Starving
zfitgal
Posts: 518 Member
Hi everyone, I was just talking to one of the trainers in my gym and she was telling me that when a person is in a caloric deficit, they should be hungry and starving. That’s how they know your metabolism is working hard. I totally disagree with that. I think of a person is on a diet and they are constantly starving. You’re constantly going to Binge. Have any of you ever heard of this before? She is a person who does compete in bodybuilding competitions and is on a ton of supplementation and I’m sure performance enhancement drugs as well. But I do not believe the average person who wants to lose 15 to 20 pounds in a 1 pound a week or half a pound of deficit should be starving. Please let me know if you feel I’m wrong.
5
Replies
-
Not since the 90s when I was a teen watching Oprah and she said "hunger pains are fat cells crying".
And we wonder why we all grew up with a screwed up sense of what healthy weight loss looks like.
I would not go to that trainer for a lot of advice.10 -
I've been losing about half a kg a week and so I'm clearly in a deficit and I'm not starving whatsoever.2
-
If I eat correctly, log my daily intake, I will loose a minimum of 1 pound a week & definitely do not starve. Feel full more than when eating unhealthy.2
-
Having been married to a competitive bodybuilder, I can tell you that unless I were myself a bodybuilder, they are the absolute dead last people I’d take nutrition advice from. It’s an extremely specialized and all-consuming sport and just doesn’t translate well to regular people.14
-
I don't starve myself either. I'm down 20 lbs since I changed to a high water-filled foods and protein diet. I eat a lot of fresh veggies(lettuce, tomato, cucumbers), healthy fats (love avocado 🥑) and protein (nuts, beef sticks). Water veggies are low in calories and the protein helps me feel fuller longer.2
-
Bodybuilders that compete are on a different plane entirely. They starve during contest prep for a month or more, look the way they do then after the contest go back to a caloric surplus to add more muscle so in essence, yo yo dieting which for the general public is a bad idea.
You want to set up your diet as a permanently sustainable situation which can take some time to sort out but once you find your groove it’s easy.3 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »Bodybuilders that compete are on a different plane entirely. They starve during contest prep for a month or more, look the way they do then after the contest go back to a caloric surplus to add more muscle so in essence, yo yo dieting which for the general public is a bad idea.
You want to set up your diet as a permanently sustainable situation which can take some time to sort out but once you find your groove it’s easy.
I lost 20 pounds since this past July and in March I stalled. I didn’t change my calories back in March and thought maybe it would work itself out. I do work out in a Powerhouse gym so most people who come are competitors. There of course all the average people as well, but it is very popular for a bodybuilder gym. That being said, I do feel like I’ve lost because I do see you these people going from 20 pounds or even 40 pounds overweight to getting contest lean which
is very difficult. I was eating 1600 cal for most of this deficit. I did drop my calories to 1550 to see what happened nothing happened and then I blocked them to 1450 and my body started getting anxious, wasn’t able to sleep at night,felt starving where all I can think of was food and my next meal, had constant feelings the sadness and my bowel movements slow down. I spoke to someone in the gym and they told me that it’s normal to starve, and I should lower my calories
even more. I know that’s not the right answer for me. But I do have 15 pounds left to lose. So I am in a bit of a pickle. I will tell you for the past week. I have eaten whatever I wanted have not worked out because I just I’m so tired of chasing some thing. looking forward to hearing from you and thanks for your responses2 -
I think proper nutrition is key for health. Malnourishment would be ill advised.
Starvation means not having the calories needed to support life.
Being in a modest calorie deficit and being adequately nourished is enough for weight loss.
Hunger is a feeling, starvation is a medical condition.
1 -
If you’re cutting so hard you’re at the point of feeling like you’re “chasing something”, and too de-energized to work out, listen to your head and your body.
I worked out at a powerlifting gym when I first started doing weights. The owner’s 57 year old husband (multiple time world champ) squatted 1,000 an month after a triple bypass, and swore everyone to secrecy because he knew his wife would (reasonably) go ballistic. She has cameras throughout the gym. Duh. She knew. All hell broke loose. Thank god, because she asked me what I knew which was tres awkward.
