Not getting enough calories?

Hi All

Newbie here, and I'm sorry of this is a silly topic/question but I wonder if I am not getting enough calories? I say this because I have been on a 1200 cal diet for the past 6 weeks, taking Alli (ran out last week and NOT buying again) and exercising and yet I have only lost around 4lb!?

Yesterday I read that not getting enough cals can result in you going into "starvation mode" but is that just a myth?  I will start to feel like I am eating too much if I up my calories any more

Very disheartened over here! I've been working SO hard and all for nothing!?

Hi

4lb weight loss is great and you could look at the food diary on here and log all that you eat, this will give an idea of the fat content of your food.

I eat bran flakes for breakfast, slimming soup such as weight watchers for lunch with slice of bread. Weight watchers evening meal  with veg rice or jacket potato and save about 200 cals for snacks. Snacks consist of options belgian hot chocolat drink about 40 cals or sugar free jelly (jello) 2 cals a bowl.  about 1400 calories. My start weight was 197.8 a week later 194 pleased as pigged out at weekend all on weight watchers recipe foods.

Have a good day

Stella

I don't know your stats (height, age, activity level etc) but I'm thinking that 1200 calories maybe a bit low. It's the bare minimum for females anyway.

I don't think I could happily manage on 1200kcal. Sounds like very little food especially if you say you are exercising too. Again, I don't know what kinds of exercise activity you're including in your plan of attack.

You might not exactly be in 'starvation mode' but quite possibly your body is less willing to shed the excess pounds if it thinks it's not getting enough to eat. Making it more difficult to lose the weight with your current methods.

Oh wow, I'm even dinkier than you! I'm only just 5ft lol... I got the 1200 figure from a website which works out how many cals you need to lose arund 2lb per week based on height/sex/weight etc...darned if I can remember the site name now though :-\

So, 1200 is too little then? Hmm, I will up to 1400 and see what happens.  I just expected a much more flowing weight loss considering I have been on alli as well.... i really didn't rate that stuff... think it must only work if you have quite a lot of weight to lose and have had a fatty diet in the first place. Hmmm.

Thanks Stella - I too love those weightwatchers snacks, they are a GOD SEND on hungry days!  Congrats on your weight loss! You're doing sooo well, I only hope i can come back with some good results after upping my cals a little...

If you are already small/don't have much to lose, 2lb/week is most likely going to be too fast - aiming for .5-1lb/week is going to be much more manageable.

Wow, if I wasn't confused before, I sure am now....

This Daily Mail (FeMail) article advocated the 1200 cal diet...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-118 9956/Why-crash-dieting-DOES-work-Surprise-evi dence-suggests-best-way-slim.html

Yeah... I especially liked the caveat "if a crash diet is done right..." The thing about crash diets - they are never "done right". Maybe a handful of people can crash diet and then go on eating sensibly. But more often, people crash diet by severly restricting their diet and once they lose the weight, they go back to eating all the foods and quantities that got them overweight in the first place.

I'd recommend you read The New and Improved Calorie-Count "Diet".  It'll help clear up some things up for you, I think.

Don't believe the Daily Mail. Ever. ;)

I think that sites (even this one) can only give an estimate on your calorie needs. You really have to find what works for you personally. I think this may even need tweaks along the way.

I'd definitely try giving 1400 even 1500 cals a day a go. Try it for 2 weeks maybe.

Another thing that might have affected your weight loss was the Alli. You are supposed to take it and then have a meal with AT LEAST 15 grams of fat. With a 1200 calorie diet, there's very little chance you had that much fat.

It also depends on how much you weighed originally. People who are overweight can lose their pounds much faster than someone in a healthy BMI.

If you have enough energy with a 1200 calorie diet, you should stick with it. You aren't going to lose weight faster by eating 1400 calories a day. But I do agree with some of the other people, 2lbs a week isn't healthy. .5-1lb a week is better!

I am a complete newb. lol. Was wondering if anyone had any advice. I calculated my target calories as 1278 per day and I get hungry or just cravings. My exercise it walking for about 2 hours per day (mostly up hills and stairs and whatnot) so I always break a sweat. And as much as this sound like a stupid question, but when you talk about a calorie deficit, do you mean the difference between consumed and burned? I'm just finding it a little confusing and would like some sort of advice since I'm just starting. lol.

Thanks :)

Not knowing about your height, weight, age, etc. I would like to suggest that you have a BMR done. BMR stands for Basic Metabolic Rate. This is a formula used to determine how many calories you need in a day to perform normal bodily functions. You can find BMR calculators online, I suggest using WebMD, they seem to have good sensible tools with explanations about what those numbers mean in relation to you. The BMR will tell you what you need each day calorie wise, but from there, look at shaving off 500 calories a day. That will relate to one pound of fat a week as 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. You can also go 750 calories a day (equals 1.5 lbs of weight loss a week) or the maximum 1000 calories (equaling 2 lbs a week weight loss). Starvation mode isn't a myth, it is what your body will do if over time it senses not enough calories are being brought in to maintain normal functions. If you are currently eating 1200 calories a day, and a BMR suggests needing more than that, that could end up keeping you from losing weight as your body will defend itself from starvation. I would start with 500 fewer calories as that is a safer approach.

Hi, another Newbi here!

I've tried a lot of things over the years and I always gained my weight back when I cut back my calories. So I'm a big believer in the metabolism going into "Starvation Mode" and hanging on to every fat molecule it can find! I recently joined Curves and found their weight loss program the best I've come across. They do things in phases, one week at 1200 cal then you bump up to 1500 for awhile and finally 2000 - 2500. That's a lot of food when you are getting all the different food groups! I'm only 3 weeks into it so I'm still at 1500 cal. and believe me I was shocked that I lost almost 5 pounds already. I use CC mostly as my food journal so I can track my nutrition. That also seems to help me out. Hope this doesn't confuse you more, just wanted to let you know you're not alone on the "not eating enough calories is making me fat" road.

Hey All, wow, thanks so much for the replies - have taken what you have all said on board and am about to do a BMR calc.  Also going to try 1400 cals for a couple weeks...

abnormalcorner - With Alli you actually need a MAX of 15g of fat with the tabs...which I usually manage... any more than 15g and your arse explodes, believe me...lol!

Ohhh guess what!?  Upped my calls to 1400 since my first post, like I said I would in accordance with your suggestions, and this morning 3 more lbs have disappeared into the unknown! Whoop whoop!

Thanks everyone! Luv ya, you were great with the advice! :-D

xxx