eat less calories than recommended not losing

FemmeAndi

Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to eat a minimum of 1200 NET calories. That means if you are eating 1200 calories, but burning 500 calories when you exercise, you are only consuming 700 net calories and your body will go into starvation mode.

OHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought that the site calculated in your activity level already and so that when it says you need to eat 1547 cals, that it already included the calories lost depending at what activity level you were at... like i put my activity level at moderate. But now I know that's not the case.
If i'm eating 1400 cals and burn 450 cals with my workouts, that means I'm down to 950!! :O :O oh my goodness! I can afford to eat more! :S

daisymae9801

Basically, if you are not eating 1200 calories everyday then your body is definitely in starvation mode. Your body is storing your fat because it thinks you have stopped eating.

Honestly, if you are eating less than 1200 calories everyday and drinking 6-8 alcoholic beverages on the weekends, you are making yourself ill. Its really hard to balance out the alcohol with less than 1200 calories in your body. Not healthy at all. Just saying.

Your body does not think you've stopped eating if you're eating 1,200 calories a day. If you stop eating, your body will think you've stopped eating.

NOTE: I'm NOT advocating eating not enough calories (very bad for you), but 1,200 is not the end all be all and if you eat 1,199 your body will cling to all of its fat.

pspam

Several really good posts here. MFP accounts for average daily consumption based on average activity levels for each user. This is the inexact part.

Jumping right to starvation mode. The 1,200 Calorie threshold is also inexact. Based on hormonal response, normal activity levels, and genetics, your body enters starvation mode when it experiences a deficit for more than 24 hours. For example, you consume 1100 Calories for two days, and you're there. Your body triggers a response to conserve precious fats, which store around 9 Calories per gram of fat and nonselectively catabolize proteins, i.e. muscle, which only account for about 4 Calories of enery per gram. The reason is your body has determined that all that muscle is nonessential to survival, and from that standpoint, your body is right. Your body will catabolize muscle nearly exclusively until you have lost so much muscle that you can't perform your normal survival activities, and then it will begin to catabolize fat and mucle until you eventually die of starvation. That sounds bad, and it is. It has already been mentioned by Katie that your heart is a muscle. Indeed, your body doesn't care, and strips heart muscle.

Now, if you are just looking to drop pounds, it will cost your health if you aren't careful. You really need to ensure you stay above the starvation mode. If you are looking to burn off fat, there are a couple points to consider, as well. Your body maintains around 30 minutes of glucose reserve from your last meal. Fat metabolism occurs slower than muscle metabolism, and slower again than glucose metabolism. Under high demands, i.e a cross-fit, Gym Jones, true sprint workouts, you will first burn off all your glucose reserves. No fat is metabolized while your body has a glucose reserve. Additionally, your brain operates better when running off glucose v. ketones and aldehydes. So that big exam really needs glucose for you to mentally perform at your peak, though the signals themselves travel fine regardless, just not at their max efficiency. No glucose=fat burn at low demands.

After about 30 minutes, your glucose reserves will be depleted and only then will your body begin to metabolize fats into ketones and aldehydes, substituting for glucose, when the energy demand signal is lower. Somewhere around 140 heart rate as an inexact measure of a 35 year old, your body's energy needs exceed that which can be provided by the slower fat metabolism, so your body again nonselectively catabolized muscle. If you were truly dedicated to getting a more exact moment when you body runs out of glucose, you could buy a glucose monitor, run for 30 minutes, and take your blood sugars every couple minutes into the run thereafter to see the exact point that your body has run out of glucose and you need to downshift your activity so you are only burning fat. This would be a real interesting experiment. Based on your results, you can back off the hard cardio a few minutes before you blood sugars measure a drop and really tailor your workouts to positively effect body composition. Probably more than you want to do, so 30 minutes is a good estimate.

Here's the rundown. Your Caloric intake is too low and your body is in starvation mode. You are likely losing muscle mass and your heart health is permanently at risk. Your personal metabolism has also dropped, making the MFP overestimate your average daily expenditures and weight loss. Any exercise you do while starving yourself will further the breakdown of muscle and conservation of fat. This will adversely effect your body composition even if you start to lose weight. Basic assumption is you want to drop fat, not muscle. Don't believe the hype that if you strength train for 30 minutes a few times a week you are going to look like Lou Ferrigno next month. That's the result of 8 hours a day for 10 years.

