Starvation Mode is a big MYTH!

You might ask her what your protien goal is.  One of the reasons people talk about protien so much when they diet is that as you lower your calories, you naturally lower your protien intake (as well as your carb and fats).  You just need to be aware that you are getting in sufficient protien to avoid muscle loss. 

mary

She told me my protein goal was 60-80 grams a day so I have that information.

Well 80 grams of protein has 320 calories...so are you to assume that the balance of your calories is to come from fat and carbs?  I think you meed more clarification from your Nut, because if you were to equally divide the balance of those 1300 calories then that would be 50 grams of fat and 112 grams of carbs in addition to the 80 grams of protein.  And that may very well work for you but I'd sure be checkin' that out.

  
Laura

I talked to my nut and told her my concerns.  She said to back off to approximately 1,000 ot 1,100 calories a day and make sure I wait 4 hours before eating each time and stop 3 hours befor bed time.  She said I could lose weight at 1,300 calories but she is worried I might be stretching my stomach.

90 grams Protein  360 cal
100 grams Carbs  400 cal
33 grams fat        297 cal

Thanks for all of your help!

I'm glad you got a good plan.  I just saw my surgeon as well today and he said to eat more often than trying to stuff in a lot at once...also concerned about future stretching  Your plan sounds very reasonable..good luck to you!!

Laura

How long does this stall last? Its really getting me down (not weight wise).
 
I always thought that baloney about not eating enough was so laughable, that a big Weigh****chers thing, ohh you're not eating enough, baloney.

Old Medic's right... as long as your body has fat to burn, you will NOT go into "starvation mode" ... that's only when you are literally starving to death with no extra fuel to burn anyway.  I've read numerous studies on the subject and none of us have anything to worry about.  You could live on water for weeks and be fine (although somewhat nutrient deficient.  A stall is a stall is a stall... it's not "starvation mode."

Let's talk about stalls then.  Logically, if you consume 500 calories per day less than your resting metabolic rate, you will lose at least 1 lb per week.  And, depending how active you are, it could be more.

At 137 pounds with a sedentary lifestyle, my RMR requires 1550 calories.  So, if I eat 1000 calories per day, I should lose at least 1 pound per week.   If I don't, it means my RMR has dropped.  

Why is it so hard to believe that the RMR drops in response to prolonged shortage of calories?  Or that if your body gets more food for a few days, the RMR can go back to normal?

There's a theory (I think called calorie cycling) that says if you switch up your consumption regularly, your body can't predict what it's going to get, so your RMR doesn't drop.  Many people swear by it.

What I know is that 3 days of eating 1200 calories, and then going back to 1000, gives me a kickstart on loss.

Thanks for a very informative post.  I've l been on so many diets and the moment I stop losing, I switch to something else.  I hope I'm sane enough when my first "stall" happens post-op to just continue with the well written plan my surgeon uses.

 Michelle,

I think I read somewhere that obese people actually have a mechanism in their bodies that cause them to burn fat over muscle.  A thin person and an obese person that are both on a what we call a starvation diet will lose weight very differently.  The obese person will lose mostly fat and the thin person will lose mostly fat free mass.  

I wonder if that's why the bigger we are the faster we lose weight, because we have more fat to burn?  Very interesting.

Sherri