn't eat at Maintenance for two weeks, then start back at Lose 1/2 pound.
1790 is not that much for a young woman. I maintain at that and I'm smaller and older and don't exercise a lot.
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maidengirl_ wrote: »CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Also, have you reviewed your rate of loss? As you get nearer to your goal, you should reduce your deficit and aim for a slower rate of loss, to make sure you are getting the nutrition you need and that it is sustainable. The size of deficit that is comfortable when you are very overweight and have a lot of fat available to burn will not be comfortable when you are nearer to goal and have less fat in reserve. Try for a loss of half a pound a week (I agree a break might do you good too, and serve as a practice session for maintenance).
I experienced the food cravings earlier this year and figured my goal was too aggressive for the amount I had left to lose so I changed my loss goal from 2 lbs per week to 1.5 lbs per week so I upped my calories from 1480 to 1590 which worked for a while. I suppose I could change it to 1 pound per week. It just seemed like it was way too many calories to eat to realistically lose weight. It gave me 1790.
There you go. That 1790 isn't "too much". You surely ate more than that to gain. You think it's this huge upswing with calories, but it's not, not really.
Change your MFP setting to .5 - 1# loss rate. You've got 12# to go, so no real need to have such a huge deficit with so little to lose. Also, be almost anal about weighing your food intake.
See, this makes much more sense than increasing calories with the knowledge that weight gain will inevitably happen. I think all that is called for is a smaller deficit, because if the OP has lost that much weight she much be fairly accurate with CICO.1 -
Thank you all for your responses! I will continue eating at maintenance until my body is physically ready to eat in deficiency again. I'm in no rush to lose 12 lbs when I've come so far2
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