Posts by dnephi

Original Post by soulsearcher83:

Your brain thinks you are starving.  Severe calorie restriction is interpreted as a famine so the body will hold on to every morsel you put into your mouth because it thinks that the food won't be there later.  Don't step on the scale for a month.  Eat at least 1200 calories a day.  In a month you may be more, you may be less. But you most certainly will be better off than you are now. 

Not to mention your thyroid.

Original Post by xhelena:

i really didn't know all of that about carbs and their connection to water retention, wow! thank you! it makes sense on paper, of course, but it's hard to ignore when it's every single time you eat more than 100 calories over your "limit". i will have to experiment with this and try not to be discouraged.

as for exercise -- i walk the dog and go to hot yoga fairly regularly, as well as buzzing around for classes and waitressing etc, but as a whole, exercise is something of a binge triggor for me, which is really difficult. i get into a frustrating mindset of "well, i just cycled for twenty minutes, this entire pizza/pint of ice cream/enormous bowl of pasta/etc isn't that bad then!" it's a vicious cycle really.

I know it's really hard.  I can't describe how hard it has been (and is) for me sometimes.  

Exercise is a tricky devil.  In my opinion, exercise doesn't do that much for weight loss.  I don't know how your personal interaction is with it, exactly, but I have these "rituals" before and after exercise which help me be regular.

Have you considered adding some lean protein?  It takes a long time to digest, so it is satisfying.  It also raises your metabolism.  It was the first thing that I was able to increase my consumption of.  

http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news221 2.html

When you are on severe caloric restriction your body's glycogen stores are low, and your digestive system is pretty empty.  

Glycogen causes water retention, at about 4 grams of water per gram of carb.  When you eat just a bit more (say 400 calories of carbs more), that's going to be 100g of carbs more in your body, which holds 400g more water, which makes you weigh 500g (1.1#) heavier.  In fact, after carb restriction, your body can hold up to 1.5x as much carbs as it normally would, so you retain even more water.  This normalizes after a few days.

Increased sodium intake also causes water retention, and it's possible that consuming those extra calories brought some of that too. 

Plus any fiber or digestive chyme is still in your intestines.  I know it's hard, but it does stop going up after a couple of days, once your body gets used to the salt and carbs.

One more thing- do you exercise?  Not only will the actual exercise burn calories, but it will help reduce water retention and raise your metabolism for the next 24-48 hours.  That's why your muscles still feel warm the day after a workout.  

My knee-jerk reaction is that you have to stimulate your body's metabolism by increasing your caloric intake.  You are in the dreaded "starvation mode."  If you find it hard to increase the calories by yourself (which I would certainly understand), then you should see a nutritionist/dietitian or a doctor, who would help you with what you need.  

It takes your body about two weeks to adjust to a new diet.  

How tall are you?  How much do you weigh now?  How long have you been dieting?  I think it's important to keep YOU healthy and happy :).  

Hope this helps.