Not losing Weight - Too little calories
jaffstrong
Posts: 1 Member
Has anyone lowered calories to a level where weight loss completely stopped ?
5
Replies
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That doesn't happen. Starvation mode isn't a thing. If it were, anorexia would not exist.
If you aren't losing weight, you are eating at maintenance. Get a food scale. Weigh and log EVERYTHING, no cheating, skipping or forgetting.16 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »That doesn't happen. Starvation mode isn't a thing. If it were, anorexia would not exist.
If you aren't losing weight, you are eating at maintenance. Get a food scale. Weigh and log EVERYTHING, no cheating, skipping or forgetting.
Absolutely ditto.
How do you know that your calories are too low? How many are you eating and how many SHOULD you be eating?4 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »That doesn't happen. Starvation mode isn't a thing. If it were, anorexia would not exist.
If you aren't losing weight, you are eating at maintenance. Get a food scale. Weigh and log EVERYTHING, no cheating, skipping or forgetting.
+1
It is literally impossible to not lose weight from eating too little.8 -
Yes I have. If my calories are too low I won't lose.
People say starvation mode isn't real but I beg too differ. Its why I've struggled with my weight so much. when I was much younger I went months eating at a ridiculous low amount of calories. Once I started eating correctly my body stored everything. And since then if I try to lower my calorie intake too low it screws things up.
When I first started losing weight I was aiming for 1200 calories. I couldn't lose anything. I added more calories and lost 10lbs like nothing. Again recently, was eating at a low calorie and exercising, not losing anything. Took a week off from exercising and continued eating the same, lost weight.
Anorexia exist because they don't eat at all or they purge. Your body can't store anything if there's nothing to store. That's why the body will start consuming itself. If you're still eating but too little it gives the body something to store.32 -
I agree with Jenny. I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day, and i swear the body has a mind of its own....I can eat 2200 calories one day, and lose half a pound. Just yesterday, I ate 1750 calories, and I gained 1.1 pounds overnight. It's very interesting. I find that I go up and down, but the average for the week always works out to be lower.19
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jennydelgado09 wrote: »Yes I have. If my calories are too low I won't lose.
People say starvation mode isn't real but I beg too differ. Its why I've struggled with my weight so much. when I was much younger I went months eating at a ridiculous low amount of calories. Once I started eating correctly my body stored everything. And since then if I try to lower my calorie intake too low it screws things up.
When I first started losing weight I was aiming for 1200 calories. I couldn't lose anything. I added more calories and lost 10lbs like nothing. Again recently, was eating at a low calorie and exercising, not losing anything. Took a week off from exercising and continued eating the same, lost weight.
Anorexia exist because they don't eat at all or they purge. Your body can't store anything if there's nothing to store. That's why the body will start consuming itself. If you're still eating but too little it gives the body something to store.
Nope - it takes 'x' amount of calories a day just to keep your body functioning. Those calories cannot be manufactured out of thin air, and if they don't come from food, they must come from either fat stores or muscle.
For the bolded part - this isn't starvation mode. You managed to screw up your metabolism (do some google searches on the results from the show "The Biggest Loser") so that your BMR has been lowered more than a regular diet pattern would do. Once you eat correctly for awhile, it will adjust, but it probably will never come back to where it once was.9 -
I agree with Jenny. I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day, and i swear the body has a mind of its own....I can eat 2200 calories one day, and lose half a pound. Just yesterday, I ate 1750 calories, and I gained 1.1 pounds overnight. It's very interesting. I find that I go up and down, but the average for the week always works out to be lower.
Your confusing day to day fluctuations with something else.
Read this.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10594623/weight-loss-is-not-linear-237-lbs-later-and-loving-life
Starvation mode is a myth. Your body can't store fat when you are in a deficit. Some of what happens when you undereat is your normal activity decreases. Forget exercise, but your fidget less, don't get up as often from the couch and just lack energy. So, you get by on less calories. But if you are really in a deficit, you will lose weight over the longer term.9 -
When you are eating less, your body will slow down metabolism. You might still be able to lose weight, but it won't be as fast as compared to the time you just started dieting. It's just that your body kinda knows that you're not consuming as much food now so it will adapt to use less energy for daily maintenance.7
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jennydelgado09 wrote: »Yes I have. If my calories are too low I won't lose.
People say starvation mode isn't real but I beg too differ. Its why I've struggled with my weight so much. when I was much younger I went months eating at a ridiculous low amount of calories. Once I started eating correctly my body stored everything. And since then if I try to lower my calorie intake too low it screws things up.
When I first started losing weight I was aiming for 1200 calories. I couldn't lose anything. I added more calories and lost 10lbs like nothing. Again recently, was eating at a low calorie and exercising, not losing anything. Took a week off from exercising and continued eating the same, lost weight.
Anorexia exist because they don't eat at all or they purge. Your body can't store anything if there's nothing to store. That's why the body will start consuming itself. If you're still eating but too little it gives the body something to store.
