Staying under calorie goal and still losing weight?

sunshine79

Plateaus =/= starvation mode.

A plateau is, like you said, when your body adapts to your diet and stops losing weight. Generally, you don't gain weight back at that point, you just stop losing because your body has stabilized. A plateau is usually considered healthy.

Starvation mode is when you take in so few calories over an extended period of time that your body starts using itself as fuel. It starts storing all the fat it can get for future use and burns stuff like muscle tissue, instead. It's possible to put on weight when your body is first going into starvation mode because of this stored fat. It's not usually considered healthy, but it's a necessary part of human evolution. It's an evolutionary adaptation to keep us from starving in times of food shortage. It's NOT a myth. It's also not going to happen over the course of a few weeks. It's a long, drawn-out process. Eventually, though, if you're not feeding your body enough, it's going to adapt and start storing up that fat while using other parts for fuel.

Seriously, it's part of human evolution, NOT A MYTH. People just tend to use the term to describe things that are not it. Sort of like the word "ironic".
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This is a great explanation. How lovely and very clear. Thank you, it makes good sense.

Stewie316

I guarantee 95% of the people on this board have not experienced starvation mode. Starvation mode takes a long time to kick in and your body won't start canabolizing itself until it doesn't have enough essential fat, which is around 4-8% body fat. You're most likely experiencing plateaus like a few others mentioned.

ivyjbres

I have 1200 calories allotted per day.... most of the time, I stay under that. Not intentionally and not by a lot... I'm anywhere between 1100 and 1150 calories per day. Every time I "complete my entry", I get the, "you're under eating and this could cause your body to go into starvation mode". Do I need to worry about this? Anyone never meet their calorie goal and still lose weight successfully?

Ask again in four months. If you're weight loss hasn't slowed, stopped, or plateaued by then, your probably getting enough nutrition.

registers

Okay ONCE again, starvation mode is a myth... If you're eating low calories on a high carb diet, the results are no weight loss, and muscle loss. If you consume more protein it will help maintain muscle, and will cause glucagon to raise, helping release body fat. So starvation mode is a myth.

To answer the original question... about eating under your limit. 1200 calories is a "general" assumption> would a 110lbs woman eating 1200 calories be in this supposed "starvation mode?" no... what about a 13yr old kid? no... Ignore that 1200calorie a day thing.

Stewie316

Also, if you do happen to go into starvation mode it does not result in your body hanging onto extra fat or calories in an effort to preserve your body. What it does do is lower your metabolism, but not to the point that you stop losing weight. The weight would just come off slower.

unsuspectingfish

Okay ONCE again, starvation mode is a myth... If you're eating low calories on a high carb diet, the results are no weight loss, and muscle loss. If you consume more protein it will help maintain muscle, and will cause glucagon to raise, helping release body fat. So starvation mode is a myth.

To answer the original question... about eating under your limit. 1200 calories is a "general" assumption> would a 110lbs woman eating 1200 calories be in this supposed "starvation mode?" no... what about a 13yr old kid? no... Ignore that 1200calorie a day thing.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I doubt what you're thinking of when you use the term "starvation mode" is actually starvation mode, which is part of human evolution, not a myth.

To the OP, it'd probably take years of a diet like that to send you into starvation mode. I'm with the people who are saying add more of the healthy fats to your diet, like nuts and avocados.

Stewie316

Okay ONCE again, starvation mode is a myth... If you're eating low calories on a high carb diet, the results are no weight loss, and muscle loss. If you consume more protein it will help maintain muscle, and will cause glucagon to raise, helping release body fat. So starvation mode is a myth.

To answer the original question... about eating under your limit. 1200 calories is a "general" assumption> would a 110lbs woman eating 1200 calories be in this supposed "starvation mode?" no... what about a 13yr old kid? no... Ignore that 1200calorie a day thing.

Starvation mode isn't a myth, most people just don't know what it is and wrongly apply it to every time they stop losing weight.

registers

Okay ONCE again, starvation mode is a myth... If you're eating low calories on a high carb diet, the results are no weight loss, and muscle loss. If you consume more protein it will help maintain muscle, and will cause glucagon to raise, helping release body fat. So starvation mode is a myth.

