tell me about starvation mode

[Anonymous]

I'm a healthy weight. around 135 for 5'6 but it takes ALOT for me to maintain it. I eat 1100 a day if not less (and I track) and workout at least 5 times a week. I'm vegetarian but don't eat many grains at all as i'm gluten free and refrain from simple carbs. all my carbs are from legumes. I don't eat rice or bread. typically i skip breakfast, eat a salad for lunch, and have some sort of lentil based meal at the end of the day or a veggie/soy stir fry.

This doesn't seem right. Do I need to introduce more calories. I've been on the above diet for maybe 15 years and my weight creeps up a little and so working out brings it down. thoughts?

[Anonymous]

oh, i don't have a thryoid issue, i've had that checked.

[Anonymous]

Live your life. That's insane.

[Anonymous]

No, it doesn't seem right because it's crazy.

Your metabolism has slowed down because you've trained it to. You have to eat more and more, over a long period of time to get it acting correctly.

[Anonymous]

Maybe try intermittent fasting.

[Anonymous]

Honey you have a hard core eating disorder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honey you have a hard core eating disorder.

Really? I"m a healthy weight though. I'm not anorexic. and i'm not too think by any means. I'm not looking to be more thin just trying to figure out how to live a more normal life. This website and others has actually opened my eyes that I really don't eat enough, so i'm trying to figure out steps to fix that.

What would you do? introduce more protein at breakfast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe try intermittent fasting.

Thanks- my default I sort of do since i don't eat breakfast and eat dinner around 7. Again, i'm looking to see if I should be introducing more meals/snacks, not taking them away. but i don't want to gain weight obviously.

[Anonymous]

Do you ever eat out? how do you eat 1100 cal/day 7 days a week 365 days a year?

If you are really tracking accurately and only eating 1100 cals then you have a metabolic issue.

As for starvation mode- there is really no such thing.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

When you say you track have you seriously been weighing and measuring everything you eat for the last 15 yrs?

I just find it hard to believe that you really only eat 1100 calories/day, 1500 max ever. If this were really true you would weight less and probably me somewhat malnourished as getting in all the nutrients you need on such a low calorie diet would be tough. Not to mention even having enough energy to exercise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it doesn't seem right because it's crazy.

Your metabolism has slowed down because you've trained it to. You have to eat more and more, over a long period of time to get it acting correctly.

+1

I was the poster who suggested intermittent fasting and based on your responses, I think your metabolism is going at turtle speed. You may want to start reading articles on how to speed up your metabolism.

Also, there are gyms that can do an analysis of how many calories your body burns everyday. It's a machine that they use that tells you your body fat, how much you weigh, heartbeats per minute, how much muscle you have, etc. You should get a baseline of what your basic caloric burn is every day and see if you can increase your metabolism.

[Anonymous]

Thank you PP. Yes, sounds like i need more protein and definitely more muscle mass. and possibly green tea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PP. Yes, sounds like i need more protein and definitely more muscle mass. and possibly green tea.

It sounds like you need to eat more. Full stop.

[Anonymous]

You didn't tell us your age.