Hi everyone, I'm pretty new here.

I used to eat fast food and all that garbage food every day, probably with an overall calorie average of 3500/day. My highest weight was 265.

Now I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, and I take vitamins and exercise regularly (30 min, 3/wk). I'm at 238 lbs now.

But the thing is, this past week and last week I've hovered between 235 and 240. I'm not complaining - don't get me wrong - I'm just wondering if I should adjust my new way of eating to compensate for this plateau type effect.

I read somewhere that my body could be in "starvation mode" and it's not losing weight because of it. What do I do to counteract this? My appetite is actually content with this amount of calories, do I need to actually eat more, or should I just eat foods with more calories in them?

Or is this just a phase that my body is going through, and it will eventually overcome this plateau and move on?

I'm not an expert here, but I tend to think that maybe it is. Time to think about what you are eating, making sure it isn't too high in fat/calories and carbohydrates, increase water intake to 80 - 100 oz a day, and maybe think about increasing your exercise program. I"m a miserable exerciser, but I do okay with Tony Little, with heavy concentration on my lower tummy.. I have to start working more often now as my britches are loose at the waist, but stick on my buldge!

just a quick comment: you've lost nearly 30 pounds in less than 8 weeks... around 3 pounds per week. that's a fast loss.

i'm thinking that you're body is adjusting to the loss. it happens sometimes. my pattern has always been to drop 10 quickly, then spend 2 weeks adjusting. then another 8-10 and so on. and in those 2 weeks, i actually FEEL the lost weight, almost as if my body is shrinking!

sooo give it another week or two. and see how your clothes are fitting. measure yourself. it'll provide another way to see how you're doing.

and if the scale doesn't move again, then think about shaking things up with exercise or food changes.

About starvation mode -- I've read that it can happen when you drop below 1200 calories/day. I also think that it's going to vary from person to person -- someone might experience it at say, 1400 calories and someone else could probably go a lot lower with no problem.

For what's it's worth, here's my experience with calories: I started at 257 pounds and around 1600 calories/day, about 45% lean protein, 25% good carbs, and 30% good fats. No processed foods, no sugar. I did an hour of cardio a day and weights 3-4 days/week. As my weight dropped, I needed to drop the calories to keep losing fat and ended up at around 1200/day (same ratios). I personally never experienced starvation mode but certainly others have, so your mileage may vary.

It's natural for your body to plateau as you're losing. It's going through a lot of readjustments! I sure didn't lose at a steady pace and TOM plays a big part in this variablity. My thoughts are not to raise your calories yet (especially since you're satisfied where you are), but to kick up the exercise. I hope you're doing both cardio and weights -- cardio to burn the fat and weights to build muscle. Really try to up the intensity and push your limits! I know that for me, exercise was the key to losing (and keeping off) the weight.

If you need any help with your exercise program, please stop and see us at the Ladies Who Lift forum (right below the Exercise Forum). We have a weekly thread and have lots of dedicated exercisers (and a personal trainer) who would be happy to answer any questions!

Edited to add: Jiff beat me to the punch! Good advice!

meg, i've learned from the best around here!!! see????? i AM paying attention!!!!!

I agree -- yes, it's possible you are just going through a natural plateau, but yes, it is also possible your body is in starvation mode.

The only way to know for sure is to have your metabolism measured. You can go to the website for Healthetech and find out if there is a facility in your area that offers the BodyGem or MedGem test. This will tell you what your body's CURRENT caloric needs are, and how that compares to the average person for your weight/height/gender. As Meg said, everybody is different, but knowing your particular metabolism will help you know how much to eat. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is how many calories your body needs just to exist, if you were lying still for 24 hours. Your Active Metabolic Rate (AMR) is how many calories you use in a day, doing all the things you do. If you eat less than your AMR, you'll lose weight. But, if you eat less / burn more than your BMR for a period of time, your body thinks that there is a famine and starts to conserve energy. What most experts recommend is that you create a 500 calorie deficit from your AMR every day; this will result in losing 1 pound a week, all other things being equal. That usually means cutting 250 calories of food from your AMR, while exercising to burn off another 250 calories. I am on a program that has a "stepped" approach to weight loss, as Meg described. When I was your weight, I was eating 1700 calories per day. I am just under 200 pounds now and eating 1500 calories. I will have to lose another 20 pounds or so before I'll go down to 1200 calories. It's taken me a lot longer to lose than you've experienced, but my metabolism has continued to hum right along.

