Is it really true that if you don’t eat enough you won’t lose weight?

[RedCandyApple]

I just don’t buy this, surely if you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight? How can not eating enough stop you from losing weight? Isn’t it suppose to be the opposite? If you are burning more calories than you consume then you would lose weight? I am obese, don’t want to say how much I weigh as I’m so embarrassed but I am a dress size 20, I’ve started calorie controlled diet on 10th of jan, but I’ve barely lose anything, last week I lost nothing at all! Not even a lb, I have cut out all takeaway, fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate yet the scales are barely moving. People always say when you are obese you lose weight at quicker rate and the weight just falls off so I have to admit I was expecting quite big losses each week but how can I barely be losing anything, when I’ve cut everything out and have drastically changed what I’m eating? I am absolutely not in denial about how much I am eating I count everything. I don’t use oil, butter, I don’t drink tea or coffee so no hidden milk or sugar I don’t drink alcohol. I am eating 1200/1300 cals a day, what is going on?

[Ra12345]

Hi op. Please read Andrew Jenkinson's book Why We Eat Too Much. He would say you should be using butter! What are you cooking with instead?

A calorie deficit is important but more and more evidence is saying it needs to be the right calories. Zero processed food and instead meat, fish, veg, salad, butter, lard, full fat yogurt no diet crap etc.

If you consume 500 calories of processed food Vs 500 calories of steak and veg, your body will burn fewer of the former calories.

I used to weigh 21 stone and diets no longer worked, being obese had wrecked my metabolism. Weight loss surgery was my only option.

Please read that book.

[Ra12345]

What are you drinking? Just water if no tea or coffee? I'd rather have milk and sugar than diet drinks or squashes and a nice milky coffee gets some decent protein in you!

[HeyBlaby]

It's untrue, but the standard diet advice peddled by most users on here is utter rubbish, not backed by any evidence and doesn't stand up to basic scrutiny. The 'starvation mode' and 'cut all carbs' crew will be here soon.

[Polkadotties]

What is your daily meal plan? Are you using something like my fitness pal?

[RedCandyApple]

Ra12345 thank you I will definitely take a loo. I don’t cook food that requires oil, I have been cooking chicken but it goes straight in the oven and doesn’t need oil and I have it with mixed veg. I don’t drink hot drinks anyway as I don’t like them. I drink only water or occasionally flavoured water (zero calories one)

[Chloemol]

It’s not a case of eating less calories. You have to eat the right sort of foods, protein, carbs , oily food etc

I would start by looking on the NHS site about weight loss and going from there

[RedCandyApple]

I use to use my fitness pal, but I don’t anymore I just add it up on my calculator on my phone as I go, surely you would lose weight no matter what you eat if you was only eating 1200 cals? It wouldn’t matter what the calories are coming from it’s a deficit?

[ClawedButler]

Of course it's not true - if it was, no-one would ever starve to death.

And all this talk of "revving up your metabolism" or your metabolism slowing down etc is garbage. It's not an engine, you can't speed it up or slow it down. It's the number of calories your body needs in a day to exist at its current weight. So overweight people have higher metabolisms than underweight people. But losing a stone or two isn't going to "slow down" your metabolism to the point where you can't process any calories. It just means that, as there's less of you, you need fewer calories to exist. But it's to the tune of a couple of hundred, not 1,000

[DillDanding]

That wouldn’t make sense. I’ve had friends that went through break ups and barely ate and the weight just fell off. It’s probably not very good for you to drastically cut calories.

[ClawedButler]

And yes, you would lose weight if you had 1,200 calories worth of Macdonald's a day and nothing else.

You would be unhealthy af, though!

[RedCandyApple]

Exactly what I’m saying! I posted on another thread and was told I’m not eating ENOUGH and that’s why I’m not losing weight! It makes no sense, that just is not true. So I need to eat more to lose weight? I’ve also had friends that have gone through bad break ups and didn’t eat and lost nearly a stone in 2 weeks! I’m not saying I am eating loads of crap but I don’t have a lot of time to cook so surely whatever I eat as long as it’s in the allowance I will lose weight? For example for breakfast I might have a breakfast bar because I don’t have time to cook in the mornings.

