If I eat more than 1000 calories

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No, zig-zagging calories means to eat low calories one day, higher calories the next (or low calories one week, higher the next). People think it keeps their metabolism "confused" and therefore working harder.

What the other poster is suggesting is a "reset." You eat at a maintenance level for a month, don't weigh yourself at all, then start eating a reasonable deficit after the month-long reset.

Also, quick question! This is maintenance, so i shouldn't gain more than 10 pounds or something, right? haha.

There is no way to know how much you will gain, but like I said. Ignore the scale. Start fresh after you have eaten at maintenance for a month.

No, zig-zagging calories means to eat low calories one day, higher calories the next (or low calories one week, higher the next). People think it keeps their metabolism "confused" and therefore working harder.

What the other poster is suggesting is a "reset." You eat at a maintenance level for a month, don't weigh yourself at all, then start eating a reasonable deficit after the month-long reset.

Oh! Okay, I see. Apparently my TDEE is 2011.
So I would just eat 2011 calories for about a month and then go back down to 1200?

That sounds reasonable. I'll try it out. Thanks guys

If you go back to 1200 calories a day, you will have this problem again. If you must go back to 1200, do it slowly. Eat 1700 one week, 1500 the next week, then 1200. But at 1200 calories you will lose muscle. Muscle is what generates your metabolism so the less you have the slower it gets. If you go back to 1200 calories, you will have to do this again.

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No... eat at TDEE for a month to reset your metabolism. Then, do not eat less than 300 calories below TDEE. Eating less than that will cause your body to use much more than stored body fat for fuel.

Be aware this 'resetting your metabolism' thing is 100% a forum theory. So is 'don't eat below your BMR'.

Your small fluctuations are almost certainly water. Ignore it and forge ahead.

They're hardly theories!

Its probably just water retention. Weighing everyday will absolutely drive you nuts with your bodys natural water fluctuation.

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No... eat at TDEE for a month to reset your metabolism. Then, do not eat less than 300 calories below TDEE. Eating less than that will cause your body to use much more than stored body fat for fuel.

Be aware this 'resetting your metabolism' thing is 100% a forum theory. So is 'don't eat below your BMR'.

Your small fluctuations are almost certainly water. Ignore it and forge ahead.

They're hardly theories!

Ok, could you source out the idea that people shouldn't eat less than 300 calories than their TDEE? Because that's not even a lb a week, and I've never heard that a lb a week will cause your body to cannibalize you muscles.

And how accurate are these online TDEE calculators? 300 is such a small deficit any error in the numbers could eat it up.

First off, I learned this from someone with a degree in nutritional science. And I read it in the New Rules of Lifting for Women. While achieving weight loss is a matter of calories in/calories out, there is more at work within the body. What you are eating is also extremely important. The body produces hormones, such as cortisol and grehlin. Cortisol is a stress hormone that increases the body's efficiency at burning calories in order to force your body to function with fewer calories. Grehlin is the hormone that generates the feeling of hunger. If your diet is lacking in unsaturated fats (and you're in a calorie deficit), the body immediately assumes its starving and begins to generate these hormones.

Electrolytes also impact weight. The body uses minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. A deficiency of any of these minerals creates an imbalance and in reaction, the body absorbs excess waters into cells and they swell. Women actually have additional water retention issues that are just mandatory, and can't be avoided.

People who are in a calorie deficit for long periods of time, inevitably, develop nutrition deficiencies that disrupt water balance or cause the body to generate hormones like cortisol and grehlin. The closer you are to TDEE, the easier it is to ensure that you achieve the balanced diet that your body needs. If you don't fulfill those needs, then your body will work against your efforts to lose weight.

You can call them theories, but all of this is based in science. If anything, MFP's "3500 calories = 1lb" and "deficits based on BMR" are more the forum theory than this. Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss. Depending on whether your diet is balanced or not, that 1lb could be 3/4 fat + 1/4 water or 1/4 fat +1/4 water + 1/2 muscle or it could just be 1lb of water.

