Question? Not enuf calories = slowed metabolism.. really?

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Replies

  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 962 Member
    Further to the last post... a slowed metabolism will only show up later on when you stop eating such super-low calories and try to eat normally again. Your metabolism will have learned how to function on next to nothing, reducing bodily functions, growth, bone mass and shrinking your lean muscle in order to find enough fuel to support your brain and core functions. Increased calories will lead to weight gain as your body learns how to be healthy again.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    Well everyone IS different, but this was my experience... right after having my second child, I weighed in at a 192 (and I'm only 5'2") so that's about 60 lbs over weight for my height... but I had already made up my mind that after giving birth, it was time to get serious about loosing weight!! So I cut my calories back to around 500 a day (sumtimes even fewer) and just did treadmill & occasionally elliptical for about 4-5 hours a week... Now I know that wasnt healthy... but in doing so, I steadily & rapidly lost weight!! In just a month and half, I had lost almost 50 lbs and was down to 145!!...which is on the very high end of a "normal weight range" for my height... (and also the weight that I always tend to get stuck at with very restrictive dieting...) lol
    So do i think that eating less than 1200 cal a day will slow or halt ur metabolism?? Strictly based on MY (unhealthy) weight loss experience while being 60lbs overweight, Absolutely not!! And if ur currently satisfied with around 1000 cal a day and loosing 2lbs a week, I think adding the other 200 would only slow ur weight loss if anything.. at least until u become within ur normal weight range, and then ur diet may need sum tweaking if u want to continue loosing weight beyond that point**.. (personally, I do, because I'd prefer to be on the lower end of my "normal weight range"... but that's just me)

    And as for what KIND of calories you eat, (with my experience) i don't think they're all created equal. because I've noticed that when most of my calories for the day come from drinks, there's a lesser number on the scale the next morning, as opposed to when most of my calories come from food... and lyk for instance, if you were to eat 1200 cal of something high in carbs like pasta, I think that's gonna take a lot longer to burn off than 1200 cal of sumthing lyk fruits & veggies... but idk, sum people say it doesn't matter and for them, it might not, but MY body seems to react differently to different types of calories ...so u just have to figure out wut works best for u and go with that!! =)

    ** Now for those of u who would lyk to know about my experience with trying to loose weight while being 10-15lbs above my "normal weight range", (while everyone is different and keep in mind that I'm now VERY sedentary and pretty much NEVER work out...) I've still found that cutting my calories way back has helped me loose weight, and loose it fast!! Only to a certain point though... I've cut calories back to lyk 500 a day (some days fewer) and lost about 15 lbs in 2 weeks (just bringing me down to that retched 145 mark lol)... then, nothin!! =\ So I think that's about how long (or either the weight at which) it takes MY body to figure out that I'm starving it, and shut my metabolism off lol But wut I've done after that is bring my calories back up by a few hundred, sum days eat around 1,200 and of course that'll make me gain a FEW pounds back, but not nearly everything that I lost... then my weight will usually be stuck at around 148-150 for a few weeks or so before my metabolism will adjust to my new weight, and allow for more rapid weight loss from restrictive dieting... (I've currently gotten down to 135 from following this diet routine.. (NOT THAT IT'S A HEALTHY ONE, I kno!! lol) but hopefully I'll be able to reach my goal of 115 reguardless!! =) So (strictly for the purpose of weight loss) in my opinion, if your eating fewer than 1200 cal a day AND have STOPPED loosing weight by doing so, then your metabolism has prolly shut down and u need to start eating a little more to pick it back up.

    But as for working out... it pretty much works lyk a drug... (as for me anyway)  the more I do it, the more I have to, to get the same effect (in terms of weight loss) lyk if I've just started working out, I'll loose weight like crazy, AT FIRST... but then my body becomes accustomed to it, and I'll have to start working out longer, and harder, in order to keep loosing the same amount of weight and honestly, that's just sumthin I'm too lazy to do!! lol however, I have noticed tho, (when I'm at heavier weights) the same work out routine has more of an effect and for a longer period of time. So I actually think that (when in a "normal weight range" and accompanied with a low cal diet) exercising only when u've stopped loosing weight from dieting will have more of an effect and take less effort than vigorous daily exercise that u're body will just become accustomed to and need more of.

