I started a low calorie diet two weeks ago, eating 1000 calories or less on a high protein, low carb type diet. I am taking a multivitamin. I calculated my BMR to be around 1600 cals. I didn't have a goal amount for protein or carbs, but I use myfitnesspal app to track my food and for the 1200 cal goal (the lowest it allows), I have gotten more than the recommended protein and less than the recommended carbs, all while eating 700-1000 cals. I lost about 7-8 pounds that first week, which I know might have been mostly water weight. This week, I added exercise. I do at least 30 mins of cardio (running, elliptical, stairstepper, etc) and target a muscle group lifting each day. I timed my 1 mile at 13:50. I am super frustrated because I have not lost a single pound this week. I have been scouring the internet trying to figure out why and I have come up with a few different possibilities and I'd like some outside input.

1) I just gained a butt ton of muscle weight. Would make sense since my weight dropped off until I added excercise.
2) I put myself in starvation mode. Would also make sense since excercising would have put me at even more of a calorie defecit. Maybe it tipped the scale (the wrong way, mind you). However, I still don't get how eating -600 calories every day for two weeks would lead to no weight loss in the second week, even in starvation mode. At some point, math has to win.
3) I lost mostly water weight the first week and retained a bunch of water this week due to excercise and TOM. So I am still losing weight but the water retention offset it on the scale.
4) Hormones in my BC doing voodoo magic and not allowing me to lose weight? Not sure about this one, but it was suggested to me and I wanted to explore that scenario.
5) A mixture of two or more of these things or something different all together.

Also, depending on what the cause is, how do i fix it? How do I get out of starvation mode without gaining back everything I lost? How long until the water weight subsides and I can actualize the weight loss I have been working to achieve? What do I do about losing weight in spite of hormones? I am so frustrated. I know it has only been two weeks, but it worries me that this problem is occurring so early on. I have always been overweight, even as a child, but something I have never experienced is what I am experiencing now, where I don't have an appetite. I don't think I'm becoming anorexic, because I know I need to eat more and I will go in the kitchen to find something to up my calorie count at the end of the day because I will be at 500 calories for the day otherwise, but I just don't have any desire to eat anything. Thinking about eating something will disgust me. Not the result of it, but the actual eating of it. I just do not want to eat anything. I will settle for a skinny cow ice cream bar for 100 cals, which isn't healthy, and I'm not even craving, but will give me more calories! I am at the point where emotionally I don't want to keep working out, but logically I know that is stupid as eventually it has to come down to math, and burning calories = losing weight. I started the heaviest I've ever been (210) and my initial goal is to get down to the least I've ever been, which is 150. However, short term I need to get under the 200 mark to keep myself motivated! It really sucks to be stuck just shy of reaching a big milestone like that!

Sister, if you are wanting to lose 50 pounds, you need to be eating more than 1000 calories a day. There is simply NO NEED for your calories to be so low and it really isn't good for your system. At your height and weight, you should be able to lose on 1500.

Starvation mode has largely been shown to be bunk, but this doesn't mean that your body won't respond to a dramatic decrease in calories by holding on to what it has. Bodies are funny things and they need to be given time to shed fat. Slow down, eat something, and be patient. You need to find the mindset to be in this for the long haul. The weight will come off.

(Btw, you will not have gained anything close to a significant amount of muscle in one week. Possibly your muscles are holding onto water as a reaction to your exercise, but muscle is quite difficult to build. I promise.)

Hey there
I too started a low carb high protein diet...and found it extremely difficult to eat over 1000 carbs...but my weight has not decreased by more than .2 so now i'm on a site that helps count my calories for my day. I'm eating more...which does my head in....but i'll stick with it and see how my weight goes in a couple of weeks or so. exercise is everyday and i'm in for the long haul to lose another 10kgs.
Good luck acunit. stay on this forum...you will get great support here from people exactly like you

You are not eating enough. I weigh 143 and I eat 1400 to LOSE weight. 1200 for someone of your current weight is even too little. The weight didn't come on over night so you can't expect it to come off over night. The slower the better. You should be eating between 1500-1800 to lose weight. As you become smaller, you can decrease that number. When I eat less than 1200, I either gain or do not lose at all.

