Reduced calorie intake = Losing weight..? Not necessarily so! App shortfall?

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DafTekno
DafTekno Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've just started using this app.
It has shown me that I need to eat more to hit my daily calorie target.
Yet, if I were to remain on my previous (lacking) calorie intake, the app says I'd hit 75 kg within 5 weeks..!

Well, I've been eating like that for years and never got near 75kg!

The trainer at my gym says that, if you're eating under your ideal calorie target, your body goes into starvation mode and stores what little food you eat as fat.

So, the app implying that merely reducing calorie intake plus time equals weight loss is totally false!

Why does this app get such a fundamental point of food intake in relation to weight loss so totally wrong?
Is that all you can expect you get from a free app? Wrong info?

Or am I missing something here?

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks - D

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Interesting...it's worked for many people, including myself...like thousands and thousands of people.

    The you will be X Lbs in five weeks is just a simple algorithm and it assumes every single day will be exactly the same...

    If you're not losing weight you're eating too much or you have a medical condition or other deficiency that needs to be addressed.
  • JinjoJoey
    JinjoJoey Posts: 106 Member
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    Have you weighed your food your whole life? Portion sizes on packaging is incorrect 99% of the time and you're likely eating way more than you think. Eating noodles, rice, soups, yogurt, eggs, meats... Anything of that nature needs to be weighed as it's NEVER accurate to the packaging. Eating at a calorie deficit is the only method that has been scientifically proven to work, without a doubt, 100%.. Unless you have some type of health disorder which a doctor has diagnosed you with, that makes losing weight harder.

    Starvation mode is mostly a myth. Why do you think POWs who've spent 6 months in a concentration camp are all skin and bones? They wouldn't look like skeletons if a calorie deficit didn't cause weight loss. It's simple thermodynamics. Look at any fad diet out there and although most of them have you following specific recipes, they'll all have you eating at some kind of defecit or else, you wouldn't lose weight. It's, literally, not debatable and your trainer sounds severely misinformed. I'd get a new one, if I were you.. Or better yet, save the ridiculous amount of money you were spending on a trainer and get a nice food scale and load up your fridge and pantry with delicious meals and log and weigh, absolutely, everything!
  • mikedenali
    mikedenali Posts: 181 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Starvation mode does not work in that way. If you haven't been losing weight, then you're either eating more than you think or burning less than you think-and possibly both.

    Solution: tighten up your logging. This may include making sure 100% of the foods and drinks that pass your lips get logged, using a food scale for all solids and measuring cups for all liquids, double-checking that the nutrition information on items you log is accurate, using the recipe builder instead of homemade/generic items out of the database, or being mindful of the number of calories you burn through exercise and eat back.

    ^^This mostly...watch out for those condiments. Also eating back cals can bite you in the *kitten*...imo.

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    edited October 2016
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    1) Your trainer is wrong. "Starvation mode" as he thinks of it is a myth.

    2) The 5-week projection is all but useless. Ignore it.

    3) If you eat less calories than you expend, you will lose weight over time. This is a scientific fact. If you're not losing weight, you're not in a caloric deficit, it's that simple.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
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    if you slow down enough to offset the calorie decrease then of course you won't lose weight. maybe your body senses the deficit and becomes more still, maybe you don't work out as long, or only get up from your desk half as often, walk slower, etc.

    if activity is held constant and you eat less, or if food is held constant and you move more, you will lose weight.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Your calories weren't lacking for years if you weigh more than 75, it simply means you tend to feel that you aren't really eating much when in fact you are. Calorie amnesia is a real thing. Many overweight people forget near half of what they eat or their eyes deceive them on portion size, so what looks like 1 cup of rice may actually be 1.5 cups.

    Your trainer likely does not have a degree in nutrition, so take anything he/she says about food with a grain of salt. A lot of misinformation in the fitness industry. With that said, your trainer is right that going too low on calories would not be a good idea. You need to fuel your activity, get decent nutrition and be kind to your muscle mass. That can be accomplished by having a reasonable calorie deficit that doesn't push your calories too low.
  • siraphine
    siraphine Posts: 185 Member
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    You're eating more than you think. I didn't THINK I ate much because I only ate one meal a day. That meal was usually large and accompanied by calorie dense grazing during the day. You are not an exception to how losing weight works.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html/

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