Besides... I ate a 300 calorie deficit below my TDEE for the last 3 weeks and lost 13 lbs. Sure, a lot of it was water, but what wasn't was a little muscle and a lot of fat.

OP - Even though I didn't mention it, protein is extremely important too. Really the message I'm hoping to get across here is that it is more important to make certain that your diet is nutritionally sound than it is to cut as many calories as possible from your diet. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. I'm not going to continue to engage newbies who haven't even begun to do the research that I have.

What is TDEE?

Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Going by what everyone else said and my own experiance.

>You need to increase your intake to 1200 cals.
>You need more protein.

I think you should drink some green tea, about 3-4 cups to help speed up your metabolism.
Also, if your working out or running a lot dont be surprised if you gained weight. I gained 5 pounds when I first started going to the gym.

What is TDEE?

Total Daily Energy Expenditure .... what your body needs to maintain your current weight


http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

You have caused your metabolism to slow way down. Find out what your TDEE is and eat that for a month. Ignore the scale because you are going to gain no matter what you do. After a month, shave 300 calories off your TDEE and you body will burn mostly body fat.

So zig-zag my calories?

No... eat at TDEE for a month to reset your metabolism. Then, do not eat less than 300 calories below TDEE. Eating less than that will cause your body to use much more than stored body fat for fuel.

Be aware this 'resetting your metabolism' thing is 100% a forum theory. So is 'don't eat below your BMR'.

Your small fluctuations are almost certainly water. Ignore it and forge ahead.

They're hardly theories!

Ok, could you source out the idea that people shouldn't eat less than 300 calories than their TDEE? Because that's not even a lb a week, and I've never heard that a lb a week will cause your body to cannibalize you muscles.

And how accurate are these online TDEE calculators? 300 is such a small deficit any error in the numbers could eat it up.

First off, I learned this from someone with a degree in nutritional science. And I read it in the New Rules of Lifting for Women. While achieving weight loss is a matter of calories in/calories out, there is more at work within the body. What you are eating is also extremely important. The body produces hormones, such as cortisol and grehlin. Cortisol is a stress hormone that increases the body's efficiency at burning calories in order to force your body to function with fewer calories. Grehlin is the hormone that generates the feeling of hunger. If your diet is lacking in unsaturated fats (and you're in a calorie deficit), the body immediately assumes its starving and begins to generate these hormones.

Electrolytes also impact weight. The body uses minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. A deficiency of any of these minerals creates an imbalance and in reaction, the body absorbs excess waters into cells and they swell. Women actually have additional water retention issues that are just mandatory, and can't be avoided.

People who are in a calorie deficit for long periods of time, inevitably, develop nutrition deficiencies that disrupt water balance or cause the body to generate hormones like cortisol and grehlin. The closer you are to TDEE, the easier it is to ensure that you achieve the balanced diet that your body needs. If you don't fulfill those needs, then your body will work against your efforts to lose weight.

You can call them theories, but all of this is based in science. If anything, MFP's "3500 calories = 1lb" and "deficits based on BMR" are more the forum theory than this. Sure, 3500 calories would and should equal a 1lb of weight loss, but that is total weight loss and NOT fat loss. Depending on whether your diet is balanced or not, that 1lb could be 3/4 fat + 1/4 water or 1/4 fat +1/4 water + 1/2 muscle or it could just be 1lb of water.

Besides... I ate a 300 calorie deficit below my TDEE for the last 3 weeks and lost 13 lbs. Sure, a lot of it was water, but what wasn't was a little muscle and a lot of fat.

OP - Even though I didn't mention it, protein is extremely important too. Really the message I'm hoping to get across here is that it is more important to make certain that your diet is nutritionally sound than it is to cut as many calories as possible from your diet. You can PM me if you want to talk about it more. I'm not going to continue to engage newbies who haven't even begun to do the research that I have.

Wait, so the answer to the question "could you source" was no.