Starvation mode article that I found very VERY helpful....

rockerbabyy

only thing I plan is to lose weight and possibly fat I'm supposed to watch my sodium and I don't eat big breakfasts. I stopped snacking lately but now to not go under 1200 ( admittedly I have a few times) Calories in a day with what I'm now eating I need to snack. also I've been exercising a good bit on the Wii fit plus.

i used to do that too, and almost always went over carbs and fat while not reaching my calorie goals. now before i go to bed, i sit and plan the next days meals and tweak serving sizes and such until everything is good...
really as a man, you shouldnt be netting lower than 1500.. youll lose weight just fine for a while...but youll also lose muscle. big deficits arent the answer.

Fit_Canuck

EPIC!

horror_hamster

*bump* (simply for the entertainment)

science_man_88

Another day, another person trying to get people to agree that poor eating habits are the key to weight loss

not to demean you but I think I eat pretty crap for the condition I grew up with with the exercise I've been doing lately I've lost about 4 pounds in 2 weeks which puts me at the fastest this thing will let you drop in your goal settings. some of my weight loss may be water weight since I cut back on my sodium intake a little more.

watboy

I got your point it just has no bearing to me. But good post.

Glad you can eat more that's awesome and some people eat less that's awesome too. We all can only stomach so much.

i think you missed the entire point of my post.
you may be able to only stomach so much now, but in the long run its not healthy and it can be changed. you just have to be willing to do it.

o0IrishEyes0o

I say live and let live


Personally, I happen to agree with the OP. I lost weight on a low carb diet that had me eating constantly, but struggling to go over 1000 calories a day. It was the healthiest I've ever been. Lost the weight I wanted, never got sick, was getting more vitamins / nutrients via eating (as opposed to taking a suppliment) and I felt great

And yes I maintained the loss. I gained a bit back when I started eating convenience foods. (IE: I practically lived at chik fil a). And even that took 3 years and I only gained about half back.

YES, your metabolism slows down if you reduce calories, but it's not the screeching halt everyone thinks it is. It's slightly lower. If that bugs you, then dont' do it. IF you don't mind, then no biggie. I dont see the need to get nasty and put people down.

science_man_88

only thing I plan is to lose weight and possibly fat I'm supposed to watch my sodium and I don't eat big breakfasts. I stopped snacking lately but now to not go under 1200 ( admittedly I have a few times) Calories in a day with what I'm now eating I need to snack. also I've been exercising a good bit on the Wii fit plus.

i used to do that too, and almost always went over carbs and fat while not reaching my calorie goals. now before i go to bed, i sit and plan the next days meals and tweak serving sizes and such until everything is good...
really as a man, you shouldnt be netting lower than 1500.. youll lose weight just fine for a while...but youll also lose muscle. big deficits arent the answer.

http://nephroticsyndrome.webs.com/ here's a page I made on the condition I semi grew out of.

Fit_Canuck

Another day, another person trying to get people to agree that poor eating habits are the key to weight loss

not to demean you but I think I eat pretty crap for the condition I grew up with with the exercise I've been doing lately I've lost about 4 pounds in 2 weeks which puts me at the fastest this thing will let you drop in your goal settings. some of my weight loss may be water weight since I cut back on my sodium intake a little more.

I would never argue that eating 800-1000 calories a day won't make you lose weight, of course it will! But I do see a lot of blanket statements on this thread that eating 1200 calories is just fine and a great way to good health. It's not a one size fits all model. Personally I eat over 2600 calories which is up from 1600 I was doing last year and you know what, I'm losing over a lb a week and doing it in a healthy and safe way. It's not magic, and it's not a quick fix of starving my body of what it needs to lose weight as fast as possible.

I was certainly losing it on the 1600 cals also but I was feeling tired, weak all the time. Now I feel full of energy and getting stronger by the way! I saw the light thanks to professionals in the nutrition field and a lot of good friends on here who share the philosophy of fueling your body for it to grow strong.

rockerbabyy

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

and thats a bit different - your bmr is/should be about 1167 due to age and height, etc.
there are lots of people here who are undereating simply because they want to lose faster. thats not healthy. a lot of people lower their BMR more than necessary by doing that.
side note: you might want to focus more on strength training to work on the belly fat youd like to get rid of. it works wonders!

gleechick609

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

If you have handfulls of belly fat, that means what you are losing is lean muscle mass, not fat. This is a perfect example of what undereating does.

sparkly96

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

rockerbabyy

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

veganjeanie

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

and thats a bit different - your bmr is/should be about 1167 due to age and height, etc.
there are lots of people here who are undereating simply because they want to lose faster. thats not healthy. a lot of people lower their BMR more than necessary by doing that.
side note: you might want to focus more on strength training to work on the belly fat youd like to get rid of. it works wonders!

