Body in starvation mode?

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Rrainey179
Rrainey179 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started using MFP on the th July and have not really altered what I eat, except introducing more fruit and veg and just becoming more aware of the calories I am consuming. I lost an initial 3lbs in the first week, but my weight has stayed the same since.

Is this because I dont consum over the standard calorie allowance for a woman and having my calorie allowance lowered, my body is storing them as its in 'starvation mode'?

I have introduced more exercise into my daily routeen, climbin 5 flihts of stairs instead of getting the lift, going out for a brisk wak at lunch time and walking into town for shopping rather than taking the car.

I just can't understand why I am not loosing weight. :(

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Inadequate data - your diary is closed. What are you eating, how many calories, how tall / heavy are you etc.
  • Rrainey179
    Rrainey179 Posts: 5 Member
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    Sorry.... I think I have made the relevant changes.

    I'm 5' 3" petite build.

    I have just continued to eat the things I would normally. Cereal and milk for breakfast. Sometimes a mid morning snack of an Alpen bar or low fat yogut. Lunch would be a sandwich, soup and roll or pasta mug shot and dinner can be anything from pizza, pasta and sauce, meat and veg, jacket potato.
  • PurpleEpiphany
    PurpleEpiphany Posts: 96
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    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
  • cartrat
    cartrat Posts: 120 Member
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    i'm not a big fan/supporter of the "starvation mode" theory. but that's just me.

    i'm saying this disclaimer now, i am no nutrionist and am only giving my advice from personal experience. have you thought about limiting your carb intake? from what you've written out, it looks like you eat heavy starches at every meal. and that was always my achilles heel for weight loss. as a former carb-ivore, it has helped me *tremendously* taking flour and sugar out of my diet. it wasn't easy though... haha. of course we're all different and whatnot. i'm not saying completely stop eating all the delicious bread but just... try to keep an eye on it.

    also, are all your meals you're eating homemade? if they're take-out or from a can or box, they could also be a culprit. food in boxes and cans are meant for shelves, not to be consumed. there's a lot of crap hiding in those processed foods: excess sugar, preservatives, chemicals... you name it. you wouldn't believe how much of a difference i've seen with myself just taking the time to actually *make* all my food.

    again, this is from personal experience. keep on trucking! every step is a victory!
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    You look to be aiming for 1400 calories. Your protein can be low, aim for 50g minimum. I'm not sure you're logging everything either - like the milk with breakfast cereals.

    At 5'-3" I'm guessing you're aiming for say 127 lbs / 9 stone (57.6 kg) so from your ticker I'll guess that you're starting at 165 ? and about 36% fat. That puts your BMR at around 1400, sedentary energy expenditure about 1700 so a 20% deficit would suggest eating 1360. Add in a couple of hundred calories of exercise a day to give 1900 calorie expenditure and -20% gives you 1520 to eat.

    So you appear to be in the right ballpark, but not sure how accurate the logging is and I suspect you're eating at maintenance in which case taking some calories off your intake or doing some more exercise will help.
  • jlaurena
    jlaurena Posts: 60
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    that is a great article!!
    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    Also, the scale doesn't always react in a perfect linear loss for some of us. If you've lost 3 lbs. in less than a month, that's not bad.
  • papate
    papate Posts: 67 Member
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    i'm not a big fan/supporter of the "starvation mode" theory. but that's just me.

    i'm saying this disclaimer now, i am no nutrionist and am only giving my advice from personal experience. have you thought about limiting your carb intake? from what you've written out, it looks like you eat heavy starches at every meal. and that was always my achilles heel for weight loss. as a former carb-ivore, it has helped me *tremendously* taking flour and sugar out of my diet. it wasn't easy though... haha. of course we're all different and whatnot. i'm not saying completely stop eating all the delicious bread but just... try to keep an eye on it.

    also, are all your meals you're eating homemade? if they're take-out or from a can or box, they could also be a culprit. food in boxes and cans are meant for shelves, not to be consumed. there's a lot of crap hiding in those processed foods: excess sugar, preservatives, chemicals... you name it. you wouldn't believe how much of a difference i've seen with myself just taking the time to actually *make* all my food.

    again, this is from personal experience. keep on trucking! every step is a victory!



    (don't know if I did this quote right), but I'm right there with ya. I have got nothing but ridicule, complaints and rude comments, so I keep my diary to myself, but I stay on a very low cal diet and do not find, and have not found, it to be in "starvation mode".
    I know I'll hear more now, but calories in versus calories out, we don't see fat anorexics, they aren't in starvation mode.
  • Louisianababy93
    Louisianababy93 Posts: 1,709 Member
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    hey,maybe you've lost inches and not pounds?

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