The way ahead. Ensure you are intaking at least 1,200 Calories a day, to include alcohols. Alcohols provide approximately 7 Calories per gram, and while not a protein, fat, or carb, you body metabolizes alcohols as if it were fat. Not a big deal as long as you account for it. MFP has every hard liquor I drink, so its not a problem (I do recommend the effect of a nice drink at the end of a workout when you are a little dehydrated ... very nice). When you begin your workouts, go hard the first 30 minutes to burn off glucose reserves, then finish light for the next 15-30. This will ensure that the major percentage of Calories burned are fat Calories. Don't misunderstand, you will burn more fat by going hard throughout, but you will also be burning muscle. If you were to walk for 30 minutes after a meal, you will indeed burn off some of the glucose, but not all of it, and your body will replace the glucose from your meal before it ever touches fat reserves. Pro athletes consume energy pastes during their workouts to provide their bodies with more glucose so this doesn't happen and they can maintain high levels without losing muscle. I'm certain Tom (TAWoody) can go into consumption of protein or energy drinks during workouts if you were training up for something. Sorry Tom if I threw you under the bus, you look like this is your bag. As a species, we survived by selecting for individuals who could best store fat. Great for hunters and gatherers, not great for the beach.

Net Calories is a simplification to show you the effect of what you eat minus what you expend. This isn't directly related to starvation mode, but gross Calories are. You will notice the warning if you have eaten less than 1,200 Calories when you submit your food log. As long as you are intaking at least 1,200 gross Calories, you can exercise it all off and there isn't that warning. Weight loss is strictly thermodynamics, but body composition is more complicated. MFP calculates your net Calories minus an estimate of your daily activity expenditure to determine what you stand to lose weekly.

Last downside here is the alcohol. On average, a shot of alcohol has around 102 Calories, about the same as Coors Light. For Coors Light at 4.2% (*12 oz) you get an alcohol effectiveness of .504 (content times volume) for each beer plus all the water bloat. A shot of 80 proof is 40% (*1.5 oz) for an alcohol effectiveness of .6 without the water bloat. So, Calorically, you are better off with 5 shots at about 510 Calories v. 6 Coors Light at about 600 Calories. If you are drinking to be social, go with the super light 55 Calorie beers, and make sure you add it to your journal. I mix my 3 shots of whisky with a splash of the 5 Calorie tea at home at the end of the workout, and by the time I finish the shower, everything in the universe is right again.

Please make sure you are taking a daily multivitamin and calcium supplement. If you are a milk drinker, consider AlmondMilk, far less Calories, more calcium, and very tasty. If you are interested in a discussion of the importance of calcium, osteoclasts, and osteoblasts, we can go down that road, but in short, a multivitamin and calcium supplement will cover you. I'm touching on a lot of bases here, but it's really not too complicated once you know how to go about it. Don't get overwhelmed, you're in this for the long haul, and there are plenty of us here to support.

Again, 1,200 minimum intake including alcohols (shoot for a bit hgher-it's difficult to get adequate nutrition at low levels and alcohol only offers mental nutrition at best), 30 minutes harder cardio (140+ heart rate) followed by 15 or more minutes light cardio a few times a week , a multivitamin, calcium supplement, and you will start making headway toward your goals. Don't forget stuff like mowing the lawn burns a few hundred Calories for that hour behind the push-mower! If you are uncertain of your ability to begin new workout routine, I really insist you get checked by a physician for a physical exam and seek guidance from a nutritionist. All this advice is worth what it cost you. In the end, it's your health, and we want you to succeed. If you intake 1,400 Calories and burn off an additional 450, you are doing great. It's an ego-hit, but change the settings for your activity level. I sit behind a desk now, too.

Best wishes and have a great weekend!

googagene

I'm still a weekend warrior, but I pay for it. I plan my diet and exercise around my weekends. I make sure I exercise every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with NO exceptions to give me a bit of fun freedom and I try to make the meals I eat carb and sugar free to free up a bit more. When I go out I stay active (dancing, swimming, tubing, camping, hiking, kayaking) and enjoy myself. I'm in this for the long haul and have found ways to continue my weightloss while still living the type of life I want.