[Luredbyapomegranate]

There is a lot of nonsense talked

• very low calorie diets (sub 1000) can slow down metabolism, because your body adjusts. It’s not true however that dieting wrecks your metabolism long term. (It’s just that it can mess with your head(.
  

• Calories are the most important measure. But eating high fibre / insolvable fibre foods for example allows you to eat more because it isn’t all absorbed. There is evidence that people react differently to different types of food, but it’s early days to understand how and why.
  

• The only consistent finding on diets and health is that modern Western refined diets are fat, and plenty of vegetables and some fruit are good. The rest is up for grabs, so don’t take too much notice of people banging on about the virtues of low carb, plant based etc - just find what’s good for you.
  

• However you do obviously want to eat good quality food for your calories so you feel well. People are obsessed with protein filling you up (it does) but remember high fibre foods do too.

[Luredbyapomegranate]

I meant insoluble fibre.. and modern Western diets are bad not fat! (Should preview)

[ancientgran]

Doesn't make sense to me. Are the people in famines fat? Don't think so and I'm pretty sure they have a calorie deficit.

[SnowWhitesSM]

Of course you loose weight not eating enough. The issue with not eating enough if binges happen. Then you over eat and also when you're on a small calorie allowance you tend to not track oil, cups of tea ect so your deficit isn't really a deficit.

It's better to have a smaller deficit for a longer period as it's sustainable and you don't binge it all back.

[SnowWhitesSM]

I love the break up diet, I always drop a stone

[Sittingonabench]

That’s really tough OP yes after a month I would have expected you to see some difference on the scales. One thing I did read is that water retention can be a problem. That when you should be losing weight but aren’t it may be because your body is using water as a holding place until you replace the fat (I.e your body thinks it’s short term and so holds the place). Don’t know how likely that is right at the beginning of a diet but people call it the whoosh effect as the weight comes off quickly once your body accepts this is not going to happen. You should be losing bulk though even if not on scales - have you measured yourself? I agree if you eat less calories you should be losing. I know it’s frustrating but don’t give up your hard work and if it doesn’t start working soon and you can afford it maybe go to a dietician to get some advice?

[maxelly]

I think stick with it, I know it's been a month but given the fact you have lost some weight, it's too early to say it's not working or worry about starvation mode - bodies are funny old things and everyone is different, just because one person at the same weight/height reduced calories drastically and the weight 'fell off' doesn't mean it will go like that for you, you may be more of a slow and steady type which I know is disheartening but sadly that's the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully at least losing the weight slowly will mean you keep it off rather than yo-yo-ing. An average of one lb a week is a good amount to aim for. Plus you don't mention your age, one of natures nastiest tricks is that the older you get the less you need to eat to maintain body weight and thus the easier it is to gain/harder to lose, particularly for peri-menopausal women, I'm guessing this had evolutionary advantages at some stage in our development but now its a right PITA . Also are you weighing at the same time of day every time, as an experiment I weighed myself 4 or 5 times a day for a week at different times and it was crazy how much I fluctuated, up to 7lbs either way , I'm guessing it was water weight, whether or not I'd been to the loo (sorry TMI) plus bloatiness at some times of the day (e.g. straight after dinner). Time of the month can make a big difference too.

If you are generally finding the way you are eating manageable I'd stick with it, you've identified/avoid a lot of the hidden calorie 'bombs' that trip people up but you may find you need to keep a stricter food diary and/or weigh your food for portion control purposes, not forever but just in case you're accidentally eating a lot more than you think at mealtimes too. I'd also maybe pay attention to the carbs, I'm by no means a low-carber but I do think when you are on a reduced calorie diet refined white carbs in particular don't give much satisfaction for the amount of calories in them and there's evidence eating sugary foods can set off blood sugar spikes actually making you feel more hungry, not less. Protein and fat are your friends for feeling full for fewer overall cals. So things like your breakfast, totally understand you not having time to whip up an omlette or other low-carb fare forst thing in the morning but those breakfast bars can be really sugary. Can you delay breakfast until you do have time to eat something more substantial like porridge or eggs, or skip breakfast altogether (this is what I do and have never had any ill effects)? If you are a ravenous in the morning type can you think more continental and go for some cheese or cured meats or a pre-boiled egg or apple with nut butter on it or similar?

