Am I in "starvation mode?"

I've been struggling with my weight for the past two years. At 5'4 and 194 lbs, I NEED to lose weight. I started to research a bit, and I read about starvation mode. Am I in it?

To give some details, I walk briskly for about an hour a day, and workout (weights/jogging) a couple days a week for at least an hour. I also ride my horse once a week(mostly trotting) for an hour, sometimes more if I have the time.

As to what I eat, I'll tell what I ate yesterday; it's normally about the same every day.

For breakfast, I had a whole green apple. For lunch, one of those Smart Ones chicken fettuccine things. For supper, some mac & cheese and a tiny piece of skinless chicken (about the size of my index finger.). Snacks included a whole plum, chocolate yogurt, and an icee from Burger King.

I put all of that into a calorie counter, and it came out to 1000 calories. What am I doing wrong?? Do I need to bump up what I eat?

It doesn't sound like you are eating nearly enough. It may be 1000 calories, but you are eating a lot of sugar and some carbs as well. That isn't going to help you.

Eat *real* chicken. Steak. Fish. Something with protein and fat. Cut out some of the fruit, yogurt, and other crap. Too much sugar isn't doing you any good. And I don't mean look on the back of the label. I mean just use plain common sense. Fruit is sugary. Carbs are nothing but starch and sugar...nothing nutritional there, either. Try eating more meat, definitely more veggies.

I'd suggest looking into Primal....for humans, not the dogs.

I kept running into the same fat wall until I removed gluten from my diet. You might do a little reading on it and see if you think it's worth a try for you.

My mom has NEVER been able to lose weight until she went gluten free and she's now down to about the size she was when she was in her 20s -- from a size 18 to a size 8. She's in her 70s, and the weight has all come off in the past year. And it's staying off.

I don't know about "starvation mode" so to speak but yes, I think you would benefit from eating more and eating better.
Funny enough I had Smart Ones chicken fettuccine for lunch yesterday too, and while eating it I told my co-worker "this is so gross, so bad for me." He was like "Why??" because Smart Ones = good for you, right?
"It's processed food. It's nasty. I would do better to just make my own big batch of chicken fettuccine and freeze out individual portions."
The reason I even eat them at all is because they are better than a lot of frozen foods out there. The sodium isn't bad at all. But still... have you ever read the ingredients list? Yuck.
I understand the convenience factor, I really do, but that's why I really need to spend some time this weekend making up big batches of stuff and freezing it. My freezer has been empty of anything but processed food for about a month now... bleh.

Why so little chicken at dinner??

Yeah, IMO you definitely need to be eating more and eating better.

The starvation thing is a bit of a myth, kind of ... lol. It depends greatly on the person.

Worry less about the amount of calories (calories are important, but not in a primary role) and more about what the calories come from. You need your body to feel 'safe' burning the fuel vs storing it. High carb diets keep your insulin high (to keep your blood sugar in check) and this triggers storing, even if you are eating low calorie! Try eating less sugar and more protein and fat.

Your day was pretty much all sugar, except the chicken!! Also fat is one of the most important macronutrients if you want to lose FAT, if you are eating enough not only will you feel full and satisfied it doesn't trigger high insulin AND it is harder to store.

That.

I am currently using weight watchers plus caluclator. It calculates the protein, fat, fiber, and carbs. I truly am surprised at how much I can eat in a day and still be losing weight, and that is because it's BALANCED.........not just low calorie or high protein. The old saying "everything in moderation" is exactly right

You are eating the wrong things. Add more lean protein and far fewer carbs.

So, basically, cut down on the fruit and up the protein? I LOVE fruit, so that's going to be a bit of a challenge! Renee, I don't think I eat too much gluten, but cutting it out completely wouldn't be that hard for me, I don't think.

Beanie, yeah, it's mostly a convenience thing. I'm a college student, so cheap, quick food is pretty much what I live on. I'm not a big junk food eater (chips and candy and fried food make me feel gross,) so is it mainly all the fruit and sugar I'm eating?

Mac and cheese has a TON of carbs and a TON of calories. The chicken fettucini has a TON of carbs. The burger king icee is basically ALL carbs.

Don't cut your fruit, cut the useless carbs down, add more veggies.......especially green ones Keep a food journal.....on the computer, in a notebook, whatever. It helps me quite a bit to see on paper what I'm putting in.

I will disagree on the lean meat thing (lol I just did a HUGE presentation -45 min) for my final honours biochem class on the interaction of carbs and fat and how they are used by the body in the context of obesity.. One of the best things you can do is eat natural meats, including the fat. New studies are showing that people have LOWER bad cholesterol when they don't starve the body of it (your liver makes it and every cell needs it) Also studies show that diets with enough fat actually work better because people tend to stay with them.

