Not loosing weight because not eating enough?!?!

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zoeemfp
zoeemfp Posts: 2 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi there
I am a female, 31 yo, 5.8 and about 80 KG( 176 lbs).
For the last month - 5 weeks, - I have been hitting the gym 5-6x times a week, working out 1-1,5 hours each time. I would do running - HIIT 8to 11 km/h- stair master, elliptical - no much lifting tho. To this, I would eat 1000 kcal a day, but I also had 1 cheat day when I went out with friends, only one day ! Now as you can see, my net calories were every day around 500kcal, sometimes even less - and I lost like 1-2 pounds ?!?

I have tried to look up some advice on youtube etc. and to my situation one advice seem to be reasonable which is to add up kcal - maybe to 1500? I dont know what would happen.

I would love to read from you guys, whether you experienced such thing and how did you deal with it. That would be a tremendous help cos I feel quite frustrated to be honest :(
thanks a lot xx

Replies

  • markiend
    markiend Posts: 461 Member
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    Are you weighing your food using a food scale ? How are you calculating your exercise burns or are you not adding them to your calorie allowance ? If you want in depth advice you would be best advised to open your food diary so people can check what you are logging

    Something doesn't seem right based on the info you have provided, but eating more shouldn't make any difference. IE there is no such thing as starvation mode as most people understand it ( for example fat being held onto in a famine )
  • anxioushero
    anxioushero Posts: 61 Member
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    No, you won't not lose weight from not eating enough! There's no way - "starvation mode" will not actually occur until you're really starving. Try 1200 calories, 1000 might be too low (although 1000 will not make you gain or stop your loss), you need to make sure you're getting enough nutrients and that's why enough calories are important. Be patient!! If you've already lost some weight, you should just wait it out because it might be a plateau. I wouldn't worry, just keep treating your body right. Eat plenty of greens, exercise, and DRINK WATER. When you weighed yourself it could have been sodium and water weight, or weight from food in your tummy.

    If you keep having problems with this or even problems with bloating, maybe try switching up your diet, going plant based or vegetarian or gluten free or dairy free, see how you feel and how your body responds to it. One cheat day won't make you gain weight - I had a cheat week and still lost a pound. Good luck! Add me if you want x
  • thelettermegan
    thelettermegan Posts: 49 Member
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    If your diet is just "eat less of what I used to eat", you should look into replacing anything with sugar with real protein (ie., switch-out cereal for eggs) . Also, if you find it easy to run on the elliptical for an hour and half, maybe get a little weight training into your workout. I've had a lot of success in the past six month with kettlebell workouts, which combine cardio and weightlifting.

    You did lose some weight, so you should congratulate yourself for that!

    Another thing you can do is set fitness goals that go beyond the weight lose, such as being able to bike a certain set of miles, stand for X amount of hours at work, or drop a bad eating habit. For example, I'm working on running up 3 flights of stairs without running out of breath, and not eating sugary granola bars every time I'm a little stressed.
  • PrimalGirl
    PrimalGirl Posts: 148 Member
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    Hi
    You've lost a couple of pounds - that's great, you should be proud of yourself!
    If you plan on sustaining that amount of exercise you absolutely need to increase your calorie intake. You're burning 500kcal each workout, and you're burning at least 1000 more just sitting and breathing, let alone any movement you do not classed as exercise. But you're only eating 1000kcal a day - that's nowhere near enough.
    You'll burn out really, really fast on such a low calorie, high exercise regimen. Your body will start burning muscle as well as fat to generate energy, so even if the weight does come off you'll lose any muscle tone and strength you've got. There won't be any shapely lean muscle appearing because your body will be eating itself to compensate for lack of food.
    If I were you I'd scale back the cardio and add in some heavy weight lifting and increase your calories significantly. Double them.
    And then be patient. Give it at least six weeks at the new calorie/workout regime before you think about changing anything again.
    Good luck!
  • dramaqueen45
    dramaqueen45 Posts: 1,009 Member
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    Okay the starvation mode thing is a myth- yes low calories over a long period of time will slow your metabolism a bit, but no, you won't stop losing weight- check out the history books for more information on people who haven't been given enough calories.

    Two, eating that little is very very dangerous- you are starving yourself and if you don't get enough nutrients your organs will start shutting down. Eat more- if in fact 1000 calories is how much you are eating. If you are not losing my guess is that you are eating way more than you think you are eating. Be honest about logging. Every bite, every morsel, every drink, everything, period. Check out this video- it's about an hour long but if you don't have time just start at about 18:00- http://www.documentarytube.com/videos/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-losing-weight

    It's a lot of good information. Oh and as for that "cheat day"- I would log that as well. You can easily totally derail any weight loss for the week with one cheat day that includes loads of calories.
  • zoeemfp
    zoeemfp Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you guys,
    I did not know that there is no starvation mode tho :) I was quite convinced that this is why I did survive my extreme _ not eating at all for a week and loosing a pound_ weight loss routines when I was younger. I did faint tho and had many different kinds of pain... everywhere, but thats not the case now.

    Yes, I do weight everything I eat. I have measuring cups, scale - I measure the dressing on my salad, the milk in my coffee. I dont eat more than I say I eat.

    I guess I just have to be patient and maybe eat a bit more :) thanks again and good luck !

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