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Too few calories slowing weightloss?
Scochrane86
Posts: 374 Member
I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
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How long have you been doing this? How much weight are you trying to lose?0
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Do you have a lot of bodyfat to lose? How much protein are you eating?0
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Scochrane86 wrote: »I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
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Have you recently add exercise to your daily routine? I ask because new exercise or significant change in existing exercise patterns will cause you to retain water since the body hangs on to water to help in repair of muscles.
Contrary to popular opinion, eating too few calories will NOT cause the body to hang on to the fat to protect itself - if this actually was a thing, anorexia would not be the problem that it is (and nobody on the planet could starve to death).2 -
Scochrane86 wrote: »I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
Accidentally hit the wrong key in the post above and posted before finished.
I will say only, one needs to find a balance between overeating and under eating and unless one desires unwanted negative health issues, one DOES have to eat.1 -
Scochrane86 wrote: »I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
Last week you met your 70lb lost milestone. I know it seems like it's been a long time, but it really hasn't. We won't continue to lose weight every day. We'll get temporary pauses as our bodies halt and process and rearrange. Meanwhile, though the scale doesn't look like it's doing anything, our bodies are. Look for changes in measurements or how your body looks and feels in your clothes. Inches can be lost while the scale stays the same.
Just be patient with the idiot scale. It will move again. Meanwhile, you might want to read through these 2 posts/threads. This happens to everyone.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10067269/your-scale-is-a-lying-liarpants?new=1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/684525/why-the-rapid-weight-loss-on-low-carb-induction-stops/p1
And no, you don't need to eat if you aren't hungry. Your appetite will wax and wane, increase and decrease. So don't be surprised if you suddenly have some random ravenous days as your body balances those big deficits.2 -
Thanks all. I've been trying to get out of the 200s for 12 years and I am literally a few pounds away and everything slows wayyyyyy down. It's like my body just doesn't want to move over that line.
I know, I have had some great progress but I just want this so bad!0 -
Scochrane86 wrote: »I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
I have never had this "problem." Wish I had. Once a week or so I eat 800 to 900 calories but not for very long. But when I first started the WOE, I would restrict my calories. When I stopped doing that, I lost weight. But I was still on moderate carbs at the time. I wouldn't eat if I was NOT hungry. That sets you up to ignore your body signals and regularly eat when you are NOT hungry.
I would definitely consider exercise though. I think it will help replace muscle mass that you may or may not be losing and for me it evens out my cravings, and low and high calorie days.
This starvation mode is a short hand term frequently misunderstood and really refers to losing lean body mass. It's not that your body hangs on to all your calories, it's that to reduce your metabolism and burn fewer calories, your body will rid itself of lean body mass so that it doesn't have to spend the calories maintaining it. Lean mass and muscles use more calories than fat does. It will make you feel tired so that you don't spend too many calories moving around uselessly. So the body expends fewer and fewer calories as you lose weight, gain fat and get hungrier and hungrier. Some studies suggest that daily calorie restriction cause 75% weight lost as fat and 25% weight loss as fat free mass. Most people give in and eat, then the body builds up even larger stores of fat...just in case it happens again. And the low calorie diet cycle continues.
In fact Weight Watchers claims that you can not lose fat without losing lean body mass too. I think LCHF dieters have proved them wrong.
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I know for me when I hit a plateau, I eat more calories for 3 days or so and drop back down and that usually helps. You might try to eat more calories for a couple of days add a treat or two to your lineup and see if that helps.2
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Scochrane86 wrote: »Thanks all. I've been trying to get out of the 200s for 12 years and I am literally a few pounds away and everything slows wayyyyyy down. It's like my body just doesn't want to move over that line.
I know, I have had some great progress but I just want this so bad!
I hear you. I used to tell people the only way I would ever see the south side of 200 again was if I had something amputated. It'll happen. Slow isn't bad. Slow = more easily maintained. I have been maintaining in the mid 180's now for several months without any trouble, which is not bad given more than 30 years ago, I played on the 9th grade football team at 188 lbs.3 -
I know for me when I hit a plateau, I eat more calories for 3 days or so and drop back down and that usually helps. You might try to eat more calories for a couple of days add a treat or two to your lineup and see if that helps.
This can work, especially if you do a structured carb refeed. For reference: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
Don't let the article name fool you, as it was a bit of a joke. Everything Lyle discusses in it is well documented.
