Could eating too little calories cause me to not lose?

mcgeevercaitlin

Since thanksgiving the scale is showing a 5-8 lbs weight gain.

I have bee trying to stick to 1200 calories a day to get these 5-8 lbs off that I gained. Could I be eating too little?

I am 155-158lbs.
5' 6"
Female.

sdolan91

You can't gain weight for eating too little... do you have a food scale?

ccrdragon

What you are referring to is the mythical 'starvation mode' where the body supposedly 'hangs on' to calories because you are not 'eating enough'. This is not a real thing - think about people who starve to death or anorexics.

What is probably happening is that you are eating more than you think you are - weight and measure all of the food that you eat for the next month and record it accurately to see what you are actually eating.

toxikon

Nope! "Starvation mode" - AKA adaptive thermogenesis - is a very slight lowering of the metabolism over a long period of caloric restriction. For example, if a woman naturally maintained a 150lbs weight over her lifetime, her BMR may be slightly higher than a woman who maintained a 300lbs weight for a long time, then restricted her calories to lose weight and end up at 150lbs.

So I don't think it would apply in your case.

You probably need to tighten up your logging (always using a digital food scale to weigh solid foods) and make sure to pick accurate database entries as often as possible. If you're also exercising, some gym machines and Fitbits can be notoriously inaccurate when they tell you how many calories you've burnt - leading you to overeat as a result.

kommodevaran

You could be aiming too low and not lose because trying to eat too little makes you hungry and hangry and cheat and overeat, so as a result, you eat too much, but if you think about it? Eating too little to lose weight? Could that be possible? How can it even make sense?

How long have you been doing what you're doing, anyway?

heybales

It can cause the body to adapt and slow you down in daily activity and therefor overall burn.
Studies have shown that to happen in as short as 2 weeks if you make the deficit extreme enough.

It can cause the body extra stress and increase retained water weight from increased cortisol.

It could create the view that weight is not being lost, though fat would be still.

Adaptive thermogenesis.

But despite that - you keep eating less and less and eventually you will start losing again.

Obviously that's a huge stress on the body, and mind usually.

It's best to lose at a reasonable rate eating the most you can, not the least.

Go_Deskercise

You are likely eating more than you think and in turn gaining weight.

Log everything you are eating or drinking accurately, give it some time and you will start losing weight.

Also note that the scale will fluctuate (a lot in my case lol) .... some days I wake up "losing 3lbs and the next day gain 3 lbs" .... Completely normal. I track my weight pretty frequently and I am still on a downward trend, so I don't worry about the weird fluctuations.

heybales

toxikon wrote: »

Nope! "Starvation mode" - AKA adaptive thermogenesis - is a very slight lowering of the metabolism over a long period of caloric restriction. For example, if a woman naturally maintained a 150lbs weight over her lifetime, her BMR may be slightly higher than a woman who maintained a 300lbs weight for a long time, then restricted her calories to lose weight and end up at 150lbs.

So I don't think it would apply in your case.

You probably need to tighten up your logging (always using a digital food scale to weigh solid foods) and make sure to pick accurate database entries as often as possible. If you're also exercising, some gym machines and Fitbits can be notoriously inaccurate when they tell you how many calories you've burnt - leading you to overeat as a result.

Just to be aware - Is 3 months and 500 cal loss in TDEE "very slight lowering" and "a long period"?

Not the case with OP here obviously - but the flat answer is not slight nor long in all cases.
There is potential to mess yourself up quick and big.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

AnnPT77

heybales wrote: »

toxikon wrote: »

Nope! "Starvation mode" - AKA adaptive thermogenesis - is a very slight lowering of the metabolism over a long period of caloric restriction. For example, if a woman naturally maintained a 150lbs weight over her lifetime, her BMR may be slightly higher than a woman who maintained a 300lbs weight for a long time, then restricted her calories to lose weight and end up at 150lbs.

So I don't think it would apply in your case.

You probably need to tighten up your logging (always using a digital food scale to weigh solid foods) and make sure to pick accurate database entries as often as possible. If you're also exercising, some gym machines and Fitbits can be notoriously inaccurate when they tell you how many calories you've burnt - leading you to overeat as a result.

Just to be aware - Is 3 months and 500 cal loss in TDEE "very slight lowering" and "a long period"?

Not the case with OP here obviously - but the flat answer is not slight nor long in all cases.
There is potential to mess yourself up quick and big.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

Independent review: That's a really good link, well worth reading. Don't be cynical because @heybales is linking his own blog post. I haven't the slightest idea who he is, we aren't friends on MFP or in real life, he didn't pay me.

Read the blog post. You'll learn a lot of useful stuff, not just about OP's specific situation, but info that's useful to anyone who wants to lose weight to be healthier or look better.

psuLemon

heybales wrote: »

It can cause the body to adapt and slow you down in daily activity and therefor overall burn.
Studies have shown that to happen in as short as 2 weeks if you make the deficit extreme enough.

It can cause the body extra stress and increase retained water weight from increased cortisol.

It could create the view that weight is not being lost, though fat would be still.

Adaptive thermogenesis.

But despite that - you keep eating less and less and eventually you will start losing again.

Obviously that's a huge stress on the body, and mind usually.

It's best to lose at a reasonable rate eating the most you can, not the least.

So much this. There is no reason to come in with an aggressive deficit when you can see better results with something more moderate, especially if one is exercise.

OP, are you exercise? How log have you been doing this without any results?