On to fruits. You can still have fruit! Just stick mostly to berries and things that have high fibre content. And don't eat them all day... Its likely all that pasta (ie sugar) that is going to be an issue. Its pretty much empty calories anyway! How do you feel about veggies?


I love this blog for fun food that is quite healthy. http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com

not just the fruit, but MOSTLY the mac and cheese's of the world. That stuff is total junk. Organic Annies, or Kraft, if you need to lose weight you need to lose this stuff. Fettucini stuff??? Get rid of it.

that posted to fast so i'm adding. I talk about starvation mode, but it's mostly because people are starving their bodies of what they need and eating stuff that is going to stimulate weight gain.

Eat real foods, the more processed the worse it is for you as a general rule. Some fruit is ok, fruit in a cup with water or syrup, not as good. If you can eat grain from the stalk, go right ahead if it's processed into bread or pastas or whatever, ditch it for a while.

real veggies, real meats, not processed. No yogurt, that stuff is just sugar. I can't even believe it's still talked of as a health food. Not that it can't be, it can be a decent addition to a healthy diet. If it's dannon or yoplait it's most likely ****.

It's the "bad" carbs you are eating and the high bad fat (saturated and trans) and sugar from the processed foods that are causing problems. Cut down on the cheese (very high fat), eat whole wheat pasta or rice noodles instead of regular white pasta, increase veggie intake (especially dark green and orange ones), and eat lean meats or combine nuts, seeds and legumes for complete proteins.

High fibre, low sugar foods are very filling and nutritious. Whole grains, beans, dark greens and some fruit (berries, pears, and apricots for example) are really high in fibre and other nutrients that are good for your heart too!

Total agreement! Of course you're going to get different advice from everyone, but it seems like you have your diet opposite of what it should be.

Eat more protein and veggies, fewer carbs (don't cut them out, but make them healthier ones), and zero garbage sugar. I eat fruit, but I haven't eaten crap sugar in over 2 years now.

If you use a calorie counter online, you can also see the breakdown of nutrients that you're taking in, that can give you an idea of what you're lacking.

Yup, totally understand that. I would get yourself a crockpot and look into crockpot cooking. Also look up once-a-month-cooking.
Since I only cooking for me, OAMC has actually turned out to be awesome. There aren't that many recipes just for one person, and sometimes even if I eat whatever I cooked for leftovers, even twice, there's STILL leftovers. I made lasagna once and I ate it for almost every meal for a week... I don't like eating the same thing that often. It was horrible LOL.

So now I will make a batch of something, or even a HUGE batch of something, and put individual portions into baggies or freezer-friendly tupperware stuff and freeze it. Then when I want some, I just pull it out of the freezer and microwave it. Sometimes I move stuff to the fridge that morning so it will thaw for dinner, but most often I just pull it straight from the freezer. I've also done a lot of dishes where you basically put all the ingredients in a baggie, freeze it, then dump the whole lot into a crockpot that morning/afternoon and let it go.


I know it's hard when you are pressed for time, and for me personally I don't really have a lot of money to spend on food either, so I'm limited to what I can buy... but eating REAL food is just so much better for you on the whole.

With animal protein, you don't actually need or want too much. It's high in cholesterol and can be fatty. You don't really need more than 40 or so grams of protein a day, and many people reach and more often exceed that number.

Excessive protein intake is bad for your kidneys.

Pretty much all of that is a myth, based on "science" done back when tv was still black and white.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with animal protein or fat, and it is completely unrelated to cholesterol.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, just that excesses are not healthy. Truly, most anything in excess is not healthy.

Animal protein is high in LDL cholesterol which is bad for your heart. That's not a myth.

This has all been fully debunked. Excessive protein does not hurt kidneys.. UNLESS you have kidney disease. Animal fats are just fine. In fact its has NEVER been proved that high blood cholesterol has any causative effect on heart disease. The fact there is now a distinct correlation between eating saturated animal fats and LOW bad cholesterol and high good cholesterol!!

I have taken a great interest in following some low carb forums. You would be very surprised at the number of people who's blood cholesterol improves drastically when they start eating (what by todays standards anyway) a high fat diet.'

Yes it is a myth!! Imagine my shock lol. I had always thought that too. People forget that your body makes cholesterol. In fact you NEED it to live, every cell has a lot! Pretty much every (maybe every) hormone in your body is made from it. Your brain is mostly cholesterol too!! Even if you ate none you would still have it. Really high blood LDL is now not being showing to be influenced positively by diet.

I really like using MyFitnessPal(.com) to track how many calories I should eat in a day. I still for the most part eat what I was eating before, just normal portions. I do make an effort to go for a healthier choice if that's available. I am MericoX on there if you join.

Most definitely a myth.

This is an interesting video, just to put things in perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8WA5wcaHp4