Ravenclaw Common Room

I would just like to take a moment to correct a logistical error I regularly see. I think it confuses people more than it helps...

Most of us who have around the MFP block a few times will tell you: You need to eat more to lose more. This is absolutely true. It's the reason WHY this is true that can be confusing and is often stated wrong by well meaning fitness palls.

When you eat too few calories (not enough to fuel your body) over a long period of time your weight loss can (and eventually will) stall. You can call it "starvation mode" or whatever you want. However, it is NOT because your body "stores more fat at lower calorie levels" Your body needs all those calories and it uses all those calories. It does not and cannot afford to store them!

The reason why you will plateau is because your body thinks you are in famine. In order to "help" you through these rough times of drought and food scarcity, your body will SLOW DOWN. The natural day to day processes your body undertakes without your conscious knowledge turn down a notch so that you can survive on less.

We're not talking about exercises and such... you can continue to force yourself to do the same amount of exercise on 500 calories as you did on 2000 calories. Your body has other, tricky, ways of slowing down that you cannot control. It expends less energy on the daily functions like mucus production, digestion, hair growth, skin regeneration, and so forth. Under normal circumstances, your brain is a major energy suck (some pplz more than others, hehe). In order to conserve energy, your brain slows down. Who wants that? You might fidget less, sit more often, and sleep in a little longer. You might have less enthusiasm when exercising. All of these things add up to requiring less (AND BURNING LESS!) calories during the day. POOF! Plateau!

Now think about what would happen to your body if all these processes were to slow down for an extended (months, years?) period of time. You'd become more prone to infection and illness. Those processes are in place for reason. They keep your body healthy and running the way its supposed to. Hair loss, brittle nails, bad skin, listlessness, and so forth are very common side effects of not properly fueling your body... ask any long-term ED. You're probably not going to die... but you can become very sick.

This doesn't happen in a day, but over a long period of time, IT WILL HAPPEN. It happened to me and to a lot of others here on MFP. So what's the solution? Well DUH! EAT FOOD!

Some extra food for thought.... I ate an average of 900 calories per day for 3 months. I lost the same amount of weight per week as I have eating 1200 calories per day for the past 4 months.My skin is better, my nails are better, my mood is better, I have more energy. It wasn't worth it. But MAYBE being able to share my story and help others will make up for it.

Well, thanks everyone for reading. I love you all! NOW EAT UP, DAMMIT!

Hello Ravenclaws,

I've been dragging the last few days. I'm not really sure why. I think I picked up some kind of cold bug over the weekend, I've been sleeping like crazy. And maybe feeling a bit down after spending three days making art and not feeling very positive about the work I produced. And also a disappointment from an acquaintance who I thought was a friend but after promising to get together to talk about art, blew me off twice. I've felt hungry the last few days, not famished or craving anything, just wanting to eat a bit more protein in the evening.

Food-wise, I've been right on track. Exercise-wise, I haven't exercised since Sunday. I did a mid-week peek at my scale this morning and I'm at 193.5 (!) so I'm tracking better than I expected.

I had a hysterectomy three years ago, so I'm pretty sure it's not that time of the month.

I think I'm moping around, but it occurred to me I might not be getting enough food too. But maybe that's wishful thinking.

Any thoughts?