A lot of these guys are in a bubble of Crazy-Town.
One of the things she used to point out to me was how overweight most of them were, and how they’d improve if they ate better, shed a few, and most of all, stretched regularly. She even tried to teach some stretch classes herself and considered hiring a yoga instructor for her competitors, but man, they weren’t having none of it.
You do you. Common sense is called “common sense” for a reason. Make sure your calorie goal is still in line with your current weight. MFP does not always adjust automatically as you get lighter.1 -
Thank you so much for this I really appreciate this. So my fitness pal was saying that in order for me to lose half a pound a week based on my activity (which I might’ve put in too low, because I retrain five days a week and I do cardio five days a week, with one complete rest day and I complete 10,000 steps a daily) and I put myself as lightly active. Based on where I put myself it said 1650 would be where I need to be to lose half a pound a week. But every time I seem to lower my calories from fat points I would start to gain weight and I wouldn’t feel right. So I don’t really know how to adjust.springlering62 wrote: »If you’re cutting so hard you’re at the point of feeling like you’re “chasing something”, and too de-energized to work out, listen to your head and your body.
I worked out at a powerlifting gym when I first started doing weights. The owner’s 57 year old husband (multiple time world champ) squatted 1,000 an month after a triple bypass, and swore everyone to secrecy because he knew his wife would (reasonably) go ballistic. She has cameras throughout the gym. Duh. She knew. All hell broke loose. Thank god, because she asked me what I knew which was tres awkward.
A lot of these guys are in a bubble of Crazy-Town.
One of the things she used to point out to me was how overweight most of them were, and how they’d improve if they ate better, shed a few, and most of all, stretched regularly. She even tried to teach some stretch classes herself and considered hiring a yoga instructor for her competitors, but man, they weren’t having none of it.
You do you. Common sense is called “common sense” for a reason. Make sure your calorie goal is still in line with your current weight. MFP does not always adjust automatically as you get lighter.
. I do know weight loss is not linear and there are gonna be ups and downs through it but I just want to feel like I’m on the right track if you know what I mean and I don’t know what track that is right now.
0 -
Thank you so much for this I really appreciate this. So my fitness pal was saying that in order for me to lose half a pound a week based on my activity (which I might’ve put in too low, because I retrain five days a week and I do cardio five days a week, with one complete rest day and I complete 10,000 steps a daily) and I put myself as lightly active. Based on where I put myself it said 1650 would be where I need to be to lose half a pound a week. But every time I seem to lower my calories from fat points I would start to gain weight and I wouldn’t feel right. So I don’t really know how to adjust.springlering62 wrote: »If you’re cutting so hard you’re at the point of feeling like you’re “chasing something”, and too de-energized to work out, listen to your head and your body.
I worked out at a powerlifting gym when I first started doing weights. The owner’s 57 year old husband (multiple time world champ) squatted 1,000 an month after a triple bypass, and swore everyone to secrecy because he knew his wife would (reasonably) go ballistic. She has cameras throughout the gym. Duh. She knew. All hell broke loose. Thank god, because she asked me what I knew which was tres awkward.
A lot of these guys are in a bubble of Crazy-Town.
One of the things she used to point out to me was how overweight most of them were, and how they’d improve if they ate better, shed a few, and most of all, stretched regularly. She even tried to teach some stretch classes herself and considered hiring a yoga instructor for her competitors, but man, they weren’t having none of it.
You do you. Common sense is called “common sense” for a reason. Make sure your calorie goal is still in line with your current weight. MFP does not always adjust automatically as you get lighter.. I do know weight loss is not linear and there are gonna be ups and downs through it but I just want to feel like I’m on the right track if you know what I mean and I don’t know what track that is right now.
Because of all your activity, you probably have a lot of water weight fluctuations going on. Intellectually you know "weight loss is not linear" but I don't think you've really internalized/accepted this. Stick to a path for at least a month (a full menstrual cycle if that applies) and then decide whether to adjust calories.
It's also possible that since you're not calculating activity level correctly, you may be under eating quite a bit, and it is currently not showing up on the scale because the stress of this has raised your cortisol level, causing you to retain even more water.
