Eating less than 1,000 cal and weight gain

MonicaLopezMorales
MonicaLopezMorales Posts: 2 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm recovering from an injury and haven't been physically active for three months. I've gained weight from being an emotional eater. This weight gain is really effecting me now and I have to loose it. According to calculations I should be eating 1120 for weight loss but have been eating 800-1000 cal a day. The 1120 sounds too much to me. Is my undereatimg caysimg me to not loose the weight? I'm confuse and need help figuring this out please.

Replies

  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    What's your height, weight and goal and how long have you been eating at this rate? Also how do you measure your calories, digital scales? Having said that 800-1000 calories is extremely low even for a sedentary petite female, I worry you'll lose muscle at that rate and won't hit your bodies nutritional needs.
  • iwtbt170
    iwtbt170 Posts: 51 Member
    Eating less is not going to make you gain weight..are you measuring and weighing all of your food and guestimating your portions and calories? If eating less made you gain weight or stop losing weight there would be no starving people or anorexics..it's simple cico .... (although I am sure there will be others who believe in the "starvation mode" theory) which is fine, everyone has thier opinion, just sharing mine...hope you can start to lose again :)
  • iwtbt170
    iwtbt170 Posts: 51 Member
    iwtbt170 wrote: »
    Eating less is not going to make you gain weight..are you measuring and weighing all of your food and guestimating your portions and calories? If eating less made you gain weight or stop losing weight there would be no starving people or anorexics..it's simple cico .... (although I am sure there will be others who believe in the "starvation mode" theory) which is fine, everyone has thier opinion, just sharing mine...hope you can start to lose again :)

    Sorry that's suppose to say "are you measuring and weighing all of your food OR just guestimating "

    Won't let me edit for some reason
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    Although "starvation mode" isn't a thing there is such a thing called adaptive thermogenesis which has been studied and has proven your BMR falls when people under eat for extended periods of time.
  • iwtbt170
    iwtbt170 Posts: 51 Member
    animatorswearbras wrote: »
    Although "starvation mode" isn't a thing there is such a thing called adaptive thermogenesis which has been studied and has proven your BMR falls when people under eat for extended periods of time.

    I can see this, however, the scale would still be moving, maybe not for the fact of losing "fat" but muscle perhaps...and I didn't notice in OP post how long it's been since the scale hasn't moved...a day or two or a week or two..that makes a huge difference as well...so many theories, ideas, and beliefs. .and I'm not here to push mine on anyone...but if it was cut and dry and only one proven with out a doubt no fail solution. ..we would all be SO much happier....and thinner!! Lol
  • iwtbt170
    iwtbt170 Posts: 51 Member
    Also...not to sound gross or anything, but in the past I have had a tendency to get constipated when eating that low of cals..not enough fiber, water, all the good stuff that makes your system do what it needs to do...this could also be an underlying issue...granted it's not going to make a huge difference, but it may make some..as I said...depending on how long it's been since the scale moved
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    even taking into consideration adaptive thermogenesis 1000 calories would have anyone melting off the lbs. This sounds like a logging issue. Underreporting or intermittent logging probably. Can you open your diary OP?

    sure, I just wanted to put that out there since anyone who does follow a VLCD for an extended period of time is in danger of lowering their BMR, I'm not saying it will make you stop losing or gain weight at this level hence my initial question. :)
  • thetrishwarp
    thetrishwarp Posts: 838 Member
    Are you drinking calories? Are you weighing and tracking everything? Are there "small" snacks that go un-logged? It's not possible to eat at a deficit and gain weight. It's physics. The human body is not exempt from the laws of thermodynamics.
  • DaniG_1987
    DaniG_1987 Posts: 40 Member
    What type of food are you eating? I just had two weeks of completely plateauing even though I was eating ~ 1000 calories and was working out for about an hour a day 6 days a week. I noticed my eating habits had stopped including a lot of veggies during lunch so I added those back in and the weight has started falling off again (I'm back up to 1280 calories).
  • Muana1005
    Muana1005 Posts: 172 Member
    Are you in wheelchair or are under 5ft tall? That's the only time I've seen figures like that (my aunt is in a wheelchair and was told to reduce to 800-1000 per day because she can't move her arms enough to move it herself).
  • rose8a
    rose8a Posts: 7 Member
    I'm 4'11 have a desk job and take in less than 1000 cal a day. I log everything that goes in my mouth and sometimes I still gain. My metabolism is really messed up from years of starving in my early 20s. I gain weight at the drop of a dime and now because of all the abuse I caused losing weight mid life is extremely difficult. I yo-yo alot. Went from 200lbs to 95 then back up to 170. I got back down to 130 but gained 20 back. It's discouraging
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    Don't try to lose weight while you are injured. You need the nutrients to recover so eat at maintenance. Adjust if you need to but don't go under 1200.
  • cherilee0831
    cherilee0831 Posts: 44 Member
    It may be what you are eating. Try cutting out most carbs and concentrate on protein. Also, drink a lot of water (like half your body weight). Make sure you are taking a multi vitamin since your calorie deficit is significant. I am currently consuming 800-1000 calories a day except on weekends when I eat a little more. I have lost 33 lbs in 8 weeks but I am only doing this for a couple more weeks and then I modify, going up to 1300. I am under a doctors care for this. My starting weight was 258 so I can afford to do this. If you are not significantly overweight, your body may be holding on to calories since it thinks you are starving it! Read up on Leptin and it explains the "caveman" reason for this.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    cherilee0831 wrote: »
    It may be what you are eating. Try cutting out most carbs and concentrate on protein. Also, drink a lot of water (like half your body weight). Make sure you are taking a multi vitamin since your calorie deficit is significant. I am currently consuming 800-1000 calories a day except on weekends when I eat a little more. I have lost 33 lbs in 8 weeks but I am only doing this for a couple more weeks and then I modify, going up to 1300. I am under a doctors care for this. My starting weight was 258 so I can afford to do this. If you are not significantly overweight, your body may be holding on to calories since it thinks you are starving it! Read up on Leptin and it explains the "caveman" reason for this.