    So: (and this is just MY personal, unhealthy opinion to weight loss) lol

    But If your substantially over weight:
    a low cal diet alone will drop pounds pretty quick without slowing ur metabolism... and when accompanied with exercise, will shed pounds lyk CrAzY fAsT!! =D

    If ur a normal weight: Only exercising to fill in the weight loss gap of a low cal diet will have a quicker and more effortless weight loss effect.
    Or if ur like me and just never want to exercise... fluctuating between low cal and normal cal diet will of course take longer than ^^, (because ur weight will SLIGHTLY elevate when eating normally again) but it will still be on a downward path (such as going down 3 stairs, and up 2, down 3, up 2... you'll still get to the bottom where u wanna be, it just takes a little longer =) but will still be more effective than just remaining on a strictly low cal diet ..which (when already at a normal weight) usually shuts ur metabolism down, and prevents u from loosing ANYTHING!!

    So in conclusion, (finally lol =) I hope this EXTREMELY lengthy explanation has helped to answer sum questions without offending ne1!! =) but pls remember, this is just MY experience with QUICK weight loss techniques that work for ME and I'm not suggesting that any of this is healthy, or should be replicated by anyone, in fact, it really shouldn't be!!.. but good luck to everyone in their weight loss journey and if u have any questions, pls feel free to message me!! =)


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    Honey, the reason why the scale shows a bigger number when you get your calories from fruits and vegetables than from drinks THE NEXT DAY is because they are still digesting, that isn't fat weight honey. Liquid calories are absorbed into the body much quicker.

    It's nice to see such a quick loss in such a short period but what happens when you eat normally again? Or are you planning on eating 500 calories the rest of your life? Very unhealthy, and you won't get the nutrients your body needs.
  • swfloridagal
    swfloridagal Posts: 50
    This has been a GREAT topic for discussion. I am the one who asked the question initially and am glad I did because i have learned so much from all of you!

    Because I have significant health issues I am going to seek the guidance of a nutritionist and see what becomes of that. In the meantime, I think the concensus is to:

    1 - choose nutritious foods whenever possible regardless of whether their caloric make-up is the same or not

    2 - Thru either exercise, reducing calories or both, as long as their is a deficit of calories for the day (liquid or solid or otherwise), you should burn up more than you take in creating a deficiit.

    3 - The question still remains if we need to eat a "basline" of calories per day to be sure we don't "turn off" or slow down our metabolism accidentally.

    I'm going to learn what I can from a professional and report back when i do. We are all doing a fabulous job together of trying to be healthier, leaner and stronger. Hip Hip Hooray for us all! And thanks everybody for your posts. I enjoyed reading every one!
  • purple_potion
    purple_potion Posts: 4 Member
    No, HUN, that's not wut I was sayin... wut I said was, FOR ME, all calories aren't created equal, and I didn't compare liquids to veggies... lol I was comparing veggies to pasta (or carbs) I was sayin if I eat 1200 cal of pasta, that's gonna cause more weight gain than 1200 of veggies, and I was just using liquids as an example for those who say that all cals are equal... liquid cals obviously don't cause the same weight gain as food cals do... so why would people think that all food cals are the same?? (for me, they're not)
    Also, no, I dont plan to eat 500 cal a day for the rest of my life... I said that has been a quick way for me to loose a substantial amount of weight in a short amount of time ..AND even when I DID start eating NORMALLY, (and by "normally" I dont mean the same excessive amount of food that caused me to become overweight in the first place), it didn't cause me to gain all that weight back, just a FEW pounds, (that I was even able to loose at a later time)
    And yeh, I recognize & even stressed throughout the whole reply that it's NOT A HEALTHY WAY TO LOOSE WEIGHT and that I don't recommend it... unless u just wanna disregard ur health for the sake of faster results...which for ME, (although it shouldn't have been) was totally worth it ...because the results DID stick!! =)
  • purple_potion
    purple_potion Posts: 4 Member
    No, HUN, that's not wut I was sayin... wut I said was, FOR ME, all calories aren't created equal, and I didn't compare liquids to veggies... lol I was comparing veggies to pasta (or carbs) I was sayin if I eat 1200 cal of pasta, that's gonna cause more weight gain than 1200 of veggies, and I was just using liquids as an example for those who say that all cals are equal... liquid cals obviously don't cause the same weight gain as food cals do... so why would people think that all food cals are the same?? (for me, they're not)
    Also, no, I dont plan to eat 500 cal a day for the rest of my life... I said that has been a quick way for me to loose a substantial amount of weight in a short amount of time ..AND even when I DID start eating NORMALLY, (and by "normally" I dont mean the same excessive amount of food that caused me to become overweight in the first place), it didn't cause me to gain all that weight back, just a FEW pounds, (that I was even able to loose at a later time)
    And yeh, I recognize & even stressed throughout the whole reply that it's NOT A HEALTHY WAY TO LOOSE WEIGHT and that I don't recommend it... unless u just wanna disregard ur health for the sake of faster results...which for ME, (although it shouldn't have been) was totally worth it ...because the results DID stick!! =)
  • 70davis
    70davis Posts: 348 Member
    Bump
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Good info here on how to find a realistic calorie goal to stay healthy while you loose.
  • 70davis
    70davis Posts: 348 Member
    Bump
  • ntarrence
    ntarrence Posts: 21 Member
    I am just starting this program this week and am not someone who does a lot of serious dieting. I am almost 40...barely over 5 feet and would like to take off 20-25 pounds. Anything more than that I feel is unrealistic for me to keep off. I feel very frustrated with all the information I have been researching on the internet..because there are too many opinions of what the proper way to diet and burn off fat. I do think the fitness pal app is something I would like to try and not intimidated to log the diary. I really like seeing the breakdown of what I am eating...and find myself getting surprised at certain foods I thought were ok. Few questions though...since I have been logging I have been only taken in 700 calories tops. Partly because I am taking Phentermine and am not hungry but also because I am afraid to eat. I know I keep reading that my body will go into starvation mode and slow my metabolism down and lose more slowly. I also walk a very fast 5 miles daily for excercise. Someone messaged me and told me that too much Cardio burns muscle and I was working against myself and should be doing strength instead. I need suggestions on what I should be eating daily...or the right way to excercise. I am trying to be realistic with my diet and excercise..something I can stick to for life. So with the amount of hours I work a week...and busy sports and school schedules...people who are telling me to just eat organic clean foods, no dairy, no wheat, no artificial sweetners, no processed foods....just makes me frustrated and confused. I get afraid to eat because I think I would rather not eat at all then eat the wrong foods...and need some major advice of what to eat. Is there examples on here of good food diaries? Do I need to just watch the calories and not worry about all the others balanced? Just need advice getting started.
  • mingecrackers
    mingecrackers Posts: 152
    Bump for later :3
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,328 Member
    For example: If I eat 1000 calories and see I'm short by 200 calories. Does it matter if I eat ice cream for 200? Or if I eat grilled cheese for 200? Or if I eat hummus and pita for 200? As long as its 200 does it matter where it comes from in terms of meeting my caloric intake for the day?:frown:

