Starvation mode?

[HaileyB1]

I work out and eat about 1200 cals a day. I have not lost any weight for 10 days. Guess it could be that I'm gaining muscle, i find it hard to believe that as much as I'm eating my body would decide it's going to conserve energy, my question is, how does that work?

Scientifically, you get rid of 3500 calls from what your body naturally burns to live and you lose 1 pound. That makes sense to me. So if in a week, I cut out 1000 cals per day and burned 250 cals at the gym every day, I should have lost 2.5 pounds.

And if this were true, but I did not lose any weight, lets just "say" it was because of starvation mode effect... don't they say that means your body it reserving energy? Does that mean when normally my body would burn 2000 cals a day normally, my body just decides it's going to do the same activities but only use 1000 calories to do it?

I'm not saying this is my situation, BUT I just don't understand how it's possible for a body to just decide it's not going to burn energy regularly.

 

[Steve]

Have you searched for the term "starvation mode" here on the forum. If not, I suggest doing so, specifically for posts made by me.

You could also have a look at .

 

[HaileyB1]

This is good, thanks for the thread and looks like I will do some googling. I see what you are saying about... metobolic rate goes down, but if you are working out regularly and cutting out a lot of food... why would your body drop that low and keep one from losing weight. And do you think muscle has anything to do with it, I have heard muscle burns more calories, so if i had more would I naturally burn more calories...

 

[Steve]

You're body strives to maintain itself. That's what kept the human race alive during times of low/no food supply. Mind you we've been around as a species struggling for survival and warding off starvation longer than we haven't been.

During this time, storing fat is what kept us alive. Slowing our metabolic rates in times of high stress is what kept us alive.

You can't expect that to just vanish overnight.

If you're not feeding your body enough and you're bombing it with a bunch of stress (physical activity coupled with any other stress you have) you're forcing it to survive.

This isn't such a concern when you're carrying a lot of excess fat. But when you're not, it is.

Muscle does burn a few more calories than other tissues. But not as much assume. And mind you, you're not going to add any appreciable amounts of muscle while you're dieting anyhow.

 

[HaileyB1]

True, about not gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time, but what a happy day it will be when I want to not lose more weight and put on more muscle. I wonder how many people that actually works out for... I'm sure there's people out there who drop 100 pounds and then decide they want to tone up... Whole different mind frame when it comes to food and pounds eh...

 

[Steve]

Sure people switch roles. There are a few here on this very forum. I do it myself but I was never fat to begin with.

 

[BEA28]

Hi I'm new and looking foward for some support. I've been overweigth all my life, but before my second baby I was 135, now I'm 152 and need to loose those 23 pounds.
Help me please!!

 

[MsWant2BHealthy]

If you're not feeding your body enough and you're bombing it with a bunch of stress (physical activity coupled with any other stress you have) you're forcing it to survive.

This isn't such a concern when you're carrying a lot of excess fat. But when you're not, it is.

So, if someone like me (240lbs/5'9") is eating 1300-1500 calories a day and exercising for 30 minutes, am I going about it in an unhealthy way? I just want to make sure I'm healthy and I certainly don't want to trip myself up and make it harder. Uhg, like it needs to be harder.

 

[Omega]

1400 calories (your average intake) is only 5.8 times your weight in pounds... That seems a bit low to me...

It can make a lot of sense to eat as many calories as you can while losing weight - and then you have plenty room to change things if you stop losing weight... it also means that you can eat nice things and not feel so deprived.

 

[Fox1]

Hi I'm new and looking foward for some support. I've been overweigth all my life, but before my second baby I was 135, now I'm 152 and need to loose those 23 pounds.
Help me please!!

Hey BEA28. You need to make a post in the welcome thread.

 

[MsWant2BHealthy]

1400 calories (your average intake) is only 5.8 times your weight in pounds... That seems a bit low to me...

It can make a lot of sense to eat as many calories as you can while losing weight - and then you have plenty room to change things if you stop losing weight... it also means that you can eat nice things and not feel so deprived.

Thought about this last night and decided to figure out the calories on my usual weekends. Turns out if I add all of the calories up it's going to even out (weekly) to about 1530 calories daily. Is this healthier or should I be aiming higher?

 

[The Heretic]

So, if someone like me (240lbs/5'9") is eating 1300-1500 calories a day and exercising for 30 minutes, am I going about it in an unhealthy way? I just want to make sure I'm healthy and I certainly don't want to trip myself up and make it harder. Uhg, like it needs to be harder.

It's not necessarily unhealthy. When I started my weight loss journey, I basically went cold turkey. In the first months, I lost between 3 and 4 pounds a week. Now that I'm almost a hundred punds lighter, I'm still losing about two pounds per week. I never experienced any health problems.

The general concensus seems to be that losing 2 pounds per week is still alright, but you shouldn't lose more than that. I'd say that's about right.

The most important thing is to try out different approaches and see what works best for you. That's the most important lesson I learned about weight loss.