your body is going into starvation mode rubbish at slimming clubs. .am I the only one who thinks this is utter nonsense!

[deffonamechange]

I have joined a slimming club. Stuck to it . I do loads of exercise anyway. Been doing it 4weeks..have lost 2lbs and tonight put 0.5lbs on!!
Leader said I am not losing because I am not eating enough!
Drives me insane this theory!
If I eat more I will be eating the same as I ate before joining!
How does anorexia work?
Why do laws of physics say less calories in and more exercise lose weight?

So frustrated! !! Argh!!!

[BarbaraofSeville]

You need to keep going with it. Weight loss is not linear and there are many reasons why your weight fluctuates that are not related to the amount of body fat you have, all those that have been mentioned plus salt consumption, digestive processes, exercise, measurement uncertainties etc. If you stick to it another week you should see a good loss next week.

If you think fuck it, it doesn't work and go off the rails this week, you won't. Also check you are following the plan properly. Sometimes people misunderstand what they can eat and inadvertently eat extra calories. One sw member that I knew thought that doner kebab meat was free because the fat wasn't visible and had this a few times a week. What she didn't realise is that it is made from high fat lamb mince and is quite high calorie.

[OlennasWimple]

Blimey, if I don't eat within about 30 mins of getting up in the morning I tend to pass out...

[KeyserSophie]

0.5lbs is nothing. You could just need to do a poo or maybe when you started off you were a bit dehydrated so your start weight was artifically low

As poster above said, you need to look at the trend over weeks/ months, not worry about blips. When I have been aiming to lose a bit of weight I've often found it's like nothing, nothing nothing and then 5lbs all at once.

I am a stable weight, but it can vary by 2kg either way over my cycle (even with a mirena coil) and just due to muscle swelling from exercise / dehydration etc.

Re starvation mode, it's not exactly a myth but it is misunderstood. When you reduce calorie intake, your rate of calorie expenditure does decrease a bit (like 100 cals a day) but it's not significant and there's no evidence that it persists for long after the period of calories restriction. Of course, if people lose a lot of weight, then their calories requirements do fall permanently, just because they're a lot lighter, and lighter people need fewer calories than heavier people, all other things being equal.

That said, do you actually need to lose weight or are you in "the vanity zone" because those last few pounds can be pretty stubborn and take a long time.?

[SlottedSpoon]

If you've been doing their plan and sticking to it for 4 weeks and have only lost 2lb then put half a pound back on then that is one rubbish slimming plan.

It is possible for the body to go into starvation mode, but it doesn't make you fatter exactly, it just slows down the burning of stored body fat as a response to not getting enough food. A bit like going into hibernation - hibernating animals don't eat for months but their body burns energy very very slowly because it senses it needs to.

But that happens during famine and hibernation. It doesn't happen to someone eating regularly and losing 2lbs.

[KoalaDownUnder]

When they started getting normal amounts their body reacted by turning it into fat. That's starvation mode.

This is really not true.

Your body uses whatever calories you put in it first and foremost to expend energy during the day. For basic bodily functions and physicsl movement. Anything left over is stored as fat.

Yout body does not register, 'Oh, more food than normal! Good-o, I'll store all that as fat immediately'.

Where are people getting this shit from?

[HeyOverHere]

I dislike how so many programs put all the emphasis on weight, weight, and weight alone. What about how you feel? How your clothes fit? Have they gotten looser? Are you getting stronger, do you feel more energetic? Are you sleeping and eating better? Could that little tightening be due to hormonal water retention, which will go away in a few days? Are you being healthy in your choices? Do you feel like you look better? Do you look better?

Weight alone can be deceptive, and BMI is a joke. A weight loss program that takes on what you do, how you feel, the changes in your body shape, how much muscle you might be putting on, and your weight progress is so much better than one that's just, "Weight, weight, weight, weight, weight."

[Iamtheresurrection]

Have you just started exercising?

I've been using my fitness pal and massive increased my exercise (including weights) - I've put on 6lbs. My legs are defined, my waist is smaller but the scales imply I've lost nothing. It's pretty demoralising.

[FleshEmoji]

eye level grill




Sorry I'm writing down here, something weird has happened to the app, and the top of the text is off th screen.

eye level grill - my guess would be that you're in ketosis overnight. If you're eating the right amount, that might happen as you use up your stored glycogen.

That means you're burning fat for fuel, so you won't be hungry if you skip breakfast. Makes things like the Cambridge diet, which I'm just finishing, more bearable.

If you have a no or low GI breakfast (eggs, oats), your blood sugars don't rise quickly and an insulin response isn't triggered as massively as if you have pure sugar orange juice.

When you come down from a sugar high / insulin response, you'll be hungry.

There was an article in the Guardian yonks ago pointing out that breakfast eaters ate smaller lunches than non breakfast eaters. Unfortunately it made the schoolboy error of not adding calories for the two meals together - in that case, the breakfast skippers ate much fewer calories.

