Can you eat too little?
gabbyo23
Posts: 100 Member
I have seen a few posts on here about stalled weight loss and some members suggesting the problem is that the op isn't eating enough.
And then other members saying that this is impossible.
I'm confused.
Can eating too little make you stop losing weight?
And then other members saying that this is impossible.
I'm confused.
Can eating too little make you stop losing weight?
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Replies
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Weight loss happens through a sustained calorie deficit. This means eating less than you burn. The fewer calories you eat, the greater the calorie deficit, the more you lose.
But it's not just about calorie deficit, it's also about sustained. We can do almost anything for a short while, including fasting (you do that every night already, I assume), but when we get hungry, we need to eat. When we have starved, we want to eat more, to compensate for the starving. Nobody needs to starve in our society today. On the contrary, food is in abundance. So it's very difficult to stop yourself from eating, and even more difficult to stop yourself from eating when you are hungry.
So the reason why you are adviced to eat more to lose more, is just to make eating less over time possible.
To suggest that not eating enough directly causes weight gain or stalls weight loss, is misguided.7 -
Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
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That's right.0
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Can eating too little make you stop losing weight?
The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.
People normally stop losing weight because they restrict too much and then cheat on their diet and don't acknowledge that these calories can wipe out their deficit.12 -
trigden1991 wrote: »The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.
It is more complicated than that. When your caloric intake is below your basal metabolic rate--the amount of calories your body burns at rest--your metabolism slows and weight loss can stall. If your caloric intake goes even lower, you can still lose weight, but your body thinks you are starving and will scavenge nutrients from other parts of your body, which can harm your muscles, bones, and organs (which is why truly starving people are not generally buff hardbodies).8 -
Most of the people on here are posting their weight has stalled after a few days. Typically this is because they have had a significant weight loss up front which was related to water weight and now they are not losing at the same interval. Weight loss isn't linear and most people don't understand this concept.
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I have seen a few posts on here about stalled weight loss and some members suggesting the problem is that the op isn't eating enough.
And then other members saying that this is impossible.
I'm confused.
Can eating too little make you stop losing weight?
If your hair is falling out, if your nails are brittle and breaking, is your skin is dull, if you are getting sick frequently, if you are fatigued all the time despite getting 8 hours of sleep, you are likely malnourished and eating too little.
If you eat at a deficit, you will lose weight. If you eat at an extreme deficit (think Biggest Loser) you will lose lean body mass at a much higher rate then someone who is not cutting as drastically. When someone eating at an extreme deficit and goes back to their old habits, because they never actually addressed the root cause of their dietary habits, they gain all the weight back and then some.5 -
Also I want to note how difficult it is to accurately track exactly what and how much you are eating. I am a dietitian (RD) and track. One day I had done great and was pleased with myself...until I opened the bag from the drug store and saw all the candy wrappers from that I had eaten earlier. Totally forgot to log them because I was driving. I am a dietitian I should know better! Alas no one is prefect. But had I not seen those wrappers I wouldn't have remembered I had eaten them.
Now imagine someone who is doing that multiple times a day, with multiple foods, and is not losing weight. It would seem like a mystery, because they honestly don't remember all those treats and nibbles because they aren't logging them. I think this is the appeal of thinking, "Well I must not be eating enough, that is why I am not losing weight." Easier to come to that conclusion then be honest about how much you are truly eating.8 -
Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Care to provide specifics/links to these studies?1 -
Most of the people on here are posting their weight has stalled after a few days. Typically this is because they have had a significant weight loss up front which was related to water weight and now they are not losing at the same interval. Weight loss isn't linear and most people don't understand this concept.
This is a very important point.
Even when you are eating in a deficit, losing weight every single day or every single weight, over the long term, is not guaranteed. Your weight is influenced by calories eaten, weight of food eaten and still sitting in your digestive tract, water weight fluctuations due to hormonal shifts and variances in levels of carbs and sodium ingested, etc. It is neither static when eating at maintenance nor prone to maintaining a constant rate of decrease even when eating in a steady deficit. Your fat levels can be decreasing while weight remains constant or even fluctuates upward due to a variety of factors.5 -
OP, it is not recommended to eat below the recommended amount of calories due to the difficulty in getting the proper nutrition. Life long illnesses can be a product of eating too few calories for a while.Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
I second studies... Conserving fat stores while eating low calorie is not a thing. If it were, no one would die of starvation.4 -
I've never eaten too little to stop losing weight, personally, if that's what this means, and at times during my most restrictive years I was down to about 800/day (with strict counting). I ate too little to be healthy, my hair was falling out, I was fainting, losing my memory and so on, but I still lost weight. So healthwise, yes, too little; for weight loss, no, not too little. I got down to 95 pounds before I climbed out of that whole thing, which was pretty messed up, honestly, so I think I would have just kept on losing until I was hospitalized, probably.
