Starvation Mode

4thehardman

I have over 100lbs to lose. I am using the MFP suggested daily amount to lose 2 lbs a week but I never eat all of my exercise calories back. I have lost 18lbs in 40 days. I feel great and thanks to the exercise I am also seeing improvement in my shape and size.
There isn't a quick fix but I'll bet you have been fat for longer than 2 years right? So whats another 2 years to get it off safely and forever?

deksgrl

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

Don't listen to your boyfriend, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

fit4everyoung

bump for later

rileamoyer

Just curious, what has been your average weight loss per week? When you have lots of weight to lose, you may find you lose more than 2 lbs a week for a while. But keeping that goal in sight and not losing too fast will keep you healthier and increase your chances of keeping the weight off for good. Also it will help reduce the impact of sagging skin. You are young enough that your skin will tighten if you go at it slowly. Keep it well hydrated to help it along. Good luck, and don't pay attention to his advice, it is your body and your life.

deksgrl

Do I need to be eating at least 1,200 calories? If so is that before or after my exercise calories?

1,200 net calories, after exercise, is the general guideline for minimum amount of calories consumed. MFP will calculate this for you if you put in your exercise. However, at your weight, you likely need more than 1,200. But everybody's body is different and some people have found they had to tweak things here and there to find out what works for them. And of course it takes time and effort to see results and make adjustments.

rileamoyer

I think the thing you need to lose is your boyfriend. It sounds like he doesn't treat you with respect... telling you things that could harm your body (only eating a banana a day) and not supporting a healthy eating style. Just sayin.

That might be the best "diet" of all: lose 180 lbs of useless weight overnight!!

Sounds like good advice to me!!!!!

TLCEsq

At your current weight, you don't have to worry about "starvation mode" as much as someone who only has, say, 20-30 more pounds to lose. As you lose weight you have less mass to move around, so if you keep eating the same amount of calories you ate when you weighed 20 pounds more, the deficit will be slightly smaller. I suggest you read this article by Lyle McDonald, it's very informative: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/setting-the-deficit-small-moderate-or-large.html

The problem I had in the past when I ate too few calories was that I (a) didn't eat enough protein to maintain lean body mass and (b) didn't lift weights. In fact, I stopped exercising because my caloric intake was so low. I put on 15 pounds of almost pure fat in two months earlier this year due to stupid dieting techniques and stress. I was so hell-bent on losing my last ten pounds before law school graduation that I went on a crash diet and gained instead. I learned my lesson from that.

That being said, someone at your current weight does not need such a drastic deficit as only 1200 calories in the first place. You have more weight and even more muscle (mass in general) than someone my size, and I still manage close to a 1,000 calorie deficit per day through diet and exercise. It gets more complicated the closer you get to your goal weight. I'd say your primary focus right now should be learning/maintaining healthy habits, eating a diet rich in whole foods that keeps you full, and incorporating an exercise regimen that includes resistance training. Oh, and don't listen to your boyfriend :-)

MIMITIME

Click on tools then BMR. That's how many calories your body needs each day if you did nothing but stay in bed all day like someone in a coma. That's right. Your body needs the calories to breath, for your heart to beat and other bodily functions. Two pounds a week is 108 pounds a year. That's a lot of weight. None of us got our extra weight over night nor will we lose it over night. I am afraid you are setting yourself up for failure by not wanting to follow the MFP guidelines. The theory is to learn to change your eating habits and choices so you are not back to yo yo dieting which ruins your metabolism. There was a poster on here a couple of weeks ago that said she had yoyo dieted herself to 450 pounds. She has lost 250 pounds on MFP. As for your boyfriend, he is wrong.

AmythistRae

My boyfriend claims there is no such thing as "starvation mode". I told him today that I need to eat at least 1,200 calories everyday and he got mad at me about it. He thinks I'm being stupid. He's thin and has never had an issue with weight. He says "Some days I only eat a banana - YOU don't need to eat at least 1,200 calories".

