Questin about being under calorie goal-starvation mode

amyrmca · February 2011

I did my food tracker yesterday and at the end of the day i was under my calorie intake goal. I was about 500 calories under my goal. I'm afraid my body is in starvation mode. It says I should get a minimum of 1200 calories daily and I was 500 under if not more. Is that bad? Could my body be storing up fat due to that? I eat about 1 meal a day and usually snack on small things. I thought I wasnt losing weight due to the fact I ate too much bad stuff but now I'm wondering if my body is in starvation mode. I'm not trying to starve myself. Please help. I'm kind of confused.

megan_mp · February 2011

I don't think one day will hurt you...

I wouldn't recommend doing it consistently though. There's lots of topics on the subject here in the forum, you may want to do a search for it? It's really confusing, I know. I've been here for 6 months and I'm still trying to get a handle on it!

Good luck to you!

mielikkibz · February 2011

IMHO, you need to make yourself eat more than one meal a day, yeah, you may be in starvation mode. . only time i've ever been that few calories was being sick. don't worry, it's not permanent, you can fix it

sweetheart03622 · February 2011

One day isn't going to do any harm, but do not make it a habit. 700 calories is far too low to survive on.

erickirb · February 2011

Yes, if you do it often, but not one day. After a few days of under eating your metabolism will start to slow down, and your body will store calories as fat to keep it alive longer as it does not know when it will be fed next or if it will be enough. Even longer can have much more negative side effects it is essentially. Try eating all the calories MFP suggests including exercise calories. MFP is set up this way for a reason, and will lead you to meeting your weight loss goal.

Kelly2251 · February 2011

Is that with or without exercise??? I know that I have been under a lot too, but I don't worry about it too much as long as I am close to my normal "daily" allotment... basically I don't count the calories burnt by exercise when I am low, I just eat to make up for the original amount...

mistyb47711 · February 2011

Eat 3 mealsa day and 2 snacks or you can eat 6 small meals a day....dont not eat cause it will hinder your weightloss....Step one is touse this to eat healthy and not over do it....but ya gotta fuel your body to run.

beckystephens · February 2011

Make sure you are snacking every 2 hours....animals are lean because they graze all day. we can learn alot from their example

dlaplume2 · February 2011

I tried to go and look at your food diary and it is private. Is what you ate yesterday typical? If it is, then, yes, you could be in starvation mode. You will need to work at breaking that and eat more. You may gain at first, but then you will lose and be healthier.

If it was just a one time thing you should be ok, just don't make it a regular habit.

You should make sure those snacks you are eating are good healthy snacks with enought calories to meet your days goals. A lot of people try to make smaller snacks and eat 800 calories in one meal. That not a good way to do it.

erickirb · February 2011

That can still lead you to lowering your metabolism and storing fat. MFP is all based on a caloric deficit, and if your deficit gets too large you will have issues. If you are set up to lose 2 lbs/week and you burn 700 in exercise your deficit is not 1700 on the day, much too large to sustain and your metabolism will have no choice but to slow down.

hpsnickers1 · February 2011

If I understand this then you are fine. You want to eat back enough calories to get back up to at least 1200. And if you go under some days then try going over some days.

I might not have understood this correctly - no I didn't. Go with Erik. He knows what he is talking about.

mistyb47711 · February 2011

also,if your trying to lose alot of weight in the long run, dont eat ALL your exercise calories back....eating exercise calories back is to maintain your current weight....I eat 25% of mine back as my trainer told me to do and Im doing just fine....and losing inches.

erickirb · February 2011

Wrong, wrong, wrong. MFP gives you a caloric intake based on a caloric deficit from maintenance to lose weight without exercise. The only way to lose your goal weight (same caloric deficit) is to eat all of the calories including exercise calories. What you are saying would only be true if her goal caloric intake was to maintain weight, but more than likely she already has a goal to lose 1-2lbs/week.

mistyb47711 · February 2011

eating ALL your exercise calories back is to maintain current weight......eating SOME back is for weightloss.......as per my nutritionist

erickirb · February 2011

wrong wrong wrong, your nutritionist is basing this on the assumption you are eating maintenance calories before you workout, MFP already puts you lower. If your MFP goal is to lose 1 lb/week (500cal/day deficit) and it gives you 1300 cals your maintenance is 1800 (1300+500) and you will lose 1 lb/week without exercise. Now say you burn 400 from exercise you must eat 1700 (1300+400) to keep your caloric deficit at your goal of 500 cals to lose 1lb/week. If you ate maintenance of 1700 and burned 500, you would not have to eat the cals back as your exercise is what creates your deficit. MFP already does that for you as it take cals away from maintenance without you exercising.