[museumum]

Your body doesn’t want to lose weight. When you cut calories your body cuts energy expenditure and you’ll subconsciously move less. This is what people mean.
You can either cut calories gently so your body doesn’t realise too much.
Or if you do cut more severely you need to work very hard to ensure your body is still burning calories at the same as before (and you probably won’t feel great as you fight your body’s natural survival mechanisms).

[CiderJolly]

Low carb is the way forward honestly. It also curbs cravings and hunger if you stick with it.

Aim to eat nutritious, unprocessed, natural foods- the way our bodies are designed.

Good fats such as olive oil, natural fats in things like oily fish, olives etc are fine.

Sugar is the worst thing for weight gain and I can bet that breakfast bar was full of it.

Look into Paleo or Atkins- just make sure you’re eating enough veg to keep everything moving. The weight will fall off and you’ll find you’re less hungry with more energy.

[RedCandyApple]

Thanks for the advice, I will try to stick at it it’s just not helping me feel motivated when the scales aren’t moving, I haven’t measured but I have a coat that I wear that was tight when I started it is looser now but I was still expecting to see any loss reflected on the scales.
I am not moving less I’m actually moving more I now walk everywhere instead of using the bus, I don’t exercise as I’m too big atm to do much else other than walking, but I was under the impression you shouldn’t need to exercise much at 1200 calories, only if you are eating more than that.

[Lubeyboobyalt]

No, it's only true of concentration camp victims level of starvation, where the body responds by literally giving you no energy to go about your daily life and conserves fat that way.

Not losing weight or appearing to not lose weight is often down to...

water retention after heavy exercise

water retention after more salt/msg than usual

water retention due to hormones

weighing self at a different time of day to usual

weighing self too often and the scales can't pick up small losses

accidental miscounting of calories - this is a huge one. Weigh everything, eg if you are calorie counting and use some butter or some sort of spread or whatever on your toast, weigh the jar/tub before and after use rather than guessing, and always use confirmed/reliable calorie info sources like the USDA confirmed ones on myfitnesspal

overestimating calories burned during exercise

the solution is to weigh yourself monthly to even out those daily and even weekly perfectly normal peaks and troughs

and to be meticulously accurate when calculating your TDEE, BMR and very careful to be accurate with calorie measuring/recording - and whatever you think you burned during exercise, it was probably half that despite what some apps tell you

I lost nearly 9 stone and it took an awful lot of figuring out this kind of thing and research from reliable sources

if I'd given myself a pass at any point with the 'starvation mode' myth, I'd have lost maybe 3 stone then put it all back on again as per my previous pattern

[notanoccultexpert]

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but is it your scales?
With mine, you have to reset them after each use (step on them briefly and then step off - wait for it to go back to zero) - and then actually get on to weigh yourself.

[SquishySquirmy]

It can't be true.
Goes against the laws of thermodynamics!
🔥🔥🔥
If you eat very little, you will lose weight. You will also damage your health if you don't eat enough of the right foods, or if you try too lose too much too fast. So severe starvation diets are not a good way to lose weight, especially long term. But the idea that eating very little makes people gain weight is not true.

[RedCandyApple]

@notanoccultexpert

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but is it your scales?
With mine, you have to reset them after each use (step on them briefly and then step off - wait for it to go back to zero) - and then actually get on to weigh yourself.

Ah actually I’ve been thinking it might be my scales but then I was thinking I’m just making up excuses for the lack of weight loss and blaming the scales but I’ve just looked at the instructions and mine says the same thing, I haven’t been doing that! Hopefully I will noticed a difference now.