I'm starving myself? 700c/day?

Question

Hi, male aged 22. I've been wanting to drop weight so I figured I'd eat alittle a day. About a month ago I weighed 160 pounds. I now weigh 143. I've been eating probably about 7-800 calories a day. And exercising off about 200 calories every other day, by running, not counting crunches and weight lifting. My body looks much better than it did a month ago. But I never really thought about the harmful effects that could happen.
I was looking it up and someone said something about starvation mode where body stores everything as fat. Educate me! I don't want to hurt myself. But those damn fat calories are so hard to work off, I want to get to about 135.

I'm 5'5'............

Answer 1

What you need is a change in diet. The word diet is taken out of context most of the time. Diet does not mean eating less, diet does not mean losing weight, diet is what you eat and drink. A koala's diet consists of eucalyptus, a panda's diet consists of bamboo, a lion's diet consists of meat and offal, now, a human's diet consists of Meat, Fruit and Vegetables, Grains and Cereals, and Milk. 800 calories a day is far too little for you, you are basically dying, slowly. All you need to do is eat 6 meals a day, roughly 300 calories each meal, every 3 hours, what this does is increases your metabolism. Increased metabolism burns a hell of alot of calories in a day. I've been doing this along with weight training 3 times a week for 30-60 minutes each session. I've lost 20 pounds of fat in 6 weeks. You see, muscle burns calories, alot of calories, even when you are at rest. You need weight training, but remember to eat before you work out or you body will breakdown your muscles and use them as fuel, not good. Starving yourself, like you're doing, only makes it more difficult for you to lose the fat, fat cannot be starved off your body. That weight you lost was only water and muscle, you're losing muscle. Now, you will start to eat again, trust me you will, you have had urges to eat alot havent you, you will eventually start to eat as you did before and guess what?, you gain even more fat. You will gain more fat because your body is now in starvation mode, your metabolism has slowed right down and has actually entered a catabolic state, catabolic means that your body has begun to breakdown your own muscle tissue and has begun using it as fuel. Now when you begin to eat, your body will not digest most of your food into fuel, instead your body will choose to store it as bodyfat. To prevent this you need to eat all day. This is called "nourishing your body thin". Eat as soon as you wake up, preferably some protein and carbohydrates like eggs and oatmeal, what this does is stop the catabolic process, you were fasting overnight while you were sleeping and your body began to breakdown even more muscle. I eat at 7am , 10am , 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and again at 10pm. My first meal is 500 calories, 2nd is 350 calories, 3rd is 300 calories, 4th is 250 calories, 5th is 200 calories and my last meal is usually 150-200 calories(usually 250ml skim milk and nonfat yogurt for last meal) I eat yogurt and milk or cheese and milk for my last meal before bed because these dairy products contain a slow digesting protein called casein, protein stops the catabolic process and protects my muscles for most of the night. I sent a link to a Food Guide, this shows you the foods in the food groups and how much you should be eating from each group. I also included a link to a fitness site, they have an activity calculator which is very fun to use and the rest of the site is very informative, please read and learn, I did. Included is another link where there are tools you can use to calculate your ideal body weight, your body mass index and your daily caloric intake required to sustain your current bodyweight. The site also shows you the nutrients and the calorie count for a variety of different foods, making it easier to plan your meals, eventually you will be able to remember what foods contain how many calories and what nutrients they have. It gets very easy after just a couple of weeks. There is also a site called bodybuilding.com, a very helpful site for designing your own workout routine, and shows what exercises work which muscle group and how to do them correctly. More importantly, in the Nutrition menu you can look for pre workout and post workout nutirtion, fascinating stuff. You will be educated on what meals to eat upon waking up, pre workout meal, and most importantly postworkout meal. You must eat right after a workout, this stops your body from breaking down your muscles and starts chemical reactions to stimulate muscle growth, you need muscle growth. Muscle burns fat. Please read the information on these sites, you will never regret it, I promise you. I've noticed muscle gains just after 2 workouts, preworkout and postworkout nutrition is absolutely critical. I use real food not the protein powders or powdered carbohydrates, I love to eat, I used to eat the wrong foods and ballooned to 230 pounds, Im 211 pounds now and getting muscular. Eat.


Just a little more info....in the workout database there are routines for beginners....now I was no stranger to weitghtlifting, I mean i've done weightlifting before but just it was years ago...so i started with a beginner routine...Beginner Routine #2....dont try to be too specific in the databse search options or you wont get many results...I just filled in how many workouts per week(3 for me) and the goal of the workout (tone/build muscle) and the type of workout(fullbody workout for me) I left the rest at "doesnt matter: and got a lot of results, I searched through and found one I liked and tweaked it a bit to include some of my favorite exercises(more shoulder exercises)

Answer 2

If you are looking to lose 135 pounds I would strongly suggest you see a doctor, especially if you're over 40. 800 calories a day is not very much. I believe Seattle Sutton is around 1200 calories a day and nutritionally balanced -- that's important.

