Starvation mode and eating calories back..help

sharijeffrey
sharijeffrey Posts: 1
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello i have had MFP for about 2 weeks now and it is set at 1200 calories a day to loose 2 lbs a week. I am very easily able to limit myself to 1200 throughout the day and be fine but then i go to the gym 3-5 days a week and burn 300-500 calories. So i got to forum searching online and there are a lot of mixed reviews about eating your calories back since i am have a net average of about 900 calories after everything is said and done with the gym. Should i eat 300 more everyday to make up for the gym or will i be fine? I want to loose as much possible but i don't want to start gaining weight or something because i am not consuming enough.

Replies

  • zekerella
    zekerella Posts: 58 Member
    From someone who has been there. YES you should eat your calories back.

    You should only aim for 1-2lbs a week. any more lost than that you are losing MUSCLE and water along with fat. I am guessing you just want to lose fat because muscle is what makes you sexy :)

    I was eating 1200-1500 calories a day and burning 500 cals exercising everyday. this put me below 1200 calories technically. And magically - right on schedule - I plateued. I was hungry all the time. I was doing the exact same diet plan and fitness routine and losing NOTHING. THEN when I ate a little more than usual I got scared because I would gain a lb in a day! oh no!

    Let me explain what was happening. I hit starvation mode. After about 2 months. so my body was holding on to every calorie it could and not burning fat.

    SO I went to a nutritionist. She tested my metabolism. Guess what. she set my calories at 2000 a DAY to lose weight! she said to trust her and if I swear to eat 1900-2100 a day that Ill see results after a month.

    I gained 5 lbs in the beginning. this is just water weight and your body trying to figure out what the heck is going on. After 3 weeks, the scale started to decrease. and EVERY WEEK eating 2000 calories a day I lose at LEAST 1 lb of fat.

    hope my own story helped you see that you CAN lose weight by eating your calories back and you SHOULD do so. :)
  • Ianultrarunner
    Ianultrarunner Posts: 184 Member
    If you loose more than 2lbs a week start eating more. You will do long term damage if you loose too fast.
    For long term benefits 1-2lbs a week is best.
    Don't overdo exercise either. Take one day rest a week.
    Consult with your doctor and a good nutritionist (one who's not trying to sell your stuff) for the best direction for you.
  • Garlicmash
    Garlicmash Posts: 208
    Just to survive you need about 1200 calories so if you're only eaten that amount and then burned calories then you are eating too little and you start to feel like crap along with you may very well put the weight straight back on when you stop eating so little as the body can panics thinking you are starving.
  • thingal12
    thingal12 Posts: 302 Member
    great responses!
  • darbobo
    darbobo Posts: 53
    I'm in the same situation, I'm in the military and I do PT every morning 5x a week, I burn between 1000-1300 calories as per HRM with Calisthenics and group run sometimes more. I normally eat between 1800-2200 everyday and i am always satisfied thru out the day and not hungry. I never eat back the 1000-1300 calories I burn at 5 am, but so many people tell me on this site I should be eating them back, it confuses me because its so early in the morning, I get in some fruit prior to PT, but the rest is consumed later in the day and I feel Im still getting my calories in, and I have tons of energy

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