starvation mode

2

Replies

  • brandymorrow6100
    brandymorrow6100 Posts: 12 Member
    Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    This is what MFP says I eat in one day. I tried to add the photo but it would only let me add it as an attachment. This is a screenshot of my food.

    Check to see the brown rice calories on the box/packaging is it for prepared or precooked. How are you weighing it? Also are you actually putting 2 tablespoons of salad dressing or just pouring what you think is 2 ?

    The coffee creamer, are you pouring or is it in a packaging? are you measuring out 4 tbsp?

    Just a few mistakes on those three things could easily be a 500+ calorie difference
    Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    This is what MFP says I eat in one day. I tried to add the photo but it would only let me add it as an attachment. This is a screenshot of my food.

    Check to see the brown rice calories on the box/packaging is it for prepared or precooked. How are you weighing it? Also are you actually putting 2 tablespoons of salad dressing or just pouring what you think is 2 ?

    The coffee creamer, are you pouring or is it in a packaging? are you measuring out 4 tbsp?

    Just a few mistakes on those three things could easily be a 500+ calorie difference

    I will take a look at the brown rice. It is uncle bens, not the instant kind it takes like 20 minutes to make it in the rice cooker. I am also measuring out all of my liquids, oj, dressing and such as well as using measuring spoons for the cream and sugar. I am trusting my packaging for my fruit that there is one serving in it however, I now see how that could be the wrong thing to do. I am sure with the increase in calories it is going to take a bit of time for my body to get used to it. I am a bit confused that if starvation mode is a myth, have I just slowed my metabolism down really slow and is 1100 calories enough to get it back to normal?
  • alicejoanne321
    alicejoanne321 Posts: 3 Member
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    I log my food every day. I have been doing so for months (if not on my diary then in an actual book). An example of the food I eat would be today: Breakfast- smoothie with one cup frozen fruit one cup of OJ, Lunch was a turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich with 2 tablespoons of avocado on 35 calorie fit and active whole wheat bread, I also had a cup of coffee with 4 tablespoons of creamer and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Dinner will be 1 salmon fillet, 1 cup of brown rice, 2 cups of spring salad with 2 tablespoons of italian dressing. Also, I am not looking to add muscle, I have plenty of muscle, but just wanting to lose about 20 pounds.

    Just as a heads up, smoothies aren't healthy. They have 'good sugars' in but when you blend them to make a smoothie the heating changes the 'good sugars' into 'bad sugars'. I went for ages having smoothies for breakfast and wasn't loosing anything - now I have the sugariest store bought granola every morning but I weight my portions and its helping.

    Also are you drinking enough water? I follow the 5:2 diet and on the 5 'normal' days I'll drink about 3 litres of water and eat about 1300/1400 calories then on the 2 'fast days' I eat 500/600 calories and still drink about 3 litres of water. I do however notice if I only think 1-2 litres of water in a day my weight is higher the next morning. Your body uses water for all processes including burning fat so if you're not drinking enough your body isn't working at its best. 1110 is quite a low calories amount and I'd recommend upping it a little just to keep your metabolism up and make sure you're getting enough exercise in a day - even if just the 10,000 steps. You're not going to lose weight sitting on your *kitten*.

    You could easily add extra calories by not having 35 calories slices of bread - have a standard loaf thats about 90/100 cals. Also don't buy low fat anything. It's a myth and when they remove the 'bad fats' they also remove the 'good fats' that help you breakdown whats left of the bad fats. Since I started using full fat yogurts and cheeses and eating more on non-fasting days the weight has fallen off me
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited June 2017
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    I have not been eating enough calories, not even close which has caused me to not lose weight.

    Doesn't work that way. People who stay in starvation mode end up looking like they're actually starving. You're eating more than you think, relative to your daily burn - suggest opening your diary for review.

    EDIT: Saw your sample day above. Punching that into the food tracker gives about 1800 calories - well above the 1100 you earlier posted you couldn't eat more than.

    Actually, I have it in the tracker and it is 1158 so, I don't know how you are coming up with 1800, I would be thrilled if I could get 1800.

    Your breakfast of 1 cup frozen fruit and 1 cup OJ is, on it's own, 400 calories. And that's assuming you actually used an actual measuring cup, which most people using volume measurements don't.

    If you want meaningful help, you're going to have to open your diary.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    If you would read, you would see that I stated, I just started getting 1100 calories recently and was asking if this would get my body out of starvation mode

    You got your answer - there is no such thing as "starvation mode", as you are using the term.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    jennyf55 wrote: »
    I sorry for the negative comment but labeling your problem as "starvation mode" is just plain wrong. You first need to get honest with yourself before you ask for help. How can you call 1100 calories (if that is what it is) a state of starvation? You are obviously not starving. That was a very dishonest title to call our attention to. Take a reality check in your diet - really.

