Not eating all calories Topic

Katemae4779 03/16/18
Hello
I am finding I’m not losing much but having looked back through my log I’m not eating all my calories- sometimes by up to 600 calories. Can that have a negative effect on weight loss?
What I have found is that I generally eat pretty well, try and exercise daily (not so much at the weekends!) but could not eating enough be causing the weight to stay put?

Dietitian 03/16/18 replied to Katemae4779
Hi Katemae4779, If you create a calories deficit, then you will lose weight. There is a lot of misinformation about this idea that if you don't eat your calories budget, you'll starve and the body will hang onto calories and prevent weight loss. But there is a big difference between a calories reduced intake and true starvation.

During true starvation, the body dramatically drops total energy expenditure by various means, but including lowering basal metabolism, primarily via loss of lean body mass. Starvation also has behavior changes that promote lower energy expenditure (moving less, more sedentary). The next phase of starvation - the body will use primarily calories obtained by burning body fat to preserve lean body mass for basic life functions. In that mode, a person (given access to water), can survive starvation for as long as they have enough body fat and lean body mass stores. However, severe loss of tissue also puts one at risk for serious bodily harm and possibly heart attack, not to mention very negative mental health effects.

So, to answer your question, if you are starving yourself, please stop! Eat at least 1200 calories a day if you are a woman and have not had bariatric surgery.

If you feel that your intake is just lower than goal, but is not particularly low, then focus on tightening up tracking. Measure/weigh all foods/drinks you consume, use sedentary activity level, and only log net exercise minutes above and beyond what is already included in your activity level (activities of daily living are already included in all levels).

These posts are super helpful:
Tips for Losing Weight: https://www.mynetdiary.com/tips-for-losing-weight.html
Logging basic foods: https://www.mynetdiary.com/4-tips-for-searching-finding-basic-food-items.html

Let me know if you have more questions. Learning how to track accurately takes a little time and practice.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RDN, CDE

Khaoulahazourli 12/13/20 replied to Katemae4779
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Not eating all calories