How do I get out of Starvation Mode?

How is your sodium intake?? Are you drinking enough water??

get tom venutos book "burn the fat feed the muscle", you are learning the hard way that what is commonly advertised as the "right way" to shed weight is dead wrong, also check out my blog post about feeding to succeed, if you want a better way then you are ready to learn what really works and what really lasts and its not starving yourself.

Find out what your BMR is for your age, weight, height, and sex and eat NO less than that plus eat back any exercise calories you accumulate each day. For instance, if your BMR is 1700 cals (just what you need to survive on if you just sat all day and night) minus 500 cals, so that puts you at 1200 cal. per day If you burn 300 cals while exercising then you can eat 1500 cals that day. Try for no less than 1450 and no more than 1550. Also, change up your work out. The body gets use to the same old thing. Up your intensity or time, i.e. walk then run, then walk then run instead of just all fast walking. Incorporate strength training for sure. Floor exercises or if you can use actual weights thats even better. Drink AT LEAST half your body weight in ounces each day and watch sodium and sugar. Also, maybe up your protein a bit. I know it seems like a lot but just try it faithfully for 7 full days and I'll bet you'll see a drop. Blessings to you.

and I havent had salt for 3 years!

Salt? Or sodium?

I know a lot of people that think because they don't put salt on their food, they aren't taking in sodium. However, sodium is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult things to keep under the recommended intake, especially if you eat any processed food or anything that comes in a can. Even soups, V-8, cake, etc. Sodium!

But if it's not something related to sodium, sugar or water, I'd talk to a doctor.

I have thyroid problems and sometimes it does slow down the weight loss, but there are a lot of other things that might do it. So, that's not bad advice.

You said you worked out. Do you do exercises to build muscle? The muscle will help you to keep the weight off. (It sounds like you might be doing this). But all too frequently, a person in the situation you find yourself, has lost by 'crash' dieting and lost muscle. If that could be the case, you're likely to just have to work really hard trying to get it back.

Also, sometimes when people get in this situation, eating more can sometimes actually help. But eating the right things--lots of protein and even a little fat. Try to get all the food groups in the proportion recommended. Don't limit any one thing because dieters generally consider it 'bad'.


I read the advice on finding your BMR. That's good advice too. You can eat more, just try to make sure it's good food for the most part.

Finally, the first thing I think of when I hear of someone gaining weight back after a big loss is my tendency after I 'finish' loosing to forget about the diet and celebrate by eating everything in sight that I denied myself while I was losing. It sounds like if you did do that, you've stopped.

Believe me, I empathize! I hope some of the advice in this section helps you!

How did I post this twice?? Sorry, but I don't know how to get one of them off!

I'm so sorry! Maybe your dr will have some good feedback for you. If he doesn't have anything useful to offer, ask to be referred to a nutritionist.

iodro pretty much mirrored my thoughts there, did you take any measurements as a reference point? I would also like to know what your workout breakdown is how much cardio/type of cardio and how much weight training. Diet wise I would have to have access to your diary to recommend changes.