    If you would read, you would see that I stated, I just started getting 1100 calories recently and was asking if this would get my body out of starvation mode because I was only eating a few hundred calories a day before that. There was no dishonesty about it so there is your reality check.

    Reading this should be very helpful for you: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html/
  • alicejoanne321
    alicejoanne321 Posts: 3 Member
    There's no such thing as "good sugar" or "bad sugar". Running a blender does not change the composition of the sugar.[/quote]

    When you blend fruit, The fibre is so finely pureed that its helpful properties are destroyed. The sugar is stripped from the fruit, bypasses salivary digestion and results in a surge of glucose and the accompanying fructose contributes to inflammation and hypertension. Stops the good stuff that keeps you feeling fuller for longer and regulates sugar levels

    It's not necessarily bad sugars but the sugars get into your system easier and they're more broken down so your body takes less energy to digest them etc. Studies have shown people who swap to whole fruit lower their risk of diabetes too and other research has shown that blending apples and oranges yielded a glycemic index 10-15% higher than what it would otherwise be if you simply ate the fruits whole.

    It's better for you to just eat the whole fruit!

    (Also it was on the news the other day that out of the 7 portions of fruit and veg a day people should be having, only 2 should be fruit due to the large amount of sugars in there)
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    I log my food every day. I have been doing so for months (if not on my diary then in an actual book). An example of the food I eat would be today: Breakfast- smoothie with one cup frozen fruit one cup of OJ, Lunch was a turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich with 2 tablespoons of avocado on 35 calorie fit and active whole wheat bread, I also had a cup of coffee with 4 tablespoons of creamer and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Dinner will be 1 salmon fillet, 1 cup of brown rice, 2 cups of spring salad with 2 tablespoons of italian dressing. Also, I am not looking to add muscle, I have plenty of muscle, but just wanting to lose about 20 pounds.

    Pop quiz! How many calories are in your coffee?

    How many are in your smoothie? For all that sugar, why not just drink maple syrup?

    It's nice and clean to lube your tblt with healthy fat avocado on virtuously named and very thinly sliced bread. (Applause is real for this achingly virtuous approach to die.t food.)

    But seriously, what's the difference between your smoothie and an equal volume of maple syrup?
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited June 2017
    After only a quick look at the picture, and even if you don't consider the relatively big measuring error, I could see sugar logged at 22 calories (packets usually contain 2-4 grams of sugar, not a tablespoon). 2 tablespoons of sugar contain nearly 100 calories, more if not level (when people scoop sugar they usually don't scrape away the excess). That's just one item, without even looking at the rest. It's quite possible you are getting 100-200 extra calories over what you're logging from sugar alone, without even considering the rest of the diet.

    sugar-calories-in-a-teaspoon.jpg


    MFP is great, but the database entries can be very inaccurate. I suggest using only USDA entries and weighing your food whenever possible, including packaged food.
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    jennyf55 wrote: »
    I sorry for the negative comment but labeling your problem as "starvation mode" is just plain wrong. You first need to get honest with yourself before you ask for help. How can you call 1100 calories (if that is what it is) a state of starvation? You are obviously not starving. That was a very dishonest title to call our attention to. Take a reality check in your diet - really.

    If you would read, you would see that I stated, I just started getting 1100 calories recently and was asking if this would get my body out of starvation mode because I was only eating a few hundred calories a day before that. There was no dishonesty about it so there is your reality check.

    Reading this should be very helpful for you: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html/

    The really interesting part about this article is how the body nearly stops using fat at 4-5% which is essentially as he described it internment camp starving conditions or ultimate leanness. Very interesting.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited June 2017
    edited to delete as quotes arent working properly
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • stu7397
    stu7397 Posts: 6 Member
    Very interesting read. I am not sure about the starvation diet, or arguments on sugars etc - it occurs to me that if everyone was so great at this then they wouldn't be here. I am a fat git - it's that simple. I want to be a thinner git (I will still be a git). The way I understand it, you have to burn more calories than you replace, and that seems pretty simple to me. I read further up the thread that someone was using measuring spoons for their cream and sugar. What's all that about. Surely eating creams and sugars should be the first things to be binned out of your diet.

    As for starvation diets not causing weight loss - well that is a load of horse***t. How many fat people do you see in a famine stricken country, or in the footage of concentration camps. Of course if you starve yourself you will lose weight... you will probably also either have a stroke, heart attack or maybe simply die of hunger - that's why they are not a good course of action.

    I am out of shape, and I am under no illusions that this will be hard (I have to lose about 66lbs - well I don't have to - I want to). The way I see it though is there are loads of organisations with their pearls of wisdom about weight loss, but unless I am mistaken it is a pretty simple concept (unless you have some sort of pre-existing medical history).

    All this talk about fiber and juicing etc... do I really need to bother with all that. Can't I just drink water. This is my first time trying to shed some beef and it's starting to look like I simply don't have the knowledge.
  • evergreenlake
    evergreenlake Posts: 73 Member
    brandymorrow6100 wrote: »
    Also, before I started really focusing on my food, I was getting much fewer calories, I would drink about 3 cups of coffee a day and then eat dinner.