To answer the original question... about eating under your limit. 1200 calories is a "general" assumption> would a 110lbs woman eating 1200 calories be in this supposed "starvation mode?" no... what about a 13yr old kid? no... Ignore that 1200calorie a day thing.

To the OP, it'd probably take years of a diet like that to send you into starvation mode. I'm with the people who are saying add more of the healthy fats to your diet, like nuts and avocados.

I know that's the incorrect term I am using. I posted a topic on it, saying what it really was. Yes we're talking about when the body reaches equilibrium with the amount of your original caloric deficit.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I doubt what you're thinking of when you use the term "starvation mode" is actually starvation mode, which is part of human evolution, not a myth. When I think of starvation mode, I think of children in Africa. Not people dieting.

registers

Okay ONCE again, starvation mode is a myth... If you're eating low calories on a high carb diet, the results are no weight loss, and muscle loss. If you consume more protein it will help maintain muscle, and will cause glucagon to raise, helping release body fat. So starvation mode is a myth.

To answer the original question... about eating under your limit. 1200 calories is a "general" assumption> would a 110lbs woman eating 1200 calories be in this supposed "starvation mode?" no... what about a 13yr old kid? no... Ignore that 1200calorie a day thing.

To the OP, it'd probably take years of a diet like that to send you into starvation mode. I'm with the people who are saying add more of the healthy fats to your diet, like nuts and avocados.

I know that's the incorrect term I am using. I posted a topic on it, saying what it really was. Yes we're talking about when the body reaches equilibrium with the amount of your original caloric deficit. When I think of starvation mode, I think of children in Africa. Not people dieting.

DebiP10

I also find it hard to eat my 1200 calories and usually eat around 1000 to a max of 1100 and still lose weight. its not that im paranoid about what i eat, i eat clean and healthy, 3 meals a day and healthy snacks, exercise daily which ive been doing for almost 2 years and i still loose weight and even more so, inches. I hit my target weight when i got married in may last year and kept up a healthy diet and fitness plan then lapsed in the winter food wise and gained back 13 lb which im trying to shift now and succeeding. If it works, carry on as you are too many know alls aroud to dictate what you should and shouldnt do just cos they read it on some site :ohwell: you know your body, they dont.

chocbeast

People need to stop focusing losing weight only here. Focus on a lifestyle change, one that you can live forever! This means keeping active and eating a balanced diet and losing weight should be a byproduct of this. Unless you've a vast amount to lose, eating 1000 cals a day is probably not the way to do this.
It is very possible to be fat and yet malnourished as it is to be very thin and malnourished.
So to the OP just make sure you are meeting your 5 a day fruit and veg plus healthy fats, with proteins and carbs to make sure you get all your vital vitamins etc. Hope this post makes sense, I know what I'm trying to say, I'm just not articulating it very well!

unsuspectingfish

People need to stop focusing losing weight only here. Focus on a lifestyle change, one that you can live forever! This means keeping active and eating a balanced diet and losing weight should be a byproduct of this. Unless you've a vast amount to lose, eating 1000 cals a day is probably not the way to do this.
It is very possible to be fat and yet malnourished as it is to be very thin and malnourished.
So to the OP just make sure you are meeting your 5 a day fruit and veg plus healthy fats, with proteins and carbs to make sure you get all your vital vitamins etc. Hope this post makes sense, I know what I'm trying to say, I'm just not articulating it very well!

THIS.

And, for the record, I think you said it pretty well.

drlynned

Yes, I went through all the posts.... what did I get from it? Starvation mode is a myth. Wait, no! It's not. It's true..... so many different answers. What I will do though is continue doing what I'm doing until my weight loss is stalled. I've only been at this for a couple of weeks, but I was concerned since I did weight watchers for several months and only lost 2 pounds. I've been eating healthy and running 4days a week, and I'm tired of being stuck in this plateau.

I did like the tip of varying my calorie intake on a day to day basis.... 1100 cals on day then 1300 on the other. I can see how that can help avoid the weight loss from stopping. Thanks! :happy:

Dameron

Good point ! Makes sense.

registers

Yes, I went through all the posts.... what did I get from it? Starvation mode is a myth. Wait, no! It's not. It's true..... so many different answers. What I will do though is continue doing what I'm doing until my weight loss is stalled. I've only been at this for a couple of weeks, but I was concerned since I did weight watchers for several months and only lost 2 pounds. I've been eating healthy and running 4days a week, and I'm tired of being stuck in this plateau.

