Eating less confusion

kathymhardy

Okay I hear everyone saying that eating below your calorie allowance isn't beneficial for weight loss. I had major surgery seven months ago and was off work for over four months. My painkillers had a bad effect, i.e. nausea and complete loss of appetite. At first I thought good, will help me to lose a bit of weight.

However, I was hardly eating at all and in the end had to get my GP to prescribe anti-nausea medication. But since I was doing no activity at all, I did think that my weight loss would not be great.

When I started to recover and eat a bit better, I decided to weigh myself. In all I lost 19lbs. Gone from a top size 14/16 to a 12 and bottom size 14 to a 10. Fantastic! I am completely happy with my weight loss and have maintained, just trying to lose another 7lbs now.

So can you understand how I find it difficult to understand that by eating less calories than suggested on here, won't show a weight loss?

shadow2soul

It can show weight loss, but over time if you were to eat at an extremely low amount of calories, your metabolism would slow down.

kathymhardy

Oh right, thank you. That was simple

Mokey41

You'll lose weight but you'll lack nutrition and eventually your body won't be happy with it at all and your weight loss will slow as your body tries to preserve what energy it can. It works for a while but it isn't a healthy way to lose weight.

jacksonpt

You'll lose weight but you'll lack nutrition and eventually your body won't be happy with it at all and your weight loss will slow as your body tries to preserve what energy it can. It works for a while but it isn't a healthy way to lose weight.

This. Also, the heavier you are, the more leeway you generally have.

holly1283

Another angle to look at is that even though you were nauseous and ate less your body was still burning calories to get better. So it took whatever it had to to survive. Now you are well you are not burning calories that particular way now so do not be surprised if your body stores more than you think it should. I wish you well and glad your on your way back to healthy.

Callie_littlemorgan

The best way to lose weight and to keep it off, is to eat a 'healthy' number of calories in a day, and to make good choices while you do it! Anything else will just make you lose superficial pounds that will come right back as soon as your diet/ lifestyle changes. For best results, try eating healthy, modest portions all throughout the day of 'good' calories- balancing your proteins, fats and carbs. Like someone said, if you go too low, your body metabolism will slow down and your body begin to store fat. And remember that the goal is not just to be thin, but to be healthy as well!

cwolfman13

Okay I hear everyone saying that eating below your calorie allowance isn't beneficial for weight loss. I had major surgery seven months ago and was off work for over four months. My painkillers had a bad effect, i.e. nausea and complete loss of appetite. At first I thought good, will help me to lose a bit of weight.

However, I was hardly eating at all and in the end had to get my GP to prescribe anti-nausea medication. But since I was doing no activity at all, I did think that my weight loss would not be great.

When I started to recover and eat a bit better, I decided to weigh myself. In all I lost 19lbs. Gone from a top size 14/16 to a 12 and bottom size 14 to a 10. Fantastic! I am completely happy with my weight loss and have maintained, just trying to lose another 7lbs now.

So can you understand how I find it difficult to understand that by eating less calories than suggested on here, won't show a weight loss?

Because the calorie goal on MFP is NOT a maintenance level of calories...it already has a calorie deficit built in. Ergo, when you meet your calorie goal you are eating less than you maintenance level of calories. Depending on how much per week you told MFP you wanted to lose, it will have anywhere from 250 (1/2 Lb per wk) to 1,000 (2 Lb per week) calorie deficit from maintenance built in.

Eating at too large a deficit ultimately results in slowing your metabolism and can be medically dangerous if the deficit is substantial enough and sustained for a long period of time.

MinnieInMaine

It's also about losing the right/healthy way. You want to retain your muscle mass (as this keeps your resting calorie burn higher, plus you're stronger, more balanced, etc) and lose the fat. Usually when you lose weight quickly from VLC, you're losing water weight and muscle along with the fat.

Plus the more muscle you retain while losing fat, the beter you'll look. I'd rather weigh 157 pounds and be strong and healthy than weigh 140 pounds and be flabby. The number on the scale isn't everything!

CristinaL1983

Of course you will lose more weight if you eat less.

One of the biggest problems people try to avoid is loss of lean body mass (muscles mostly). If you don't consume enough protein, your body will get protein from your muscles. If you reduce your muscle mass your basal metabolic rate will drop (as a result of less metabolically expensive muscle) and your fat percentage will grow. If you start with 100 lbs of lean body mass and weigh 160 lbs, drop 30 lbs of which 33% is lean body mass your new weight is 130lbs but lean body mass is now only 90 lbs. In this scenario, starting body fat percent was 37 and ending body fat percent is 31. This is still not desirable for most people and if effort had been made to conserve muscle mass, body fat percent would be 23%.

If, what the person had wanted to do was get down to a body fat percent around 23%, they would still have a lot of weight to lose assuming that 1/3 of all the weight they lose would be lean body mass. Assuming the person again lost 15 lbs and 5 lbs of that was lean muscle mass, they are now at 115 lbs and 26% body fat. The person has to lose more and more weight to attain their actual goal of a lean look and lower body fat percent.

In all fairness, this can happen at any calorie or deficit level. At lower calorie levels, it is much easier to neglect proper nutrition especially appropriate protein levels. However, doing so will only hurt someone not help them. If you keep your protein levels at appropriate levels (.8-1g/ lb lbm) and practice strength training, you will be better able to maintain lean body mass at any calorie level.

ibshell

Now that you've lost the weight and are feeling better, to keep your metabolism from slowing and to either continue to lose weight or maintain, remember that it's not so much HOW MUCH you eat as WHAT you eat. A regular exercise program and diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats are a wonderful way to keep the body nutritionally fed and burning fat. I love to view my friend's diaries to get fresh ideas of what I can be eating. Variety is so important to realistically believe one can continue a consistant healthy diet!