If you burn 400 cals everyday and your nutritonist tells you to eat 1700 cals/day that is the same as MFP telling you to eat 1300 and to eat your exercise cals. as 1300 +400 = 1700 and 1700-400 = 1300. You can get to the same place but MFP takes the workout out of it and calculates you calorie intake to meet your goal whether you workout or not, so if you workout you eat those back to meet your net calorie goal.

Kelly2251 · February 2011

I'm loosing weight just fine...I don't force myself to eat, occasionally if I am really low I'll eat just to get the numbers up, but I eat 3 healthy meals a day and maybe a snack... I make sure I eat at least 1200 calories a day, and I exercise every day for about 40 minutes... and it's working for me... Who knows...

Kelly2251 · February 2011

First, what is starvation mode? I found this direct answer on netwellness.org --

A starvation diet does not mean the absence of food. It means cutting the total caloric intake to less than 50% of what the body requires.

erickirb · February 2011

Just be careful as you may be losing just as much muscle as fat if your deficit is too large.

erickirb · February 2011

Yes so if your maintenance is 1900 and you burn 700 from exercise this gives you energy needs of 2600 so eating less than 1300 would be a starvation diet according to your source. It isn't that simple though. The less you have to lose the easier it is to hurt your metabolism as you don't have as much fuel (body fat) to live off of.

mistyb47711 · February 2011

you will find out what works for your body....

Kelly2251 · February 2011

But I'm not, I need 1200 calories a day, I exercise about 400 calories each day which is 1600 needed calories, than I eat at least 1200 calories.. puts me at 75% for the day...

jlcghs27408 · February 2011

I'm really glad you said this actually. This was an a-ha moment for me. Thank you!

Mike523 · February 2011

People.... read this carefully to understand how it works.

MFP uses your age, gender, weight, height, and activity level to make a calculation of what your normal daily caloric burn is WITHOUT EXERCISE. Lets say for argument's sake that number is 2200 calories burned BEFORE EXERCISE. It then says, to lose 2 pounds per week (as an example), you should have a caloric deficit of 1000 calories - meaning you should eat 1200 calories per day.

Once you add exercise into the mix, it changes the numbers. If you burn 600 calories today exercising, your daily burn just became 2800. In order to maintain the 1000 calorie deficit you would eat 1800 calories. It's simple math.

What many people don't get is that MFP already calculates a deficit for you, based on how many pounds per week you're looking to lose.

If your nutritionist is saying to only eat 25% of your exercise calories, he/she is not aware of the deficit that MFP has already calculated.

Vanishing_Gordies · February 2011

Eric - you seem to know what you are talking about. Are you able to go in and view my diary...see if I'm on track? I'm trying to follow the discussion, but I'm getting lost. I've been working out more and slowly changing my diet. Yesterday I was 700 something calories under my goal after exercise. Is that good or bad? I'm getting mixed messages on mfp. Any help is appreciated.

Vanishing_Gordies · February 2011

MWM - thank you so much. That was easy to follow. Bottom line - I need to break even.

amyrmca · February 2011

Thank you all for the help. To answer everyone's question yesterday is very normal for me. I haven't eaten more than 1 in months maybe even a year and if I do eat a second meal by the end of it it's basically a snack cause the meal is pretty small. I always knew I needed to eat more but ive always snacked so I didn't think anything about it. I didnt realize my eating very little could be a cause for me not losing weight. Thanks again.

lodro · February 2011

excuse me, but can you back that up with a reliable source?

lodro · February 2011

1000s of buddhist monks have the same meal pattern you have.

mielikkibz · February 2011

are those same monks skinny, proper weight or fat? Big difference

mistyb47711 · February 2011

No he is basing this on all day eating...1200 cals for the day unless i burn over 500 cals working out in which I eat 25% back...that wouls be 125 calories after workout.

glassyo · February 2011

Which means your body is running on 825 calories a day. You and your nutritionist aren't doing your body or weight loss in the long run any favors by netting under the generalized 1200 calories.

Questin about being under calorie goal-starvation mode

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