Too little calories, starvation mode questions

sheri91
sheri91 Posts: 2 Member
edited February 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey,
I have a chronic illness that has required numerous months on and off of prednisone steroids which overall have made me gain a fair few extra lbs.

A bad habit i formed when on these meds were under eating and when i do i eat the wrong things....

I try to calorie count on a fairly regular basis, because if i dont theres no way i reach even a 1000 calories a day... i aim mostly to eat 1200 calories.... and i manage it when i binge on crap, my favourite is chocolate covered pretzels lol

but anway. i am 5'3 i weigh around 157lbs at the moment but i fluctuate to 163 often. I dont know how i am supposed to lose weight when i eat so little calories as it is.... can putting your body into starvation mode really cause me to retain this much weight? fat? what is it?

I am a little out of shape exercise wise, thanks to the chronic illness but i have started exercising on a regular basis, usually every other day for a minimum of 15 minutes of heart racing sweating exercise lol i go for as long as i can but i have to be careful not to push my body to hard too fast also! Ive been at it for 3 weeks now, and still no change...

Im not looking for any quick fixes, i know its not as easy as that, i probably need a complete life style change im just not sure how to go about it, i try so often to include juices or smoothies to get the calories in, but then i get lazy and fall back into not eating enough...
today is a prime example, i had a cereal bar this morning, im going to have my dinner tonight and that will be it...

any tips to what i should be changing? like if i need to eat more, should i be eating certain things seeing as im gaining weight instead of losing it anyway....

Replies

  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    Can you open your diary, please? That will help us give better advice. Settings > Diary settings > public.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    First of all, starvation mode is a myth. If you're in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. Your body will downregulate its metabolism in order to cope with long periods of inadequate nutrition, and therefore you eventually need to further reduce your calories to an even more ridiculously low amount in order to continue losing weight. This isn't healthy.

    You'll do well to slowly increase your calorie intake to a more sensible amount. We have roughly the same stats, and depending on your activity level, I would imagine you need to be taking in at least 1600 calories.

    You can eat more calorie-dense foods to get to this point.
  • sheri91
    sheri91 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks kate, i have opened it up publicly... im just not very good at adding to it every day lol ill have a week where i do it every day and a week where i forget.

    happystack, that makes a lot of sense, so how do i go about eating more calorie dense foods without gaining a whole bunch of weight?! I know i need to get the numbers back up but the only way i can think of is to exercise like a mad woman and eat a little bit more.... every time i go to get weighed the numbers are higher and my doctors laugh when i say i dont know where it comes from! lol but i really dont. i do snack on some rubbish but i really still dont reach enough calories even when i do that haha! its a frustrating circle.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    The best thing you can do is take a few hundred calories more than what you currently eat and add that much on each week until you get to your "maintenance" calorie intake or until you get to a more appropriate calorie deficit (10% less than your "maintenance" intake is fine for weight loss).

    You might gain a little bit of weight. Unfortunately this can be a consequence of repairing metabolic damage, but a few extraneous pounds now is better than severe metabolic damage for years to come.

    There are studies to suggest that 12-13 or so weeks is appropriate to repair this damage. So you take as many weeks as it requires for you to get back to a sensible calorie intake and spend the remainder at your maintenance intake, before creating another (10%) calorie deficit.

    With regards to exercise... first, get a full medical checkup. You want to have your heart checked and your BP, mainly. A blood panel for vitamin & mineral deficiencies would also be pertinent, if possible. When that comes back all clear, I'd suggest undertaking some light resistance training instead of any other exercise you may be doing.
    A bodyweight circuit would work for now. You'll be doing this to build (or preserve) lean mass you'll have lost whilst eating so few calories, but you don't want to build a deficit through exercise that's too large.

    Essentially you want to increase your NET calorie intake by a small amount each week.

    I hope that makes sense.
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