When you don't get enough calories, not only does fat loss slow down, but your body starts burning muscle! Your body would rather burn off useful tissue for calories than use your fat stores. Having less muscle will cause your metabolism to drop further. This is what causes yo-yo dieting. You eat less than you should, and you "lose weight" (fat AND muscle), but you lower your metabolism, meaning that your body requires fewer calories to run than it did before. So, even if you reach your goal, it's EASIER to gain weight because your body just doesn't use as much fuel, and it stores the rest. And, that new fat takes up more room than the muscle you lost, so you are larger than you used to be at the same weight!

If your metabolism IS lower than normal, the only way you'll lose more fat is to gradually -- gradually -- add more calories so that you are eating enough to support your current weight and exercise level. You may gain back a little as you go through this process, but as soon as your body heals and gets comfortable with the amount of food it's getting, your weight will start dropping again.

If you don't want to do the metabolism test, you can go to the Room42 website and it will give you an ESTIMATE of the caloric needs for someone with your stats.

Arrgh!!! Plateaus!! My bod will plateau for a whole month and then suddenly drop five lbs and a whole inch around the hips all at once! I've learned to just tough it out, not change a thing, just keep on keeping on.

Congrads on the lifestyles changes: the weight loss 30lbs in a mere 7 weeks, the exercising, the healthier eating habits, all of it.

Ahem.

THIRTY pounds lost in a mere SEVEN weeks!!!!! That's an awful lot of change for your bod to sustain in so short a time, friend. Your body may be just holding still on the weightloss because it needs to adjust to this. Maybe you need to forget the scale for a little while. Focus on how your clothes fit. Are they looser? Are they getting even looser despite the scale standing still?

I'd give it another week or two, then see. If you continue to see no change, then maybe you need to up the exercise to 30mins four or five times a week. Or maybe change in the exercise you do -- add walking if you've been lifting weights, or swimming if you've only been doing walking. Something of that nature.

If you don't feel hungry then you probably don't need to eat more.

BTW, you didn't gain all this fat overnight, so it isn't going to go away and STAY AWAY real quickly either.

Take care, now.

You have gotten such great advice here already. I totally agree with Jiffypop about the cycles of weight loss she experienced. I did that also, would lose usually 10 or so pounds then my body seemed to pause and readjust.

In addition to all of the advice you have already gotten I hope you stay motivated through this period of adjustment your body needs. Sometimes I would get discouraged and it took a lot to stay motivated. But then if I stuck to it the weight would drop again. also, sometimes if I would just take a break from counting calories for just one day and then return to my regular program I would all of a sudden see a drop.

A doctor I use to go to would also suggest that you incrase your water by a lot and eat a lot of citrus fruit. Although citrus fruit was her cure all for everything. Hee Hee. Anyway, her thought was that women are water reatainers and any changes your body is going through encourages water retention and the natural solution is extra water and citrus fruit? It worked for me.

Good luck, I will keep checking in because I bet when you do start to lose again you might see a big drop. Congratulations on the weight you have lost already. That is very exciting. Yay!!!

Wow! I can't believe all the great advice I got here. I apologize for not replying sooner to each of you, I had to go out of town for a while. I think you're right, that I am probably just in a temporary plateau and not starvation mode.. but I have increased my caloric intake to 1500 a few times a week, and it seems to be going again now too. Thanks again for all the advice, it DEFINATELY helps out!

Ok I have a somewhat naieve question about starvation mode and very low calorie diets. Let me give you a little background info first! I'm 5'4" and currently at 228 I am hypothyroid and was gaining rapidly until I got put on meds for thyroid and then I was put on Meridia to aid my weight loss. I do walkaerobics 6 days a week (except this week cuz I've been sick ) And I am on the South Beach diet. Now moving on....I started South Beach on May 1st along with my meridia on the same day, I have a very hard time getting over 1000 calories in in a day. I don't think my body is in starvation mode because I'm eating a TON! Lots of veggies which we all know are low calorie and I drink between 96 - 150 oz of water a day ( I take a vitamin so I don't flush nutrients out) I'm losing well and beginning to see the fruit of my efforts but could I be in starvation even if I'm eating a lot of food, I never did quite grasp the concept of why I should eat more if I'm not hungry deal, So that is where I agree with meg that everyones body is different and everyone hits "starvation Mode" at a different level. Someone Please enlighten me!
Thanks
Michelle

Starvation mode isn't about a set number of calories. Yes, everyone has their own level of where they will cross that line, but that's because everyone's metabolism is different.

If you go to the website I mentioned, it will give you an ESTIMATE of how many calories your body (your weight/height/gender/activity level) needs to function normally. This is an estimate of your metabolism. It assumes that your metabolism is neither faster nor slower than average. However, because of a million different factors -- including medical conditions, medication, unusual body composition, previous crash diets, etc. -- yours may be higher or lower. This is where having yours measured can be invaluable, so you know the real state of affairs and can progress accordingly.