ETA: also this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment1 -
@cedarsidefarmcedarsidefarm wrote: »Scochrane86 wrote: »I have been feeling less and less hungry and most days will have 1 meal and a light snack. I have been fasting about 18 hours at a time. I only eat when im hungry and only eat enough to satisfy me. I have been averaging about 800 calories a day a while I feel fine, my weightloss has seemed to stop, even though I have a HUGE calorie deficit. Should I be striving for more? how much more? I don't want to eat just because I have to.
I have never had this "problem." Wish I had. Once a week or so I eat 800 to 900 calories but not for very long. But when I first started the WOE, I would restrict my calories. When I stopped doing that, I lost weight. But I was still on moderate carbs at the time. I wouldn't eat if I was NOT hungry. That sets you up to ignore your body signals and regularly eat when you are NOT hungry.
I would definitely consider exercise though. I think it will help replace muscle mass that you may or may not be losing and for me it evens out my cravings, and low and high calorie days.
This starvation mode is a short hand term frequently misunderstood and really refers to losing lean body mass. It's not that your body hangs on to all your calories, it's that to reduce your metabolism and burn fewer calories, your body will rid itself of lean body mass so that it doesn't have to spend the calories maintaining it. Lean mass and muscles use more calories than fat does. It will make you feel tired so that you don't spend too many calories moving around uselessly. So the body expends fewer and fewer calories as you lose weight, gain fat and get hungrier and hungrier. Some studies suggest that daily calorie restriction cause 75% weight lost as fat and 25% weight loss as fat free mass. Most people give in and eat, then the body builds up even larger stores of fat...just in case it happens again. And the low calorie diet cycle continues.
In fact Weight Watchers claims that you can not lose fat without losing lean body mass too. I think LCHF dieters have proved them wrong.
Thank you for this eloquent and factual explanation of starvation mode. So many perpetuate bad info regarding this.
@Scochrane86
What's going on is referred to a adaptive thermogenesis. Your body, in survival mode, starts to cannibalize lean body mass for fuel AS WELL as shutting down what it considers non-essential systems to conserve energy. Burning of stored fat slows drastically. What you want to look out for are negative consequences like mood swings, cold extremities and even hair loss. After losing 70 lbs you may consider increasing calories slowly to a maintenance level for a while, generally 30-90 days, to allow your body to become accustomed to the new bw and increase metabolism. After that let the deficit continue. As suggested above "refeed" days once a week could be a way to signal the body that there is enough energy intake to ramp metabolism back up. And finally to say this directly, 800 calories a day isn't enough for any grown adult.2 -
I'm so glad to see someone/others besides myself encourage people to eat....1
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I know for me when I hit a plateau, I eat more calories for 3 days or so and drop back down and that usually helps. You might try to eat more calories for a couple of days add a treat or two to your lineup and see if that helps.
Here is another thread with a video that kind of touches on a similar concept:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10510820/this-video-has-changed-my-life#latest0 -
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XavierNusum wrote: »
And food is fuel. Medicine. Need more magnesium? Eat more nuts/seeds/leafy greens. Need more potassium? Eat more avocados and spinach.4 -
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[/quote]
@Scochrane86
What's going on is referred to a adaptive thermogenesis. Your body, in survival mode, starts to cannibalize lean body mass for fuel AS WELL as shutting down what it considers non-essential systems to conserve energy. Burning of stored fat slows drastically. What you want to look out for are negative consequences like mood swings, cold extremities and even hair loss. After losing 70 lbs you may consider increasing calories slowly to a maintenance level for a while, generally 30-90 days, to allow your body to become accustomed to the new bw and increase metabolism. After that let the deficit continue. As suggested above "refeed" days once a week could be a way to signal the body that there is enough energy intake to ramp metabolism back up. And finally to say this directly, 800 calories a day isn't enough for any grown adult. [/quote]
Thank you, I may try a refeed day and see what happens. I am finding it hard to get around 1500 calories which I think I should be at because I am just not hungry and don't want to start getting in the habit of eating just because I need to. I am going to try some higher fat/calorie foods and see if that helps.
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »I know for me when I hit a plateau, I eat more calories for 3 days or so and drop back down and that usually helps. You might try to eat more calories for a couple of days add a treat or two to your lineup and see if that helps.
This can work, especially if you do a structured carb refeed. For reference: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
Don't let the article name fool you, as it was a bit of a joke. Everything Lyle discusses in it is well documented.
ETA: also this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment
Thank you!0
This discussion has been closed.