Coming out of starvation mode & rapid weight gain

Hello everyone.

In July of last year, I went on a diet. I didn't count calories, but I ate healthy things and didn't starve. It was working and I lost fifteen pounds.

Then something happened and I started eating less and less. My worst days were those when I ate around 500 calories and my average was from 800-900. I lost another twenty pounds in what is not an abnormally short time period-- about three months.

I was hovering around a weight of 115 when I noticed that I was not losing any more. A few days of drastically reduced calorie intake and I was down to 113, but the lack of food was starting to get to me. I was sick of eating this way. I wanted to enjoy food again.

I knew my body was in 'starvation mode' and was determined to fix things. So I started eating more. This was three weeks ago, and although I have not eaten more than I should (i.e. what the online metabolic rate calculators say), I have seen disturbingly rapid weight gain.

I have gained eight pounds in those three weeks and am now at a weight of 120. I am extremely upset.

Can anyone here tell me what to do? I cannot continue to gain weight like this; it is taking a terrible toll on me mentally.

Is my body out of starvation mode? If not, when will it be? What can I do to start losing weight in a healthy way again?

Thank you very much.

I bet most of that is water etc your muscles are taking back. They likely need it.

When you starve, do you automatically lose water? Because I was always sure to drink a lot of fluid when I was crash dieting. I loved water-- it filled me up.

Your muscles store carbs [gycol whatever is the proper name Need the chemist to speak up]. About 3x that is water it stores. When you don't eat enough your body will use up those stores. Now it's filling the tank back up.

So is it permanant? If it's just water weight, will it eventually stabilize? Or are those stores of water something that are always there?

(Thanks for your replies. I really appreciate the help.)

yes, sad but true!

it's a weird phenomena with the body.  most people will lose 10 lbs in the 1st 2 weeks of any crash diet or very low calorie eating like you were doing, but it is mostly water.

As soon as you return to eating normally, your body restores the water... and you immediately regain most of the initial 10 lbs.

the thing with crash diets and quick start plans... is that they work so great the 1st 2 weeks because people lose the water and think they've lost the fat....  but it's just not true.  it's just water that comes right back as soon as you start eating more.

the only safe way is to continue eating more normally and to lose those final 10 lbs slowly... over time, as real fat loss without crash dieting.

after your body goes through the adjustment, you will start to lose again...

here is an article about getting the body to lose weight after periods of eating too little... 

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8. htm

hope this helps :)

elanorci ~ the article gives examples of women who are quite a bit overweight, but they have the same problem.  their body was in starvation mode because they ate too little food for too long of time.

the answer is the same... 

you need to trust the process.  that you can eat 1,500 cals or so a day... or even more and still lose weight... if the cals you eat are less than the cals you burn.

the last 10 lbs are the hardest to lose. 

at that time, you need to work on toning your muscles for strength and stamina (not to get large muscles).  your body will be losing it's last body fat and converting that to muscles and going through some gr8 changes.  you just need to have patience, stay with it and trust the process...

also, check in the maintenance forum and the fitness forum for more suggestions and help from other people going through this same process!

it can be done!  promise :)  hang in, ok :)

Your muscles will store a certain amount. It won't go over that level at least not for long.

Your metabolism will realise soon that you are eating healthily again and your weight will become steady again.   

You probably came out of it too fast, a sudden jump in calories. I would bet a small increase in calories over a longer period of time (with some exercise) would allow your body to get used to eating normally again without putting on weight.

Thanks for all the replies. :)

Maybe I did take it too fast with increasing my calories.

My main problem is that I find it really hard to count calories accurately. A variety of things lead to my family eating out almost every night (I know it's not good, but with us it's just necessary) and although I have a few dishes at a few places that I know the caloric values of and that are healthy, we can't eat at the same few places every night. I find it really hard to accurately estimate the caloric value of food when I haven't prepared it myself or when it's not pre-packaged.

Any tips on this?

Again, thanks for all the replies. :) This is a great place.

I have the same trouble trying to figure out what the calories are when eating out... the main reason is that the places main focus on making it taste "good" (no matter what it is!).

So even if you are eating just rice, who knows what else they added in there! (Mexican restraunts i have a feeling the rice is loaded with butter and all kinds of stuff...i really wouldnt mind just plain rice...it tastes good wtihout "help"!).

