Hunger and starvation mode help!

Fatboy2Fitboy

Hi All,

So my MFP calorie limit is 1200, some days (weekends) i will go over but not by much but i will always workout so that im always under. But some days i will eat maybe around 800 and after exercise it will go lower to around 500 or 400 but im eating always 3 meals a day and making sure that i am not hungry.

So my question is do you think my body goes into starvation mode on the days where im totalling around 500 even if i dont feel hungry? cz i feel if i eat back those calories i burnt, i am going to be overeating on top of not feeling hungry.

any help will be appreciated.

EDIT - good info so far but maybe i should add that i have 2 jobs - 1 where i am sitting in front of a pc for most the day and the other is 4-5 hours on my feet about 3 days a week. So pretty much sedentary lifestyle. apart from working out 20 mins a day, 6 days a week.

deksgrl

Is this a trick question? You are a 22 year old male. Your calorie goal should not be as low as 1,200 calories to begin with. EAT MORE.

byeachmoment

In my opinion, and I think most people would agree that eating that few calories is very unhealthy. Please be very careful.

Koldnomore

22 yr old guys with 70 lbs to lose require more food to fuel their basic functions. When you go for long periods not eating enough then your body eventually 'adjusts' and compensates for the lack of energy it is being fed by instigating a metabolic slow down. The slower your metabolism is the longer it takes to lose weight. The more time you hit plateaus the more you try to exercise then eat less. If you are not feeling hungry it is because your body has slowed your metabolism and not because you are actually eating enough.

The problem with MFP is that they have a very limited way to 'estimate' how many calories you get. If you chose to lose '2 lbs/week' It gives EVERYONE 1200 calories (almost). Well, it turns out that this is not right for a lot of people and will end up stalling their losses due to not eating enough.

You lose for a few weeks, then nothing.. As soon as you increase your calories you start losing again - assuming you haven't been starving yourself for a long time. The less weight you have to lose the slower you need to go also. You can't keep losing 2 lbs / week if you only have say 20lbs to lose.

Your BMR is the very FEWEST calories you should ever eat if you were laying in bed all day doing absolutely nothing - mine is about 1595 at my current weight/age/height. Your TDEE is your total number of calories that you will use for your daily activities including any exercise that you choose to do - even not being active at all I still work and walk a little bit so mine is close to 2k. Most people who have been successful in losing weight here and most importantly KEEPING IT OFF will tell you that eating at 20% below your TDEE is what will work and not just eating 1200 or whatever MFP tells you.

Check out 'eating for future you' by heybales or the 'roadmap' by helloitsdan for 2 methods that work for 99% of the people here who have discovered them.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Fatboy2Fitboy

wow! thanks really good info!