The reason why starving yourself WILL NOT work.

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  • abby459
    abby459 Posts: 748 Member
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    great post...but how do you know what the right amount of calories should be??? I have a lot of trouble with this....

    When you enter your details into MFP it will generate a rough estimate of what you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Once you stay within 100 to 200 cals of this you're safe enough, just don't eat under 1200!

    Ok, thanks...MFP has me at 1200/day.....I am only 5'1" and weigh 149 right now. I am trying to get down to around 125. I wasnt sure if 1200/day was right for me, I seemed to have stopped losing the weight. I do eat right up to my 1200, sometimes over if I worked out that day. I never feel starving or anything, just wanted to know if I was doing the right thing...
  • kylakesgal
    kylakesgal Posts: 952 Member
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    bump and thanks for sharing:) I burn quite a few calories but always try to net at least 1200 calories. Eating good healthy foods to nourish our bodies is so important especially when trying to lose weight!! It might be slower than we like but it's the healthy way to do it:)
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    I wish my mother could understand that. She is 5'4, 315 lbs. She eats one, sometimes two meals a day.
    The number of meals don't matter, it's the number of calories that matters. If you need to eat 2,000 calories a day, and you decide to eat it all in one meal, that's just fine. A lot of people have lifestyles where they eat all their calories with a 4 or 6 hour window.
  • anathelia5
    anathelia5 Posts: 2
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    Thank you for posting this!! I've been struggling with convincing myself that eating 1200 calories a day would work. I guess after starving myself for so long, it's going to take my body awhile to get out of the starvation phase.
  • colbiegirl
    colbiegirl Posts: 138
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    This is truly eye opening. It's just the push I need because I too fall into this category. I don't feel like I'm starved, but my calories show it sometimes! Not only can you lose muscle, but also my hair has thinned and nails yellowed and cracked. I'm working on getting up to 1,000 to start with because it's difficult to add so many extra calories you're not used to a day, but once I get to 1,000, I'm going to keep working towards 1,200 and feel good about it. Thank you for posting!
  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
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    Well I must be the only one that thinks this is BS. For one, anyone that says fat weighs less than muscle AND takes up more space needs to be questioned. The body will burn muscle but only if you are just laying around not doing anything, if you exercise the body will burn fat long before it burns your muscle up for fuel. There are many GOOD reasons not to starve yourself, this is not one of them.
  • uhhmandaa
    uhhmandaa Posts: 12
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    I'm guessing the protein in your muscles is easier, and takes less effort to convert to energy?
  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
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    I'm guessing the protein in your muscles is easier, and takes less effort to convert to energy?

    Nope
  • carmenstop1
    carmenstop1 Posts: 210 Member
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    Bump!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Well I must be the only one that thinks this is BS. For one, anyone that says fat weighs less than muscle AND takes up more space needs to be questioned. The body will burn muscle but only if you are just laying around not doing anything, if you exercise the body will burn fat long before it burns your muscle up for fuel. There are many GOOD reasons not to starve yourself, this is not one of them.

    Not true at all. Your body absolutely burns muscle while you are active. Your body burns carbs first, then a combination of fat and protein. Since it's impossible for your body to store protein, it breaks down muscle to burn.
  • cheshirechic
    cheshirechic Posts: 489 Member
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    Thank you for posting. I underate severely in undergrad and sometimes, when I feel like I'm not making progress, I'm tempted to do this again. It's good to be reminded that I'm doing the right thing for my body now. <3
  • valie10001
    valie10001 Posts: 1
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    I have been starving myself for 3 days and I lost 15 pounds but instead of eating I'm drinking a lot of fluids and yeah starving yourself is not a good thing to do and it's actually really painful. I have really bad headaches my stomach hurts and literally every 10 seconds my stomach starts growling and it's so embarrassing when I'm in class and my stomach just starts growling and everyone just gives me these wired looks. Starving yourself is like a habit once you start you can't stop. Just remember if your gonna starve yourself drink a lot of fluids!
  • DSTMT
    DSTMT Posts: 417 Member
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    I didn't write this, but finally I believe 100% that it's true. Im sticking to over 1200 a day from now on!! This has opened my eyes.

    source - http://stayfitspo.tumblr.com/


    It’s hard to explain to someone who has nearly or fully starved themselves for a few days that what they’re doing isn’t effective. The proof is right there on the scale, right? Two pounds, five pounds, ten pounds flushed from their bodies like that, simply from not eating.

    Wrong. Losing real weight from starving is physically impossible. Your body absolutely can not lose that much weight in a week. It’s not because you weren’t working hard enough, or didn’t starve for long enough. It’s because you can’t do it, just like you can’t grow gills and live underwater like a fish.

    Here’s what happens when your body is starved of nutrients:

    Your body realizes that it needs energy to continue to function, to blink and breathe and scratch your forehead. All of this requires power source, and it has to get it from somewhere. When you don’t give your body the energy it needs from food, it cannibalizes itself as an energy source. The prime directive of the body is that it must have energy at any cost.

    The protein in your muscles is the only energy source a starving person has, and since you aren’t eating, it’s the only choice you are left with. Your body will begin to destroy muscle cells to release that protein so it can convert it into energy. Muscles are about 70% water, so when a muscle cell is destroyed, that water is released and eventually excreted. That’s your weight loss.

    Your body didn’t convert any lumpy fat into lean muscle. It didn’t begin to use fat as an energy source. It didn’t just magically get rid of three or four pounds of pure fat. It’s going to keep you alive at any cost, and that means burning up the muscle and using that to power you. Guess what? You’ve just increased your body fat percentage. Fat weighs less than muscle and takes up more space, so you might even look bigger than before.

    You’ve also lowered your metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, so the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate. The next bite of food you take, your body will use less efficiently and will hold on to much longer, converting it into fat and storing it for the long famine ahead.

    Starving is not an effective weight loss tool. Not just because you shouldn’t starve yourself, not just because of the incredibly dangerous effects it has on your brain, not just because it can ruin your body forever. It really doesn’t work.

     

    If you continue to starve yourself, your body will never get over that period of starvation. Your brain is programmed for survival, not for skinny, and you’ll become permanently hardwired to think that there is never enough, that you are constantly starving, even when you’re not.

    well said!
  • smeklc
    smeklc Posts: 94 Member
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    bump
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    When you live beyond the Wall, you eat food where you find it
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    When you're stranded in a desolate area known as the Red Waste, you eat your dead horses.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    When you're stranded in a desolate area known as the Red Waste, you eat your dead horses.

    Can't say I've ever had horse. Clobbered a few rabbits for a meal, but the cold winds are driving everything south.
  • pseudomuffin
    pseudomuffin Posts: 1,058 Member
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    When you're stranded in a desolate area known as the Red Waste, you eat your dead horses.

    When you're the blood of the dragon eating your dead horses is still sexy, though.
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    When you're stranded in a desolate area known as the Red Waste, you eat your dead horses.

    Can't say I've ever had horse. Clobbered a few rabbits for a meal, but the cold winds are driving everything south.

    Winter is always a comin' in Westeros.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    When you're stranded in a desolate area known as the Red Waste, you eat your dead horses.

    Can't say I've ever had horse. Clobbered a few rabbits for a meal, but the cold winds are driving everything south.

    Winter is always a comin' in Westeros.

    May be. But, it's the Others that make the winters long. No living thing will stand while the others continue south

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