In the process of getting out of starvation mode

jamie31 · August 2010

So for the past year and a half I have done really well losing weight, i have lost a total of 134lbs. This weight loss has come to a complete standstill however. After talking to a few trainers I came to the realization that YES my body was most likely in starvation mode... Here are some stats to kinda back that up

According to MFP for me to lose .5 lbs a week (without exercise) i would need to eat 1950 calories.

I exercise ALOT ( we're talking about 3 hours a day here!) and burn anywhere from 1500-2200 cals a day ( just from exercise)

SO with that added on MFP says I should be eating 3450-4150 cals a day.. Now i dont know about anyone else but I just cant eat that much food. I normally eat about 2000-2200 calories a day

With that said I have been creating a larger deficit and when you do the math my deficit comes out to another 1250-1950 DEFICIT! woops... never really looked at the math that way.... I was never to tired to workout and I never felt too weak!

So anyways last week i decided to eat more and have been taking in about 2500 calories a day... Well when i got on the scale I just about had a heart attack when i saw i had gained 7 lbs!!! I understand the concept that my body is probably holding on to those extra calories because it thinks it will start starving.

I guess my main question/ worry is how long and I going to be gaining weight? I have worked so very hard to get where i am and I do not want to see my weight jump up. Am i doing something wrong with upping my calories?

tommygirl15 · August 2010

First of all, congrats on your weight loss!!

I can't believe I would ever say this to someone, but I think maybe you are over exercising? Unless you are in training for a marathon or something, is there really a need to exercise 3 hours a day? If you lower your exercise, you can lower your calorie deficit. It does seem pretty crazy to have to eat 3450-4150 cals a day! Do trainers or nutrition specialists at the gym have any helpful information on what you can do?

hroush · August 2010

Well, think of it this way, if you were actually starving and all of the sudden found this extra stash of food, what would you do? Your body says I am going to hoard this for all it is worth. It takes a couple weeks to get out of starvation mode, especially for as long as it sounds you been in it. At this point, you have to gain weight to lose weight. There was a great article on here a week ago from a trainer that had a girl that weighed 185 lbs, but only consumed 800 calories a day. She gained weight for 4 weeks until she leveled off and started to lose.

Vanessa1977 · August 2010

I don't know the answer to your question but I want to appluad you for your weight loss and the trnasformation you have done on your body.

jrich1 · August 2010

I would say if you up your cals and get your body back in wack you will start not losing, try protein powder or something that is high in cals to pack on some extra cals to offset that much exercise

DJH510 · August 2010

what do you do for three hours that you count as exercise, and how do you track how many calories you have used?

kdiamond · August 2010

First off, CONGRATS! That is completely amazing!

A wise person once told me, you can't out train diet. Meaning, no matter how much you work out, you cannot create the same deficit you can from diet. That being said, why are you pushing yourself to 2-3 hours a day? That is excessive no doubt. You can create a deficit from diet and working out a normal amount per day.

I also do not think you are in 'starvation mode', or what I call a slowed metabolism. That only happens from undereating, which you are not doing despite the training.

I don't like the way this site calculates calories, it is too broad and doesn't do it accurately enough for each person's body type. Start here for a better guide to your calorie intake, and change the goals on MFP to custom and input your own. I would create a deficit no more than 250 calories per day to start...anything more than that is asking for trouble IMO and is hard to keep up on.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Or this one if you want to include measurements, makes it a little more accurate.

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

XFitMojoMom · August 2010

Hi - I'll be really interested in reading about how all this works out for you!

Similarly, last year the same happened with me. I saw a nutritionist who felt 1200 calories was not enough and Rx'd I increase to 1650. The nutritionist explained to me that I would see a 5 or 6 pound gain, but once my "furnace" got warmed up again, I would just start shedding the weight again. Well, I gained 13 pounds over 3 months.
I had more tests run and was diagnosed with insulin resistance. Put on meds for it, I suddenly lost 20 pounds (the 13 I gained and another 7). Once again, back to being stuck - I can't seem to lose weight again!

Have you considered getting some bloodwork done just to make sure everything is level. Losing such a huge amount of weight does impact your hormones. It could just be that they are adjusting to your new weight.

slimline1 · August 2010

If I were you I would reduce my calorie intake bit by bit, as well as cutting down on exercise. Your initial idea to increase your calorie intake was the right one. However, I think you over compensated slightly and perhaps just needed to add the calories a little at a time and see how it went until you found the right formula.
Even so, I think you have done extremely well to have lost the weight you did, I am struggling to lose 2 stone, managed 9lb up to now and still plodding along.
Good luck - Carol

jamie31 · August 2010

Hi - I'll be really interested in reading about how all this works out for you!

Similarly, last year the same happened with me. I saw a nutritionist who felt 1200 calories was not enough and Rx'd I increase to 1650. The nutritionist explained to me that I would see a 5 or 6 pound gain, but once my "furnace" got warmed up again, I would just start shedding the weight again. Well, I gained 13 pounds over 3 months.
I had more tests run and was diagnosed with insulin resistance. Put on meds for it, I suddenly lost 20 pounds (the 13 I gained and another 7). Once again, back to being stuck - I can't seem to lose weight again!

Have you considered getting some bloodwork done just to make sure everything is level. Losing such a huge amount of weight does impact your hormones. It could just be that they are adjusting to your new weight.

I have had blood work done and everything seems to be normal. So i guess that it not an issue

bellinachuchina · August 2010

First off, CONGRATS! That is completely amazing!

A wise person once told me, you can't out train diet. Meaning, no matter how much you work out, you cannot create the same deficit you can from diet.

Agree!

jamie31 · August 2010

First off, CONGRATS! That is completely amazing!

A wise person once told me, you can't out train diet. Meaning, no matter how much you work out, you cannot create the same deficit you can from diet. That being said, why are you pushing yourself to 2-3 hours a day? That is excessive no doubt. You can create a deficit from diet and working out a normal amount per day.

I also do not think you are in 'starvation mode', or what I call a slowed metabolism. That only happens from undereating, which you are not doing despite the training.

I don't like the way this site calculates calories, it is too broad and doesn't do it accurately enough for each person's body type. Start here for a better guide to your calorie intake, and change the goals on MFP to custom and input your own. I would create a deficit no more than 250 calories per day to start...anything more than that is asking for trouble IMO and is hard to keep up on.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Or this one if you want to include measurements, makes it a little more accurate.

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

Well i went to the free dieting website and it say for me to lose weight i need about 2400 cals a day. So that is just about where I am at currently for calories

LotusF1ower · August 2010

So for the past year and a half I have done really well losing weight, i have lost a total of 134lbs. This weight loss has come to a complete standstill however. After talking to a few trainers I came to the realization that YES my body was most likely in starvation mode... Here are some stats to kinda back that up

According to MFP for me to lose .5 lbs a week (without exercise) i would need to eat 1950 calories.

I exercise ALOT ( we're talking about 3 hours a day here!) and burn anywhere from 1500-2200 cals a day ( just from exercise)

SO with that added on MFP says I should be eating 3450-4150 cals a day.. Now i dont know about anyone else but I just cant eat that much food. I normally eat about 2000-2200 calories a day

With that said I have been creating a larger deficit and when you do the math my deficit comes out to another 1250-1950 DEFICIT! woops... never really looked at the math that way.... I was never to tired to workout and I never felt too weak!

So anyways last week i decided to eat more and have been taking in about 2500 calories a day... Well when i got on the scale I just about had a heart attack when i saw i had gained 7 lbs!!! I understand the concept that my body is probably holding on to those extra calories because it thinks it will start starving.

I guess my main question/ worry is how long and I going to be gaining weight? I have worked so very hard to get where i am and I do not want to see my weight jump up. Am i doing something wrong with upping my calories?

Then don't up your calories by that much. Your body is not holding onto anything, you have just given it more calories than you are using up. Your body does not think it is starving, it knows you feed it.

You have two choices, go back to common sense and maintain your weight once you have lost those lbs again or take notice of all the hype regarding starvation mode, feed your body thousands of calories per day and put the weight back on.

Personally, I would use the common sense version, you have been weight watching for a while now and know the ropes, be very wary of all the "scientific evidence" that keeps rearing its head.

If something works for you in the first place, why change it? It was not broken and you were doing just fine, seems such a shame to revert to somebody else's ideas and stick the weight back on really doesn't it :ohwell:

theresa2002 · August 2010

Im just starting out, but I think you have to trick your body into thinking you are feeding it by eating smaller meals through out the day.

kdiamond · August 2010

Well i went to the free dieting website and it say for me to lose weight i need about 2400 cals a day. So that is just about where I am at currently for calories

Is that taking into consideration such a huge energy burn? My guess is it is. I wouldn't add another 1500 on top of that. Even the most advanced bodybuilder guys don't eat that much. I'm not surprised you're gaining weight...

jamie31 · August 2010

Well i went to the free dieting website and it say for me to lose weight i need about 2400 cals a day. So that is just about where I am at currently for calories

Is that taking into consideration such a huge energy burn? My guess is it is. I wouldn't add another 1500 on top of that. Even the most advanced bodybuilder guys don't eat that much. I'm not surprised you're gaining weight...

No that was using the option of " exercise 5 times a week"

I am also 6'2" so i do know that I will need more calories than someone who is say 5'5".

So i take it you think I should just stick to 2000 cals consumed per day?

kdiamond · August 2010

Well being 6'2" is a bit different (damn woman!), however I agree to stick to around the 2000 calorie mark for a couple of weeks and see how that goes. If after 2 weeks nothing has changed, bump it up a little (not 1500 calories though) and try that out for a couple of weeks.

jamie31 · August 2010

Well being 6'2" is a bit different (damn woman!), however I agree to stick to around the 2000 calorie mark for a couple of weeks and see how that goes. If after 2 weeks nothing has changed, bump it up a little (not 1500 calories though) and try that out for a couple of weeks.

I think you may have misread my original post or knowing me it was worded awkward. lol. I only bumped my calorie intake up about 200-500 a day, some days it was only bumped up 100 cals a day . I think I stated that MFP wanted me to consume about 3500 to 4000 a day based on my calories burned during exercise ( I do use a heart rate monitor with a chest strap)

SHBoss1673 · August 2010

Firstly jamie, congrats.

Second, while I'm neither a girl, nor am I 26 (*sigh*), I am 6'2", and relatively thin for a guy (good shape for a 36 year old guy). I am at maintenance at 2700 calories a day, and while that is true, a girl who works out 2 to 3 hours a day 5 days a week and is 26 will have a very high metabolism to begin with. This means that YES, you need a lot of calories, probably between 2600 and 3000 to maintain (not including exercise). I don't know who said guys don't need 4000 when they are active, but when I am training for a 15k, I am at about 4500 a day (thats for less than 2 hours of road work), and I have never gained weight doing it, anecdotal, maybe, but I know plenty of runners, and we all train the same, and most are similar body types to me. FYI - Never EVER model your diet after a body builder (unless you are body building your self of course), they do very difficult and harsh things to their body when training, both with exercise and foods.

Anyway I digress. When you change from what essentially is a Very Low Calorie Diet to a more normal deficit, even if you do it gradually, there may be a small gain, but you need to do it slowly, usually I recommend 50 to 100 calorie shifts every TWO weeks, sometimes every three depending on how your body reacts. 1 week is just too fast for most people, it doesn't give your body enough time. The body won't even react to a calorie increase for between 3 to 5 days, and when it does, it takes many days to change, so 7 days is a very short time to adjust to a higher calorie level. Even better is 2 weeks up, 2 weeks hold...etc. the body hates change, it's a good thing to remember.

kdiamond · August 2010

I don't know who said guys don't need 4000 when they are active, but when I am training for a 15k, I am at about 4500 a day (thats for less than 2 hours of road work), and I have never gained weight doing it, anecdotal, maybe, but I know plenty of runners, and we all train the same, and most are similar body types to me. FYI - Never EVER model your diet after a body builder (unless you are body building your self of course), they do very difficult and harsh things to their body when training, both with exercise and foods.

Was me who said this before I knew she was 6'2" LOL. However my point was unless there is a reason to exercise THAT much (like as you said, training for something) than she would be spinning her wheels to try to lose weight since she would have to increase her calories to keep up with that amount of training.

And no, I wouldn't model my diet after a body builder either. I have seen some crazy things, and most of them extreme cycle their calories in very unhealthy ways.

I think you may have misread my original post or knowing me it was worded awkward. lol. I only bumped my calorie intake up about 200-500 a day, some days it was only bumped up 100 cals a day . I think I stated that MFP wanted me to consume about 3500 to 4000 a day based on my calories burned during exercise ( I do use a heart rate monitor with a chest strap)

What I meant was not to add an additional 1500 calories a day to your diet, because even if you know the amount of calories you're burning that is such an extreme amount of food to eat. Did you mention why you train so much? Maybe I missed it, I'll go back and re-read.

jamie31 · August 2010

Firstly jamie, congrats.

Second, while I'm neither a girl, nor am I 26 (*sigh*), I am 6'2", and relatively thin for a guy (good shape for a 36 year old guy). I am at maintenance at 2700 calories a day, and while that is true, a girl who works out 2 to 3 hours a day 5 days a week and is 26 will have a very high metabolism to begin with. This means that YES, you need a lot of calories, probably between 2600 and 3000 to maintain (not including exercise). I don't know who said guys don't need 4000 when they are active, but when I am training for a 15k, I am at about 4500 a day (thats for less than 2 hours of road work), and I have never gained weight doing it, anecdotal, maybe, but I know plenty of runners, and we all train the same, and most are similar body types to me. FYI - Never EVER model your diet after a body builder (unless you are body building your self of course), they do very difficult and harsh things to their body when training, both with exercise and foods.

Anyway I digress. When you change from what essentially is a Very Low Calorie Diet to a more normal deficit, even if you do it gradually, there may be a small gain, but you need to do it slowly, usually I recommend 50 to 100 calorie shifts every TWO weeks, sometimes every three depending on how your body reacts. 1 week is just too fast for most people, it doesn't give your body enough time. The body won't even react to a calorie increase for between 3 to 5 days, and when it does, it takes many days to change, so 7 days is a very short time to adjust to a higher calorie level. Even better is 2 weeks up, 2 weeks hold...etc. the body hates change, it's a good thing to remember.

Thanks for the advice and info. I think i will just up my cals to 2100 for a couple weeks and then increase by 100 every 2 weeks after. I am also slowly ( and i mean very slowly) lowering the time that I work out. I am not really training for anything, although I am pretty active in softball, but I am just one of those people who enjoys working out. I would like to eventually maintain my weight and workout about 90 minutes a day ( 45 in the morning and 45 at night).

In the process of getting out of starvation mode

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