If this resonates with you, let's discuss how to dial in your activity level:
https://bodyrecomposition.com/research/dietary-restraint-cortisol-levels
...a group of women who scored higher on dietary restraint scores showed elevated baseline cortisol levels. By itself this might not be problematic, but as often as not, these types of dieters are drawn to extreme approaches to dieting.
They throw in a lot of intense exercise, try to cut calories very hard (and this often backfires if disinhibition is high; when these folks break they break) and cortisol levels go through the roof. That often causes cortisol mediated water retention (there are other mechanisms for this, mind you, leptin actually inhibits cortisol release and as it drops on a diet, cortisol levels go up further). Weight and fat loss appear to have stopped or at least slowed significantly. This is compounded even further in female dieters due to the vagaries of their menstrual cycle where water balance is changing enormously week to week anyhow.
And invariably, this type of psychology responds to the stall by going even harder. They attempt to cut calories harder, they start doing more activity. The cycle continues and gets worse. Harder dieting means more cortisol means more water retention means more dieting. Which backfires (other problems come in the long-term with this approach but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about that).
When what they should do is take a day or two off (even one day off from training, at least in men, lets cortisol drop significantly). Raise calories, especially from carbohydrates. This helps cortisol to drop. More than that they need to find a way to freaking chill out. Meditation, yoga, get a massage... Get in the bath, candles, a little Enya, a glass of wine, have some you-time but please just chill.
5 -
SafariGalNYC wrote: »I think proper nutrition is key for health. Malnourishment would be ill advised.
Starvation means not having the calories needed to support life.
Being in a modest calorie deficit and being adequately nourished is enough for weight loss.
Hunger is a feeling, starvation is a medical condition.
This is so correct. I'm pretty sure the trainer in the original post was talking about hunger, not starvation, but used the incorrect word. For many people who start on a weight loss journey, they feel they are "starving" while in reality they just feel hungry due to consuming fewer calories than they were (which of course was excessive).4 -
Thank you so much for this I really appreciate this. So my fitness pal was saying that in order for me to lose half a pound a week based on my activity (which I might’ve put in too low, because I retrain five days a week and I do cardio five days a week, with one complete rest day and I complete 10,000 steps a daily) and I put myself as lightly active. Based on where I put myself it said 1650 would be where I need to be to lose half a pound a week. But every time I seem to lower my calories from fat points I would start to gain weight and I wouldn’t feel right. So I don’t really know how to adjust.springlering62 wrote: »If you’re cutting so hard you’re at the point of feeling like you’re “chasing something”, and too de-energized to work out, listen to your head and your body.
I worked out at a powerlifting gym when I first started doing weights. The owner’s 57 year old husband (multiple time world champ) squatted 1,000 an month after a triple bypass, and swore everyone to secrecy because he knew his wife would (reasonably) go ballistic. She has cameras throughout the gym. Duh. She knew. All hell broke loose. Thank god, because she asked me what I knew which was tres awkward.
A lot of these guys are in a bubble of Crazy-Town.
One of the things she used to point out to me was how overweight most of them were, and how they’d improve if they ate better, shed a few, and most of all, stretched regularly. She even tried to teach some stretch classes herself and considered hiring a yoga instructor for her competitors, but man, they weren’t having none of it.
You do you. Common sense is called “common sense” for a reason. Make sure your calorie goal is still in line with your current weight. MFP does not always adjust automatically as you get lighter.. I do know weight loss is not linear and there are gonna be ups and downs through it but I just want to feel like I’m on the right track if you know what I mean and I don’t know what track that is right now.
I’m going to say this from a place of support and empathy, and not criticism. You’ve made a few posts about not losing, or feeling ill when you eat too little, or having a weight loss stall. It feels like you’re pushing hard to solve an “issue” which might not even be there.
Weight fluctuates hugely - especially if you have menstrual cycles - and you need to just hold your nerve and track consistently for several weeks THEN see what your numbers are. Lots of things will affect your weight (notice I’m saying weight - not fat): how many carbs or salt you ate, how many times you’ve been to the bathroom (food in tummy / bowels), heat and humidity, whether you’ve travelled (retained water), your exercise intensity (muscles holding water), what your food intake was (some foods are heavier), how much water you’ve drunk, and the good old female period.