If you eat fewer calories than your body needs, your metabolism will slow down -- it doesn't care that the calories come from healthy, high-fiber foods or pure sugar. If that happens, then you will have to cut your calories even further to continue to lose weight. This is what is going on when people say they are eating only 1200 or 1000 calories per day and can't lose weight, or are even gaining weight. Previous crash diets (or other causes, such as eating only once per day, or having hypothyroidism, among many many others) have lowered their metabolism to the point that their body has learned to get by on that number of calories, and the extra fat is not burned off for fuel; it's just not needed.

I've seen many cases where people have experienced plateaus because they revved up their exercise in a serious way, but kept their calories at the same level. In some cases they weren't any more hungry, either, because starvation mode will actually diminish appetite. But, when they gradually added more calories to their day, the fat started coming off again.

Think of it this way: Your body is like a campfire. Fires need fuel to burn. If you want to make a fire hotter, you add more fuel. You want your body to burn as hot as you can make it, because the higher your metabolism, the more you will be able to eat. Wouldn't you rather be on 1700 calories at maintenance than 1200? How can you rev up your metabolism? First, eat breakfast, and never go more than 3 or 4 hours without eating. Your body is reassured that food is always forthcoming and will keep humming along. Second, aerobic activity. Recent studies have shown that, for metabolic purposes, several short sessions during the day is more effective than one long session. So, going for three 10-minute walks is better than one 30-minute walk. Third, strength training. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat and other tissue, so the more you have, the more calories you will burn. Fourth, eat enough calories to support your base metabolism (whatever that might be) AND your activity level. If you have a depressed metabolism, reevaluate your calorie levels periodically. Losing weight will lower your needs, but you may offset that via the methods above.

Thanks so much for the information!! The only way that my metabolism is messed up is from my thyroid which I take meds for. But that helped me understand it a little bit more thanks so much! I go to my doctor on wednesday and hope to chat with her more about this.

Michelle

Michelle, I would really love to hear what your doctor says when you talk to her about this.

I totally agree with everything that is being said, and understand about starvation mode and fueling a fire, but it just doesn't seem to work like that for someone (like us) that has a low thyroid. I am a member on a yahoo low thyroid group and they all seem to have to eat very low calorie (1000 to 1200, maybe 1400 at the absolute most) and still don't lose weight. Anymore then that and they gain weight.

I would absolutely love to be able to eat 1400 or 1500 or 1600 calories a day, but it just doesn't seem possible for me. I would also absolutely love to lose some weight, but that ain't happen either!

So, Michelle, please let me know what your doc says about your calorie intake as it applies to your hypothyroid.

thanks,
cathy

Ditto all of the above, and I'll add a thought or 2. Consider eating more frequently, whether you decide to up your calories or not. It "costs" the body some number of calories to digest food, so the more times you "rev the engine" the more calories you will theoretically burn. This isn't a good idea for people with certain kinds of eating disorders, obviously, but others may benefit. I certainly lose better and feel better with frequent small meals.

The other thought: everybody seems to hate plateaus, but having been through a couple, and being in one now, I'm beginning to appreciate them. It looks like "nothing is happening" on the scale, and even the tape measure doesn't show much change, but there are lots of other subtle effects that are hard to measure. For me, that includes:

(1) my hair is getting thicker and shinier (yippee!)
(2) My skin is looking much clearer, pinker, and may be tightening up a bit, I hope
(3) My bustline is rising (thank you, body, thank you)
(4) I'm sleeping like a rock
(5) My migraines are fewer and less painful
(6) All my systems are running smoothly, if you know what I mean
(7) My eye exam is better than the last exam 2 years ago
(8) Stamina, endurance, balance, coordination, etc. much improved
(9) No asthma symptoms at all
(10) I'm building muscle all over
(11) I feel really, really good, calm, happy....

So my point is, my body may not be working on "my" schedule and agenda, but she has her own schedule and agenda, and getting her work done is in our best interests in the long run. So I'm happy to be patient, trust the process, and I am grateful, every day. It's all good...

Cathy - I definately will let you know what my doc says! I am not having any problems losing the weight right now because I also take Meridia besides my thyroid medication and all the exercise I've been doing combined with eating healthier all of these combined has gotten me to start losing weight!! I'm just so excited about it!! But since starting South Beach I notice I take in a low amount of calories while still eating a lot of food. There have been times I had to absolutely choke food down so I could get the calories in for the day.

Seek - I too have noticed some great benefits to weight loss. My hair is shinier too!! I love it!! My migraines are gone too no more expensive imitrex and I used to get disabling migraines 2-3 times a week! I have much more energy and the big big bonus for me is that I no longer need a nap to make it through the day!!

Thanks for everyone who replied to me
Michelle