Lets talk about not having enough calories.

I've been on 'diet' for 2 weeks, going into my third. The first 2 weeks I've lost around 6 pounds intotal, this week nothing! I try and do my exercise dvd every day and eat roughly 1000 calories. So this week after not losing anything I had a sneaking few biscuits and a left over burger from the kids because i felt so miserable Friends have suggested that my body is going into starvation mode- is this posible? I was on Atkins for months a couple of years back and manged to lose 3 pounds a week on roughly the same amount of calories but no daily exercise. I had hoped to lose atleast a couple of pounds a week but at this rate I'll always be fat and frumpy

Should I return to atkins? Will it even work? I'm worried that if I up my calories it'll be on snacks that made me put the weight on in the first place. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks for reading this.
Tracy

Your body will hold onto calories if you aren't eating enough, that is what your friends are telling you about 'starvation mode'. Your system thinks we must have just entered a famine or something so it figures it needs to hold onto what you are getting now in case you get less down the line. Or something like that.

I don't know much about Atkins, but it looks to me like you aren't eating enough calories. Everything I've read says to never go below 1200 calories consumed, and to go to 1200 once you have stalled from a higher calorie limit. I would say at your height you could still comfortably lose at 1600, maybe even 1800 depending on your exercise level. Have you put your statistics into one of those calculators to see your BMI and how many calories you burn each day on basic activities?

Tracy, I would up the calories. I don't think 1000 calories is enough. Exercise will always help boost your efforts, but you've got to eat enough calories too! Try adding a few hundred a day and see how you do.

Never go below 1200 calories a day. This is something Jillian Michaels talks about all the time. Trying upping them and you'll probably see results in a week or two.

I have been tracking calories on the daily plate, and you put in your weight, height, and how much weight you want to lose per week...It came back with 1056 calories per day for me...and I have been sticking to it, give or take 30 or so calories either way. On the first week, I checked my weight on Friday, and didn't lose a thing! My mom said the same thing about "starvation mode." The weird thing was, I weighed again on Monday, and I had lost 3 pounds! The same thing happened the next week...no change Friday, down 3 on Monday...

I don't know about the "minimum amount" of calories, but I am feeling good about the amount that I am eating. It is really making me watch sugar intake, and carbs, which were triggers for me. There is a nice "pie chart" on the side that shows your protein/carbs/fat ratio. It also lets you put in exercise, so you can eat more calories if you exercise that day! (I am not advertising for this site or anything...it is just something that I have found that works, and it is free, which is a plus for me!!)

I think that you shouldn't be hungry, but not over-full either. Your body knows what is the right amount for you. I am working on listening...and stopping when it tells me to!

Yeah, even websites like Daily Plate tell people to eat too little sometimes. I've never heard a trainer (as of yet) tell a woman to eat less than 1200.

Okay thanks for that-In my silly way of thinking, i thought that less calories=more weight lose but I see that that really isn't true.

Thanks for the suggestion of 'dail plate'- I've not heard/used on of those so i'm going to give it a go.

I appreciate your help Thanks!

I would aim for 1500 calories a day. It's realistic, manageable and most importantly... probably a lot less than you were eating before. Try 1500 for one month and see what happens...

I use the Daily Plate also, and even when I set to wanting to lose a lot really fast it didn't tell me to eat less than 1200, it did tell me to net less than 1200 sometimes though. My thought was that I created my calorie deficit with a combo of eating less and exercise. I never ate less than 1200, sometimes I burned another 200-400 per day on top of that with exercise. On days I exercised heavy I actually ate more (protein usually) in an effort to keep my net from going below 900. Don't ask me the logic on that number, I pretty much picked it out of the air. I think I felt tired a few days when it said I netted less than that, so that might have been why I picked it.

ETA: And, it does seem counterproductive to eat more to lose, I know. It was hard for me at first, too.

I was having the same problem. Exercising heaps and eating about 1300 calories as I heard not to go below 1200. Problem is I am not losing much at alll. I hopped onto SparkPeople today and changed my fitness goals to reflect the fact that I exercise for about 90 mins a day 5 days a week and suddenly my minimum calorie intake went up from 1200 to 1400 and the max is now 1800 instead of 1500.

Now I have to find foods that are low in carbs because I eat too many carbs but high in protein so I can up my calorie count. Any suggestions??

Cottage Cheese, Skinless Chicken Breast, Tuna, Protein shake made with skim milk