Sounds like the combination of the low calories plus exercise was very stressful on your body, causing cortisol levels to rise and water to be retained: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html/7 -
When you are eating less, your body will slow down metabolism. You might still be able to lose weight, but it won't be as fast as compared to the time you just started dieting. It's just that your body kinda knows that you're not consuming as much food now so it will adapt to use less energy for daily maintenance.
Or.... As you lose weight, your body requires less calories to function, so your deficit decreases.4 -
Just don't keep eating less and less until you lose weight. Trust the body. Of course you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, but there's more than one way to be in a calorie deficit. If you are not losing weight eating 1200 calories a day, instead of cutting back to 1000 calories, do some activity like walking on the treadmill to create the deficit.1
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jaffstrong wrote: »Has anyone lowered calories to a level where weight loss completely stopped ?
If I drop my calories below a certain point, my NEAT suffers. I move less in my day-to-day activity, I fidget less, etc. I also have a tendency to put in less energy during workouts (thus burning less) and I tend to cheat more often without realizing it or counting it. This is not starvation mode, but if I drop my calories too low I have a hard time losing because I get lethargic and lazy.13 -
diannethegeek wrote: »jaffstrong wrote: »Has anyone lowered calories to a level where weight loss completely stopped ?
If I drop my calories below a certain point, my NEAT suffers. I move less in my day-to-day activity, I fidget less, etc. I also have a tendency to put in less energy during workouts (thus burning less) and I tend to cheat more often without realizing it or counting it. This is not starvation mode, but if I drop my calories too low I have a hard time losing because I get lethargic and lazy.
Yep - this.
There is a reason why there is a group called Eat More 2 Weigh Less. It's not because of Starvation Mode, it's because fueling your body, for daily activity as well as an exercise routine, is important. It helps keep energy up, it helps keep moods stabilized, and it helps ensure that a person is eating a reasonable amount of calories to get adequate nutrition, preserve lean body mass, and have room for foods that you enjoy as well - which helps keep a person motivated during weight loss. It's a very positive self fulfilling prophecy in that it also helps prevent adaptive thermogenesis and impacts to metabolism from cortisol, etc.
This is why the wise rabbit said "the winner is the one who eats the most and still loses the weight"...10 -
I agree with Jenny. I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day, and i swear the body has a mind of its own....I can eat 2200 calories one day, and lose half a pound. Just yesterday, I ate 1750 calories, and I gained 1.1 pounds overnight. It's very interesting. I find that I go up and down, but the average for the week always works out to be lower.
this is called daily fluctuations - not some weird effects of 'starvation mode'5 -
I agree with Jenny. I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day, and i swear the body has a mind of its own....I can eat 2200 calories one day, and lose half a pound. Just yesterday, I ate 1750 calories, and I gained 1.1 pounds overnight. It's very interesting. I find that I go up and down, but the average for the week always works out to be lower.
If you spend some time looking at your food diary, weight, and time of the month, maybe in a spreadsheet instead of MFP, I'd bet that you'll start to see patterns that explain those "unexplained" losses and gains. For example, on Sunday I ate a net 1500 calories (gross 1900), which for me is about a 1000 deficit. I should have lost about a third of a pound, but instead I gained a pound and a half. Why? I had pizza for dinner on Sunday, and I almost always retain 1-2 pounds of water after eating pizza. Yesterday I ate a net 1400 (gross 1600), again around a .3 lb fat loss, but this morning the scale was down a full *two and a half* pounds. In addition to the pizza, I ate out on Saturday and drank several alcoholic beverages, which for me also often leads to water retention, and it generally takes a couple of days for that extra water weight to do its thing. Totally explainable.5 -
I lowered my calories to a point where I also lowered my NEAT enough that there was no deficit and thus no weight loss.0
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jaffstrong wrote: »Has anyone lowered calories to a level where weight loss completely stopped ?
The people who have are all dead. That's the only way this happens in the real world.7 -
I am also wondering if I should eat more calories. I am supposed to eat 1200 and walk 3 miles everyday. I am only eating 1000 and not losing weight. I am afraid to eat more.2
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mkramschuster wrote: »I am also wondering if I should eat more calories. I am supposed to eat 1200 and walk 3 miles everyday. I am only eating 1000 and not losing weight. I am afraid to eat more.
Take a read of this http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p12 -
mkramschuster wrote: »I am also wondering if I should eat more calories. I am supposed to eat 1200 and walk 3 miles everyday. I am only eating 1000 and not losing weight. I am afraid to eat more.
you would be losing if you were truly eating 1000 calories per day. are you weighing every single thing you eat?1 -
mkramschuster wrote: »I am also wondering if I should eat more calories. I am supposed to eat 1200 and walk 3 miles everyday. I am only eating 1000 and not losing weight. I am afraid to eat more.
Assuming this has been going on for several weeks, chances are extremely good that you are averaging more than 1000/day. If this is the case, you should tighten up your logging and eat less.2
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