That's just an anecdote, I realize.2 -
Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
You're sort of right. The body does lower its metabolism. And then it starts catabolizing its muscles and organs. Fat stores will be depleted regardless if caloric intake continues to be too low.
OP, the reason people who are stalled on too few calories is usually that they've become non-compliant in some way. People become lax in logging and end up eating more than they think.
The other scenario that presents itself is that people who have been on a sustained drastic deficit experience metabolic adaptation. Their levels of certain key hormones drop as well as their level of spontaneous daily activity. The decrease in activity isn't usually a conscious thing. Even if the person feels they are working out, they're not usually exercising as intensely as usual and probably aren't fidgeting as much as normal either. They're generally more lazy, in other words.
The reason that they are frequently advised to eat a little more is to replenish those hormone levels and give them the energy necessary to raise their daily activity levels.
Overall, the advice to raise calories results in the same net energy balance as what they were doing previously, but with an improved metabolic profile.7 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »The reason that they are frequently advised to eat a little more is to replenish those hormone levels and give them the energy necessary to raise their daily activity levels.
Interesting, I've wondered about this. It makes sense.
Sorry to snip your post but that stood out for me.
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trigden1991 wrote: »The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.
It is more complicated than that. When your caloric intake is below your basal metabolic rate--the amount of calories your body burns at rest--your metabolism slows and weight loss can stall. If your caloric intake goes even lower, you can still lose weight, but your body thinks you are starving and will scavenge nutrients from other parts of your body, which can harm your muscles, bones, and organs (which is why truly starving people are not generally buff hardbodies).
My experience is not at all like this. For the most part of my diet I was on bedrest. This means that to lose weight I had to eat below BMR. I have tracked my weight loss meticulously in excel spreadsheets and I don't have any problems with slowed metabolism or slowed rate of loss. I was losing exactly as expected i.e. my total deficit exactly equaled my loss after say 6 months. I was losing consistently at 1.2kg per month. I still track calories and my metabolism is normal.
I really don't feel like an exception.3 -
LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Care to provide specifics/links to these studies?
I do remember reading a study where the subjects reported eating little (~1,200 calories a day) yet not losing weight, and the authors drew the "body is storing the calories as fat conclusion". However it was heavily criticized because all the intakes were self-reported. When it comes to self reported intakes, many researcher do not feel people are able to accurately report what they eat and feel all research using self reported intakes is not reliable.
It might take me a minute to find that study.
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gebeziseva wrote: »trigden1991 wrote: »The short answer is, NO. That is why you don't see obese people starving in third world countries.
It is more complicated than that. When your caloric intake is below your basal metabolic rate--the amount of calories your body burns at rest--your metabolism slows and weight loss can stall. If your caloric intake goes even lower, you can still lose weight, but your body thinks you are starving and will scavenge nutrients from other parts of your body, which can harm your muscles, bones, and organs (which is why truly starving people are not generally buff hardbodies).
My experience is not at all like this. For the most part of my diet I was on bedrest. <...edited for brevity...>
I really don't feel like an exception.
I certainly did not mean to personalize the matter, but it seems to me that someone who is on constant bedrest is by definition an exception, as that is not the norm.1 -
1200 can't be an objective figure. For me 1200 means 200 to 300 cals deficit on days where I have to stay in bed all day. I can also imagine that for short sedentiary slim women is around their TDEE too. For heavily obese men on the other hand it could be a stress to the body. So 1200 out of any context seems meaningless to me.LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Care to provide specifics/links to these studies?
I do remember reading a study where the subjects reported eating little (~1,200 calories a day) yet not losing weight, and the authors drew the "body is storing the calories as fat conclusion". However it was heavily criticized because all the intakes were self-reported. When it comes to self reported intakes, many researcher do not feel people are able to accurately report what they eat and feel all research using self reported intakes is not reliable.
It might take me a minute to find that study.
ETA: my 86 years old disabled grandma gains on 1200.1 -
LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Care to provide specifics/links to these studies?
I do remember reading a study where the subjects reported eating little (~1,200 calories a day) yet not losing weight, and the authors drew the "body is storing the calories as fat conclusion". However it was heavily criticized because all the intakes were self-reported. When it comes to self reported intakes, many researcher do not feel people are able to accurately report what they eat and feel all research using self reported intakes is not reliable.
It might take me a minute to find that study.
I think this is another important point. There are many cases where people will come on the boards and report that they are eating very low calories, yet their weight loss has stalled. It isn't because of "starvation mode", but usually because they are underreporting what they are actually eating. That isn't to say they're lying, just that they aren't tracking accurately, or eating larger portions than they should be because they don't weigh their food, etc...5 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Care to provide specifics/links to these studies?