    When I'm not paying attention I eat a lot less too thinking that I'll lose weight. But when I started really paying attention and did all the proper calculations for my active level, height, and current weight, I realized I wasn't eating nearly enough calories. As soon as I started eating more (even though it can be difficult), especially more protein and veggies, I started to a lose weight more consistently. Also, working out doesn't necessarily mean you're going to lose weight, it could be you've plateaued and need to do more high intensity workouts, even just 15 min of intervals :) good luck!!

  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    If you want cream and sugar and you have the calories for them, why not have them? The only foods I've cut out of my diet are foods I have a hard time moderating. I won't buy a bag of jelly beans, because I won't be able to stick to a rationed however many grams fit my calories. I might buy a single-serve packet. But let's get some perspective: 15 grams of sugar is 58 calories. While that's 58 calories I could be using on something more filling, if I have those calories available and choose to sweeten my tea or my berries, so long as I'm not under a medical restriction, why wouldn't I?
  • alicejoanne321
    alicejoanne321 Posts: 3 Member
    @stu7397 have a google around fasting diets and intermittent fasting. They're proven to prevent things like alzheimer's and dementia and reduce reduce insulin resistance, lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes. Also shown to be beneficial for heart health and stress levels so considering my grandmother had dementia I'm more than willing to do anything to reduce my risk of getting it.

    Google it. Might be surprised
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    Especially double check that brown rice -- just as an example of how you need to tighten up. I'll have 1/4 cup uncooked (1/2 cup cooked) for dinner tonight, and it'll "cost" me 162 calories. You're eating twice that amount -- in brown, of course, but still. You're not eating twice the amount of rice for the same calorie count.

    When you look at USDA, as an example for generic cooked brown rice, the calories are 248. Not 170. And that's just one example.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    edited June 2017
    collectingblues wrote: »
    Especially double check that brown rice -- just as an example of how you need to tighten up. I'll have 1/4 cup uncooked (1/2 cup cooked) for dinner tonight, and it'll "cost" me 162 calories. You're eating twice that amount -- in brown, of course, but still. You're not eating twice the amount of rice for the same calorie count.

    When you look at USDA, as an example for generic cooked brown rice, the calories are 248. Not 170. And that's just one example.

    My package of plain brown rice says 46g (uncooked) is a serving. That's a tiny bit lower than the rim on a 1/4 Cup measuring cup. It cooks up to over a cup. 170 calories.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »

    My package of plain brown rice says 46g (uncooked) is a serving. That's a tiny bit lower than the rim on a 1/4 Cup measuring cup. It cooks up to over a cup. 170 calories.

    Ah, interesting. I didn't know that brown rice quadrupled in size when you cooked it. That's not been my experience with white (I don't like the taste of brown).

    At any rate, when I put in a cup of brown rice, cooked, in USDA, it says 248 calories.

  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    Two things came to my mind when I read your post.

    1) When you say you cannot lose weight, how have you determined this? Can you provide more details? Are you weighing regularly? Using a trending app? Are you perhaps losing slowly (not as fast as you'd like)? I ask because it's extremely rare that a person's weight doesn't change at all. How long have you not been losing weight?

    2) You could try an experiment to determine if you really are eating the number of calories you think you are. Adjust your data in MFP to maintain your current weight. Eat all of the calories it gives you. Do this for 4-6 weeks. Weigh daily and enter that information into a trending weight. You'd also need to accurately track your calories burned. I personally use a Fitbit I wear day and night and find it extremely accurate. In essence, what you'll be doing is holding all of the variables fixed and see if the're accurate.

    At the end of 4-6 weeks your weight should not have changed (according to the trend, not a specific weigh in amount). If it has changed, then your logging is almost certainly off* . Then you can go from there and decide what adjustments you want to make. This way you'll get some concrete data on your individual situation and do away with the guess work you're working with now. I suspect the results will be enlightening.

    If you decide to try this experiment, I'd love to hear about your results if you'd like to post an update then.

    *Note: There's also a very small chance that you have some sort of rare medical condition that you'll need to further explore with you doctor.

    Best of luck to you whatever you decide to do.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    alicejoanne321 wrote: »
    @stu7397 have a google around fasting diets and intermittent fasting. They're proven to prevent things like alzheimer's and dementia and reduce reduce insulin resistance, lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes. Also shown to be beneficial for heart health and stress levels so considering my grandmother had dementia I'm more than willing to do anything to reduce my risk of getting it.

    Google it. Might be surprised

    You can also use Google to find stuff "proving" that the earth is flat. Vetting your sources is important.

    OP, start using the food scale for as much solid food as you possibly can. The sad fact is most of us are awful at measuring portions. Weighing out my portions made all the difference for me. Good luck!
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