I tend to try and focus on the more simple dishes for that reason, like grilled chicken breast is pretty safe. Avoid sandwiches often (bread is a lot of calories, and normally butter / other things are added).

Asian food is a little safer, simple soups and rice (theirs seems to actually be plain rice!). Then there are coconut curries and very high calorie things thrown in, so have to be careful when ordering (or when eating, take more rice and try to avoid as much curry).

Heh, going out to eat at restraunts all the time would drive me crazy. Things like salad bars and those things would be great (i do go out to those every night!) ... but anything heavier would be wayyyy too much (and expensive!!).

Maybe start staying home instead and just fixing food for yourself...tell them that eating out all the time is just too much and making you fat. They would probably understand and agree.

you can lose weight quickly through crash diet or lots of exercise, but when you're at your goal and start eating/exercising normally again you'll put it back on. the only way to lose weight for the long term and keep it off is by a balanced and healthy routine of diet AND exercise, not either/or. the faster you take off the faster you usually put back on. you should eat healthily like you say you are, but start incorporating exercise into your routine and the weight will probably come off again.

I'm not really sure who to believe. I had a cousin with anorexia for about 1 and a half years, where she probably ate 200-500 calories per day. She lost about 30 lbs. and went down to around 85-90 lbs. of weight. Finally, she talked to a nutritionist and was never hospitalized. She began eating normal foods slowly - salmon, grilled chicken, salads.. and gained back about 20 lbs and now is a normal weight. She gained it slowly, it's not like she ballooned up. I don't get how people can lose 30 lbs. on a crash diet, then eat healthy foods when you get to your goal weight and by doing so balloon back up to a heavy weight. It just doesn't seem possible unless you go from 300 calories a day to 2000 calories a day overnight. I think if you went from 300 cals a day to 500 to 700 to 1000 over time, it would work fine.

I can't imagine eating only 500 calories a day- that is not healthy! It would be nearly impossible to get all the nutrients you need in that little. I am losing weight without starvation mode, by eating right- nutrient dense foods- such as grilled chicken, fish, tons of veggies and fruits, and tons of water- I am never hungry, because I eat often.

Also- the water issue-your body needs to store a lot of water to process a lot of food, especially high carbohydrate/processed foods. When you stop eating all that, your body doesn't need all that water anymore, so it releases it. This also explains why once you cheat, and have something naughty, you feel bloated and fatter immediately.

Sorry to be nosy, but 113 doesn't seem like a healthy weight, unless you are very short- My 11 year old is 5'2" and 105 pounds, and wears a size 0, so she is quite thin, but still growing. What exactly is your goal?

Oh gosh, I just read an article (someone here posted it, but I can't tell you where it is, sorry) about an overweight woman who was only eating 700 calories a day, yet she couldn't lose weight. Her body was in starvation mode.

The author told her that the solution would freak her out. She would have to GAIN weight before she could lose it. THe doc said that in the first three weeks of eating normally, she would gain about 20 lbs. Then, she would start to lose again.

It all had to do with how her metabolism had slowed down so much, that her body was going to store all excess food at first. Once her body got out of that mode, her metabolism would speed up to normal and she'd lose again.

I will try to find that article and post it here, OK? I think you should not freak out. you will not continue to balloon. Your body will stop gaining, and pretty soon. Just relax and realize that you're trying to undo something bad, and it will take a bit of time.

Here is the article. I was wrong, she didn't gain 20 lbs in three weeks. But she did gain. Please read this:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8. htm

Wow, lots of new replies. :) Thanks, everyone.

I have read that article and I realize that I'm going to have to gain some weight. It's just the rapidness with which I gained it that scared me.

Since my last post, I've been eating 1,200 - 1,300 calories a day of well-balanced things and excersizing. I haven't lost any weight, but I've stopped gaining, which is good.

glowskin1, it might not have been a healthy weight (and the way I got there was definitely not healthy!). My goal isn't so much in terms of pounds anymore as in terms of the way I look (I realize that muscle weighs more than fat), but I would like to get under 115 if possible.

Thanks for the help, everyone. It's really comforting. :)