Not enough calories

Kendralatricewilliams
Kendralatricewilliams Posts: 55 Member
in Food and Nutrition
MFP always tell me that Im not eating enough calories and Im putting my body into starvation mode. Can anyone tell me what affects this will have on my weight lost goals

Replies

  • tsamons
    tsamons Posts: 26 Member
    I've been with MFP for the last two weeks and get the same message every day. I'm 5'9", 180 lbs and want to lose 40 lbs. I have a desk job. I think when I put my calculations in, MFP came up with 1200 calories which is roughly what I'm eating. But if I exercise, my net goes down to 1000 or below. Should I really be eating 1400 calories? The first week I lost 4 lbs, but last week I only lost 1 lb. As I have been tracking my found, I also track if I'm hungry or not and most of the time I don't feel hungry.
  • miss_september
    miss_september Posts: 153
    Not eating enough NET calories (less than 1200) can cause your metabolism to slow down significantly when it is done over a longer period of time (a day here and there shouldn't be a big deal). There are a ton of threads regarding this issue, if you have time to dig through some old threads. Basically, i you aren't getting enough calories your metabolism slows down, which can negatively effect your weight loss, so many people advocate eating back your exercise calories since MFP already has you set up at a calorie deficit. If you are used to eating very little, you my not feel hungry, but eating a small snack every few hours between meals can help to keep your metabolism higher, causing you to burn more calories even when you aren't moving. Furthermore, your body can't build muscle, fitness endurance, etc. without enough calories, so eating too few calories can also negatively effect your athletic performance. I am not an expert, but this is basically what my nutritionist explained to me.
  • tsamons
    tsamons Posts: 26 Member
    Thanks! I just did a "Search" for Starvation Mode and there are a ton of previous questions and answers regarding this.
  • Kendralatricewilliams
    Kendralatricewilliams Posts: 55 Member
    THANKS and now im going to try and find some of those olders threads
  • mogriff1
    mogriff1 Posts: 325 Member
    I'm not trying to steal anyones thunder, but this topic has been asked numerous times on MFP message boards and this by far is the BEST explanation I read. I cut and pasted the post below. (The title of the post was Why Eating Excercise Calories is so Important, dated 4/8/12). Hope this helps!
    _________________________________________________________________________________________________
    I often hear people asking why eating your exercise calories is a good thing?
    These people think 'That's extra calories burned, so that will speed up my weight loss.'
    Well, yes and no.

    The thing is, your body needs fuel.
    Your metabolism, typically around between 1200 and 1800 calories, are the calories that your body will burn, during the day, every day. Even if you sat around on the sofa, or slept, or were in a coma. You would need this to allow natural processes like hair/nail growth, skin replenishment, organ function, etc to continue.
    That's why it's very dangerous to eat anything under 1200 calories!

    So, lets take the average 1500 calorie metabolism.
    - If you live a sedentary lifestyle (desk job or no exercise), you would probably only burn 300 - 500 calories in a day by moving around. So you need 1800 - 2000 calories to maintain.
    A significant amount of the population leads a sedentary lifestyle, so most doctors recommend 2000 calories a day is good.
    - If you live a lightly active lifestyle (job involving some walking or some exercise (1/2 days) then you'd burn around 500 - 700 by moving around. So you need 2000 - 2200 to maintain.
    - If you are quite active (some manual labour or exercise 3 - 5 days/week) then that's probably 700 - 900. Thus, you need 2200 - 2400 calories to maintain.
    - And if you are very active (manual job or exercise 6 - 7 days/week) then you're burning around 1000. So, you need about 2500 calories to maintain.

    This is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE)

    MFP will set your deficit at what you want 0.5/1/1.5/2 lbs/week or -250/-500/-750/-1000 calories below your TDEE.

    Simples, right?

    Well, ish. Let's take an average scenario:

    --

    Meet Jane. She weighs 200lbs, and wants to lose 50lbs.
    Jane has a metabolism of 1500. She leads a sedentary lifestyle, so she burns about 2000 calories per day.
    Jane wants to lose 1lbs/week

    MFP calculates Jane's calorie intake and deducts 500 calories. She will require 1500 calories to lose 1lbs/week.

    But Jane decides she will start running.
    Jane burns 400 calories when she runs for 30 minutes.
    She does not eat back those 400 calories.

    Jane is now NETTING 1100 calories.

    *NET = Calories Consumed - Calories Burned from Exercise
    You're NET should equal your CALORIE GOAL to achieve weightloss.

    Because of the extra activity, 400/1500 of the calories consumed have been burnt by Jane. That means the body must function on only 1100 calories per day to allow natural processes like hair/nail growth, skin replenishment, organ function to continue.

    THUS, Jane's metabolism drops* to meet her NET calories (1100).
    NB* This may take several weeks and will not respond to occasionally high deficits.
    Over the same period of time, Jane's body will respond to the huge caloric defecit and try to preserve the body, by burning Jane's muscle rather than her fat. The number on the scale drops, but Jane does not seem to get any skinnier.

    Now she burns 1600 calories on sedentary days, and 2000 calories on exercise days.

    When Jane has lost 50lbs and returns to normal eating, she can only eat 1600 calories on sedentary days or she will gain weight again.

    HOWEVER. If Jane decides to eat back the 400 calories:

    She continues to lose 1lbs/week
    Her metabolism will increase because (a) she is exercising (which increases the metabolism) and (b) because she is eating 1900 calories (the more calories she eats, the more her metabolism is raised.)
    However, her NET calories remain at 1500, so she achieves ideal weightloss.
    When Jane reaches her goal of 150lbs, her metabolism will be faster so she is able to eat more than 2000 calories to maintain her weight.

    --

    Do you see? But eating back her exercise calories, Jane is able to continue her weightloss without damaging her metabolism for the future.

    Exercising and then eating back your calories is just about the best thing you could do for your weightloss. It raises your metabolism, allows you to eat more, and helps to tone/build muscle rather than burn it so you don't get that flabby look of loose skin.

    I really hope this helps someone.
  • AmberJslimsAWAY
    AmberJslimsAWAY Posts: 2,339 Member
    eat a pack of poptarts
  • lisabruce12
    lisabruce12 Posts: 77 Member
    I had to adjust my calories because 1200 just wasn't enough. I was constantly hungry and tired. I would exercise and eat back the cals and that didn't help either so I had to make a change. I now allow 1400 cals and it seems to be working. If I am hungry after a workout i eat the cals back if not then I don't. I have lost 3 pounds since the change. That probably doesn't sound like much but it works for me. Good Luck. Add me for motivation and support!!!
    That goes for everyone....
  • braign
    braign Posts: 89
    Same here, I upped my calories from 1200 to 1500 (and I eat back my exercise calories) because 1200 made me feel starving/limited the whole day. 300/400 calories per meal isn't enough in my book, and I'd feel terrible going over, which almost always happened. Now at 1500 I never go over, and I'm not so hungry all the time (just when I need to be). But we'll see what the scale says about it lol

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