I only chimed in because people like to tell me that I shouldn't go under 1200, but that's just not true for me.

Thanks for the advise about strength training. I do lift lift some weights and tone, but I admittedly don't to nearly enough in the abs. If it doesn't help my belly fat, it may at least make it look better.

veganjeanie

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

If you have handfulls of belly fat, that means what you are losing is lean muscle mass, not fat. This is a perfect example of what undereating does.

No, really, I'm just middle-aged and small. Smaller (and older) people really do need fewer calories.

sparkly96

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm sticking my 2 cents in because im on a 1200 calorie diet and im fine. No not everyone is in the same boat as i am but there are too many threads on these boards questioning what others do or what they eat, how much they eat or dont and whether its healthy or not, hence my diary is private.
My point is no matter how many times someone posts their opinion on what they consider healthy dieting or not, people are going to do what they feel is best for themselves anyway.
To each his own ya know.

Fit_Canuck

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm sticking my 2 cents in because im on a 1200 calorie diet and im fine. No not everyone is in the same boat as i am but there are too many threads on these boards questioning what others do or what they eat, how much they eat or dont and whether its healthy or not, hence my diary is private.
My point is no matter how many times someone posts their opinion on what they consider healthy dieting or not, people are going to do what they feel is best for themselves anyway.
To each his own ya know.

Agreed, I think the reason people speak up is when someone posts a random unverified website and states that it's concrete proof that starvation mode is fake and eating a very low cal diet is healthy. The fear is that others will trust that website without fully knowing who published it and if it's even healthy.

science_man_88

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm sticking my 2 cents in because im on a 1200 calorie diet and im fine. No not everyone is in the same boat as i am but there are too many threads on these boards questioning what others do or what they eat, how much they eat or dont and whether its healthy or not, hence my diary is private.
My point is no matter how many times someone posts their opinion on what they consider healthy dieting or not, people are going to do what they feel is best for themselves anyway.
To each his own ya know.

Agreed, I think the reason people speak up is when someone posts a random unverified website and states that it's concrete proof that starvation mode is fake and eating a very low cal diet is healthy. The fear is that others will trust that website without fully knowing who published it and if it's even healthy.

if that's me I'm not saying it's healthy just posting from my own experience.

Fit_Canuck

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm sticking my 2 cents in because im on a 1200 calorie diet and im fine. No not everyone is in the same boat as i am but there are too many threads on these boards questioning what others do or what they eat, how much they eat or dont and whether its healthy or not, hence my diary is private.
My point is no matter how many times someone posts their opinion on what they consider healthy dieting or not, people are going to do what they feel is best for themselves anyway.
To each his own ya know.

Agreed, I think the reason people speak up is when someone posts a random unverified website and states that it's concrete proof that starvation mode is fake and eating a very low cal diet is healthy. The fear is that others will trust that website without fully knowing who published it and if it's even healthy.

if that's me I'm not saying it's healthy just posting from my own experience.

No no it was the OP's website at the very beginning

sparkly96

I hear ya, like you said live and let live.

bebreli

Bump

watboy

Brilliant!

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm sticking my 2 cents in because im on a 1200 calorie diet and im fine. No not everyone is in the same boat as i am but there are too many threads on these boards questioning what others do or what they eat, how much they eat or dont and whether its healthy or not, hence my diary is private.
My point is no matter how many times someone posts their opinion on what they consider healthy dieting or not, people are going to do what they feel is best for themselves anyway.
To each his own ya know.

ladyraven68

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm 4ft 11.5 - I'm losing on 1750 a day.