I'm asking you guys because I know many of you are very knowledgeable when it comes to weight loss. Do I need to be eating at least 1,200 calories? If so is that before or after my exercise calories?

To make it easier on you guys to give me some advice I'll give you my stats:

I'm 32
I weigh 342 lbs (yes you read that right) - I've lost 43 pounds, down from 385.
I'm female
I'm 5'4"


HELP! I don't want to follow this site's recommendations because losing TWO pounds a week is just entirely to slow for someone who has as much to lose as I do. That would take me over two years to reach my goal weight at that rate. So yeah, if you guys could give me some advice on how many calories I should be eating, that would be great!

Is there such thing as starvation mode? Who's right? I will blissfully swallow humble pie if he is right. I just need to know!

at our weights starvation mode is not a problem....some days I eat under 1000 because I only do smoothies and some days I eat 1500 or more....the trick with us is to change it up and eat really healthy...I know for me cravings was the worst but I drink green smoothies and they take away the cravings..Now I only want fruits, veggies and occasionally meat....sugar actually tastes like artificial sweetener to me now...

mrsdizzyd84

Thanks everyone for the great advice. Though there seems to be some disagreement, the over all consensus seems to be that there IS such thing as eating too few calories, though I'm still not sure how many to eat. Different calorie calculators give me vastly different numbers.

I feel you there. I think MFP's calorie goals are very accurate. They calculate your BMR, multiply that by your activity level, then subtract 500 calories per day per pound you want to lose. This is the traditional way of doing things.

rileamoyer

Thanks everyone for the great advice. Though there seems to be some disagreement, the over all consensus seems to be that there IS such thing as eating too few calories, though I'm still not sure how many to eat. Different calorie calculators give me vastly different numbers.

I feel you there. I think MFP's calorie goals are very accurate. They calculate your BMR, multiply that by your activity level, then subtract 500 calories per day per pound you want to lose. This is the traditional way of doing things.

I agree. At the beginning I checked other places, found this site to be fairly accurate and easy to follow. It even compared within 1 point of BMI when I had a full body scan at my health clinic.

krist3ng

Man! Your boyfriend sounds VERY unsupportive. I think if my boyfriend said something like that to me, and guilt tripped me, I would break up with him. That kind of negativity just hurts your resolve.

Just because he sometimes only eats a banana a day doesn't mean YOU have to. 1200 is something you can stick to over long periods of time. If you resigned yourself to a banana a day (or some equally insufficient equivalent) you wouldn't be forming the lifelong habit of making sustainable changes to the way you eat.

I personally go below 1200 very often-- and above it occasionally, too. You can get by on 1000 calories and feel nourished if you're eating healthy things. You can also keep losing if you have 1300.

Good luck and your boyfriend sounds evil.

StacySkinny

First, I want to clarify one thing - My boyfriend isn't evil. lol We've been together for nearly 4 years and he's always been very supportive of me. This is one thing we disagree on though. It's not like him to be negative or argumentative in any way, yet in this case he feels strongly that I don't need to be eating 1,200. But I know if I told him to back off and let me make my own health decisions he'd say no more about it.

Second, THANK YOU all for the great feedback and support! I'm getting a much better idea on the amount of calories I should be eating and feel better about my decision to stay over 1,200 calories. Though I wouldn't go as far as eating what this site says my BMR is (2,245 calories). I know from experience that if I eat that many calories I actually gain weight.

You guys' ideas and information has helped me a lot. When I posted this inquiry I expected to get maybe one or two response. The support and help that this community provides overwhelms me and makes me feel honored to be a part of this site. Thank you all again for the help and advice!

deksgrl

I'm getting a much better idea on the amount of calories I should be eating and feel better about my decision to stay over 1,200 calories.

I'm certain you will see some results Choose majority of healthy foods and drink lots of water and I bet I'll see you soon on success stories!

