Where does the energy come from...?

swetaraj · June 2012

Hi!

I think i need some motivation and have some doubts to be cleared.

I have been trying to loose weight and not satisfied with the progress I am making [I lost roughly 6 pounds in 7.3 weeks (0.8 pound per week on an average)]. I know it may sounds ok to many of you, i have a different question to ask.

I am keeping my Net Calories Consumed limit to around 900 calories per day (with 1-2 exception in a month when i ate around 1200-1300 calories a day). My net calories requirement to maintain the current weight is around 1550 calories, and in order to loose weight, this site recommends me to have 1200 cal. a day.

Statistically, i am maintaining a shortage of 4.5k cal. per week [(1550-900)x7], and i read that theoretically it takes 3.5k cal. to loose one pound, which, calculatingly, makes 4.5k cal equal to 1.3 pound per week.

Sorry for me sounding very statistical and theoretical, but still i would like to know why this 0.5 pound (1.3 - 0.8) not going away at all and that is every week. Moreover, it becomes more frustrating when in some of the weeks i do not lose any weight at all even though those weeks have same shortage of 4500 calories a week as calculated above which make the weight loss 0 instead of 1.3 pound for that week.

I do not feel hungry, nor i feel un-energetic, lethargic or tired since i starting counting calories; i take 8 hours of sound sleep and is a housewife with an almost 2-yr kid to take care of... i do not think my body goes into the disputed starvation mode... nor i think my metabolism seems to be slow since i take green tea every morning, take care of all the house chores and my kid myself, and do normal cardio exercise daily...

Fat is hardly melting away, whereas, on the other hand i am doing all the activities with same enthusiasm and vigor and that is at almost half of the quantities of the calories that my body requires. My question is - where my body is getting energy from...?

Thanx for reading & reply!

Sweta

leslisa · June 2012

OK, there is the obvious, a medical reason. Then there is body type. If I was going by what MFP says I'm net 500 - 750 most days. But I only lose .5 - 2 lbs a week (2 lbs usually is right after my period where I went up for a week and then woosh, I lose a boat load of water weight).

Bottom line reason: I have a slow metabolism. No thyroid probs, no energy probs, none of this. I just have a frigging slow metabolism. When people say I could look at a hamburger and gain weight, that's me, over and over.

So I feel for you, but there is little I can tell you to help except that I have to boost my metabolism in the morning by ab work and a walk with the dog or my weight loss is even less.

Also, if I don't drink a lot of water and green tea I retain water like you wouldn't believe. (and ice water helps you lose weight for other reasons as well).

Good luck!!

swetaraj · June 2012

OK, there is the obvious, a medical reason. Then there is body type. If I was going by what MFP says I'm net 500 - 750 most days. But I only lose .5 - 2 lbs a week (2 lbs usually is right after my period where I went up for a week and then woosh, I lose a boat load of water weight).

Bottom line reason: I have a slow metabolism. No thyroid probs, no energy probs, none of this. I just have a frigging slow metabolism. When people say I could look at a hamburger and gain weight, that's me, over and over.

So I feel for you, but there is little I can tell you to help except that I have to boost my metabolism in the morning by ab work and a walk with the dog or my weight loss is even less.

Also, if I don't drink a lot of water and green tea I retain water like you wouldn't believe. (and ice water helps you lose weight for other reasons as well).

Good luck!!

Thanks leslisa! u can't measure how much motivation ur reply gave me.

I deduce the following from ur reply and simultaneously would like ask something more... i hope u don't mind.

You said i could have a medical condition... should i see a doctor, dietitian? Have u visited one? what was ur experience? i think there is no medically proven medicine or procedure to increase one's metabolism but i would love to be proven wrong.

So what does slow metabolism mean in layman terms? Does it mean a person with higher metabolism doing a particular work will burn more calories than another person with same weight and height of the 1st person but with slow metabolism doing exactly the same work?

Everything which u said i already do except the ab work, which i am planning to start asap. Hope that will give some positive result because since posting here my weight has increased by a pound instead of decreasing in last 4 days.

Thanks again 4 the reply!

mayerel · June 2012

Maybe you should try netting higher, like closer to 1000 or 1200. Your body may be holding onto food longer than it needs since it's not getting enough fuel. I know there are lots of different opinions on this, but maybe try it out for a few weeks and see how your body reacts?

leslisa · June 2012

You said i could have a medical condition... should i see a doctor, dietitian? Have u visited one? what was ur experience? i think there is no medically proven medicine or procedure to increase one's metabolism but i would love to be proven wrong.

I would see a doctor. Routine blood tests can pinpoint a lot. Hypothyroidism comes to mind first and after that sugar issues.

So what does slow metabolism mean in layman terms? Does it mean a person with higher metabolism doing a particular work will burn more calories than another person with same weight and height of the 1st person but with slow metabolism doing exactly the same work?

I am type 2 diabetic (diet/exercise controlled): My body makes fat instead of burning it sometimes out of confusion. The majority of people with type 2 diabetes have an excess of insulin in their blood, which causes the body to lay down white adipose tissue. (There are two types of fat, white and brown, and it’s the white fat that is associated with health problems.)

I was anorexic as a young adult and so the doc feels that basically my body processes are slow as molasses. The calories don't get burned as fast because my body works "more efficiently" I guess you could say, burning least amount of cals for max effect. For instance, I can eat very little when we go to say, an amusement park, and long after everyone else is wiped out, I'm still going.

Also, it's hard as anything for me to get my heart rate into the "burn fat" zone on the elliptical and tread. I'm lucky to have it up to 150 and that's with me busting my rear sweating buckets, etc.

Everything which u said i already do except the ab work, which i am planning to start asap. Hope that will give some positive result because since posting here my weight has increased by a pound instead of decreasing in last 4 days.

The ab work is supposed to have a really good afterburn effect from what I read on the internet. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's certainly helped me!

Thanks again 4 the reply!

You're welcome :flowerforyou:

kimmers4ever · June 2012

I do recommend the 1200 calories. I don't always get up there myself, my life is just busy at time like that, but it's the minimum you need to survive. Eating too few all the time, eventually, you'll start gaining cause the body is like "OH NO! SHE'S STARVING!"

I use to eat maybe once a day before I started all this... and I was 275lbs. I just couldn't understand why. I think it's cause I barely ate and sometimes ate so very wrong, it's also why my hair is thinner too. :P

Anyhow, it started out slow for me too, especially when we were only walking. It took me a month to lose 10 lbs. Kinda a bummer. But then we join a gym and we went from just walking 45 a day, to a walk every day and added weights and elliptical on alternating days. My weight loss has gone up some. I lost 20 lbs in the next month.

So... it might be how much you are exercising too? IDK for sure, I can only go by what's been going on with me to try and give advice.

swetaraj · June 2012

Thanks a lot to everyone for finding time to reply in detail..

It will surely help and influence me to decide further plan of action...

Where does the energy come from...?

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