If you don’t have loads to lose then you’re better off picking a slow and sustainable rate of loss, like 1/2 - 1 lb per week. And you know what? You won’t see that every week. You might even go up a bit before get a sudden whoosh of loss. It’s why some people like to track every day and then record trends on a graph over time. There’s a great thread on here about scale fluctuations and I recommend reading that if you can find it.
If you find over several weeks that your weight has consistently crept up, then you need to check your logging is as accurate as you can make it: no eyeballing or guessing, weigh absolutely everything and check all entries you select. Then try dropping 100 cals a day, and consider what foods make you feel full and good.
We are all different, but with the volume of exercise you have stated, I would expect you to lose weight fast on the calories you mention.
Does any of this resonate, or have I missed the mark?
4 -
This is just me, but when I lost 20 lbs in the first half of this year I was VERY hungry for at least a full hour before each meal.
If you have the time and self discipline, it may be less miserable if you eat at maintenance levels and exercise into caloric deficit.0 -
claireychn074 wrote: »
Thank you so much for this I really appreciate this. So my fitness pal was saying that in order for me to lose half a pound a week based on my activity (which I might’ve put in too low, because I retrain five days a week and I do cardio five days a week, with one complete rest day and I complete 10,000 steps a daily) and I put myself as lightly active. Based on where I put myself it said 1650 would be where I need to be to lose half a pound a week. But every time I seem to lower my calories from fat points I would start to gain weight and I wouldn’t feel right. So I don’t really know how to adjust.springlering62 wrote: »If you’re cutting so hard you’re at the point of feeling like you’re “chasing something”, and too de-energized to work out, listen to your head and your body.
I worked out at a powerlifting gym when I first started doing weights. The owner’s 57 year old husband (multiple time world champ) squatted 1,000 an month after a triple bypass, and swore everyone to secrecy because he knew his wife would (reasonably) go ballistic. She has cameras throughout the gym. Duh. She knew. All hell broke loose. Thank god, because she asked me what I knew which was tres awkward.
A lot of these guys are in a bubble of Crazy-Town.
One of the things she used to point out to me was how overweight most of them were, and how they’d improve if they ate better, shed a few, and most of all, stretched regularly. She even tried to teach some stretch classes herself and considered hiring a yoga instructor for her competitors, but man, they weren’t having none of it.
You do you. Common sense is called “common sense” for a reason. Make sure your calorie goal is still in line with your current weight. MFP does not always adjust automatically as you get lighter.. I do know weight loss is not linear and there are gonna be ups and downs through it but I just want to feel like I’m on the right track if you know what I mean and I don’t know what track that is right now.
I’m going to say this from a place of support and empathy, and not criticism. You’ve made a few posts about not losing, or feeling ill when you eat too little, or having a weight loss stall. It feels like you’re pushing hard to solve an “issue” which might not even be there.
Weight fluctuates hugely - especially if you have menstrual cycles - and you need to just hold your nerve and track consistently for several weeks THEN see what your numbers are. Lots of things will affect your weight (notice I’m saying weight - not fat): how many carbs or salt you ate, how many times you’ve been to the bathroom (food in tummy / bowels), heat and humidity, whether you’ve travelled (retained water), your exercise intensity (muscles holding water), what your food intake was (some foods are heavier), how much water you’ve drunk, and the good old female period.
If you don’t have loads to lose then you’re better off picking a slow and sustainable rate of loss, like 1/2 - 1 lb per week. And you know what? You won’t see that every week. You might even go up a bit before get a sudden whoosh of loss. It’s why some people like to track every day and then record trends on a graph over time. There’s a great thread on here about scale fluctuations and I recommend reading that if you can find it.
If you find over several weeks that your weight has consistently crept up, then you need to check your logging is as accurate as you can make it: no eyeballing or guessing, weigh absolutely everything and check all entries you select. Then try dropping 100 cals a day, and consider what foods make you feel full and good.
We are all different, but with the volume of exercise you have stated, I would expect you to lose weight fast on the calories you mention.