Liopleurodon

I would say that one of the the main dangers with living on a very low calorie diet when you've got a lot of weight to lose, is that it takes an incredible amount of self-control to stick with it for long enough to lose the weight. It's tough enough keeping up a fairly moderate deficit consistently day after day for months or years. If you starve yourself you're likely to find that you become obsessed with food, snap, binge and/or give up. If you can work out a way to stick within the targets set by MFP, without feeling that you're depriving yourself, without being hungry or drained or grumpy all the time, you have a much better chance of longterm success.

psuLemon

First, I want to clarify one thing - My boyfriend isn't evil. lol We've been together for nearly 4 years and he's always been very supportive of me. This is one thing we disagree on though. It's not like him to be negative or argumentative in any way, yet in this case he feels strongly that I don't need to be eating 1,200. But I know if I told him to back off and let me make my own health decisions he'd say no more about it.

Second, THANK YOU all for the great feedback and support! I'm getting a much better idea on the amount of calories I should be eating and feel better about my decision to stay over 1,200 calories. Though I wouldn't go as far as eating what this site says my BMR is (2,245 calories). I know from experience that if I eat that many calories I actually gain weight.

You guys' ideas and information has helped me a lot. When I posted this inquiry I expected to get maybe one or two response. The support and help that this community provides overwhelms me and makes me feel honored to be a part of this site. Thank you all again for the help and advice!

Based on the math, you should be eating around 1600 calories (2 lbs per week).


2245 * 1.2 (sedentary) = 2694 - 1000 = 1694.


That is a safe deficit. The higher the deficit, the higher the chance for muscle loss and the more you will slow your metabolism. Your body can adjust to a VLCD and will cause your metabolism. I would recommend looking into a workout dvd like jillian mIchaels 30 day shred. Also when you workout, you can eat more and still lose. My one additional recommendation would be to set your carbs at 40%, protein at 40% and fats 20%.

missikay1970

since you can't afford a nutritionist (don't blame you, me either!) why not concentrate more on the types and quality of foods you eat rather than the amounts. just for a while, eat whole grains, fruits, veggies and lean meats and cut-out sugary sweets, sodas, coffees, pizza and the like. maybe instead of trying to figure out how many calories you need per day, you could just start by eating really healthy whole foods and get your body cleansed. you might drop quite a bit of weight just from that. then you could talk your dr about losing more, and what would be required calorie-wise and exericse routines, etc.

i applaud your efforts - good luck! i also agree with the others who say that 2 years isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things. look at your entire life and 2 years will be "nothing" compared to a lifetime of healthy habits. it's about more than the weight loss. good luck hun!

AubreysMommy30

I completely agree!! Weight loss is one of the most challenging things a woman can face. It's even harder when we have to face it alone; without the support of those closest to us. Regardless of how many calories you are or are not eating; you will not lose anything except courage and motivation if he continues to treat you as he is. You need his complete support as someone who loves you; not someone who will try to indirectly shame you into starving yourself. I had one like that once. His lack of support was my biggest enemy, not the food. The food was the salvation. Ever hear the phrase 'you drive me to drink"? Well, he 'drove me to eat". Think about it. Your biggest hurdle of all may be the boyfriend. Good luck!!!

can111

Best of luck on your weight loss journey Stacey! You're already rocking it if you've lost the 40 ish pounds!

My (uneducated) comment on "starvation" mode: Our bodies need nutrients, if you go under the recommended minimum you may be deprieving your body of nutrition that it needs to operate at its optimum! I'm sure some days are perfectly fine to drop below, but not on a continuous basis. (I could NEVER exist on 1 banana for the day)

As for "only" losing 2 pounds a week .... well that 2 years that you estimate will fly by! Set yourself small goals, like the day you get in to the 200's will be a wonderful celebration day (go buy something for yourself, say, a new purse). Then put your energy into hitting the 275 mark, the day the first person who didn't know you were dieting notices a loss. Celebrate those milestones!! All those celebrations will add up and before you know it you'll be at your ideal weight. (Just don't celebrate with food, right?)

jmxxiiii

Don't listen to your boyfriend, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Agreed, and he doesn't sound very supportive.... Congratulations on the weight loss, you've come so far!!!