    I go by the carb count....the lower the carb, the more likely I will eat it. However, I am not averse to eating some ice cream if I can fit it into my carb numbers. I only count carbs and calories and I have 60 pounds to lose as well. And I want to lose SLOWLY so the weight is more likely to stay off.
  • ktsmom430
    ktsmom430 Posts: 1,100 Member
    This is a very helpful topic, thanks for all the information.
    Everyone is different, right? My metabolism is naturally different from yours. Ok, so I agree that under 1200 calories may be unhealthy for some, but couldn't it be ok for others? Calories are calories. Wouldn't eating healthy calories (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, grains, unprocessed foods) be more beneficial to most people's bodies, than eating 1200 calories of unhealthy foods?
    What about supplementing food with vitamins and other dietary supplements (fish oil or whatever you may be taking), would that be beneficial for some people choosing to eat under 1200/cal?
    Many here have already made drastic cuts in their calorie intake from what they were eating prior to our changes in caloric intake, why is 1200 the magic number for everyone?
  • NocturnalGirl
    NocturnalGirl Posts: 1,762
    I'll keep it short.

    I underate and yes it slowed down my metabolism. However... 1200 is NOT a magic number. Everyone needs a different amount and to say that as long as you eat 1200 it's okay is wrong. So if someone eats 1199 they're in danger are they? Not the case.

    And yeah you're right, where it comes from doesn't matter, you'll still lose weight but it's a good idea to keep your macros in check.
  • pikselinka
    pikselinka Posts: 154 Member
    "Not enuf calories = slowed metabolism.. really?"

    Not true at all from my experience, less food = more efficient digestion, since your stomach doesn't have any problems in taking the food apart. Thought some foods take longer to digest, it depends on what you eat and in which quantity.
  • pavingnewpaths
    pavingnewpaths Posts: 367 Member
    I ate less than 1200 for about two months and was losing perfectly fine. Then I hit a plateau that was so obviously due to my lack of eating. Upped my calorie intake to my TDEE for about three weeks (did not lose anything as expected but thankfully didn't gain) and then I dropped back to 1200 but now i'm making sure to stay at 1200 and if I find myself being a bit under, I eat something small.

    It might work at the moment but you'll hit a wall eventually, which is not fun and definitely puts a damper on the "good" progress you've been doing. Just eat the proper amount, I don't think eating an extra slice of bread or a cup cereal will really be that much of an obstacle aha.

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