tell me about starvation mode

[Anonymous]

Oh sorry, i'm 42, almost 43. and yes, it seems harder to maitain my 135 since i've hit 40

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh sorry, i'm 42, almost 43. and yes, it seems harder to maitain my 135 since i've hit 40

Definitely harder. Same for me since around 43. I've become so resigned at basically eating nothing to maintain, or gaining if I allow myself a few extra calories. Nothing but severe misery of restricted calories.

[Anonymous]

Try working out early in the morning. First thing you do. Add breakfast back in (your metabolism will be going strong from workout), add more protein, lift heavy weights, and fast 1 -2 days per week if you can tolerate it. Not consecutively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try working out early in the morning. First thing you do. Add breakfast back in (your metabolism will be going strong from workout), add more protein, lift heavy weights, and fast 1 -2 days per week if you can tolerate it. Not consecutively.

By fast, what do you mean exactly? all day? until dinner?

[Anonymous]

What kind of workouts are you doing?

[Anonymous]

I do HIIT a few times a week (though that is more recent) and a little lifting but not a lot. I run a few times a week. I think i need to up my HIIT and weights based on what i'm reading.

[Anonymous]

Try having a body composition analysis done. I have mine done periodically at the gym. One of the things it tells you is your basal metabolic rate (BMR)- the # of calories your body uses just to function (pump blood, digest food, breathe, run your various systems etc). It’s how many calories you burn doing absolutely nothing but being alive. This varies from person to person.

Then on top of that #, add an estimate of calories you burn going about your daily life- this can vary greatly based on activity level/how physical your job is. Then on top of that, add calories burned from dedicated physical activity like working out. This gives you how many calories leave your body.

Then figure out- truly- how many calories you take in. Honestly, based on your stats provided, you are probably taking in over 1100 calories a day. I use My Fitness Pal to log my food, pay attention to food labels, and focus on calories calories calories. Everything else (gluten, vegetarian, organic, “clean” etc) is a secondary consideration after calories. I often employ IF and food logging to help keep calories in in check.

At that point it’s a balancing act. Want to lose weight? make sure calories in is less than calories out. Want to maintain? Make sure they’re equal. Be honest with yourself about how much you are truly eating and how much you truly burn when working out (it may surprise you). Some people don’t buy CICO, but it’s so very basic I think we tend to complicate things.

I’m not sure I buy starvation mode... maybe it’s a thing for famine victims or extreme anorexics, but I’m not sure it applies to otherwise healthy people cutting back on calories to lose weight.

You can raise your natural BMR(aka metabolism) by building muscle! I also believe in the lasting calorie burn of a good cardio workout. After my last baby I weighed 158. I had a body comp analysis and my BMR was 1409 calories. As I lost the baby weight, my BMR calories dropped to 1323 (136 lbs, the less you weigh your body needs less calories). At that point I started recomping and putting on some muscle. I’m now at 134, but BMR calories is up to 1421. So even losing another 2 lbs, I still raised how many calories I need by Losing fat and gaining muscle.

[Anonymous]

I'd get rid of the starchy potatoes and drop the vegetarianism. Protein is easier to get from animal sources and can help build and maintain muscle which keeps your metabolism up.

Potatoes make everyone in my family gain weight. I don't know why. I can eat carbs like rice or whole wheat bread or even pasta but there is something about potatoes where they just pack on the pounds. My sister became a vegetarian and ate lots of potatoes and sweet potato dishes, she became obese. I never ate them that often but when I dropped all starchy root veggies I ended losing 10 lbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try working out early in the morning. First thing you do. Add breakfast back in (your metabolism will be going strong from workout), add more protein, lift heavy weights, and fast 1 -2 days per week if you can tolerate it. Not consecutively.

By fast, what do you mean exactly? all day? until dinner?

24hr

[Anonymous]

Do you weigh each item of your food? This does not add up at all. I suspect miscounting and miscalculating.

Starvation mode is kind of a myth. Even in cases of extreme anorexia, they do keep losing weight. The metabolism slows but not by a huge amount. 1100/day is anorexia/hospitalization/heart failure territory. So you’re either miscalculating or there is something you’re not sharing with us. Are you maybe binging a lot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you weigh each item of your food? This does not add up at all. I suspect miscounting and miscalculating.

Starvation mode is kind of a myth. Even in cases of extreme anorexia, they do keep losing weight. The metabolism slows but not by a huge amount. 1100/day is anorexia/hospitalization/heart failure territory. So you’re either miscalculating or there is something you’re not sharing with us. Are you maybe binging a lot?

This was my thought too. 1100 calories every day for 15 yrs is not sustainable/easy to stick to and if OP really was sticking to that she would be very thin. Not 135 lbs.

[Anonymous]

You are underestimating your calorie intake and overestimating your workouts.

You're gotten a lot of good advice here. The only thing I would add is that you likely need to be working out more effectively than you are. Try getting some biofeedback (orangetheory is great for this) and instead of working out every day, work out 3-4 times per week but absolutely kill yourself when you work out. By that I mean, lifting/strength training to muscle failure. You should be shaking and unable to continue. During running, you should be doing interval training with speeds so fast you literally have to try not to piss yourself. Do this and you'll be able to burn maybe 500 calories per hour.

[Anonymous]

You’ve ruined your metabolism. Starvation mode is a myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely eat out, try to eat clean when I do (usually a salad with dressing on the side). And your right, there are for sure days I probably eat 1400-1500 calories- i'd say at least once or twice a if I have a glass of wine. My thyroid checked out ok.

This makes me think of orthorexia. Combined with counting your calories daily for 15 years, being gluten-free (is there a medical reason you're gluten-free?), and what sounds like a very restricted diet.

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/orthorexia

[Anonymous]

Eggs! Eat several eggs daily. And weigh your food.