I do remember reading a study where the subjects reported eating little (~1,200 calories a day) yet not losing weight, and the authors drew the "body is storing the calories as fat conclusion". However it was heavily criticized because all the intakes were self-reported. When it comes to self reported intakes, many researcher do not feel people are able to accurately report what they eat and feel all research using self reported intakes is not reliable.
It might take me a minute to find that study.
I think this is another important point. There are many cases where people will come on the boards and report that they are eating very low calories, yet their weight loss has stalled. It isn't because of "starvation mode", but usually because they are underreporting what they are actually eating. That isn't to say they're lying, just that they aren't tracking accurately, or eating larger portions than they should be because they don't weigh their food, etc...
I believe there's a lot of truth to this.
In addition, people will say (I'm not saying on MFP, just in general) that they've been at whatever amount of calories, then later reveal that they really did stick to those calories except maybe a once a week "small cheat" plus their birthday dinner...This isn't because people are liars or lazy, it's because of human nature. We really do feel we've restricted and "been pretty good" if we've done without for a period of time as compared to our previous eating patterns. But it's IMO another issue with self-reporting on studies such as this one.
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I have seen a few posts on here about stalled weight loss and some members suggesting the problem is that the op isn't eating enough.
And then other members saying that this is impossible.
I'm confused.
Can eating too little make you stop losing weight?
If you eat less calories than you burn overall, you will lose weight.
If you eat too many calories than you burn overall, you will gain weight.
If you eat about the same as you burn, you will maintain your weight.
The answer to weight loss stalls is not to eat more (if that were the case there'd be no fat people in the world), it's to find out where your errors are. Many of us have underestimated intake at one time or another, as well as overestimated exercise calories. We have unwittingly chosen in accurate foods from the database, used eyeballs and measuring devices instead of a scale for solids and measuring cups/spoons for liquids, we have forgotten to log food, and the list goes on.
The only way to lose weight is to eat less than you burn (diet type is preference only), unless you have some medical condition causing weight loss, which means you need to go to the doctor.2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
You're sort of right. The body does lower its metabolism. And then it starts catabolizing its muscles and organs. Fat stores will be depleted regardless if caloric intake continues to be too low.
OP, the reason people who are stalled on too few calories is usually that they've become non-compliant in some way. People become lax in logging and end up eating more than they think.
The other scenario that presents itself is that people who have been on a sustained drastic deficit experience metabolic adaptation. Their levels of certain key hormones drop as well as their level of spontaneous daily activity. The decrease in activity isn't usually a conscious thing. Even if the person feels they are working out, they're not usually exercising as intensely as usual and probably aren't fidgeting as much as normal either. They're generally more lazy, in other words.
The reason that they are frequently advised to eat a little more is to replenish those hormone levels and give them the energy necessary to raise their daily activity levels.
Overall, the advice to raise calories results in the same net energy balance as what they were doing previously, but with an improved metabolic profile.
This.
A million times over2 -
The research I have read shows that metabolism only slows a little bit under starvation and comes back quickly upon normal caloric intake. This makes sense, because the human body can only optimize so far. The main way it can lower metabolism is by lowering temperature, but it can only lower your temperature a couple degrees or else your biochemical processes will not work properly. Other than a few things like that, your body cannot get around the laws of physics. Your body requires an objective amount of energy every day to simply live.
There are also ways that your body can get rid of calories. One pathway is called uncoupling in the mitochondria membrane. There was actually a drug that did this, and caused massive weight loss, but it's very dangerous because you can suddenly die. The mitochondria essentially waste energy by letting the protons float back through the membrane without creating ATP (hence uncoupling). The proton pumps have to keep pumping protons at a higher rate to maintain the same electrochemical gradient as before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncoupling_protein
However, if you eat too little, you will likely crack and over eat, and you will be miserable. It's just not necessary to eat really low calorie amounts. You should work with your body. Your brain is trying to maintain a certain weight, and it will fight you. The key is to eat in a way that you can sustain over the long term, and slowly taper down.2 -
It's just not necessary to eat really low calorie amounts. You should work with your body. Your brain is trying to maintain a certain weight, and it will fight you. The key is to eat in a way that you can sustain over the long term, and slowly taper down.
This is really encouraging to read after your thread from the other day!
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It depends, if the user is logging everything in that they eat during the day. There is a good chance they're eating more then they think they are and don't realize it.
On the other hand if they are logging correctly and burning 700 cals and the website has them eating 1600 before exercising and they eat 1200. This scenario can cause weight loss to stall because their calorie net is no longer at 1200, it's a huge deficient knocking the net calorie range down to 500 cals for the day. leaving a huge deficient that is considered starving yourself without realizing it.