I actually had a doctor say he didn't object to Atkins. I've read the book and it sounds good, but I've talked to others that feel it is a lifetime committment. I've talked to another that feels the zone is like starting at phase three of Atkins -- similar results but at a much slower pace, and perhaps less of a shock.

If you're exercising you definitely need to be certain you're getting good nutrition. If you're truly 135 pounds overweight I would suggest NOT running in that this could take a real toll on your knees, cartiledge. Consider an elliptical machine or power walking, much better on the legs.

If you want to keep the weight off ask yourself if what you're doing is something you can keep up for the rest of your life. The only way to keep weight off is through changing the lifestyle that made you overweight in the first place. I recommend the doctor visit to be sure it is lifestyle and not something like an overactive thyroid or something.

I speak from experience, not all good. I lost 75 pounds and kept it off for 6 years, then let work stress me out and I've gained most of it back. I'm working to get back on the bandwagon, realistically. You sound dedicated, just be sure you're not hraming yourself. Good luck!

Answer 3

This is very true. You need to be eating at least 1500 calories a day. You should do this by eating 5 small meals every 3-4 hours. By eating less more often it will help keep your metabolism up which in turn will help you to burn fat and calories. If your body doesn't have enough fat to burn it will start to get energy from the muscle. So, you need to be eating protein, carbs, and healthy fats. Some examples are: egg whites, whole grain breads and pasta, nuts, peanut butter, vegetables, fruits. A sample break down of calorie intake would look like:

Breakfast: 300
Snack: 100
Dinner: 400
Snack: 200
Supper: 500

Answer 4

You're not going to lose 'a hell of a lot of weight' the only weight you'll lose will be water weight, and the only pounds you'll actually lose will go straight back on once you stop starving yourself. Trust me. You won't drop a dress size in 2 weeks anyway, no matter how little you eat. I know you said 'don't say I'm not going to lose loads of weight' but honestly you're not. You obviously don't really know what you're talking about if you think you are.

Answer 5

You must do it right for it to last. Dieting is a quick fix and almost always ends up in a relapse. The key is eating healthy. YOU should do more research about nutrition ( buy books, magazine etc...). Take a nutrition class at a local college. Talk to professionals. If you can afford to hire a personal trainer or if you attend a gym with a free trainer, take full advantage of that. They are there to help. Starving yourself is not the answer. You need a certain amount of calories a day for energy and body functioning.

Answer 6

Stop starving yourself. Your body is slowing down and will eventually shutdown. You have to eat for your body to burn calories. I would guess at least 1500 calories a day. Eat healthy and sign up for kung fu classes. You'll burn calories, get your body in fit shape and kick up your metabolism so you'll burn calories even when you're resting. If you learn QiGong, you'll learn how to fire up your metabolism even when you're sitting on a couch watching TV. My friend is a kung fu, Tai Chi, and QiGong instructor. He eats all day long and is slim and fit.

By the way, 143 doesn't sound like too much weight. How tall are you? 135 lbs sounds too light for a guy your age.

Answer 7

That is true, if you eat very little your body freaks out and thinks it needs to store food to survive so you are actually slowing down your metabolism by not eating!! Instead of trying NOT to eat focus on what you eat. Lots of veggies are good for your body in a lot of ways, eat fruit...did you know it takes more calories to eat an apple than are actually in an apple?? Smart eating will get you healthy results instead of a sick skinny body. Use the internet to learn about what your body does need and what to eat to loose weight.

Answer 8

The minute you start eating again you will balloon up. your body stores fat and burns it and starving yourself starves your metabolism, eat healthy and keep on exercising but definitely eat more than 800 calories especially if you are burning 200 of them. try eating 1200 calories a day.

Answer 9

Hi I am a fitness instructor- Starvation mode is very real! You need to go a gym and get the instructors there to help you, remember your paying for their wages! Its not about going on a diet, its about changing your life forever to become healthy! Fact- the more carbs you eat and burn off- the more body fat your burning off! Eat well- so your feeling full ish, eat low fat, well balanced and wholesome foods! So no processed stuff- try to cut down on sugar not naturally found in foods!Any more questions- e-mail me! Take care xxx

Answer 10

YES! the body burns 500 cals per day doing absolutely nothing. so if you are burning 200 you are burning more than you are eating. which is good but definately not healthy- try eating lean proteins and LOTS of veggies - they dont have many calories and you can eat all you want.