I did like the tip of varying my calorie intake on a day to day basis.... 1100 cals on day then 1300 on the other. I can see how that can help avoid the weight loss from stopping. Thanks! :happy:

Here's why the starvation mode theory is around. When people eat low calorie diets based around high carbohydrates, the immune system needs amino acids. Since there isn't enough protein, it gets these amino acids from the muscle(breaks down the muscle) lowering your metabolic rate. If you eat enough protein you won't have this issue.

This is why some people say "it does exist I speak from experience." and some people say "it doesn't exist I never had that problem" It's the diet they're using, not really the caloric amounts. In turn, lower calories most of the time means lower protein.

I was talking to someone who ate 1000 calories a day, he is a male. That's really low for a male, yet he ate a lot of carbs, his diet was based around carbs. He lost a ton of weight. When He told me this, it made no sense, to what i just said. I asked him "how much where you exercising?" he said "2hrs a day of intense cardio. Now it does make sense. His muscles where constantly depleted of glucose, so he was getting his energy from fat, not from his carbs.

Harkins86

why i dont believe in starvation mode. there were no fat people in auschwtiz. They all lost weight and they were eating less than 1200 calories a day. If starvation mode were true then no one would have died of malnutrition . But yet millions died.

The debate should not be if starving your self will make you loose weight, of course it will, but you will also be doing long term permanent damage to your body. The starvation mode theory is about the grey area between actual starvation and normal weight loss. If you put your body under stress your body will defend itself by limiting the amount of energy it expends. The idea is to eat the right amount at regular intervals so that your metablosim is stable and weight loss can be achieved. Another point to consider is that your metabloism now depends on your previous eating habits. If you have drastically decreased your inake before your body is more likely to store fat for next time it happens. I know we are all here to loose weight, but isn't it more important to do it in a way that keeps us healthy and helps us keep the weight off?!

wildon883r

About 5 days a week i'm 500-600 calories below my daily goal set by MFP. Friday i go over because thats my weekly party night. Saturday we generally eat out and that puts me at or below my limit by 100-200 calories. Knowing that i has about 600 over Friday because of my beer consumption i will easily recover it today by just eating lean foods and veggies. I don't count exercise calories and i'm almost every day under MFP goals substantially and i've lost weight every week since January. I zig zag my calorie intake without trying. It's not rocket science like some want you to believe weight loss is.

carina_75

i've seen too many conflicting things about starvation mode. until i experience it first hand, im going to just keep doing what is working for me.

hear, hear!! :-)

stormieweather

Starvation (ie: concentration camps) and starvation MODE are NOT the same thing. Starvation MODE is not a myth, but the term is misused.

Too many people forget one of the primary reasons we eat....to obtain nutrition to keep our body functioning. If we don't eat enough food, we are depriving ourselves of necessary nutrition (I call it nutritional deprivation). You simply cannot get enough required vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients with 500 calories a day, and no, a bunch of vitamin pills do not compensate.

IF you insist on eating less than a reasonable quantity of food, do so ONLY under a qualified doctor's supervision. It can be dangerous to your health and metabolism. Listening to a bunch of "internet experts" isn't a wise substitute for a physician.

darrelhart

Ketosis is a condition in which levels of ketones (ketone bodies) in the blood are elevated. Ketones are formed when glycogen stores in the liver have run out. The ketones are used for energy. Ketones are small carbon fragments that are the fuel created by the breakdown of fat stores. Ketosis is potentially a serious condition if keytone levels go too high. 
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180858.php
Experts cannot agree on whether ketosis caused by a low carb/high protein diet is good or bad for humans. Some say it is dangerous. While others point to human evolution: during most of the time that humans have existed; we have been a hunter-gatherer species and have lived primarily in a ketogenic state for extended periods. There are many documented cases of human societies today that exist in a long-term ketogenic state. After a 2 to 4 week period of adaptation, human physical endurance is not affected by ketosis, according to studies - meaning that we do not necessarily need a high carbohydrate intake in order to replace depleted glycogen stores for exercise. This makes the argument more compelling that, in fact, we are designed to thrive at certain levels of ketosis.



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