Actually, math doesn't win.

The other posters are right. You need to get on a sensible eating plan that will allow you to lose weight and be healthy so that when you reach your goal weight, you can move on to maintenance and struggle less.

By eating less than 1000 calories now what are you going to do when you hit maintenance? Go hog wild and eat everything you've been restricting until then? You'll just gain the weight back!

Raise your intake to 1500. Exercise. Eat healthy. See how you're losing weight then. Be honest with what you're really eating. And if you're not losing weight after three months, then go to a doctor to get yourself checked out. Depending on your body, you could have something that slows down the weight loss, but it doesn't make it impossible.

I agree with the others. you are not eating enough calories. I think 1500 is about right .

And you've only been at this for 2 weeks. A huge loss one week and nothing the next doesn't count as "stopped losing weight." Build a plan you can live with a long time. You are in a marathon, not a sprint. You're setting up to burn out the first month.

And don't count on motivation to always be there. Make a commitment that will keep you going even when your motivation flags.

I'm on low carb too, and when I let my calories go below 1300 I don't lose. Your activity level is too high to support a 1000 calorie diet, period. Yes, the second week you'll have a lower loss because there's no more excess water/glycogen for your body to eliminate, but you still need to up your calories.

It's hard to do that on low carb, I know! But you have to. What I do is put almond butter on apples and have nuts for snacks, cook with healthy fats like olive oil and coconut oil and avocados, etc.

On high exercise days I try to eat 1400-1600 calories. On lower intensity days I don't mind staying around 1200, since I'm really short. But we have similar stats, weight-wise, and I am here to tell you that if you're eating that low calorie right now, there's nowhere to go when you get closer to goal and stall again.

This is excellent advice.

I personally don't believe in starvation mode. I think that weight loss slows down but doesn't stop. Everyone's metabolism is different and reacts to weight loss in different ways.

I've kept myself around 1200. Around means some days it might be 1400 and some days it might be 1000 - it's an average. I don't exercise though - yet.

The concern I have with very low calorie diets is what other people mention - the ability to maintain it. Can you maintain that level over a year? Maybe, no one knows but you. Same with maintenance.

Who knows why you didn't lose weight the second week? It could be a number of things, just keep going and don't let it discourage you from losing. Some weeks I only lose a pound, but it all averages out in the end.

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Ok I took the day off of working out today (I totally ripped my abs up yesterday and needed an off day anyway) and I wound up managing 1200 cals today and am planning around 1400 tomorrow and we'll see what that does. After that, I am going out of town and I guess I will just kind of play it by ear as I won't have a ton of opportunities to work out while I'm gone, so I might bump it back down to 1200. I am still about 203 on the scale, so I still havent moved down, but I also haven't moved up even though I weighed after eating all my calories today. I will pick back up the workouts tomorrow and update where I'm at.

I started at 225 and am down to under 155 since July. I work out every day, a mix of cardio and weights. I never ate less than 1200 calories a day and have recently increased that to 1600. I'm not losing 10 pounds a month anymore but I'm still losing. Be patient, eat more, and you'll get there.

thankyou thankyouthankyou for all you advice ladies. Its just what i needed.
I have upped the calories somewhat... and finish the day with a yogurt.

I've actually eaten 1200 cals today....woohoo.

question...what do people on low carb think about pasta...what sort should i eat? since going paleo i've not had any pasta rice or cheese. These foods will definately up the calories.

Pastas are way to high in carbs to be eating them during a low-carbs diet.
A portion of pastas is easily 50-70g of carbs!

I suggest nuts: almonds, pistachios... they are all so high in calories, low in carbs and high in proteins!

Pasta will sort of defeat the low carb approach you're going for with paleo. What about adding in more healthy fats? Avocado, coconut, nut -- not just the foods themselves, but also using avocado oil, coconut oil, nut oils like macadamia. I use this lovely avocado oil that's been infused with lemon on my salads now, it's fantastic. It's very easy to get additional calories there, but it's so good for you and will help fuel your workouts.