Staying under calorie goal and still losing weight?

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    Yes, I went through all the posts.... what did I get from it? Starvation mode is a myth. Wait, no! It's not. It's true..... so many different answers. What I will do though is continue doing what I'm doing until my weight loss is stalled. I've only been at this for a couple of weeks, but I was concerned since I did weight watchers for several months and only lost 2 pounds. I've been eating healthy and running 4days a week, and I'm tired of being stuck in this plateau.

    I did like the tip of varying my calorie intake on a day to day basis.... 1100 cals on day then 1300 on the other. I can see how that can help avoid the weight loss from stopping. Thanks! :happy:


    The majority of the weight you are losing is probably muscle and not body fat. I would suggest tracking your body fat to see if you can confirm it.

    My bigger question is, why would you only eat 1100 calories when you can eat 2000 calories and lose fat? I would suggest checking out the threads below. When looking at "athletic" people, they all eat a bunch of calories.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395948-caloric-intake-results?hl=caloric+intake+results&page=1#posts-5425208

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more
  • yorkies2
    yorkies2 Posts: 52
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    I have not meant my calorie goal one time but I am steady losing weight.
  • atlantapiper
    atlantapiper Posts: 133 Member
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    I'm eating very healthy, under my 1200 calories, staying very full...I've just cut out the crappy foods and kept my carbs/sodium and calories low.

    If I ate back my exercise calories, I definitely would gain weight.
  • CharityPearce
    CharityPearce Posts: 215
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    I never eat all of my calories. I eat when I'm hungry and try to make healthy choices. I get the same msg about starvation mode. I don't really believe it. If I were burning tons of cals, I'd up my cal intake to keep from burning muscle, but for now, I think I'm doing fine. And I've never stopped losing weight due to plateau. Everyone is different. You're doing great!
  • CharityPearce
    CharityPearce Posts: 215
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    Ketosis is a condition in which levels of ketones (ketone bodies) in the blood are elevated. Ketones are formed when glycogen stores in the liver have run out. The ketones are used for energy. Ketones are small carbon fragments that are the fuel created by the breakdown of fat stores. Ketosis is potentially a serious condition if keytone levels go too high. 
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180858.php
    Experts cannot agree on whether ketosis caused by a low carb/high protein diet is good or bad for humans. Some say it is dangerous. While others point to human evolution: during most of the time that humans have existed; we have been a hunter-gatherer species and have lived primarily in a ketogenic state for extended periods. There are many documented cases of human societies today that exist in a long-term ketogenic state. After a 2 to 4 week period of adaptation, human physical endurance is not affected by ketosis, according to studies - meaning that we do not necessarily need a high carbohydrate intake in order to replace depleted glycogen stores for exercise. This makes the argument more compelling that, in fact, we are designed to thrive at certain levels of ketosis.





    Great info! I've been studying this very thing in A & P! thanks for putting it in such a way that us "average josie's" can understand!


    D
  • spectralmoon
    spectralmoon Posts: 1,230 Member
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    As far as the 1200 calories per day and the constant warning label whenever you log... I had the same thing happening when I was at 1200. I actually raised it to 1330 (about 1.0 lb per week instead of two on the site), and I've been successfully losing weight and/or inches per week. For the times when no pounds fell off, inches came off instead, so I'm willing to believe that I gained muscle in the process of slimming down.

    Just match the exercise (raise it a little as well) and this might work for you as well.


    *Might- because everyone is different. :)
  • amyofftherecord
    amyofftherecord Posts: 64 Member
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    why i dont believe in starvation mode. there were no fat people in auschwtiz. They all lost weight and they were eating less than 1200 calories a day. If starvation mode were true then no one would have died of malnutrition . But yet millions died.

    ...Wow...

    In starvation mode you do lose fat. And muscle. And organ tissue. You'll get quite skinny, but you'll be weak, sick, and your organs will fail. Yes, you will still lose weight by starving yourself, but you will lose it slowly and in all the wrong ways.

    Also, I'd like to think it wasn't your intention to sound callous, but this post is pretty offensive. I'd be surprised if it doesn't get reported within the next few hours. You might want to try being more tactful in the future.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    Go to the tools section from the blue bar on the site and find out how many calories you burn doing nothing. If your calorie intake here is more then that set it to at least that and increase vitamins nutrients protein fat etc accordingly.
    I also sometimes dont meet my goal. I then try to add something else to my diet to add more fuel. I want to at least be over in fat protein or some sort of fuel and be getting most of my vitamins if Ive eatten allot and I'm still under my goal. Hope this helps someone out :)
  • ashleynicol3
    ashleynicol3 Posts: 187 Member
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    Bump for later. I'm upping my calories this week to break a plateau & I'm hoping it works - want to read some of the explanations here.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    I hesitate to use the word "starvation mode," but eating very little does bad things for your metabolism.

    I didn't like the idea of being on a perpetual diet for the rest of my life, so I didn't want to train my body to survive and adapt to eating very little.
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
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    Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low energy intake levels. During short periods of energy abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source.

    Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced energy intake by burning fat reserves first, and only consumes muscle and other tissues when those reserves are exhausted. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in muscle and liver cells.[3] After prolonged periods of starvation, the body will utilize the proteins within muscle tissue as a fuel source. People who practice fasting on a regular basis, such as those adhering to energy restricted diets, can prime their bodies to abstain from food without burning lean tissue. Resistance training (such as weight lifting) can also prevent the loss of muscle mass while a person is energy-restricted.

    I copied this from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_mode

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