At what point does calorie restriction slow the rate at which I'll lose weight?

Question

I lost 40lbs about a year ago by restricting my caloric intake to 1300cal per day (I know, I know - thats tiny.) I'm a male, 21, 6'2, now about 190lbs. I'd like to lose about another 15lbs, but I'm wondering if I could do it more quickly by eating MORE - did restricting my caloric intake cause me to lose weight more slowly than I could have otherwise?
My objective was to do it as quickly as possible, regardless of how diffiecult it was. I'm just wondering if it's true that eating so little can slow my metabolism significantly.

Answer 1

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It is a healthy way to lose weight.
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Enjoy!

God Bless!

Answer 2

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I am 25, 6'1, and 215 pounds and would like to lose about 15 pounds. However, I am only 14% fat. My brother is getting his Masters in Excercise Physiology. The previous person was right, reducing your caloric intake to 1300 is not good at all...you do starve the body. Obviously you should talk to someone about your eating habits. Frequent Trader Joes, reduce red meat to once or twice a month, and eat more frequently. I eat about 6 times a day and I work out once a day.

Instead of focusing so much on losing the weight, you may want to just focus on how you are feeling and looking. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you start working out hard and eating more often, your body will naturally start changing. You may not lose weight, but you will see that you are fitting into smaller clothes and looking better. It takes about 6 weeks or so. Stick with it and you will be fine.

I used to take in less calories as well and it did nothing for me. Best of luck!!!

FYI: You don't need to take pills. All you need is determination, a well balanced eating lifestyle, and working out. Try all that before you resort to diet pills. You will see just as much of a difference when you stop eating natural food and want a pizza. At least you aren't ingesting a chemical though.

Answer 3

You destroyed muscle as well as fat when you restricted your calories to 1300. Starving your body is never a good thing. Loose the weight the right way. Diet means control your food intake, not always reduce it. It means getting the right nutrients balance. Couple that with proper exercise and you will be loosing the weight the right way.

I cant stress enough to actually get in contact with a dietician to discover what your body needs. Each person is different.

Answer 4

Dear Jeff,
Calorie intake restriction helps in weight reduction. However, it has to be accompanied by complete nutrition using all vitamins and minerals in correct dosage. More important is your consumption of calories, i.e., by regular exercises. One must exercise (in my opinion) daily for at least 20 minutes to 45 minutes.
Exercise is when you are not doing anything else but while performing some action, consciously telling your body that your focus is on exercising the different parts of body.
You can take upto 1500 calories to maintain normal body weight.
Add sufficient proteins to your diet if you are an athelete by nature.
Cheers,
Sameer

Answer 5

In fact it can. Ask me how I know. But it won't hurt you.

Why do you want to lose more weight? Your reason for doing so will determine what you do. I would say that, if weight loss is your goal, you should continue to eat less, not try to eat more unless you add a great deal of active, cardio exercise to your daily regimen. Do you run? You'll have to if you eat more and want to weigh less.

And don't worry about "destroying muscle" or any somesuch. You haven't, not at 190 pounds.

I am a bit smaller than you are, 5' 8", and I have been at 140 pounds for some years, now. Right around there is my "set point" as determined by Dr. Roy Walvord, who back in the 70s or 80s began working seriously on life extention by calorie restriction (he recently died from ALS, Lou Gherig's Disease, but I have learned a lot about it since my mother-in-law came down with it a few years ago. There's nothing he could have done to prevent it), and which is garnering more scientific support, I've noticed, from peer-reviewed medical journals.

Anyway, the "set point" is that weight at which weight loss becomes suddenly much harder than it was before. It will be somewhere around the weight you had in the middle to the end of high school.

I lost weight fairly easily from 160 down to 140, and there I stay. I, too, eat about 1300-1400 calories a day AND run about 20 miles a week, so I stay here, from 138-142 depending on how much I "splurge" during the holidays.

The reason that I stay there is because my metabolism has slowed enough to stabilize at my calorie intake level. To lose any more, I'd have to eat less, and I'm not sure that that would be healthy for me. So I stay here. You will reach that point, too (and believe me, you'll know it when you get there. Rooms will suddenly start becoming colder. Either you put up with it, or you eat slightly more until the rooms warm up. Then stay right around there somewhere. The cold room is a sure sign that your metabolism has slowed considerably. You will get there if you try.

However, I wouldn't eat more, because you don't really slow your metabolism by eating less, you slow it by losing weight. You lose weight by eating less, or at least by eating less than you burn. After you lose a certain amount, you body begins to adjust by slowing down. Once upon a time in our hunter-gatherer stage, we would go through periodic famine times (called "winter"), and this slowing seems to be an adaptation for survival during those times.

It's a bit cruel, I suppose, that losing weight is easiest at first, and just as we begin to feel pretty good about our rate of weight loss it gets harder to do, but that is the way of it. But, depending on why you want to lose weight quickly (I have found that impatience is deadly to healthy lifestyle changes), I wouldn't change course if I were you. I do not think that it would help you achieve your goal.

If you decide to add running to your weight-loss program, buy yourself a good pair of running shoes (good ones will cost about $100, but being over 6' means that you really should spend the money to get good ones, for they will protect your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and iliotibial band from damage. Look at the Asics Gel Kayanos--about $130--or the GT 2110s or 2111s. They are terrific shoes) and then use them. Go gently at first. An injury not only stops you but discourages you as well. Go gently and do what you can and no more than that.

Each week increase either your distance or speed (NEVER both at the same time. That's an invitation to an injury) by NO MORE than 10%. But even at that slow pace of increase, you'll be pleased how quickly you improve--and lose weight.

Get a copy of Runner's World Magazine and look through it. It has lots of hints and helps for runners from beginners through serious Hunters of the Marathons. Intimidating people, though they don' t mean to be.

But whatever you do, do it deliberately and thoughtfully. Don't hurt your health by trying too much too fast. Keep your diet balanced, remember your veggies (Mom was right), and keep at it even when it seems hard. It won't stay hard forever, and you'll like the results.

Good luck.

Answer 6

building muscle by eating the right way is the best way to lose weight because strong muscles burn more calories...even when you're sleeping.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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Answer 9

use a vegetable bean dip such as hummus instead of ranch dressing or a fatty cream based dip

Answer 10

pack healthy snacks