Too little?

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alienws1998
alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have heard various things about "starvation mode" if you get too few calories, and I've heard arguments both for and against it being real, my own personal experience says it's real. I lose more weight per day if I shoot for 1500 calories than on days when I don't eat much and only end up with 800 calories. That being said it got me thinking, if too few calories slows my weight loss, could too few carbs do the same? Is there any such thing as too few carbs?

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  • Arapacana1
    Arapacana1 Posts: 117 Member
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    No. Too few carbs would not slow your weight loss. That's why so many people have lost weight eating low carbs or keto.
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
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    gjlemhbdsx99.gif

    There's no such thing as starvation mode!
    Just search 'starvation mode' in these forums and read the thousands of posts explaining it.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    800 calories is bad for a host of reasons, but it will not slow your weight loss down. That being said, 1500 is the minimum you should be aiming for.

    As for too few carbs, I think no carbs is the only time you can get too few. But they don't affect weight loss either way if you're in a calorie deficit.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    800 calories increases your deficit.. so no way you would not lose weight.. but.. wait.. your body does not like that at all, it will slow it down to less than creepy crawly...

    Too few carbs? NOPE..

    Definitely search in MFP for starvation mode.. you find million and one discussions and debates on this topic.. but in short.. it ain't real.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Fuel your body. With food.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Fuel your body. With food.

    ^^this

    Not because of the mythical "starvation mode", but because your body needs the fuel and nutrients to function better.
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
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    Again I believe in too little calories and that's not the intended question I'm looking for an answer on. Believe whatever you want, I believe it exists and try to avoid getting too few calories. I've lost almost 20 pounds in 2 months so obviously my approach is working. Now back to my question, is there any such thing as too few carbs? I know it would be difficult to get a true zero carb, but for today I'm only at like 4, and I'm really close to my calorie mark, do I need to add a few more carbs before bed so I don't stunt the weightloss?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited September 2016
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    alienws1998 wrote: »
    Again I believe in too little calories and that's not the intended question I'm looking for an answer on. Believe whatever you want, I believe it exists and try to avoid getting too few calories. I've lost almost 20 pounds in 2 months so obviously my approach is working. Now back to my question, is there any such thing as too few carbs? I know it would be difficult to get a true zero carb, but for today I'm only at like 4, and I'm really close to my calorie mark, do I need to add a few more carbs before bed so I don't stunt the weightloss?

    .
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    alienws1998 wrote: »
    Again I believe in too little calories and that's not the intended question I'm looking for an answer on. Believe whatever you want, I believe it exists and try to avoid getting too few calories. I've lost almost 20 pounds in 2 months so obviously my approach is working. Now back to my question, is there any such thing as too few carbs? I know it would be difficult to get a true zero carb, but for today I'm only at like 4, and I'm really close to my calorie mark, do I need to add a few more carbs before bed so I don't stunt the weightloss?

    No, eating too few carbs will not stunt weight loss. How many grams of protein and fat are you averaging? If you lower your carbs then you will naturally increase your protein or fat, or both.
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,363 Member
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    How much of that 20lb is lean body mass lost vs body fat lost?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »
    How much of that 20lb is lean body mass lost vs body fat lost?

    At an estimated 2.5 loss per week average, a good bit of LBM has been lost.. But if the low carb is what OP is doing a good bit of losses in the first two weeks were drops in water weight. Wondering what the rate of loss the entire 2 months.. ?

    Wondering if this LCHF? or what the real question really is?
  • alienws1998
    alienws1998 Posts: 88 Member
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    Yes its a low carb high fat diet, I keep my calories between 1200-1500 the closer to 1500 I get the more weight I lose. I keep my carbs below 30. I started at 50 but lowered it after a month. As for how much is water, lean muscle etc etc I honestly don't know I'm not taking body measurements or anything just using a regular bathroom scale. Thank you to the lady who said there's no such thing as too few carbs. That was the original question. I took a screenshot on my my progress chart from this app but I don't know how to put a picture into the post

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