800-900 calories a day

WarmDontBurn

Not me but a friend asked me how she is still gaining weight when she only consumes between 800-900 calories a day. I explained about not going below 1200 but not sure how to explain why she would be gaining weight on so little. I just looked and the last 3 days for her were 889,768 and 828.

Can anyone please share some thoughts on it and I can direct her here. I don't think what she is doing is healthy and want her to not only be successful but healthy doing it.

TIA:flowerforyou:

Shannoncore

something might be wrong with her metabolism or she is not counting all of her food. alot of people take a bite of this here and a bite of that there and dont count it because they think its too small to matter or ashamed.

emmerrs

I think giving her this might help, I found it informative

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/777-why-is-starvation-mode-so-bad

melodious2878

Yikes she needs to eat more! I'm not sure exactly about all the scientific stuff but i know your body will go into starvation mode and eat from your body what it's not getting nutrient wise.

AdamATGATT

Direct her to these links:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6832-eating-all-of-your-calories-bmr

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/777-why-is-starvation-mode-so-bad

Laura80111

What foods are those 800-900 calories, I don't believe that all calories are created equal. Is it fruits and veggies? Fast food? Junk food? Salty food? Is she drinking enough water? Exercising?

MFP is a lifestyle change and if all she's doing is still eating the wrong kind of foods then that could very well be the issue.

ashlee954

I would start by explaining that the body needs energy to create energy. If we do not fuel our bodies they shut down. Think of it like a car. You put fuel in it so it can run. No fuel= no run. Our metabolism functions this way. It slows down dramatically when it is faced with too little calories because it tries to conserve the little fuel it is getting. Thus we hang on to fat in the hopes we can survive a bit longer. If she does not believe YOU have her google it. There are so many articles, peer reviewed studies, and doctor recommendations on the web.

ddabruzzo

Because your body, when not getting enough fuel, enters "starvation mode," meaning it senses that you're starving and it holds on to whatever it can to compensate.

♥_Ellybean_♥

Also keep in mind when our bodies don't get enough food to survive, we start storing fat... which will be adding on pounds.

pdm26

I think the 'starvation mode' issue is being overplayed. This only happens with prolonged periods (weeks) of heavily reduced calorie intake (800-900 is not at starvation level). A person would need to be doing this for a long time before their metabolism changed significantly. Also, when the metabolism slows this can certainly reduce the rate which the body burns calories but it can't cause weight gain on this level of intake. Only if the person physically stopped moving all day and therefore somehow reduced their required calorie intake to below 800 could there be any calories to store and therefore add on weight. It doesn't matter what state your metabolism is in, if you only take in 800 calories and your required amount is 1000, you cannot gain weight.

More likely reasons are that not all food intake is being recorded, calorie content of food are being under-estimated or calories used in exercise are being over-estimated.

modelk

yes she really needs to eat more! I just went through this 2 weeks ago. I was doing really well losing weight then I had this bright idea that if i ate less i would lose weight even faster! NOT!!! I was at a stand still for 2 weeks with no weight loss or gain! Come to find out it was because I was only getting between 800-1000 calories per day. now that i'm back on track i make sure I get to my daily caloric goal of at least 1200 a day and I'm back to losing weight again!!!

TateFTW

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

I know someone already posted it, but tell her to go here.

coachniquenya

Two things happen when your body goes into starvation mode:

1) your metabolism slows down drastically so that you burn less fuel and energy
2) your body begins to digest the healthy muscle for nutrition and holds onto the fat until it absolutely has to consume it.

Both of these things working together along with if your friend is eating bad foods could cause weight to actually increase for a while. Mind you, it wouldn't normally maintain this increase unless there is also some other underlying medical cause acting as well.

mlb929

She may also want to have a tissue mineral analysis complete, have her thyroid checked, or adrenals/hormone levels.

WarmDontBurn

Thank you all so much. I have passed it along to her and hopefully once she reads through it all she will post here if she has any other questions :flowerforyou: