Starvation mode. Myth or Fact?

the best diet that I did was a low carb diet...I started out with a protien shake within 15 min of waking up every day to start my metabolism, than I ate a protein meal ( turkey, chicken, steck, eggs) every 3 hours after that and ate a nice salad for supper. I would eat fruits and vegetables as my carb intake cause you cant just eat no cards and I lost 50 lbs in 3 months just doing this. No bread, pasta, rice, sweets, nothing. It is really hard and you have to be really determined but it does work incredibly. I went from a 11-12 to a 5-6 and from a large to a small and I was so happy.

Here's an example of how starvation mode doesn't exist: Everyone who has ever had weight loss surgery and lost weight. They lose so rapidly because they are so severely restricted to tiny meals. My mother got it and can only eat like a half cup to a cup of food total and then has to wait to digest before she can eat again. She's lost like 60 lbs in 6 months.

All that said:

1) Two weeks it not long enough to throw up your hands and say "this doesn't work." Give it more time. Especially if you were not working out before-- after beginning a work out routine your muscles often retain more water.

2) 1250 calories for a 333 lbs person sounds obscenely low! I peeked at your diary and see your daily goal is 1800. You might find this process much more tolerable, and still lose weight, if you eat closer to your goal.

Put your info into this calculator to find out how many calories you should be eating on a daily basis. Your cals sound way too low!

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

That's not what is happening to you. You're weight stuck because you're body is retaining water and adjusting to your new exercise routine; or you aren't logging food accurately. If the exercise is a sudden increase and relatively intense for you, it's the first. If you aren't weighing food and just estimating/eyeballing, it's the second.

Starvation mode is a myth, imo, but some believe in it. Don't let anyone scare you into eating more because of it. Give it more time.

I think it is a myth.

I would suggest staying off the scale each day. Easier said then done I know. For me picking a day (the same day & time) each week to weigh worked fine. My weight could go up or down on any given day. For example after a long run (10+ miles) I will typically weigh more the next day. If my trainer changes up the workout I typically will see a little weight gain but it is gone. I used to weigh myself every day which is why I know my weight does this and it was madding. I will not weigh myself at all during the week of that time of the month. I would also suggest taking progression pictures. I look at those a lot to see what progress I have made when I am having one of those days. My trainer also took measurements which was helpful since many times the scales got stuck but my measurements changed.

Good luck!

You may have heard or seen this question before: do you weigh everything you eat (except liquids)? If not, get a good food scale. You may be eating more than you realize. Log every bite that goes into your mouth, including the snacking that you may do while you're cooking. It's true that one cheat meal per week shouldn't have a huge effect on the overall picture, but still weigh and measure that and log it. Log all of it. Twenty pounds in 2.5 weeks is a huge amount and you should be proud of that. You will most likely see a large slow down to 1 - 1.5 pounds lost per week until you get close to your goal. Just don't give up, weight loss sometimes stalls and sometimes is not linear. Avoid a lot of sodium as it can mask weight loss. Also, try to not weigh every day. Another thing- use other things to measure your losses- photos and measurements. If you're not lifting weights, consider that as well as it will help with muscle tone and also raise your metabolism as muscle burns calories faster. And I agree with the post above- you probably should be a bit higher on your overall calories for the day. As for starvation mode- no it does not exist (if you don't believe me talk to someone who has actually been in a situation where they can't get enough to eat- you lose weight). What people are confusing is that when you eat too little your metabolism can slow down and then if you go back to eating normally you will gain weight back plus more because your overall metabolism is lower.

Many people have discovered that their bodies go through a water loss, gain, stabilize cycle when first starting to lose weight and this can last up to a month to six weeks. First, you lose a lot of water weight (pounds lost), then your body goes "oopsie, I need some of that stuff back" so it starts to retain more than it needs (weight loss stops or even regain a little), then it decides on how much is the proper amount to keep and you stabilize and the losses start up again. This whole time you will be burning fat, as long as you are in a deficit. Starting exercise can also cause your body to hold on to more water in order to repair muscles.

It sounds as though you might be in the "retain extra water so my body has enough" stage. What is your weekly weight loss goal? What is your average weekly loss so far? If those two numbers are really close (or the loss is more than goal), don't worry about it, the losses will start up again soon. Just make sure you are logging accurately.

I agree that your calories seem way too low. I was eating 1900 calories at 290 lb and lost an average of 1.5 lb a week. I am currently at 224 lb and still eat 1800 calories and am still losing.

Logging your cheat meal DOES matter. Whether or not you're over your calories or not, log everything. Being honest and accurate with your lifestyle will really show what you can tweak (or work on) to keep a steady weight loss.

aziapatrick wrote: »

I don't understand why I'm not losing weight. I weigh 333 lbs and the scales haven't really moved in 2 weeks. I'm eating healthy but I'm restricting my calories to 1250-1400 per day and having a cheat meal for dinner every other Saturday. Also working out for an hour 3 days per week. I've looked up info on your body going into "starvation mode" and all I could find was information about how it is a myth. Help?

As many have said, what you're describing is just not starvation mode. What can happen is if you greatly reduce your calories all of a sudden then your body can learn to run more efficiently on less calories, slowing weight loss but not stopping it all together. This also makes it harder to create the deficit needed to actually lose weight . . . but that's another issue.

There's one of two things, or possibly two things, happening here:

a) you're eating/consuming more calories than you think

b) you're not burning as many calories as you think, leading you to net a higher amount of calories

Or both.

Simply put - you need to consume less calories than you burn to lose weight. It's really that simple. There may be - and I stress may be - underlying conditions which causes your body to metabolize or burn calories slower but at the end of the day, you have to simply consume less calories than you've burned to lose weight.

Further - your calorie goal is way too low for your weight, how tall are you? With your "cheat" meal - what do you eat? Honestly? Because if you eat a huge cheat meal, you can undo all the "savings" of calories you've done over the week and you're basically zeroed out. One cheat meal can really mess with progress.

What I do - and you don't have to follow this, it's not gospel or anything - but I don't deny myself ANYTHING! If I want something, I usually eat it - just much smaller portions and so much more control. What's more is I have found alternatives to my previously enjoyed foods. For example, in the afternoon at work I used to get a massive sugar craving and I would go to Tim Hortons for an apple fritter. I have since discovered Quest Protein bars - they're double chocolate chunk and chocolate fudge brownie versions are amazing! I love them - put them in the microwave for like 30 secs and I'm just as happy as I would've been with that donut. And it solves my sugar craving too - with only about 150 cals/bar.

Also, I'm 5'9 at 250 lbs and I eat about 2,000 cals/day. I think you need to up your calories and slowly reduce as you lose. Here's why: if you're eating 12 - 1400 cals at 333 lbs - what will you eat when you hit 200 lbs? You cannot, in a healthy way, reduce the amount of calories you eat as you do. Also if you're used to eating 3500 cals a day and you shock your body into eating half and trying to be as satiated with that amount, you may find yourself cranky and hangry all the time.

Best of luck, though! I started at about where you're at (340lbs) and I'm at 250 now

Feel free to add me or reach out if you need anything

aziapatrick wrote: »

I started my diet on 1/5/15 (exercising 3 days per week) and have lost 20 lbs since then, all of that was lost in the first 2.5 weeks. Now it's just at a stand still. I guess I just got used to seeing it dramatically drop.

Ah, OK. You didn't lose 20 pounds of fat in two weeks. You lost water weight also and now your body has stopped reacting to the cut in calories and taken some of the water back on. Twenty pounds in four weeks is still a very fast rate of loss. But it will likely slow down from here on out so you should expect that.

The "starvation mode" you are talking about is a myth. Firstly, you have to realize that when you dramatically change your habits (i.e., increase activity, reduce consumption) your body needs time to adjust. The reason the "scale hasn't moved" in 2 weeks is most likely due to your body retaining water because of a number of reasons. Also, make sure you REALLY are eating 1250-1400 Calories a day. Do you weigh and properly log everything that goes into your mouth? It is very easy to underestimate the amount of calories you are consuming if you are just "eyeballing it."

herrspoons wrote: »

aziapatrick wrote: »

herrspoons wrote: »

You're consuming more calories than you think and burning less. Log everything, ditch the cheat meal and half the exercise calories you claim.

I don't log exercise because I don't want to be tempted to eat back the calories. I honestly have no idea how many calories I'm burning while exercising.

Ok. Log everything and ditch the cheat meal. See where you are in 3 weeks.

if she logs everything as accurately as possible, why cant she then fit in the treat meal?

Therealobi1 wrote: »

if she logs everything as accurately as possible, why cant she then fit in the treat meal?

Agreed! I log my cheat meals and make them fit it into my daily calories.