rockerbabyy

For my height, weight and age im given 1200 a day. I'm not even 5 feet tall and my SW was 158. I used to do weight watchers which works on a point system similiar to calorie counting and was given the same amount of calories to eat per day and i successfully lost weight and was healthy. Unfortunately i gained it back though. When i started dieting I checked with my doc who said 1200 for me was ok to eat in order to lose weight. I am not "starving" myself and im not hungry. I make sure i eat healthy and get all my vitamins and nutrients in and balance everything out. I exercise on occasion and when i do i dont eat those calories added back. In the past and now i consistently lose 2 lbs a week. This is how i lose weight and it works for me. Once i get to my goal weight, then i will change my caloric intake to maintain the weight. Not everyone is the same and sometimes a 1200 calorie diet is ok.

yes - sometimes its ok.. if youre short. most people in this thread arent in the same boat as you.

I'm 4ft 11.5 - I'm losing on 1750 a day.

yea thats why i said sometimes just depends on metabolism and such - there are a lot of factors that go into it, glad to see you dont have to feel deprived though! (at least im assuming you dont feel deprived >.> lol)

watboy

Good post and good job on the 5 lbs keep it up.

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

and thats a bit different - your bmr is/should be about 1167 due to age and height, etc.
there are lots of people here who are undereating simply because they want to lose faster. thats not healthy. a lot of people lower their BMR more than necessary by doing that.
side note: you might want to focus more on strength training to work on the belly fat youd like to get rid of. it works wonders!

I only chimed in because people like to tell me that I shouldn't go under 1200, but that's just not true for me.

Thanks for the advise about strength training. I do lift lift some weights and tone, but I admittedly don't to nearly enough in the abs. If it doesn't help my belly fat, it may at least make it look better.

angielautenbach

After you have a baby your body is built/ment to loose weight. I only gained 29lbs with my son and after I had him I lost 60lbs in like 6 months. Mind you I only breastfed for 8 wks. ( I was not excersizing or eating right)

My pre-pregnancy weight was 193lbs Nov 08
week before he was born it was 222lbs July 09
When I finally stoped losing weight 165lbs Jan 10

For some reason I allowed myself to get to 201 Dec 11
Now I am 194 Only 7lbs in 3.5 months ( I am excersizing 6x a week and eating right)

A healthy weight loss without any huge life changes is slow and steady. Dont think it has anything to do with your calorie intake. Eat when your hungry of course but I think the reason you lost so much so fast before was becuase you just has baby.

ChrisGoldn

bump to show my friend this later

funkycamper

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

If you have handfulls of belly fat, that means what you are losing is lean muscle mass, not fat. This is a perfect example of what undereating does.

Yes!

And if one is getting plenty of exercise and eating 1000-1200 calories/day, then they're not eating all their calories.

Just want to add that it is possible to repair your metabolism so you can eat more and still lose and then be able to eat more while maintaining. I'm 54 and I'm slowly eating more calories to repair my metabolism, still losing. Age does tend to slow your metabolism but that doesn't mean you have to let it or that you have to help it along by eating very low calorie. Lift heavy and do HIIT.

LorinaLynn

It also depends on your frame and metabolism. I'd gain weight eating more than 1200 calories. I'm 5'4" with a small frame, and I'm 51 years old. I'd LOVE to eat more, believe me, but I'm maintaining 125lb at 1000-1200/day. I get plenty of exercise, and eat all my calories. You may think 125 is small, but not on my frame, I still have handfuls of bit of belly fat that I'd like to lose.

If you have handfulls of belly fat, that means what you are losing is lean muscle mass, not fat. This is a perfect example of what undereating does.

Yes!

And if one is getting plenty of exercise and eating 1000-1200 calories/day, then they're not eating all their calories.

Just want to add that it is possible to repair your metabolism so you can eat more and still lose and then be able to eat more while maintaining. I'm 54 and I'm slowly eating more calories to repair my metabolism, still losing. Age does tend to slow your metabolism but that doesn't mean you have to let it or that you have to help it along by eating very low calorie. Lift heavy and do HIIT.

That was me a few years ago, too. I was mid-thirties, and got to 130 pounds eating less than 1000 calories a day, but I was still mushy. I mistakenly believed that I would have to cut calories further to lose the flab. I wish I knew then what I know now, since I'm a few months shy of 40 and eating around 2000 calories a day while "maintaining," and STILL losing so I have to up my calories even more!

mhotch

bump

xxnellie146xx

Bump