Starvation mode?
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liljakaren1997
Posts: 22 Member
I'm a 21 year old female, I'm 158cm tall and I weigh around 79 kg, so I'm trying to lose weight. I've lost about 15 kg so far since the beginning of July. I try to eat around 14-1500 calories a day which I'm fine with, it doesn't affect me in a bad way. I'm a member of a Facebook group that focuses on health and exercising, just for females. I read a post today where someone was asking how many calories they eat daily, most of them were eating around 16-1800. Then there was one person who was shocked to see how few calories people were eating. She said that the body needed at least 2000 calories to function normally, and that eating to little can ruin your metabolism, aka starvation mode. I've read some things about starvation mode being a myth, but this scared me a little. Is it true that if my body gets used to eating let's say 1500 calories, that if I start eating a little more I will just gain weight because the body will condition itself to only needing those 1500 calories? This scared me because I'm trying to lose more weight, I wanna lost at least 10 more. Am I eating too little??
I hope this is understandable, as English is not my first language.
Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
I hope this is understandable, as English is not my first language.
Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
7
Replies
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Here's a good article about that:
Starvation Mode: Is It A Myth? Is It Real? Is Your Body In It Right Now?4 -
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For many women, 2000 calories would lead to a surplus/weight gain. Keep to what you've been doing.5
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When you add to your question, it's best to add an additional post to the thread rather than editing the original post so that people are more likely to see it.liljakaren1997 wrote: »Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
You won't train your body to get by on a lot less energy by dieting. It will get a little more efficient while in a deficit but not enough to have a big impact.
The initial response to bumping up your calories would likely be a water weight gain as you replenished your glycogen. It wouldn't be fat. After that, whether or not you gained weight would depend upon your maintenance calories which depend upon your stats such as age, height, and current weight.
Calorie calculators are a place to start. Start with the numbers that MFP gives you. If you lose faster than expected, increase your calories a bit. If you don't lose as fast as you expect, double-check that you are counting as accurately as possible by using a food scale for solids and make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries.2 -
When you add to your question, it's best to add an additional post to the thread rather than editing the original post so that people are more likely to see it.liljakaren1997 wrote: »Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
You won't train your body to get by on a lot less energy by dieting. It will get a little more efficient while in a deficit but not enough to have a big impact.
The initial response to bumping up your calories would likely be a water weight gain as you replenished your glycogen. It wouldn't be fat. After that, whether or not you gained weight would depend upon your maintenance calories which depend upon your stats such as age, height, and current weight.
Calorie calculators are a place to start. Start with the numbers that MFP gives you. If you lose faster than expected, increase your calories a bit. If you don't lose as fast as you expect, double-check that you are counting as accurately as possible by using a food scale for solids and make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries.
Well I have been using mfp for quite some time now, and the goal used to be around 1600 and i usually ate that much, but recently I changed my activity status, because I started working out more, so that means I need to eat more. 1500 is not dangerously low is it?0 -
"Activity level" in MFP setup means your daily activity, like walking, working, not exercise. You're encouraged to log and eat back exercise calories.liljakaren1997 wrote: »
When you add to your question, it's best to add an additional post to the thread rather than editing the original post so that people are more likely to see it.liljakaren1997 wrote: »Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
You won't train your body to get by on a lot less energy by dieting. It will get a little more efficient while in a deficit but not enough to have a big impact.
The initial response to bumping up your calories would likely be a water weight gain as you replenished your glycogen. It wouldn't be fat. After that, whether or not you gained weight would depend upon your maintenance calories which depend upon your stats such as age, height, and current weight.
Calorie calculators are a place to start. Start with the numbers that MFP gives you. If you lose faster than expected, increase your calories a bit. If you don't lose as fast as you expect, double-check that you are counting as accurately as possible by using a food scale for solids and make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries.
Well I have been using mfp for quite some time now, and the goal used to be around 1600 and i usually ate that much, but recently I changed my activity status, because I started working out more, so that means I need to eat more.
No, it's fine.1500 is not dangerously low is it?0 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
"Activity level" in MFP setup means your daily activity, like walking, working, not exercise. You're encouraged to log and eat back exercise calories.liljakaren1997 wrote: »
When you add to your question, it's best to add an additional post to the thread rather than editing the original post so that people are more likely to see it.liljakaren1997 wrote: »Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
You won't train your body to get by on a lot less energy by dieting. It will get a little more efficient while in a deficit but not enough to have a big impact.
The initial response to bumping up your calories would likely be a water weight gain as you replenished your glycogen. It wouldn't be fat. After that, whether or not you gained weight would depend upon your maintenance calories which depend upon your stats such as age, height, and current weight.
Calorie calculators are a place to start. Start with the numbers that MFP gives you. If you lose faster than expected, increase your calories a bit. If you don't lose as fast as you expect, double-check that you are counting as accurately as possible by using a food scale for solids and make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries.
Well I have been using mfp for quite some time now, and the goal used to be around 1600 and i usually ate that much, but recently I changed my activity status, because I started working out more, so that means I need to eat more.
No, it's fine.1500 is not dangerously low is it?
Okay maybe I didn't word this correctly, I changed my activity level since I started being more active throughout the day, like walking more and stuff. I am basically on my feet for 8 hours a day so that's why I felt like I needed to change it. So I guess I'm fine with eating as much as I am eating now.0 -
Oh, yes, that is an increased "daily activity" level.liljakaren1997 wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »
"Activity level" in MFP setup means your daily activity, like walking, working, not exercise. You're encouraged to log and eat back exercise calories.liljakaren1997 wrote: »
When you add to your question, it's best to add an additional post to the thread rather than editing the original post so that people are more likely to see it.liljakaren1997 wrote: »Edit: According to my mfp account I should eat 1800 calories to lose weight. So let's say I started doing that, would I gain weight because my body has conditioned itself to eat only 1500?
You won't train your body to get by on a lot less energy by dieting. It will get a little more efficient while in a deficit but not enough to have a big impact.
The initial response to bumping up your calories would likely be a water weight gain as you replenished your glycogen. It wouldn't be fat. After that, whether or not you gained weight would depend upon your maintenance calories which depend upon your stats such as age, height, and current weight.
Calorie calculators are a place to start. Start with the numbers that MFP gives you. If you lose faster than expected, increase your calories a bit. If you don't lose as fast as you expect, double-check that you are counting as accurately as possible by using a food scale for solids and make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries.
Well I have been using mfp for quite some time now, and the goal used to be around 1600 and i usually ate that much, but recently I changed my activity status, because I started working out more, so that means I need to eat more.
No, it's fine.1500 is not dangerously low is it?
Okay maybe I didn't word this correctly, I changed my activity level since I started being more active throughout the day, like walking more and stuff. I am basically on my feet for 8 hours a day so that's why I felt like I needed to change it. So I guess I'm fine with eating as much as I am eating now.0
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