Hello

minesc

I have been a member for a few months now. This is my first time introducing myself. Trying to lose weight is hard and I am finding that myfitnesspal is wonderful.

I have fluctuated from very low calorie diets to slightly low calorie diets. Does anyone here have a good scientific explanation as to why this method does not work? Or, at least why it is not consistent? Right now I am shooting for 1000 net (after 600 calories burned). Before, I was doing anywhere from 600 to 800 net and at first saw results, then the scale went the wrong way.

Christie

chimelle

Hi Christie... I'm new to this site too but not to the diet game!!! Perhaps you aren't eating enough.. I know that sounds strange, but if you don't eat enough your system thinks you are starving it and starts saving the calories instead of burning them... I eat 5 times a day, small meals with a total of 1200 calories... I don't know your particulars so perhaps you don't need as many calories as I do but I would suggest trying to eat more often during the day, every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and make sure you drink lots of water and see if that helps... good luck!
Michelle

Edestiny7

Your body begins to believe your are starving if you consume too few calories, or burn off too many calories, leaving you with a low net calorie count. Then your body goes into conservation mode and hangs on to every last bit of fat it can, in the face of the coming famine. When your body is getting the appropriate amount of healthy foods, it will let the fat go.

Mludwig04

You need to eat at least 1200 calories a day or body thinks its starving. If you don't eat enough it will hold on to anything you eat to conserve for the famine. And then if you do eat more, your body doesn't know if or when you are going to feed it again so it holds on to all that too actually making you gain weight. I am a fairly active person and I aim for 1400-1600 calories a day. It is more then I used to eat and I am having much more success in the weight loss struggle. I am also able to stick to this plan without bingeing which more than made up for the days I was starving myself.

Mludwig04

http://www.foodfit.com/fitness/burningQuestions.asp



Knowing how many calories you're burning during activity can be important if you're trying to lose weight, since the "general rule of thumb for weight loss is to create a 300- to 500-calorie deficit each day," Farrell says. This means consuming 300 to 500 fewer calories than you expend.

Half of this "calorie deficit" should come from eating less and half should come from exercising more. "We generally advise people who want to lose weight to expend at least 250 calories more each day than they have in the past," he says. "Additionally, they should eat 250 fewer calories than they've been eating."

But it's important to eat enough to fuel your body, notes Farrell, who warns men not to eat less than 1,200 calories per day and women not to eat less than 1,000.

That's because severely restricting calories prompts the body to try and conserve fat stores, so it breaks down lean tissue mass, robbing the body of muscle and bone.

"People who are overweight want to lose fat," he says. "But many don't realize that about half of the weight lost on extremely low-calorie diets isn't from fat, it's from lean tissue."

minesc

Thank you for your responses! I am planning on eating more. Because eating less was not getting results. And I felt very tired and sore most of the time. I can tell a difference in my energy level.