I think it's depending on whether or not if they're logging correctly. It's time to see what they've been doing and make an adjustment on whether or not they need to drop their calorie intake or raise it.
That decision should be based from person to person.
For me on rest days I eat around 1700. On workout days 1700 doesn't cut it for me and I'm still hungry after eating 1800 and drinking 10 glasses of water. I tend to eat around 2000 on work out days and still lose around 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. I gave up a while back because I stalled at 280 and didn't talk to anyone about it and allowed it to come back. It caused me to start feeling depressed.
I find measuring and weighing food is a good way to see how much you're consuming.
I find the best way to go about weight loss, is find out what works for you.0 -
I have a hunch - no science to back it up - that you are more likely to forget what you have eaten and/or underestimate your portion size if you have undereaten previously. We know that when we are hungry we will tend to take bigger portions. I suspect what we are seeing when people "can't lose weight because they're not eating enough" is that they are subconsciously sneaking food and increasing portion sizes to combat the conscious effort to starve themselves. Your brain and body intend to survive and will fight dirty to do it.0
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CattOfTheGarage wrote: »I have a hunch - no science to back it up - that you are more likely to forget what you have eaten and/or underestimate your portion size if you have undereaten previously. We know that when we are hungry we will tend to take bigger portions. I suspect what we are seeing when people "can't lose weight because they're not eating enough" is that they are subconsciously sneaking food and increasing portion sizes to combat the conscious effort to starve themselves. Your brain and body intend to survive and will fight dirty to do it.
and yet I've heard people say they started losing weight again after upping their calorie intake by 200 to 300 cals more then what they were originally consuming. It's depending on the person and whether or not they're logging their portions correctly. It can be from not eating enough to eating too much without realizing it.
I really believe it varies from person to person and what works best for them. What works best for one person is not going to work for another person.0 -
I think this issue is multi factorial. Skimming through, I see a lot of it has been mentioned:
- You do get a bit of a true slowdown and metabolic adaptation. Your weight loss doesn't completely stop, but the amount you lose per calorie restricted becomes smaller.
- Your stress hormones go up causing water retention, so your weight loss appears to slow down or even halt, but it doesn't mean it truly stalled. That's why many people see near instant weight loss once they raise their calories.
- Certain mechanisms in the body trigger compensatory behaviors, reducing the NEAT (non-exercise activity) which makes up a big part of what differentiates those who believe they have a slow metabolism and those who believe they have a fast metabolism. You move less, you fidget less, even when you do move you conserve energy by making the movements smaller and slower. You don't usually perceive this change and you think you are moving just the same. Even purposeful exercise does not burn as much as it would properly fueled.
- The feeling of hunger increases the chance for food amnesia and nibbling on random forgotten pieces of food. Because you are hungrier than usual, you tend to forget certain foods you ate because there is little to no satiety feedback to remind you that you've eaten.
- The feeling of hunger increases portion distortion. Because you are hungry, your portions don't feel satisfying and this leads you to perceive them as smaller. I have noticed this more than once weighing my foods. I usually add as much food as I believe is true to my desired portions then weigh it. I have noticed than on hungry days I tend to perceive a spoonful of something smaller than it actually is, and the opposite on days when I have no appetite. A portion of Greek yogurt, for example, turns out to have about 30% more grams while feeling like it's smaller than usual. I have days when I eat 1300 calories and feel like I've been eating and indulging all day, and days when 2000+ calories feel like I have barely eaten anything because I'm hungry. It's pretty weird and mind bending.
- Consuming a low calorie diet can trigger compensatory very high calorie days and food hoarding that can potentially wipe out the deficit. You often consume a lot and forget half of what you've consumed. It's often accompanied with "starting over" mentality, which makes these days feel like they don't count when they clearly do.
I'm sure there are other factors, but the short verdict is that going so low to the point where it isn't sustainable will make the diet feel much harder but can potentially give you nearly the same weight loss (or worse in some cases) of a more tolerable calorie budget. It can basically mean expending more energy on dieting per results achieved.5 -
Micah_Johnson wrote: »Several peer-reviwed studies over the years have found that eating too little can hinder effective weight loss. The suggested explanation is that a drastic and sustained loss of caloric intake sends the body into a 'panic mode' and the body substantially lowers it's metabolism in an attempt to conserve fat stores. One can see how such a reaction could have evolved in a time when a person's next meal (or next several meals) was anything but secured. That being said, if you stop eating, of course you're going to lose weight. That's just simple math. But you will more efficiently lose fat by balancing your caloric intake between "not too much" and "not too little."
Citations needed.0
This discussion has been closed.
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