[PhyllisWig]

Resurrection that's a 'thing' isn't it? Start of an exercise programme can often see a gain but it's not fat it's fluid and other gubbins. I believe it's not then unusual to then see a 'swoosh' of weightloss. At least that's what the my fitness pal exercise board always says. No idea if it's true.

[Tanith]

Not pregnant, are you Op?

Happened to me with Weightwatchers years ago. We couldn't work out why I was putting on weight despite my best efforts so I went to the doctor...

Very embarrassing

[emmantfc]

I think different diets probably work for different people. I've lost 2 stone and 5 inches off my waist in 9 weeks with slimming world and I've eaten WAY more than normal, absolutely stuffed my face but it's nearly all been fruit/veg or protein. I find if I restrict calories or skip meals I end up feeling dizzy and faint and ill and then have a mars bar to rescue myself, so that doesn't work for me.

[Murphysgirl]

OP - if you're eating under 1000 calories a day you're not following the plan AND not trying to lose weight at a steady pace. You need to be making small changes that become permanent and easy to maintain rather than drastic changes to lose weight then slip back into old habits.

Do you tend to point or do no count? Have you measured yourself? Are your clothes feeling looser? You may be losing inches rather than pounds.

[deffonamechange]

Not just started exercising. I have been doing that for years. .no change to my exercise.
I am counting points.
My husband done same diet and no exercise and lost 2 stone! Ffs. .it's just so frustrating
I am writing every single thing down this week to prove to myself and leader what I am doing.
I guess I will just keep going and it will come off eventually. :(

[2kids2dogsnosense]

If I dont eat like this, and let my body go into starvation mode
("like this" = healthy snack every90minutes)

Feeling peckish is NOT "starvation mode"

[2kids2dogsnosense]

If Belsen survivors ended up fat, it would be because, quite understandably, their experience of starvation played havoc with their ability to regulate their food intake.

Agree - perhaps psychological factors compelled them to eat anything and everything they could, because even though they intellectually knew they would never be starved again, emotionally they could not believe it. And so they are and continued to eat. I would imagine too, that they would never waste food the way most of us do: they will eat what is on their plate, they will eat food if there is a danger of it going bad, they will clear plates that other family members leave - food most probably has a greater value to them - and not surprisingly.

[2kids2dogsnosense]

unless you vomitted immediately after eating your body absorbs calories.

Digestion begins in the mouth. You have already absorbed calories long before your food gets into your gut.

[2kids2dogsnosense]

I don't have periods

Unless you are pre- or post-menopausal, or have had a hysterectomy (or are biologically male), this is rather worrying.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Some types of hormonal contraception, especially the implant, stop periods from happening in women that do not fall into the categories mentioned so not necessarily a cause for concern, although if the OP does not have periods because she is already very underweight, that would be a cause for concern and also the reason why she is not losing (much) weight. The likes of WW/Slimming World are much more successful on people that actually have a reasonable amount of weight to lose.

[Murphysgirl]

PCOS could also cause a lack of periods and make it more difficult to lose weight.

[Theoretician]

My understanding is that the argument is that you should try and lose weight slowly, a pound or two a week on average, because if you try to lose weight faster your metabolism will react by storing more of the passing calories.

I've no idea if it's true, but it does seem plausible. Even if it's not true, you should not be following an eating plan that is too aggressive to be sustained for the rest of your life. "Dieting" isn't something you do until you've lost a certain amount of weight, if it's going to work it has to be a rest-of-your-life change to your eating habits.

I don't know if this is separate or part of the same idea, but there is idea of maintaining blood sugar levels by eating foods that release energy slowly. So if you eat a healthy breakfast when not hungry that is supposed to prevent your body thinking it is being starved. Assuming you are eating enough calories so that you will only lose a pound or two a week, then eating a breakfast you don't want would mean subtracting calories at another time of the day. You wouldn't eat more calories overall.

[deffonamechange]

I have a mierna coil so dont have periods and don't suffer from bloat or any pmt symptoms. I am 3 stone overweight which is why I am finding it so frustrating. .the fat is there to lose!!!

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

Interesting.

My grandmother survived a famine as a child. The rest of her life has basically been a race to eat as much as she can. She is now overweight and has diabetes - has gone almost blind because of it. She cannot put her experience behind her, I think it's in the back of her mind every time she sits down for a meal.

[Pisssssedofff]

If any of us could get off the diet train imagine the million dollar industries that would vanish over night. People do need crutches, support, motivation, coaching etc but fundamentally we all know we just need to move more and eat less. I've had all my calories for today already, but I'm committed so it'll be just water until bed now for me

[BarbaraofSeville]

I think the problem is that food is just so available these days, and too many calories for our needs is affordable to most people.

Also portion sizes are too big, especially in food eaten outside the home and snacking is normalised.

I've heard it said that it's actually a miracle that more people aren't overweight or obese as excess food is so hard to avoid.

[Woody67]

I reckon the weight lose will show up next week.