Not losing, can I really be not eating enough?

[DaanSaaf]

My diet before was awful, pure junk and sugar. I need to lose a stone and in week 1 ate around 1000 cals a day. Lost 4lb. Weeks 2 and 3 1200-1400 a day and only 1lb gone. A friend suggested my body has gone into starvation mode? I've probably halved my calorie intake, is that too much?

I am currently working through 'the obesity code' audiobook and it's totally changed my view of how to lose weight. Basically reducing calories is not a sustainable method of weight loss long term because your metabolism will just slow down due to a lower energy intake. It's more about the types of food you're eating. I really do recommend that book!

No really this is a myth, you’re simply eating too much.

Starvation mode is a test that was carried out on a number of participants. They were actually starved. As in no food at all. The findings found that their metabolism slowed after a certain period, as you’d expect, they are being starved, but there was no impact on rate of weight loss, they continued to loose weight as would be expected.

So you’re over eating, I’m sorry, you’re likely underestimating what you’re eating. But the bottom line is you’re not starving yourself. And even if you were science has proven you’d continue to loose weight if you were.

I’d also say five pounds over three weeks is a decent loss.

You have lost 5lbs in 3 weeks - your thread title is very misleading. You ARE losing weight.

Sorry, I know I've lost I just thought it would be more given I've halved my calories.

@Bluntness100 I use mfp and track meticulously, weighing my food etc. I guess I'm just not burning enough off.

My weight gain was very slow and gradual so I thought a shock diet would make the weight drop off I suppose. Also the week I started I was on my period so I'm not sure the 4lb was accurate.

No

You drastically reduced your calories so lost 4 lbs -some of this will have been water

You upped your calories and only lost 1 lb.
That to me seems logical

What age are you? If you are getting to mid-life then you need more specialised advice. The people saying that you just need to restrict calories are perhaps too young to realise that this isn't true for older women. I have been slowly reducing my carbs and increasing protein and fats for a month and have seen encouraging progress.

I found this helpful. even if you are a young thing it might give you some ideas about changing your diet.

@growinggreyer that's helpful, thanks. I'm 36 and definitely found it much easier when I was younger.

I recently lost 23lbs. For the first month the weight loss was really slow and frustrating despite exercising daily and being under 1200 cal a day.
It picked up more quickly after the initial lag but still wasn’t super speedy.

I’m 37 so probably just slower metabolism. Now I’m closer to my goal weight I can even lose a bit on weeks I’ve had too much wine and a takeaway. I think as my fitness is improved I can burn more cals than before with less effort.

It’s worth remembering that small loses tend to stick e.g. a steady loss of 1-2lb per week is more sustainable than losing big quickly-the old slow and steady wins the race Tends to be true here. It can also be down to the division of how you use your calories or ‘macros’ making sure they are spread as they should be through the food groups. I would also recommend calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR) on one of the many calculators available on the net. I have used my fitness pal with good success in the past but used the calculators on a website which was something like bodybuilding.com as they seemed to be more accurate with more info (recommended by personal trainer). Mfp has recommended I set my daily cals at 1150 which felt really hard but the other calculators suggested 1340 calories to meet my BMR and this felt much more sustainable and I still lost steadily.

Well sustained undereating will actually make your body more fuel-efficient so there is a degree of truth to starvation mode. If you look at the scientific research done on the Biggest Loser contestants who all regained the weight they lost, it was found that their metabolisms had been adversely affected by surviving on a low amount of calories. They now find it almost impossible to lose weight.

Also, the vast majority of people who are losing weight by eating 1200 or fewer a day will regain all the weight. Eating hardly anything might help you lose it but it’s not sustainable. Always eat as many calories that you can to still lose using your BMR. There’s no point in dropping it really low because why deprive yourself unnecessarily and potentially risk screwing up your metabolism. I accept that some very short or slight women don’t need as much so this is aimed at those who don’t fall into this category.

Losing 1lb a week is healthy sustainable weightloss. You are doing well, just keep going!

Great advice here, thank you all

Cutting calories drastically isn’t great as the weight your body looses will certainly not all be fat; it will be a mixture of water and muscle. You want to try and find out what calories your body needs to sustain its current weight then drop just below so you’re in a modest calorie deficit; that way you’ll be in fat loss mode which will result in a slow and steady loss. Add in some weight bearing exercises like kettlebell, weight training etc and you’ll see results!