    Half my body weight is like 40 gallons... perhaps you meant half your body weight in ounces.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
    edited June 2017
    We need stats my dear. I believe the lowest mfp suggests is 1200. If you're recovering from an injury you definitely need to not deprive yourself of nutrients. Now.... If you're gaining there are a few possibilities. Your body could be storing some water in its current state. If you're not accurately logging everything you may be eating more. I use a food scale and measure in grams and find corresponding database entries and that's worked so far. Take care of yourself.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    animatorswearbras wrote: »
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    even taking into consideration adaptive thermogenesis 1000 calories would have anyone melting off the lbs. This sounds like a logging issue. Underreporting or intermittent logging probably. Can you open your diary OP?

    sure, I just wanted to put that out there since anyone who does follow a VLCD for an extended period of time is in danger of lowering their BMR, I'm not saying it will make you stop losing or gain weight at this level hence my initial question. :)

    people losing weight period lower their BMR...Adaptive Thermogenesis just isn't for VLCD.

    so no AT is not a factor here yet...not even close.

    if the OP had been following and I mean really eating under 1k a day then perhaps but they wouldn't be here complaining about no weight loss...

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
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  • xchocolategirl
    xchocolategirl Posts: 186 Member
    You're eating more than you think that's why you're not losing weight. If I were you I would get a food scale start using it, and start eating the amount of calories MyFitnessPal gives you if you state that you want to lose 0.5 pounds a week.

    Losing 0.5 pounds a week would be a good start for you. This will also ensure you're getting the calories you need .
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    animatorswearbras wrote: »
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    even taking into consideration adaptive thermogenesis 1000 calories would have anyone melting off the lbs. This sounds like a logging issue. Underreporting or intermittent logging probably. Can you open your diary OP?

    sure, I just wanted to put that out there since anyone who does follow a VLCD for an extended period of time is in danger of lowering their BMR, I'm not saying it will make you stop losing or gain weight at this level hence my initial question. :)

    people losing weight period lower their BMR...Adaptive Thermogenesis just isn't for VLCD.

    so no AT is not a factor here yet...not even close.

    if the OP had been following and I mean really eating under 1k a day then perhaps but they wouldn't be here complaining about no weight loss...

    again I agree, and at no point suggested that the OP was suffering weight gain/plateau from adaptive thermogenesis just clarifying that although the term and argument of "starvation mode" is a myth that there is evidence of metabolic change due to long-term calorie restriction, just a note on the matter. A further note being you can help negate adaptive thermogenesis with calorie cycling and refeed days. I didn't mean to derail the discussion with that one point.

    Literally my first question was asking her stats, how long has she been restricting and how does she measure her intake, until the OP responds everything is just speculation.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    Please refer to this thread from today:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10562256/just-got-my-kitchen-scale-rofl-i-was-so-off
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    OP - agree with others that you are eating more than you think and that's why you aren't losing weight.

    That said - believing you need to eat 1120 to lose (and that that number is high even) is concerning. Where did that number come from, wasn't this site.

    Providing your stats: height, current weight, goal weight, age as well as details about your activity level (you said you are recovering from an injury and aren't currently physically active - what does that mean? You are bedridden? Or you just aren't hitting the gym as much as normal? Big difference) would be helpful. Also opening your diary so that people can look for areas you might be logging inaccurately.
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    OP...i may be one if the few who isn't going to suggest that you're eating more than you think. For medical reasons, I eat about 700 calories a day. Even if I am off, I'm not off by hundreds.
    In the last week I've had no loss. I've been walking and drinking plenty of water.
    It's happened before...within a week or 2 the weightloss starts up again.
    I don't know how long you've been dieting and not losing, but you may just need to be patient.
  • iwtbt170
    iwtbt170 Posts: 51 Member
    gabriellejayde wrote: »
    OP...i may be one if the few who isn't going to suggest that you're eating more than you think. For medical reasons, I eat about 700 calories a day. Even if I am off, I'm not off by hundreds.
    In the last week I've had no loss. I've been walking and drinking plenty of water.
    It's happened before...within a week or 2 the weightloss starts up again.
    I don't know how long you've been dieting and not losing, but you may just need to be patient.

    I do agree with you if it's just been a week or two, but if it's been longer, and she's not losing or is gaining, she may be underestimating calories
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