Does any of this resonate, or have I missed the mark?
Hi, none of this resonates with me. I meticulously track. My weight has crept up only after lowering my calories. Other than that my way has been between 145 and 147 pounds eating at 1600 cal. There is nothing that goes into my mouth that is not measured. My inches have been the same as well. My goal was to only lose half a pound a week that’s why I put my calories at 1600. I am not basing this off of one week or two weeks. I am basing this off of several months of being in the same place. The only change that I have done was lower, my calories, and it threw me off completely. I did write multiple post because I’m very lost and confused here and it’s very hard for me. The woosh affect happens after a couple of weeks at most not months. Even when I lowered my calories, I looked more swollen.
0 -
Too low of calories and too much exercise causes water bloating. Try reverse dieting for 2 weeks and reduce exercising.
After a couple weeks of this if still no change then you need to review your diet for accuracy.1 -
Just because someone's a "trainer" doesn't make them right, or even sensible. People who are trainers can be extreme, obsessed, hyperbolic in how they express things, etc. . . . just like any other people.
I'm with you, as a generality: Extreme hunger should not be necessary. Sure, it's one normal pattern to feel hungrier than usual for the first couple of weeks, before new habits settle in. Also, there will be some people who - for one reason or another - do struggle with hunger at reduced calories. But that's not universal, IME.
I lost around 50 pounds, without feeling constantly "hungry and starving", averaging a pound a week for just under a year (faster at first, slower at the end, in practice). I'd feel a little peckish when a meal was coming up pretty soon, but no big problems or suffering on a regular basis.
I feel like some people act as if being fat is a sin that we need to expiate by suffering: Extreme food restriction, punitively intense exercise. I think that's nonsense.
Gaining weight when lowering calories is much more likely IMO to be stress-related water retention than fat gain, and it can last a surprisingly long time. The exception might be when the reduced calories cause reduced movement (including unnoticed movements like fidgeting) through fatigue. In those scenarios - persistent water retention or fatigue-reduced movement - I think Tom's got a good point about reverse dieting.
You might also want to read about refeeds and diet breaks here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
To be clear, I'm not necessarily saying you must do refeeds or a diet break. It's that I think the science around that is interesting and potentially relevant to what you're experiencing (in addition to the link about cortisol that Kshama posted above). There's some good research-based information in both those links (and the outlinks from the thread I posted above).0 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »Too low of calories and too much exercise causes water bloating. Try reverse dieting for 2 weeks and reduce exercising.
After a couple weeks of this if still no change then you need to review your diet for accuracy.
Yep, I'm assuming the calorie log is accurate, calories are too few given the amount of exercise, and what's showing up on the scale is water retention due to increased cortisol, not fat gain.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »Too low of calories and too much exercise causes water bloating. Try reverse dieting for 2 weeks and reduce exercising.
After a couple weeks of this if still no change then you need to review your diet for accuracy.
Yep, I'm assuming the calorie log is accurate, calories are too few given the amount of exercise, and what's showing up on the scale is water retention due to increased cortisol, not fat gain.
Correct
After a lengthy period of a lot of exercise and very low calories you’re going to look worse before you look better. Your body is in a big caloric deficit. Your body retains water and you’ll look soft and fat—this even happens to pros. This is why you want to add calories back in at the end and back off of the cardio.0 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »Too low of calories and too much exercise causes water bloating. Try reverse dieting for 2 weeks and reduce exercising.
After a couple weeks of this if still no change then you need to review your diet for accuracy.
Yep, I'm assuming the calorie log is accurate, calories are too few given the amount of exercise, and what's showing up on the scale is water retention due to increased cortisol, not fat gain.
Correct
After a lengthy period of a lot of exercise and very low calories you’re going to look worse before you look better. Your body is in a big caloric deficit. Your body retains water and you’ll look soft and fat—this even happens to pros. This is why you want to add calories back in at the end and back off of the cardio.
You'll start looking better, the water will dissipate and the added calories, especially from carbs will fill the muscles back up.
This is provided you actually were in a big weekly deficit and not just underestimating your calorie amounts0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.7K Getting Started
- 260.1K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.8K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 416 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.6K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions