HELP!

It would be easier to help if you would open your diary.

Open your diary to the public if you want more helpful feedback. It does sound like your calorie goal is too low.

(Double post)

Don't worry, we all go through this. The ravenous feeling right now is actually the best feeling when it comes to losing weight, it's how you know your metabolism is switched "on" and craving energy, instead of being in a more conservative stance.

What I mean is, our bodies were made to adapt. From summer where food abounds, to winter where everything is scarce, and the general cycles of having and going without, we evolved to survive. When we start taking control of ourselves instead of eating as we please, we trigger the response in our body to conserve.

Our hormones shift, leptin levels drop, cortisol rises, insulin levels retreat to a lower baseline and spike higher after meals, when you maintain a cut while your metabolism is high from eating at maintenance and above and working out, there's a REAL deficit being created there, a significant lack of energy needed to sustain your day to day activities while still serving the goal of protecting your stores of fat.

Fat is the body's only defense against starvation, times of going without.

The problem is, when we cut for long enough, our body adapts to the cut, and our hormones shift to limit metabolism and limit fat usage. When you cut too many calories too fast, some people feel tired, run down. What happens is what a lot of people refer to as "starvation mode" on this site and in these forums. While starvation mode exists, it's not quite what people think it is. What happens to 99% of people on MFP is that their body adapts, and their metabolism, the base metabolic rate slows by about 20%

The BMR is how many calories you would need were you in a coma. A lot of people base their calorie cut off of how many calories their bodies burn through any given day, and subtract however many calories per day for a specific goal, like 1 pound a week. To put it simply:

To lose 1 pound of weight, you must eat -3500 calories below what you need for the week, 3500 calories = 1 pound

For a person who maintains weight at 1500 calories per day, a shorter person who doesn't exercise, losing 1 pound a week would mean that you would have to somehow cut 3500 calories, or -500 calories per day over the 7 days of the week. Most people can't stick to that harsh of a cut, and they eat more but add exercise to make up the difference in the deficit.

Sticking with the 1500 person, a lot of people tell you to take your daily calorie needs, and take -20% off. For our guy that's -300 calories per day.

If you do that, day in and day out, week after week, what you'll see is that you stop losing. You aren't in starvation mode, your metabolism has simply slowed. A couple of studies out there have shown that the reduction in metabolic rate is somewhere between 15-20% less. For the -20% followers out there, that reduction equals your entire cut. Couple that with calorie counts that might be wrong, estimated food amounts, untracked and unlogged calories consumed, or eating a forkful or two more than what you have logged or weighed...

It's no wonder that people can follow the plan, stick to what's prescribed, hit their calorie counts more often than not, and see NO change in the scale. The same adaptation happens when "exercise" becomes doing the treadmill or elliptical for an hour every day. Your body changes, you gain muscle endurance, your cells become better at burning fuel at a rate needed to sustain a run. Running for an hour at first can leave you feeling dead, but when the run is no longer a challenge to you, it's no longer a challenge to your body either. It doesn't use as much energy as it used to to go the same distance. Your running muscles are fully adapted, fully built and hardened against the shock of 60 minutes of constant use.

That's why I'm an extremist. I want to CUT the calories, get the weight off, and move on to doing something else, like maintaining and working on building strength. I like being able to wow a girl with muscles or being able to pick her up.

I try and use every tool in the tool box, I use Intermittent Fasting most of the time, I eat mostly all at once, I enjoy that full feeling. I use 24 and 36 hour fasts too, for when I want to challenge myself and give myself a sense of overwhelming accomplishment. Sometimes I graze through my days, some days I drink a ton of water, and others I don't worry about it. Some days I even go off the reservation and eat as much as I want, all day, and double my calorie needs. Chicken wings and beer taste great to me, I love the burn.

But through it all, I weight train. I work with the basic lifts, Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press, with Curls and Overhead Presses thrown in for good measure. I like working on pull ups too because it's a functional movement that I'll need throughout my life, like climbing out of a pool without a ladder without looking like a buffoon. The key to any training is progression.

If you can lift 135 pounds 8 times in a row, and that's your max, and you never step the weight up or keep trying to lift more, you won't get stronger. With runners, you have to increase the distance, or the incline, or run with a weighted vest, you have to keep moving the goalposts. They aren't goals, they are markers along your path to what you want from fitness, whether it's to look better or perform better at a sport or to participate in marathons. They aren't goalposts, they are markers with flags on top.

Make fitness and eating healthy fit into your life. There is no set way to do this. If you don't eat breakfast, or aren't hungry for it, don't force it on yourself because that's the common belief. It frontloads your day with calories, and if you aren't hungry for it, it won't satisfy you, leading you to go without later in your day.

If you like carbs, eat them. If you like doing the low carb approach, have fun! If you like eating out at restaurants... fine, but know that the calorie counts on the menu were derived from test kitchens, and what's produced by the worker on the line at each store is, more often than not, made with more calories than the tested meal. Just one extra ladle of ranch here, a few seconds longer in the fryer there, improperly draining oil off fried foods, you can see how it's full of pitfalls. Make your fitness and eating goals fit your life, it won't seem like work, it'll happen easier, and you'll worry less about it. Just follow the roadmap that everyone has known for millennia:

You look great Bob, what have you been doing?

Well, this summer I started working a construction job, and my wife started gardening. She packs my lunch from home and we eat from the garden more often than not for dinner. Which reminds me, I should take her out as a special thank you for packing my lunch and being my better half, but thanks for the compliment John!